The established competitors worth comparing against Supabase — researched and reviewed by our editorial team.
Firebase
Best for: Mobile-first apps with offline requirements, document-shaped data
Firebase is Google's original mobile BaaS — Firestore (document database), auth, storage, cloud functions, hosting, analytics. The original "skip the backend" platform. Best fit for mobile apps with offline-first requirements.
Free Spark, usage-based Blaze
Pros
- ✓Best offline-first sync in the category
- ✓Mature mobile SDKs (iOS, Android, Flutter)
- ✓Free tier supports real production apps
Cons
- ×Document model can be limiting for relational data
- ×Pricing can spike on the Blaze plan
- ×Vendor lock-in is real — migrating off is painful
PlanetScale
Best for: Teams who want serverless MySQL with branching and scale
PlanetScale is serverless MySQL with database branching — like Git branches for your schema. Excellent for teams who want managed MySQL at scale without the operational overhead. Recently removed the free tier, which pushed many indie users elsewhere.
Free trial, $39/mo Scaler, $599/mo Scaler Pro
Pros
- ✓Database branching is genuinely useful
- ✓Serverless model scales without operational overhead
- ✓Strong reliability and performance
Cons
- ×No free tier (removed in 2024)
- ×MySQL only — no Postgres support
- ×Pricing higher than self-managed Postgres
Neon
Best for: Teams who want serverless Postgres with branching
Neon is the Postgres equivalent of PlanetScale — serverless, with branching, autoscaling, and a generous free tier. Excellent fit for teams who only need the database part of Supabase's bundle.
Free generous tier, $19/mo Launch, $69/mo Scale
Pros
- ✓Serverless Postgres with branching
- ✓Generous free tier
- ✓Autoscaling and compute / storage separation
Cons
- ×Not a full BaaS — no built-in auth, storage, real-time
- ×Newer than Supabase or PlanetScale
- ×Smaller ecosystem
Convex
Best for: TypeScript-heavy teams who want a backend with real-time subscriptions and a fresher mental model
Convex is a TypeScript-first backend with built-in real-time, database, scheduled functions, and file storage. Different mental model than Supabase — write your backend as TypeScript functions; Convex handles the rest. Beloved by Next.js / TypeScript teams.
Free generous tier, $25/mo Professional, custom Scale
Pros
- ✓TypeScript-first developer experience is exceptional
- ✓Built-in real-time with no extra infrastructure
- ✓Generous free tier
Cons
- ×Proprietary query language and runtime — vendor lock-in
- ×No raw SQL access
- ×Newer platform than Supabase
Appwrite
Open sourceSelf-hostBest for: Teams who want a self-hosted open-source Supabase / Firebase alternative
Appwrite is the most-Supabase-like open-source alternative — auth, database, storage, functions, all open source and self-hostable. Cloud offering newer; self-hosted is mature.
Free self-hosted, $15/mo Pro Cloud, $25/mo Scale
Pros
- ✓Open source (BSD) — self-host yourself
- ✓Full BaaS bundle: auth, DB, storage, functions
- ✓Active community and weekly releases
Cons
- ×Self-hosting is real infra work
- ×Cloud offering newer than Supabase's
- ×Smaller ecosystem
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