platform comparison
Supabase vs Firebase
Both are credible choices. The decision comes down to which property your workload actually depends on, and neither vendor pays us to say otherwise.
- Supabase
- Open source
- Firebase
- Category
- platform
Side by side
Supabase
Postgres with authentication, storage, realtime and row-level security wired in.
- Strongest at
- production-grade auth and RLS without building them, on standard Postgres you can leave
- Trade-off
- opinionated in ways that occasionally fight a complex custom auth model
- Vendor
- Open source
Firebase
Mobile backend with realtime sync, authentication and push notifications.
- Strongest at
- the fastest path to a working mobile backend with offline sync
- Trade-off
- query limitations and costs that grow awkwardly as data volume rises
- Vendor
How we would actually choose
Choose Supabase when production-grade auth and RLS without building them, on standard Postgres you can leave is the property your workload depends on, and accept that opinionated in ways that occasionally fight a complex custom auth model.
Choose Firebase when the fastest path to a working mobile backend with offline sync matters more, accepting that query limitations and costs that grow awkwardly as data volume rises.
In practice most production systems we build use both, routed by task. Standardising on one option for tidiness usually costs more than the tidiness is worth.
Orqent Labs holds no reseller commission on Supabase or Google. We benchmark both on your workload and report what the numbers say.
Questions
Supabase or Firebase, which should we use?
Pick Supabase when production-grade auth and RLS without building them, on standard Postgres you can leave is what your workload depends on. Pick Firebase when the fastest path to a working mobile backend with offline sync matters more. Most production systems we build end up using both for different tasks rather than standardising on one.
What is the catch with Supabase?
Opinionated in ways that occasionally fight a complex custom auth model.
What is the catch with Firebase?
Query limitations and costs that grow awkwardly as data volume rises.
Do you have a preference?
Not a fixed one, and we hold no reseller commission on either. We benchmark both on your actual workload and recommend from the result, which occasionally means recommending neither.
Still deciding between Supabase and Firebase?
Send us the workload. We will benchmark both and show you the numbers.
Or email bd@dtrasglobal.com · call +91 74118 77878