Rating4.3 Freshly squeezed
Platforms
Web, any stack, self-hostable
Free
Free: 2 projects, 500MB DB
Pro
Pro: $25/month
"I never needed a database, and I don't want to bother learning one."
Yeah, I thought the same thing last year. Excel works fine, right? But the moment you build something with AI, you'll need a real database.
Six months later, it quietly runs everything I ship.
What it does
Supabase is an open-source backend built on Postgres, the database that's been quietly running the serious half of the internet for thirty years. You get a real, managed SQL database without ever touching a server.
The database is only the start. Auth comes built in: email and password, magic links, Google and GitHub logins, even the confirmation and reset emails are wired up for you. Create a table and you instantly get a REST and GraphQL API for it. Then add file and image storage, realtime updates over websockets, and serverless Edge Functions for your own logic. One dashboard, one project, your whole backend.
Here's the part that matters for AI work: Supabase stores vector embeddings right next to your data with pgvector. You can build search, chatbots and RAG without bolting on a separate vector database. Your app's memory lives in the same place as everything else.
Why I use it
I'm not a database person. I build things, and for years I dodged databases by stuffing everything into spreadsheets and hoping for the best. Then I started building with AI, and these apps are hungry. They need to remember conversations, store users, hold embeddings, react the second something changes. A spreadsheet taps out fast.
Supabase gave me a real backend without forcing me to become a backend engineer.
I spin up a project, add a few tables in a dashboard that feels like a friendlier Excel, and the API just exists. Auth, storage and realtime ride along for free. The work I used to hand to a developer, I now do over a coffee.
When I want to go deeper, the SQL editor is right there, with an AI assistant that writes the query for me. It meets me where I am and grows as I learn.
The good stuff
- It's just Postgres. Real SQL, no made-up query language, no lock-in. If you ever want to leave, you pack up a standard database and walk. Try that with Firebase.
- The whole backend in one box. Auth, storage, realtime and auto-generated APIs come with the database. You stop gluing five services together and start building.
- Built for AI. pgvector keeps your embeddings next to your data, so you get search and RAG without paying for a separate vector database like Pinecone.
- Free, and open source. The free tier ships real side projects, and because you can self-host the whole thing, you're never trapped.
The bad stuff
It's not all green lights.
- Free projects fall asleep. A week with no traffic and your database pauses, so the first visitor after a quiet stretch waits for it to wake up. Fine for hobby projects, annoying for anything you want online around the clock.
- You'll meet SQL eventually. The dashboard hides the database until you need a real query or an access rule, and then row-level security has a learning curve nobody enjoys at first.
- The bill can jump. Free to Pro is a gentle $25 a month, but bandwidth and compute overages add up, and the leap to the Team plan is steep once you outgrow Pro.
- It moves fast. Features land in beta, the occasional outage happens, and it isn't as boringly bulletproof as the database your bank runs on.
Building something that has to be online 24/7? Skip the free tier's sleep and start on Pro.
Who it's for
- Anyone building an app with AI that needs to store, remember and search data
- Solo builders and small teams who want a backend without hiring a backend team
- Developers who like SQL and hate being locked into someone else's platform
- Side-project makers who want a real database for free
- Firebase escapees who'd rather have Postgres than a document store
Who it's NOT for
- People who want to never see or think about SQL, ever
- Always-on production apps that refuse to pay a cent (the free tier sleeps)
- Teams who need a decades-proven, boring database with white-glove enterprise support
The verdict
I tried Firebase first, like everyone does. It's quick until you hit the walls: a query language that fights you, a document model that fights you harder, a bill that creeps up, and no clean way out without a rewrite. Neon and PlanetScale are lovely if all you want is the database. Supabase hands you the database and the rest of the backend with it.
The free tier sleeps. You'll still meet SQL. It moves fast enough to wobble now and then.
But it's real Postgres, it's open source, and it does in one box what used to take five separate tools. When I build with AI, it's the first backend I reach for.
What database should I use as a
 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| $25/mo | $19/mo | $0 + usage | $5/mo |
| 4.4 | 3.8 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
Hover or tap a cell for the why behind each score.
4.3
The backend I reach for first when I build with AI.
The free tier is genuinely free: two projects, enough to ship a real side project and see if it clicks. Pro is $25 a month when you need it always on, with daily backups.