The short answer
- Under 50,000 monthly active users with a database under 500 MB? Supabase Free covers database, auth and storage. Modeled first-year saving: $288. supabase.com
- The catch on Free: no automatic backups, and projects pause after a week of inactivity. Back up with the CLI yourself. supabase.com
- Only using the database? Neon Free gives 0.5 GB per project and scales to zero, a modeled first-year saving of $250. the math
- Self-hosting Supabase needs a server with at least 4 GB of RAM and is modeled at $1,160 more than Pro in year one once upkeep counts. the math
Who should switch, and who shouldn't
Switch if
- Your project fits the Free limits: 500 MB database, 1 GB file storage, 50,000 MAU and 5 GB egress. supabase.com
- You only use Postgres, not Supabase's auth or storage: Neon Free covers a database per project. the math
- It's a side project that can live with a pause after a week without traffic. supabase.com
Stay if
- You need daily backups: Pro keeps 7 days of them, Free has none. supabase.com
- Real users would notice a paused project. supabase.com
- You use Realtime, Edge Functions, vectors or the auto-generated APIs, which the other paths don't cover. recipe
What Supabase costs today
List prices from the vendor's pricing page, as stored in the Stackcut catalog. Each price links its source.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supabase Pro | $25/mo | not shown | From $25/mo: 8 GB disk per project, 100 GB file storage, 100,000 MAU, 250 GB egress, $10/mo compute credits; first project included, more from $10/mo |
| Supabase Team | $599/mo | not shown | From $599/mo: same usage quotas as Pro (8 GB disk, 100 GB storage, 100,000 MAU, 250 GB egress); SSO, longer retention |
- Pro's first project is included and extra projects cost from $10 a month each for compute. Pro includes $10 a month of compute credits. supabase.com
The alternatives, ranked
3 ways out, ranked by modeled saving in the first year after setup and upkeep (3 priced). Modeled, not measured: each figure links the math on the recipe page.
What Supabase costs at 10,000 to 250,000 monthly active users
Free covers up to 50,000 MAU; Pro includes 100,000 and bills each extra user. Assumes the database stays within each plan's included size.
| Monthly active users | 10,000 | 50,000 | 100,000 | 250,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supabase today | $0Free | $0Free | $25Pro | $512.50Pro, plus overage |
| Supabase (self-hosted)Apache-2.0; 4 GB RAM server | $0+ your server | $0+ your server | $0+ your server | $0+ your server |
- Neon doesn't price by MAU: its paid plans bill compute hours and storage ($0.106 per CU-hour and $0.35 per GB-month on Launch), so the monthly price depends on how long the database runs. neon.com
How to leave Supabase
Export first, then cancel. Every step links the vendor's own help page, checked on the date shown.
How to leave Supabase
Export first
- Database: roles, schema and data: supabase db dump --db-url … with -f roles.sql --role-only, then -f schema.sql, then -f data.sql --use-copy --data-only (SQL). Storage objects aren't in the dump; move them separately. supabase.com
What you lose
- Daily backups, on Free
- Staying awake: Free projects pause after a week of inactivity
Cancel
- Back up first with the Supabase CLI (see export); Free projects get no automatic backups.
- Change the subscription plan in your organization's billing settings.
- Refunds
- The organization gets credits for unused time on the plan; they don't expire and can be used later.
- After you cancel
- You may see a charge for unbilled usage from the previous billing cycle. You get 2 active free projects; paused projects don't count.
Not covered by the paths above, per the recipe: Realtime, Edge functions, Vector (pgvector), Auto-generated APIs, Daily backups. If you rely on one of these, keep the incumbent or check the path closely.
Open-source and forkable options
- Supabase (self-hosted): Self-host with Docker on a server with at least 4 GB RAM, 2 CPU cores and 40 GB SSD. You own backups and upgrades. License: Apache-2.0 · source code
Open source means no license fee, not free to run: the server, backups and upgrades are yours. Read the license before you fork or resell; several of these are open-core or source-available.
FAQ
What happens if I downgrade Supabase to Free?
The organization gets credits for unused time on Pro, which don't expire. Free projects get no automatic backups and pause after a week of inactivity, and you get 2 active free projects. supabase.com
How do I back up my Supabase database?
With the CLI: supabase db dump writes roles, schema and data as 3 SQL files. Storage objects aren't included, so copy them separately. supabase.com
Can I self-host Supabase?
Yes, with Docker on a server with at least 4 GB of RAM, 2 CPU cores and 40 GB of SSD. The code is Apache-2.0, and backups and upgrades are yours. the math
What does Pro cost as my users grow?
$25/mo includes 100,000 monthly active users; each one after that costs $0.00325. supabase.com
Keep reading
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Or ask your agent
Connect the Stackcut MCP server (https://stackcut.io/mcp, no API key) and ask: “Our MVP on Supabase Pro has 3,000 monthly active users and a 200 MB database. Do we need Pro?”
find_alternatives({"vendor": "Supabase", "monthly_spend_usd": 25,
"features_used": ["Postgres database", "Auth"], "usage": {"mau": 3000, "db_gb": 0.2}})