Supabase

KEEP IT

The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying.

A backend built on Postgres: the database plus authentication, file storage, realtime subscriptions and edge functions, with client libraries that talk to all of it.

Promptfree, for everyone, and the only version there is

Set me up to run the same stack on my own machine, and be honest about the operations bill.

STACK
- Postgres on a VPS, PostgREST for the API, and GoTrue if authentication is needed
- Caddy in front for TLS; everything else on the private interface

THE DATABASE IS THE APPLICATION
- Schema in migration files, applied by a tool, never by hand in a console
- Row-level security enabled on every table from the first migration, with a deny-by-default policy
- Roles: anon, authenticated, service — and the service role never reaches the browser

BACKUP, THE PART THAT DECIDES THIS
- Continuous WAL archiving plus a nightly base backup to S3-compatible storage in another region
- Point-in-time recovery tested monthly into a scratch instance, with the date of the last successful test recorded
- The README must state the recovery point and recovery time objectives you are actually meeting

CONNECTIONS
- PgBouncer in transaction mode; document the limits that come with it, especially prepared statements

STORAGE AND REALTIME
- Files on S3-compatible storage with signed URLs; do not put blobs in Postgres
- Realtime only if genuinely needed — logical replication into a small websocket service, not polling

WHAT YOU HAVE TAKEN ON
- Upgrades, disk growth, replication lag and the pager. Name the person who holds it

Include a runbook for a failed upgrade, a full disk and a restore.

What you lose

A managed Postgres with backups, point-in-time recovery and upgrades handled
Auth, storage, realtime and edge functions already wired to the same database
Row-level security policies enforced by Postgres rather than by your API code
A dashboard that lets a whole team query and edit safely
Someone else being awake when the database is not

If you would rather not build

PostgREST plus Postgres — the same API layer, self-run
Neon — paid, Postgres with branching, narrower scope

The escape hatch

open source · no votes, no paid placement

Supabase

Supabase's own stack, run on your machine — the same product, your operations bill.

supabase/supabasefree · open source

Appwrite

Self-hosted backend with auth, database, storage and functions in one deployment.

appwrite/appwritefree · open source

Why this verdict

our own opinion · changed only by a person

32/100

Verdict no at 32: every piece here is open source and this prompt assembles them properly, which is exactly why the answer is no — assembling is easy, and the recurring cost is operations. Point-in-time recovery you have actually tested is what the $25 buys.

History

tracked since 9 Aug 2026 · nothing is ever overwritten

Interest · last 30 days

Nothing recorded yet. This chart fills in once the page has visitors, votes or prompt copies — it will not draw a flat line to look busy.

Questions about Supabase

answered from the record above

Is Supabase free?

No — the plan we track is $25 a month. Pro at $25 per organisation per month including a compute credit; compute, storage and egress above that are billed on top.

Can you replace Supabase by building your own?

KEEP IT. The value is the network, the data or the infrastructure. Keep paying. Replacement score 32 out of 100, build time longer than it saves. Read what you lose before you decide.

How much does Supabase cost?

$25 a month on Pro — $300 a year. Recorded 9 Aug 2026.

What do you lose by replacing Supabase?

A managed Postgres with backups, point-in-time recovery and upgrades handled; Auth, storage, realtime and edge functions already wired to the same database; Row-level security policies enforced by Postgres rather than by your API code; A dashboard that lets a whole team query and edit safely; Someone else being awake when the database is not. If any of those carry weight for you, keep paying.

Is there an open-source alternative to Supabase?

Yes: Supabase, Appwrite. The prompt on this page is for when you want it your way instead.

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