Supabase vs Appwrite
Both are alternatives to Firebase. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Appwrite vs Supabase — same comparison, one verdict.
Supabase
TOP PICKPostgres with Firebase's ergonomics — and you can take the database with you.
Supabase wraps a real Postgres database in the things that made Firebase pleasant: instant REST and GraphQL APIs, row-level security, authentication, file storage, realtime subscriptions and edge functions. The difference that matters is underneath. Your data is in Postgres, so you get SQL, joins, transactions, extensions like PostGIS and pgvector, and the ability to pick up the database and run it on any host on earth. It is Apache-2.0 and self-hostable with Docker Compose, and the hosted tier exists for people who would rather not. Around 107k GitHub stars and pushed to daily.
Appwrite
The self-hosted backend that ships as one Docker command.
Appwrite bundles databases, authentication with 30-plus OAuth providers, storage, serverless functions and realtime into a product designed from the start to be self-hosted — one `docker compose up` and you have the whole backend running on your own machine. Where Supabase leads with Postgres, Appwrite leads with operational simplicity, and the SDK coverage across Flutter, web, Apple and Android is unusually complete. BSD-3-Clause, around 56.7k stars. It is the pick when you want to own the whole stack without becoming a database administrator to do it.
Side by side
| Supabase | Appwrite | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 91 | 92 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Pricing | Free tier for small projects; hosted Pro from about $25/month. Fully self-hostable at no licence cost. | Free and open source to self-host. Appwrite Cloud has a free tier and paid plans from about $15/month. |
Supabase is Macrostack's recommended Firebase alternative, so it's our pick here.
Supabase
Strengths
- +Real Postgres — SQL, joins, transactions and the whole extension ecosystem
- +Genuinely portable: the database runs anywhere, hosted or not
- +Apache-2.0 with a complete self-host path, not a crippled community edition
- +pgvector built in, so AI features do not need a second database
Trade-offs
- −You now have a Postgres database to think about — indexes, connections, vacuum
- −Mobile offline sync is weaker than Firebase's SDKs
- −Self-hosting the full stack is more moving parts than the hosted product suggests
- −Younger than Firebase; some edges are still being filed off
Appwrite
Strengths
- +Self-hosts in a single Docker Compose command — the lowest-friction option here
- +Excellent SDK coverage including Flutter, Apple and Android
- +Permissive BSD-3-Clause with no enterprise directory carve-out
- +Auth, storage, functions and realtime all in one binary set
Trade-offs
- −Its own database abstraction rather than raw Postgres — less portable data
- −Smaller ecosystem and fewer third-party integrations than Supabase
- −Query capability is thinner than SQL when the data model gets complex
- −Scaling beyond a single node needs planning
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Facts verified 2026-07-31. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.