FirebasevsSupabase
Score Comparison
Signals Comparison
Firebase
- SDK size bloats mobile apps(5/10)
Supabase
No signals
Firebase
- Costs skyrocket unexpectedly at scale(9/10)
- Read/write operations add up quickly(7/10)
- SMS authentication costs vary wildly by country(6/10)
Supabase
- Supabase project paused - free projects pause after 1 week(9/10)
- Unexpected billing - charged for ghost compute(9/10)
- Team plan jumps to $599/month - big leap from $25 Pro(6/10)
- Why is my Supabase bill so high? Per-project compute adds up(8/10)
Firebase
- Severe vendor lock-in with Google ecosystem(8/10)
Supabase
No signals
Firebase
- Firestore query limitations frustrate developers(8/10)
- Console UI can be confusing and slow(5/10)
Supabase
- RLS policies complex and impact performance significantly(7/10)
- Local development with CLI is unreliable - Docker issues(7/10)
Firebase
- Cold starts plague Cloud Functions(7/10)
Supabase
- Edge Functions cold starts and execution limits(6/10)
- Database hits connection limits as user base grows(7/10)
Firebase
- Support is limited without paid GCP plan(6/10)
Supabase
- No live chat even on Enterprise - support feels outdated(7/10)
Firebase
- January 2026 App Hosting build failures(7/10)
Supabase
- Real-time subscription limits cause dropped connections(7/10)
- Auth errors and email link failures(6/10)
- Supabase down again? Outages still frequent in 2026(9/10)
- Auth emails stop sending - 'email rate limit exceeded'(7/10)
Firebase
- Security rules have a steep learning curve(7/10)
Supabase
No signals
Firebase
- Firebase features lag behind modern alternatives(6/10)
Supabase
- Can't connect to Supabase database - direct connection is IPv6 only(6/10)
Firebase
No signals
Supabase
- Inconsistent documentation frustrates developers(5/10)
Pricing Comparison
Firebase
Users: Unlimited Auth users
Storage: 1GB Firestore, 5GB Cloud Storage
Limits: Daily quotas reset, no outbound networking, limited to Google services only
Users: Unlimited
Storage: Pay per GB
Limits: Requires credit card, costs can spike without budget alerts configured
Users: N/A
Storage: N/A
Limits: Only on Blaze plan, cold starts, 9-minute timeout (2nd gen), memory limits
Users: N/A
Storage: $0.18/GB-month
Limits: Query limitations (no OR, 10 whereIn limit), no native full-text search
Supabase
Users: Unlimited users
Storage: 500 MB database, 1 GB file storage
Limits: Hard limits (no overage), no backups, 1-day logs, max 2 active projects
Users: Unlimited users
Storage: 8 GB disk per project, 100 GB file storage
Limits: Micro compute has 60 direct / 200 pooler connections; turning off the spend cap exposes you to uncapped usage bills
Users: Unlimited users
Storage: Same quotas as Pro
Limits: No uptime SLA (Enterprise only)
Users: Unlimited
Storage: Custom
Limits: Pricing not published
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Firebase | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| Auth | ||
| Authentication Multi-provider | ||
| Database | ||
| PostgreSQL Database Full SQL support, real PostgreSQL | ||
| Firestore Database NoSQL real-time | ||
| SQL Queries NoSQL only | ||
| Database Branching Not available (Neon has this) | ||
| PostgreSQL NoSQL only | ||
| Point-in-time Recovery Enterprise only | ||
| API | ||
| Auto-generated REST API PostgREST instant APIs | ||
| GraphQL API Via pg_graphql extension | ||
| Backend | ||
| Cloud Functions Blaze only | ||
| Infrastructure | ||
| Hosting CDN included | ||
| Security | ||
| Row Level Security Powerful but impacts performance | ||
| SSO/SAML Team plan ($599) and above | ||
| Storage | ||
| Cloud Storage For files/media | ||
| File Storage S3-compatible object storage | ||
| Analytics | ||
| Analytics Free, integrated | ||
| Monitoring | ||
| Crashlytics Free | ||
| Compute | ||
| Edge Functions Deno runtime, 60s limit | ||
| Real-time | ||
| Real-time Subscriptions WebSocket-based, has limits | ||
| Search | ||
| Full-text Search Needs Algolia/Elastic | ||
| Deployment | ||
| Self-hosting Full Docker deployment | ||
| Compliance | ||
| SOC 2 Compliance Team plan and above | ||
| HIPAA Compliance Enterprise only | ||
| Support | ||
| Live Chat Support Not available at any tier | ||
| Phone Support Not available at any tier | ||