Database & Backend Platform · decision tool
Supabase vs Firebase — for your app, not in general
Supabase or Firebase? Set your users, data size and constraints; the verdict, monthly cost and risks update live. Prices verified against official pages.
Prices verified 2026-07-15 against official pricing pages · fit weights are our estimates (see methodology) · share the URL to share your configuration
As of Jul 2026, with 5,000 monthly active users, 5 GB database size, 40 GB monthly egress, 1,000 db operations per user / month, 24 compute active hours / day, a $50 budget for this slot, Supabase ranks first for these inputs at 95% fit and a StackSays-estimated $25.00/month (Firebase (Firestore): 89% fit, $7.30/month). Fit weights are our estimates; prices trace to official pages. Change any input below and the verdict recomputes.
Your situation
The verdict updates as you move these.
Clear pick for your inputs
Managed Postgres bundled with auth, realtime, storage and edge functions
vs Firebase (Firestore): fit 95% against 89%, est $25.00 against $7.30 per month
Comparing 2 tools head-to-head. Open the full field (7 options) →
The decision, in plain words
For a solo builder at 5,000 monthly active users and a $50.00/mo budget for the database slot, Supabase leads at 95% fit and $25.00/mo. The two rules doing the work: budget fit (~$25/mo is 50% of your $50/mo budget); batteries included (Bundles auth, file storage, realtime — fewer services to glue at team size 1).
The gap to Firebase (Firestore) (89% fit) is wide at these inputs — you'd need to change your requirements, not your taste, to flip it.
Generated from the calculation above — every number traces to the sourced data; nothing here is written by an AI making things up.
Why Supabase scores 95%
How the $25.00/mo estimate is calculated
What could change this verdict
No single input change within the tested range changes the winner.
Cost risk
Official prices verified 2026-07-15; calculation is deterministic code over those prices.
At a glance
| Tool | Free tier | Paid entry | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supabase | 500MB database, 50K MAU, 1GB file storage, 5GB egress, 2 projects | Pro plan $25/mo | 2026-07-15 |
| Firebase (Firestore) | 1GiB Firestore, 50K reads / 20K writes / 20K deletes per day, 50K auth MAU, 10GiB egress | Pay-as-you-go — Firestore nam5 rates: $0.06/100K reads, $0.18/100K writes, $0.18/GiB storage; deletes ($0.02/100K) not modeled. Ops derived from your per-user activity input (80/20 read/write split, our estimate) | 2026-07-15 |
Data sources
| Tool | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Supabase pricing page | 2026-07-15 |
| Firebase (Firestore) | Firebase pricing page | 2026-07-15 |
A monitor re-checks these pages for changes; when a vendor moves a price, the date updates and every verdict recomputes.
People also ask
Should I use Firebase or Supabase?
It hinges on data model and exit cost: Supabase is standard Postgres (SQL, portable, pgvector) while Firestore is a proprietary document store with unmatched mobile tooling. Set your usage in the calculator above — at identical inputs the monthly bills differ, and the verdict flips with your realtime and lock-in answers.
Can I use Supabase for free?
Yes — the free tier includes a 500MB database, 50K monthly auth users, 1GB file storage and 5GB egress across 2 projects (verified 2026-07-15). The catch: free projects pause after 1 week of inactivity, so it suits actively-used apps, not parked demos.
Can I use Firebase for free?
Yes — the Spark plan gives 1GiB of Firestore, 50K reads / 20K writes / 20K deletes per day, 50K auth users and 10GiB egress per month (verified 2026-07-15). Chatty apps hit the daily read quota first; past it you're on pay-as-you-go Blaze pricing.
Can I use Firebase as my whole backend?
You can — auth, Firestore, storage and functions cover most app needs. The tradeoffs: limited queries vs SQL, and deep lock-in (Firestore has no drop-in replacement, so leaving is a rewrite). Complex reporting or relational data are the usual reasons teams pair it with, or swap it for, Postgres.