What is Supabase?
Supabase provides a managed Postgres database bundled with authentication, auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs, file storage, realtime subscriptions and edge functions. Its README calls it the Postgres development platform and says it builds the features of Firebase using enterprise-grade open source tools. The site adds that every project is a full Postgres database.
The platform is a combination of open source tools. PostgREST turns the database directly into a RESTful API, GoTrue is a JWT-based authentication API, Realtime is an Elixir server that listens to Postgres inserts, updates and deletes using websockets, and Storage is a RESTful API for managing files in S3 with Postgres handling permissions. Projects run on Supabase's cloud, where you can sign up and start without installing anything, or can be self-hosted via Docker using the same open-source components.
Pricing is tiered. The Pro plan is $25 per month and includes 100K monthly active users, 8 GB of disk per project and 250 GB of bandwidth. The Team plan starts at $599 per month and adds SOC2 and ISO 27001, SSO for the Supabase Dashboard and project-scoped access, with HIPAA as a paid add-on. Paid plans include $10 per month in compute credits, and Enterprise pricing is custom.
Key capabilities
- Database A full Postgres instance with extensions, not a proprietary data store.
- Auth & storage Built-in user authentication and object storage.
- APIs & realtime Auto-generated REST/GraphQL APIs and realtime change subscriptions.
Where Supabase fits
- Postgres database Every project is a full Postgres database, built around Postgres rather than a custom database engine.
- Authentication Add user sign ups and logins, securing data with Row Level Security.
- Auto-generated APIs PostgREST serves a RESTful API from the database, and pg_graphql exposes a GraphQL API.
- Realtime Listen to Postgres inserts, updates and deletes over websockets.
- Storage Store, organize and serve large files, from videos to images, with Postgres handling permissions.
- Edge Functions Write custom code without deploying or scaling servers.
- Vector embeddings Store, index and search vector embeddings with the ML models you prefer.
- Dashboard A Table Editor, SQL Editor and RLS Policies screen help you manage the app without leaving the dashboard.
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PocketBasePocketBase is a lightweight, self-hosted backend that ships as one executable with an embedded SQLite database, authentication, file storage and a realtime API.