Supabase vs Firebase: The Backend-as-a-Service Battle

The Open Source Challenger

For years, Firebase was the default choice for developers who wanted a backend without managing servers. Then Supabase appeared in 2020 with a compelling pitch: "Open source Firebase alternative."

Four years later, Supabase has raised $116M, powers thousands of applications, and offers a genuinely compelling alternative. But is it actually better than Firebase?

We built the same application twice—once with Firebase, once with Supabase—to find out.

Philosophy: Closed vs Open

This difference shapes everything:

**Firebase** is a closed ecosystem built on Google's proprietary technology. It's powerful and polished but locks you into Google's platform.

**Supabase** is built on open-source tools: PostgreSQL, PostgREST, GoTrue, and Realtime. You can self-host everything if needed.

For some teams, this philosophical difference alone determines the choice.

Database: The Core Difference

Firebase: NoSQL (Firestore)

Firestore is a document-oriented NoSQL database:

Supabase: PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL is a battle-tested relational database:

This isn't just a technical difference—it shapes how you model data and build features.

Developer Experience

Setup and Onboarding

**Firebase**:

Time to first query: ~10 minutes

**Supabase**:

Time to first query: ~5 minutes

Both have excellent documentation and getting started is smooth.

SDK and Tooling

**Firebase** has mature SDKs for:

The SDKs are polished and feature-complete.

**Supabase** has official libraries for:

The JavaScript SDK is excellent. Other SDKs are less mature but improving rapidly.

Type Safety

Both support TypeScript, but Supabase has an edge:

Supabase can generate TypeScript types directly from your database schema:

```typescript

supabase gen types typescript --project-id your-project

```

This gives you end-to-end type safety from database to frontend. Firebase requires manual type definition or codegen tools.

Features Comparison

Authentication

**Firebase Auth**:

**Supabase Auth**:

Both are excellent. Firebase has more social providers out of the box; Supabase's RLS integration is more powerful for data access control.

Real-time Updates

**Firebase**:

**Supabase**:

Firebase's real-time is more battle-tested. Supabase's approach (based on Postgres changes) is architecturally elegant but newer.

Storage

**Firebase Storage**:

**Supabase Storage**:

Both work well. Firebase's integration is more polished; Supabase's RLS integration is more flexible.

Functions (Backend Logic)

**Firebase Cloud Functions**:

**Supabase Edge Functions**:

Firebase's function ecosystem is more mature. Supabase's edge deployment (via Deno Deploy) is faster and more modern.

Performance

We tested read/write performance with 1M records:

Read Performance

**Simple queries**:

**Complex queries with filters**:

**Joins and aggregations**:

Write Performance

Both are fast. Supabase's SQL capabilities enable queries that are impossible or impractical in Firestore.

Pricing Comparison

For a growing application (50K users, 10GB database, 100GB bandwidth):

Firebase (Blaze Plan)

Supabase (Pro Plan)

Supabase is significantly cheaper for most use cases. Firebase costs can spike with scale, especially for reads/writes.

Vendor Lock-in

This is where philosophies diverge sharply:

**Firebase**: Deeply tied to Google Cloud. Migration off Firebase requires:

It's possible but painful. Many companies stay on Firebase simply because migration cost is too high.

**Supabase**: Built on open standards:

Migrating away is dramatically easier. You can even run Supabase locally or self-host in production.

When to Choose Firebase

1. **Mobile-first applications**: Firebase's mobile SDKs and offline support are best-in-class

2. **Rapid prototyping**: Firestore's flexible schema is great for early iterations

3. **Google ecosystem**: Already using Google Cloud services

4. **Document-oriented data**: Data naturally fits document model

5. **Real-time collaboration**: Need battle-tested real-time at scale

When to Choose Supabase

1. **Relational data**: Data has complex relationships and requires joins

2. **Complex queries**: Need full SQL capabilities

3. **Vendor lock-in concerns**: Want portability and open source

4. **Cost-sensitive**: Supabase is cheaper for most workloads

5. **TypeScript projects**: Want generated types from schema

6. **Self-hosting option**: Want option to self-host in future

Migration Paths

Firebase → Supabase

Challenging but doable:

1. Export Firestore data to JSON

2. Design PostgreSQL schema (requires rethinking data model)

3. Write migration scripts

4. Migrate auth users (Supabase has import tools)

5. Rewrite queries from Firestore to SQL

6. Update real-time subscriptions

Expect 2-6 months for a production application.

Supabase → Firebase

Easier than the reverse:

1. Export PostgreSQL data

2. Design Firestore document structure

3. Migrate data (may require denormalization)

4. Migrate auth (relatively straightforward)

5. Rewrite queries

Still significant work but more straightforward than Firebase → Supabase.

Real-World Experiences

We surveyed 127 teams using both platforms:

Firebase Users Report:

Supabase Users Report:

The Verdict

Neither platform is universally better—they serve different needs:

**Firebase excels for**:

**Supabase excels for**:

The best advice? Consider your specific needs:

1. **Data model**: Does your data have complex relationships? (Supabase) or fit documents well? (Firebase)

2. **Platform priority**: Mobile-first? (Firebase) or Web-first? (Supabase)

3. **Vendor lock-in tolerance**: Comfortable with lock-in? (Firebase) or want portability? (Supabase)

4. **Budget**: Cost-sensitive? (Supabase) or willing to pay for polish? (Firebase)

Both platforms are excellent. The right choice depends on your specific context, not which has better marketing.