note: I have only discussed points that felt worth noting.
I have been using Firebase and every developer out there knows that it is a more mature and stable platform. Now there is a new kid in the town who got some traction. I tried it out and it is awesome. Supabase is an open-source alternative to Firebase that runs on AWS. At first, I thought it was just a warper around AWS, no it is not.
Database comparison :
The first thing I have noticed is that it’s a database. It uses PostgreSQL, an open-source database. It is awesome to see that new platforms do have an easy transition away from the platform, unlike Firebase with its Firestore database which puts some kind of vendor lock. You can use your supabase with docker and host It on cloud services.
Firestore is a NoSQL database that can be faster yet loses its property to have a relationship between collections. Both provide real-time sync and most of the features are the same. Yet one thing that stands out is the row level of security in Supabase. It lets us use policies for row access in every table.
Full-text search is a magic feature that is implemented by Supabase but it is hard to implement in supabase.
Authentication:
Supabase provides all auth services as that of Firebase and more services like LinkedIn, discord, and Slack (bring our own client id and client secret ).it seamlessly integrates with Twilio to provide MFA which is lacking in Firebase.
File storage is similar in both Firebase and Supabase.
SDKs of both are reasonably diverse.
Cloud Function VS Edge Functions
Firebase provides cloud functions whereas Supabase provides Edge functions which is another upside for Supabase cause edge functions are relatively faster than cloud functions cause they run CDNs.
Supabase has done a great job of providing similar developer experience similar to Firebase.
Pricing- the exciting part
Both Firebase and supabase provide free tiers that are only sufficient for product development.
Here Firebase provides cost per data stored and for CRUD operations on documents. Which should be considered in data modeling for application. This is where money can be burnt if the product is developed in the wrong way.
Supabase costs money to store data, but no fee for reading and writing ……… what!
Yep, it provides unlimited API calls for the database and no extra fee. I do not know how they pulled it off.
As you know AWS pushes pricing to the bottom, which might be one of the factors affecting these pricing models.
Everyone can agree on the diverse features like ML model training and the big community that Firebase provides whereas a start-up like supabase has a long way to go. It even got series-B funding, which means it is a successful company.
It is great to see that supabase is targeting the features competitive to Firebase to fight against market space and trying to make every feature better.
You may think I am biased towards Supabase. True, but only due to its marvelous architecture and pricing models.
For more info visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiwfiVdfRIc
PS: Follow Fireship on YouTube. he provides great information on tech with the latest updates every month.
