PocketBase vs Supabase
Open-source backend in a single Go binary
vs. The open source Firebase alternative with Postgres
Pricing tiers
PocketBase
Self-Hosted
MIT-licensed single binary. Run on any VPS / Docker / bare metal. No usage caps — only limited by your server.
$0 base (usage-based)
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
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing self-hosted on PocketBase vs free on Supabase.
| Metric | PocketBase | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| bandwidth gb | — | 5 GB/month |
| db storage gb | — | 0.5 GB |
| edge invocations | — | 500000 invocations/month |
| file storage gb | — | 1 GB |
| mau | — | 50000 users/month |
| realtime messages | — | 2000000 messages/month |
Features
PocketBase · 12 features
- Access Rules — Record-level access rules (filter expressions) referencing @request and @collect…
- Admin Dashboard — Built-in web UI for schema + data management.
- Auth — Email+password, OAuth2 (Google, GitHub, Facebook, Apple, Discord, Microsoft, etc…
- Backups — Built-in backup/restore with S3 upload option.
- Built-in Mailer — SMTP integration for verification, password reset, magic link emails.
- Collections — Schema-defined record types with fields, validations, and record/admin/auth acce…
- Embedded JS Engine — JavaScript VM (goja) lets you write hooks in JS without recompiling.
- Extend as Go Library — Embed PocketBase in a larger Go app, add custom routes and events.
- File Storage — Local filesystem or S3-compatible storage with access rules.
- Hooks — Server-side Go or JavaScript hooks that run on CRUD events (OnRecordBeforeCreate…
- Migrations — JS/Go migration scripts applied on startup.
- Realtime Subscriptions — SSE-based subscriptions to collection changes.
Supabase · 24 features
- Authentication — Complete JWT-based auth: passwords, magic links, OTP, OAuth, SSO, phone, MFA.
- Backups & PITR — Automatic daily backups + Point-in-Time Recovery (WAL-G). 14-day default PITR wi…
- Compute Instances — Upgradeable DB compute: Micro, Small, Medium, Large. Affects CPU, RAM, and conne…
- Connection Pooling — Supavisor pooler: Session mode (persistent) and Transaction mode (serverless). D…
- Cron Jobs — Scheduled recurring jobs via pg_cron. Trigger DB functions, edge functions, or H…
- Custom Domains — Configure custom hostname for API endpoints with SSL certificate management.
- Database Webhooks — Async HTTP callbacks on INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE via pg_net extension.
- Edge Functions — TypeScript (Deno runtime) functions deployed globally at the edge. Supports secr…
- Full-Text Search — PostgreSQL native FTS: to_tsvector, to_tsquery, GIN indexes, fuzzy matching, wei…
- Image Transformations — On-the-fly resize, crop, quality (20-100), WebP auto-format. Smart CDN caching. …
- Log Drains — Route 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 Restrictions — CIDR allowlist for database access. Multiple IP ranges supported. Pro+ plan.
- OAuth 2.1 Server — Use Supabase Auth as OAuth provider. Custom Access Token Hooks for claim injecti…
- pgvector — Store and search vector embeddings in Postgres. Supports HNSW/Flat indexes, cosi…
- PostgreSQL Database — Full PostgreSQL per project: SQL editor, table editor, CSV import, 50+ extension…
- PostgreSQL Extensions — 50+ pre-installed extensions: uuid-ossp, pgvector, pg_cron, plv8, pgtap, pg_net,…
- Preview Branches — Ephemeral or persistent DB branches for isolated testing. Git integration, auto-…
- Queues — Exactly-once message queues built on pgmq. Stored in Postgres with configurable …
- Read Replicas — Async read-only replicas in multiple regions. Geo-routing, replication lag monit…
- Realtime — WebSocket subscriptions for DB changes (INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE), broadcast, and pr…
- Row Level Security — SQL-native access control; policies auto-filter rows based on auth.uid() / auth.…
- SSL Enforcement — Require TLS for all DB connections. Configurable: required, preferred, disabled.
- Storage — Files, Analytics (Iceberg), and Vector buckets with global CDN (285+ cities) and…
Developer interfaces
| Kind | PocketBase | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | — | Supabase CLI |
| SDK | Go API (extend as library), pocketbase (Dart), pocketbase (JS SDK) | C# SDK, Flutter SDK, JavaScript SDK, Kotlin SDK, Python SDK, Swift SDK |
| REST | REST API | Management API, REST API (PostgREST) |
| GRAPHQL | — | GraphQL (pg_graphql) |
| MCP | — | Supabase MCP Server |
| OTHER | Admin Dashboard, Realtime SSE | Realtime (WebSocket) |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to PocketBase 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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