Contents6
An app is screens, and behind them a back end: accounts, the database, files, the rules that say who may see what. For a small or mid-sized business, three options come up: Supabase, Firebase, or a server you run yourself. None is better in absolute terms. Each commits you to different things on the shape of your data, costs, dependence on a provider and operational work. We use Supabase on the apps we have built, and we say so up front: this comparison tries to be fair to all three.
In short
Supabase: a complete Postgres database, relational, with accounts, real time and server functions around it; self-hostable, but then without managed backups.
Firebase: Google’s NoSQL document database, with real-time sync and an offline mode designed for mobile and web.
Your own server: complete control and a choice of where data lives, in exchange for all the operations.
The right choice depends on the shape of your data, the need for offline use, and who will run it all in three years.
What a back end does
Definition
Back end
The part of the app the user does not see: it keeps the data, checks identities, applies access rules, stores files and runs the processing that must not depend on the phone.
Platforms such as Supabase and Firebase provide these building blocks ready to use, which shortens development. Your own server means assembling them yourself, but leaves every choice to you.
Supabase: a Postgres database and the services around it
According to its documentation, every Supabase project gets a full Postgres database, not an abstraction. Around it, Supabase adds accounts, real time, file storage, server functions and row-level access rules.
What people like: relational data (a customer has orders, an order has lines) queried in SQL, and a database that remains standard Postgres, readable by the usual tools. That is what makes leaving less painful if you change your mind.
What to know: the Free plan pauses after a week of inactivity and includes no automatic backups, and the Pro plan starts at US$25 a month, according to Supabase’s pricing page. Supabase can also be self-hosted, with Docker, but its self-hosting documentation warns that the self-hosted version is community-supported, and lacks the platform’s managed backups and point-in-time recovery.
From the field
What runs on Supabase for us
Challenge Us, a group-challenge app we built, relies on Supabase for real time between participants and for the server functions that compute the day of each entry in each person’s time zone. Supabase is also part of Palmora Property’s technical stack, alongside a self-hosted CRM.
Firebase: a document database designed for mobile
Firebase is Google’s platform for apps. Its main database, Cloud Firestore, is described by its documentation as a NoSQL document database that keeps data in sync across devices through real-time listeners and offers offline support for mobile and web.
What people like: offline support and sync are built in, which matters for an app used in the field where the network drops. The same platform also brings together audience analytics, notification sending and hosting.
What to know: a document database is designed around the screens that read it, not around the relationships between data; cross-cutting queries are less natural than in SQL. And billing follows usage, read by read:
of stored data at no cost in Cloud Firestore, on the Spark plan
document reads per day at no cost, billed beyond that on the Blaze plan
document writes per day at no cost
An app whose every screen rereads many documents can see its bill follow its success faster than expected: how you structure the data matters as much as the number of users.
Your own server: control, and everything else
The third path: a Postgres database and a server application that you host, on a machine rented in Europe for example. You choose where the data lives and which software runs, and you depend on no platform’s price list.
In exchange, everything the platform did becomes yours. The list Supabase gives to those who self-host it applies to any server: provisioning and maintaining the machine, securing it and keeping it updated, maintaining the database, ensuring availability, backups, disaster recovery and monitoring.
It is a reasonable choice when the business already has this foundation, or a strong reason to have it (sensitive data, location requirements). We discuss it in our article on which tools to self-host first, and backups alone deserve the article on what really breaks.
How to decide
A platform (Supabase or Firebase)
You want users quickly, without an operations team
The standard building blocks (accounts, files, real time) cover your need
You accept a price list that follows usage
Your own server
You already have a hosting foundation and someone to run it
Where the data lives, or how sensitive it is, requires it
You want to control every piece of software in the chain
Between Supabase and Firebase, the shape of the data often decides: many relationships between customers, orders and documents lean towards Postgres; a very mobile app that must work offline and sync simple documents leans towards Firestore. In every case, ask four questions before choosing:
- What shape is your data?
Tables linked to each other, or independent documents read screen by screen?
- Is offline use needed?
If so, where, and for how long?
- Where must the data live?
A location or sensitivity requirement can decide on its own.
- Who will run the back end in three years?
This is the question that weighs most on the maintenance budget.
The back end is one of the decisions that drive the development price and monthly cost of an app. Our app development settles it at scoping, pricing its running cost for your usage.
Frequently asked questions
Is Supabase an alternative to Firebase?
For many apps, yes: both provide accounts, a database, files, real time and server functions. The fundamental difference is the database: relational Postgres at Supabase, NoSQL documents at Firebase. The choice is made on the shape of your data and the need for offline use, more than on a feature list.
Can you change back end after launch?
It is possible, but rarely simple: you have to migrate the data and user accounts, and rewrite the part of the app that talks to the back end. A standard Postgres database moves with the usual Postgres tools; a document database requires rethinking the structure. Better to choose knowing your data than to count on a migration later.
Supabase or Firebase, which costs less?
It depends on usage, not on a price grid. Firebase mainly bills by the number of reads and writes, so the way the app rereads its data weighs heavily. Supabase bills a monthly subscription, then compute and storage beyond what it includes. Price both on your expected usage, not on the front page of their pricing.
Is your own server safer than a platform?
Not automatically. It lets you choose where the data lives and who accesses it, but security then depends entirely on you: updates, configuration, tested backups, monitoring. A well-configured platform beats a poorly kept server. Your own server is justified when you already have the foundation and the people to run it.
Sources
- Supabase documentation, database overview (new tab)supabase.com
- Supabase’s pricing page (new tab)supabase.com
- Supabase documentation, self-hosting (new tab)supabase.com
- Firebase documentation, Cloud Firestore (new tab)firebase.google.com
Jim · founder of Brain Plus AI
Also in web and mobile apps
Practical guide6 min
App maintenance: the budget after launch
A live app has three cost lines: running it, the updates imposed by Apple, Google and libraries, and its changes. The first two are not optional, and each can be priced line by line.
Choose and price6 min
How much an app costs: what makes the price vary
A price range says nothing about your project: what makes an app quote vary is a handful of specific decisions, plus a monthly running cost to be priced separately. Here they are.
Understand6 min
Field team app: what it changes for your staff
Technicians, drivers, travelling sales staff, site crews: an internal app spares them paper, photos lost in a messaging app and evening re-keying. Here is what it changes, and what it takes for it to be used.