About 19; min
Supabase markets itself as the “open-source Firebase alternative.” Firebase has been Google’s go-to backend-as-a-service for a decade. Both handle authentication, databases, storage, and real-time features so you can build apps without managing servers. But the pricing philosophies are completely different.
Quick Pricing Comparison
| Plan | Supabase | Firebase |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 500 MB database, 1 GB storage, 50K MAU auth | 1 GB Firestore, 5 GB storage, 50K MAU auth |
| Pro/Blaze | $25/mo + usage | Pay-as-you-go (no base fee) |
| Team | $599/mo | N/A (Enterprise support separate) |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Firebase has no monthly base fee — you only pay for what you use beyond the free tier. Supabase charges $25/month as a base and then usage on top. At low scale, Firebase is cheaper. At higher scale, the math gets complicated.
Supabase Pricing Breakdown
Supabase’s free tier gives you a real PostgreSQL database (500 MB), authentication (50K MAU), file storage (1 GB), and edge functions. The biggest limitation: projects on the free tier pause after 1 week of inactivity. Your database goes to sleep and takes 5–10 seconds to wake up on the next request. The Pro plan at $25/month removes pausing.
Supabase Usage Pricing (Beyond Pro Included)
| Resource | Included in Pro | Overage |
|---|---|---|
| Database | 8 GB | $0.125/GB/mo |
| Storage | 100 GB | $0.021/GB/mo |
| Bandwidth | 250 GB | $0.09/GB |
| Auth MAU | 100K | $0.00325/MAU |
| Edge Functions | 2M invocations | $2/million |
| Realtime messages | 5M | $2.50/million |
Firebase Pricing Breakdown
Firebase’s Blaze plan has no monthly fee — you pay only for what you consume. This means an app with very little traffic could cost $0.50/month on Firebase vs $25/month on Supabase Pro. For hobby projects and MVPs with unpredictable traffic, this pay-per-use model is more cost-efficient.
Firebase’s Firestore Pricing Trap
Firestore charges per document read and write, not per query. A query that returns 100 documents costs 100 reads. A dashboard page that loads 50 documents on every page view costs 50 reads each time. At $0.06 per 100K reads, a page getting 10,000 daily views loading 50 documents each = 500K reads/day = 15M reads/month = $9/month just for reads on one page.
This per-operation billing catches teams off guard. A poorly optimized Firestore app can cost 5–10x more than expected. Supabase (PostgreSQL) doesn’t charge per query — you pay for compute and storage, not individual database operations.
Database: PostgreSQL vs Firestore
This is the fundamental technical difference. Supabase gives you PostgreSQL — a relational database with SQL, joins, transactions, and 40 years of battle-testing. Firebase gives you Firestore — a NoSQL document database with real-time sync.
| Feature | Supabase (PostgreSQL) | Firebase (Firestore) |
|---|---|---|
| Query language | SQL | NoSQL (SDK-based queries) |
| Joins | Yes (native SQL joins) | No (denormalize or multiple queries) |
| Transactions | Full ACID | Limited (batched writes) |
| Schema | Enforced (migrations) | Schema-less |
| Real-time | Yes (Realtime subscriptions) | Yes (native, best-in-class) |
| Full-text search | Built-in (pg_trgm, tsvector) | No (requires Algolia/Typesense) |
| Extensions | PostGIS, pgvector, etc. | None |
| Data portability | pg_dump (standard) | Firestore export (proprietary format) |
| Self-hosting | Yes (any PostgreSQL) | No |
If you need relational data (users have orders, orders have items, items belong to categories), PostgreSQL is the right choice and Firestore will cause pain with denormalization and multiple queries. If you need real-time document sync for chat, collaborative editing, or live dashboards, Firestore’s native real-time is smoother than Supabase’s Realtime feature.
Cost Scenarios
Hobby app (1K MAU, 10 GB data, light usage)
| Provider | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| Supabase Free | $0 |
| Firebase Blaze | ~$2–$5 |
Both are essentially free for hobby projects. Supabase Free covers this entirely. Firebase Blaze costs a few dollars if you exceed free tier limits.
