Staxly

Perplexity vs Supabase

AI answer engine + Comet browser + Sonar API
vs. The open source Firebase alternative with Postgres

Perplexity websiteSupabase website

Pricing tiers

Perplexity

Sonar API (PAYG)
Pay-as-you-go per request. Buy credits or set auto top-off.
$0 base (usage-based)
Free
5-10 Pro searches/day. Basic models. File uploads limited. No Comet.
Free
Education Pro
$10/month for verified students + educators (or 12 months free via promos).
$10/mo
Pro
$20/month. Unlimited Pro searches, full model selection (Claude, GPT, Gemini), unlimited file uploads, $5/mo API credits.
$20/mo
Enterprise Pro
$40/user/month. Team features + SSO + 500 daily research queries + compliance.
$40/mo
Max
$200/month. Everything in Pro + Comet agent browser, 10k credits, unlimited Labs, Sora 2 Pro video, GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.6.
$200/mo
Enterprise Max
$325/user/month. Audit logs, SCIM, configurable retention, expanded file storage.
$325/mo
Perplexity website

Supabase

Free
Perfect for experiments. Projects pause after 7 days inactivity.
Free
Pro
Production-ready. Usage-based overages apply.
$25/mo
Team
For teams; includes SOC2 attestation and priority support.
$599/mo
Enterprise
Custom quotas, HIPAA compliance, dedicated support.
Custom
Supabase website

Free-tier quotas head-to-head

Comparing free on Perplexity vs free on Supabase.

MetricPerplexitySupabase
bandwidth gb5 GB/month
db storage gb0.5 GB
edge invocations500000 invocations/month
file storage gb1 GB
mau50000 users/month
realtime messages2000000 messages/month

Features

Perplexity · 16 features

  • Agent Mode (Max)Autonomous multi-step agents (browse, act, finish tasks).
  • Answer EngineAsk → source-cited AI answers from live web.
  • Async Sonar APISubmit jobs async — receive webhook when done.
  • CollectionsSave threads + share with team.
  • Comet BrowserChromium-based AI-native browser. Sidebar assistant, agentic actions.
  • Deep ResearchMulti-step research task — compiles report with many sources.
  • Discover FeedCurated news + trending topics feed.
  • File + Image AnalysisUpload PDFs, images, CSVs → ask questions.
  • Finance ModeStocks + earnings + fundamentals mode.
  • LabsBuild interactive apps/reports — generate visualizations, code.
  • Pro SearchMulti-source + clarifying follow-ups.
  • ShoppingAI-guided product research + comparison.
  • Sonar APIProgrammatic web-grounded chat completions endpoint.
  • Sora 2 Pro (Max)Generate video via OpenAI Sora 2.
  • SpacesPersistent workspaces with custom instructions + knowledge files.
  • Voice ModeTalk to Perplexity (mobile apps).

Supabase · 24 features

  • AuthenticationComplete JWT-based auth: passwords, magic links, OTP, OAuth, SSO, phone, MFA.
  • Backups & PITRAutomatic daily backups + Point-in-Time Recovery (WAL-G). 14-day default PITR wi
  • Compute InstancesUpgradeable DB compute: Micro, Small, Medium, Large. Affects CPU, RAM, and conne
  • Connection PoolingSupavisor pooler: Session mode (persistent) and Transaction mode (serverless). D
  • Cron JobsScheduled recurring jobs via pg_cron. Trigger DB functions, edge functions, or H
  • Custom DomainsConfigure custom hostname for API endpoints with SSL certificate management.
  • Database WebhooksAsync HTTP callbacks on INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE via pg_net extension.
  • Edge FunctionsTypeScript (Deno runtime) functions deployed globally at the edge. Supports secr
  • Full-Text SearchPostgreSQL native FTS: to_tsvector, to_tsquery, GIN indexes, fuzzy matching, wei
  • Image TransformationsOn-the-fly resize, crop, quality (20-100), WebP auto-format. Smart CDN caching.
  • Log DrainsRoute all stack logs to HTTP, Datadog, Loki, Sentry, S3, OTLP, or Axiom. Up to 2
  • Metrics API~200 Prometheus-compatible Postgres metrics. OpenTelemetry export to Datadog, Gr
  • Network RestrictionsCIDR allowlist for database access. Multiple IP ranges supported. Pro+ plan.
  • OAuth 2.1 ServerUse Supabase Auth as OAuth provider. Custom Access Token Hooks for claim injecti
  • pgvectorStore and search vector embeddings in Postgres. Supports HNSW/Flat indexes, cosi
  • PostgreSQL DatabaseFull PostgreSQL per project: SQL editor, table editor, CSV import, 50+ extension
  • PostgreSQL Extensions50+ pre-installed extensions: uuid-ossp, pgvector, pg_cron, plv8, pgtap, pg_net,
  • Preview BranchesEphemeral or persistent DB branches for isolated testing. Git integration, auto-
  • QueuesExactly-once message queues built on pgmq. Stored in Postgres with configurable
  • Read ReplicasAsync read-only replicas in multiple regions. Geo-routing, replication lag monit
  • RealtimeWebSocket subscriptions for DB changes (INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE), broadcast, and pr
  • Row Level SecuritySQL-native access control; policies auto-filter rows based on auth.uid() / auth.
  • SSL EnforcementRequire TLS for all DB connections. Configurable: required, preferred, disabled.
  • StorageFiles, Analytics (Iceberg), and Vector buckets with global CDN (285+ cities) and

Developer interfaces

KindPerplexitySupabase
CLISupabase CLI
SDKC# SDK, Flutter SDK, JavaScript SDK, Kotlin SDK, Python SDK, Swift SDK
RESTSonar APIManagement API, REST API (PostgREST)
GRAPHQLGraphQL (pg_graphql)
MCPPerplexity MCPSupabase MCP Server
OTHERComet AI Browser, iOS + Android Apps, Perplexity Labs, Perplexity Web App, Spaces (context)Realtime (WebSocket)
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Perplexity and Supabase are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.

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