Supabase vs Firebase in 2026: now that both offer Postgres

Supabase is an open-source Postgres platform with auth, storage, realtime and edge functions; Firebase is Google's app platform built around Firestore, now with managed Postgres through SQL Connect. Choose Supabase for relational data and portability, Firebase for mobile-first apps with offline sync and the Google ecosystem.

Most Supabase vs Firebase comparisons still frame the choice as "SQL vs NoSQL". That was true for years, but it isn't any more: Firebase's SQL Connect docs say "Firebase Data Connect is now known as Firebase SQL Connect", and describe it as "a fully-managed PostgreSQL database powered by Cloud SQL". So the real questions are about data shape, offline needs, ecosystem, pricing model and how easily you can leave. Every quota below was read from the two vendors' pages on 23 October 2026, in US dollars. Google Cloud rates vary by region, so check your own region before you budget.

How do Supabase and Firebase compare at a glance?

Sources: Supabase pricing, Firebase pricing, Firebase pricing plans, Supabase GitHub and the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025, read 23 Oct 2026.

How do Supabase and Firebase pricing and free tiers compare?

The two price in very different ways. Supabase sells a plan per organisation with quotas and usage on top. Firebase gives no-cost quotas per product on Spark, then charges per operation, per GB and per invocation on Blaze.

On the paid side, Supabase Pro starts at $25 a month and includes 100,000 MAUs, 8 GB of database disk, 250 GB of egress (then $0.09 per GB) and $10 of compute credits. Supabase says "Spend caps are on by default on the Pro Plan", so usage beyond the included quotas is restricted rather than billed until you turn the cap off.

Firebase Blaze keeps the Spark no-cost quotas and bills usage above them. Cloud Functions include 2 million invocations a month at no cost on Blaze. Per-operation Firestore rates differ by region, so we don't quote them here; price your expected reads, writes and storage in the Google Cloud pricing calculator for your region.

Which is cheaper depends on the app. Read-heavy apps with many small documents can run up Firestore operation counts. Media-heavy apps can run up Supabase egress. Model both at your expected month-12 usage, not at launch.

How do the databases compare: Postgres, Firestore and SQL Connect?

Supabase gives every project a full Postgres database. You get SQL, joins, foreign keys, transactions, views, extensions such as pgvector for embeddings, and Row Level Security policies that control which rows each user can read or write. Your data model looks like any relational application, and standard Postgres tools, ORMs and backups work with it.

Firestore stores JSON-like documents in collections. It scales automatically, syncs to clients in real time and works offline, which suits chat, feeds, user profiles and mobile apps with simple, predictable queries. The trade-off is data modelling: joins happen in your code, data is often denormalised across documents, and queries must match the indexes you create.

SQL Connect is Firebase's answer for relational data. It gives a Firebase project a managed Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL database, with schemas and queries defined through SQL Connect and typed client SDKs generated for your app. Pricing combines SQL Connect operations (250K a month free) with the underlying Cloud SQL instance, which has a 3-month no-cost trial and is billed afterwards.

How do Supabase Auth and Firebase Auth compare?

Both handle email and password, magic links, OAuth providers and phone sign-in, and both issue JWTs your backend can verify.

• Allowances: Supabase Free includes 50,000 MAUs and Pro 100,000. Firebase Auth is no-cost up to 50K MAUs, but SAML and OIDC enterprise sign-in is no-cost only up to 50 MAUs, which matters for B2B apps.
• SMS: Firebase's Auth limits cap SMS at "3,000 sent/day", and the Spark plan has a daily active user limit when Identity Platform is enabled. SMS costs money on both platforms through their providers, so rate-limit phone sign-in to avoid fraud.
• Authorisation: Supabase ties auth to Postgres Row Level Security, so access rules live next to the data. Firebase uses Security Rules for Firestore and Storage, written in its own rules language.

How do realtime and offline compare?

Firebase is stronger offline. Firestore's mobile and web SDKs cache data on the device, let users read and write without a connection, and sync when they reconnect. For field apps, delivery apps and anything used on patchy mobile networks, that is a big head start.

Supabase Realtime streams Postgres changes, plus broadcast and presence channels for things like live cursors and "who's online". It is excellent for dashboards, collaboration and live updates. It does not give you built-in offline writes; you add a local store and sync logic yourself if you need them.

How do functions and hosting compare?

• Supabase Edge Functions run TypeScript at the edge for webhooks, payment callbacks and custom APIs. Postgres functions and triggers handle logic close to the data.
• Firebase Cloud Functions run Node.js or Python code triggered by HTTP, database, auth and storage events. They need the Blaze plan, per the pricing plans page, so a production Firebase app with server logic is effectively on pay-as-you-go from day one.
• Hosting: Firebase includes static and web app hosting. Supabase does not host your front end; most teams deploy it to a separate host.
• Mobile extras: Firebase brings push notifications (Cloud Messaging), Crashlytics, Remote Config, A/B testing and Analytics in one console. With Supabase you add those from other services.

What about lock-in and self-hosting?

This is Supabase's clearest advantage. The project is open source under Apache-2.0 on GitHub, and its self-hosting guide says Docker is "the fastest and recommended way to self-host Supabase". Because the core is Postgres, you can also move the database to any managed Postgres provider with standard dump and restore tools.

Firebase cannot be self-hosted. Firestore data can be exported, but the security rules, SDK calls and data model are Firebase-specific, so moving off it means rewriting the data layer. SQL Connect softens this for the relational part, since the data sits in standard PostgreSQL on Cloud SQL.

Migrating from Firebase to Supabase is possible, and common. It involves remodelling Firestore documents into tables, exporting and importing users, rewriting security rules as Row Level Security policies, and replacing client SDK calls. Plan it as a project, with a test migration first.

What are the cost traps?

• Supabase free projects pause after one week of inactivity. Fine for prototypes; not for a demo you need to work next month.
• Supabase egress beyond 250 GB on Pro is billed at $0.09 per GB once the spend cap is off. Serve large media through a CDN.
• Spend caps cut both ways. Supabase's default cap protects your budget, but it can block usage at a busy moment. Decide deliberately.
• Firebase Spark shut-off. Exceed a quota and that product stops for the rest of the month. Never run a launched app on Spark.
• Firestore read amplification. A screen that listens to a large collection, or loads documents one by one, can multiply reads. Paginate, cache and denormalise carefully.
• Firebase Functions need Blaze, and Blaze has no hard spending cap by default. Set budget alerts in Google Cloud.
• SMS sign-in costs money on both, and attracts fraud. Rate-limit it and prefer email or OAuth where you can.
• Cloud SQL trial ends. SQL Connect's Postgres instance is billed after the 3-month no-cost trial.

Which should you choose?

How can Elgrith help?

Elgrith has delivered 1,000+ projects for 250+ clients since 2015, from our New Delhi headquarters and client centers in New York, London and Shanghai. We build on both Supabase and Firebase and choose per project. Our MVP development team gets a first version live quickly, our SaaS development team builds multi-tenant products on Postgres, and our Flutter app development team builds mobile apps on either backend. For delivery and marketplace apps, see on-demand app development, and for browser-based products, web app development. You get a fixed written quote after a free call. Book a call or start a project.