Growing app (50K MAU, 25 GB data, moderate traffic)
| Provider | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| Supabase Pro | $25 (all within included limits) |
| Firebase Blaze | ~$50–$150 (depends heavily on read/write patterns) |
At moderate scale, Supabase’s flat $25/month is predictable. Firebase costs vary wildly based on how many document reads your app triggers. A well-optimized Firebase app might cost $50. A poorly optimized one might cost $300.
Production app (500K MAU, 100 GB data, heavy traffic)
| Provider | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|
| Supabase Pro | ~$150–$250 (overages for MAU + bandwidth) |
| Firebase Blaze | ~$500–$2,000 (highly variable) |
At production scale, Supabase is typically 50–75% cheaper because PostgreSQL doesn’t charge per operation. Firebase’s per-read/write model makes costs proportional to app complexity, not just traffic volume.
Full Feature Comparison
| Feature | Supabase | Firebase |
|---|---|---|
| Database | PostgreSQL (relational) | Firestore (NoSQL) |
| Authentication | Built-in (50+ providers) | Built-in (30+ providers) |
| File storage | S3-compatible | Cloud Storage |
| Serverless functions | Edge Functions (Deno) | Cloud Functions (Node.js) |
| Real-time | Good (Postgres changes) | Best (native document sync) |
| Push notifications | No (use OneSignal) | FCM (built-in, free) |
| Analytics | No | Google Analytics (built-in, free) |
| Crashlytics | No | Yes (free) |
| Remote config | No | Yes (free) |
| ML Kit | No | Yes |
| Hosting | No (use Vercel/Netlify) | Firebase Hosting (included) |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No |
| Vendor lock-in | Low (standard PostgreSQL) | High (proprietary Firestore) |
Who Should Pick What
Pick Supabase If:
- You need a relational database with SQL, joins, and proper transactions
- Predictable pricing matters — $25/month flat covers most growing apps
- You want to avoid vendor lock-in (standard PostgreSQL, self-hostable)
- Full-text search or geospatial queries (PostGIS) are needed
- You’re building a web app with Next.js, Remix, or SvelteKit
- pgvector for AI embeddings is part of your stack
Pick Firebase If:
- You’re building a mobile app (iOS/Android) where Firebase’s SDK, push notifications, crashlytics, and analytics are all needed
- Real-time document sync is a core feature (chat, collaborative editing)
- Your app has very low and unpredictable traffic (pay-per-use beats $25/month flat)
- You need analytics, remote config, and A/B testing bundled with your backend
- Your team is more comfortable with NoSQL patterns than SQL
Best for web apps: Supabase — PostgreSQL, predictable pricing, and open-source. The default backend for modern web development in 2026.
Best for mobile apps: Firebase — push notifications, crashlytics, analytics, and remote config in one SDK. No other BaaS matches this mobile feature set.
Best pricing predictability: Supabase — $25/month covers most apps. Firebase’s per-operation billing creates unpredictable bills that can spike 10x overnight.
Best for data portability: Supabase — standard PostgreSQL means you can migrate to any hosted PostgreSQL service (Neon, RDS, Cloud SQL) with pg_dump. Firebase lock-in is real and painful to escape.
Best free tier: Tie — both offer enough to build and launch an MVP at $0.
FAQ
Can I migrate from Firebase to Supabase?
Supabase has a Firebase migration guide and tools. Auth users can be migrated. Firestore data needs to be restructured into relational tables — this is the painful part. Budget 1–3 weeks depending on data complexity.
Is Supabase production-ready?
Yes. Supabase powers thousands of production applications. Their infrastructure runs on AWS with automated backups, point-in-time recovery, and high availability on Pro and above.
Can I use both together?
Some teams use Supabase for the database and API, plus Firebase for push notifications and analytics. The combination works well for apps that need PostgreSQL’s query power and Firebase’s mobile features.
Which has better documentation?
Firebase’s documentation is more mature (10+ years) with extensive examples and community resources. Supabase’s documentation is well-organized and improving rapidly but has fewer edge-case examples.
