Supabase Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Supabase alternatives: Appwrite, PocketBase, Nhost, Firebase and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•4 min read•Databases & Database Tools
Verdict:Supabase's free plan (500 MB database, 2 active projects) and $25 Pro plan are fair, and most people who search for alternatives are reacting to one of three things: free projects that pause, bills that grow with usage, or wanting full control. Match the replacement to the reason. If you like the Postgres model and mostly dislike the pricing, Nhost is the closest in spirit, with MIT-licensed code and a $25 Pro tier, though its free plan allows only one project and pauses after a week of inactivity. If you want simplicity and a cheap VPS, PocketBase is a single binary with auth, files and an admin dashboard, but it uses SQLite and runs on one machine, so plan for backups and limits on scale. Appwrite is the broader platform choice with its own database layer, and Firebase is the pick for mobile apps that fit a document store. Coolify is a different answer: keep the same open source components but deploy them yourself. The trade-off is that you give up Supabase's integrated Postgres tooling and row-level security habits, and migrations of auth users need care. Move one low-risk project first and test login and file uploads before touching production.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appwrite | Free (Free plan: 2 projects per organization, 75K monthly active users, 5 GB bandwidth, 2 GB storage); paid from $25 per month, Pro plan | Web, Self-hosted, Cloud | Backend with hosting choices and many SDKs | Docs only |
| PocketBase | Free (Free open source; single-file backend you host yourself) | Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted | Small apps on one server | Docs only |
| Nhost | Free (Starter: 1 project, 1 GB database, 1 GB storage, 5 GB egress; paused after 1 week of inactivity); paid from $25 per month, Pro billed monthly | Web, Self-hosted, Cloud | Postgres plus GraphQL apps | Docs only |
| Firebase | Free (Spark no-cost plan: Firestore 1 GiB stored, Auth 50K monthly active users, Hosting 10 GB) | Web, Cloud | Mobile apps and document data | Docs only |
| Coolify | Free (self-hosted is free forever); paid from $5 per month, Coolify Cloud base (includes 2 servers) | Self-hosted, Coolify Cloud | Self-hosting your own stack | Docs only |
| Neon | Free (Free plan (permanent): 100 projects, 10 branches, 100 CU-hours, 1 GB storage per project, 5 GB public network transfer, community support); paid from $0.106 per per CU-hour, metered with no monthly minimum (Launch rate) | Web | Database | Docs only |
| PlanetScale | Paid from $5 per per month, Postgres PS-5 single-node cluster on AWS us-east-1 (cluster only; storage, backups and egress billed extra) | Web | Database | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want the closest Postgres-based replacement (Nhost is the pick)
- You run a small app on one cheap server (PocketBase is the pick)
- You build mobile apps on a document model (Firebase is the pick)
- You want broad SDK coverage and a hosted option (Appwrite is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Supabase features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Supabase today: Free (Free plan: 50,000 monthly active users for Auth, 500 MB database, 2 active projects); paid from $25 per month (Pro, 100,000 MAU) (Supabase pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Supabase alternatives
Supabase's Free plan allows two active projects with a 500 MB database each, and projects pause after one week of inactivity. Pro is $25 per month with 8 GB of disk, then $0.125 per GB, and 250 GB of egress, then $0.09 per GB. Compute is billed per project: Micro is $10 and is covered by the included credit, but Large is $110 and XL $210. The spend cap is on by default and must be turned off to pay for overage.
Appwrite
Compared with Supabase: BSD-3 open source backend with auth, storage, functions and databases. Unlike Supabase it is not Postgres-first, so SQL and row-level security habits do not carry over. Cloud free covers 75K monthly active users; Pro is $25 a month.
Price: Free (Free plan: 2 projects per organization, 75K monthly active users, 5 GB bandwidth, 2 GB storage); paid from $25 per month, Pro plan (Appwrite pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted, Cloud. BSD-3-Clause (open source).
Project activity: 57.8k GitHub stars · latest release 2.6.2 (Oct 24, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Backend with hosting choices and many SDKs.
PocketBase
Compared with Supabase: MIT backend in a single file with database, auth, storage and an admin UI, run on a cheap server. It scales up less than Supabase and uses SQLite, not Postgres, but costs nothing beyond hosting.
Price: Free (Free open source; single-file backend you host yourself) (PocketBase pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 61.6k GitHub stars · latest release v0.40.6 (Oct 23, 2026) · Archived on GitHub
Best for: Small apps on one server.
Worth knowing: Bundles a realtime database, auth, file storage and admin dashboard in one file; extend with Go or JavaScript hooks.
Nhost
Compared with Supabase: MIT-licensed, built on Postgres and GraphQL, so it is the nearest to Supabase's model. Free Starter has 1 GB database but pauses after a week idle; Pro is $25 a month, the same as Supabase Pro.
Price: Free (Starter: 1 project, 1 GB database, 1 GB storage, 5 GB egress; paused after 1 week of inactivity); paid from $25 per month, Pro billed monthly (Nhost pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted, Cloud. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 9.4k GitHub stars · latest release cli@1.52.2 (Oct 26, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Postgres plus GraphQL apps.
Worth knowing: Pro includes $15 of compute credits, 10 GB database and 50 GB storage; compute billed by the minute beyond that.
Firebase
Compared with Supabase: Google's backend with a generous no-cost Spark plan: 50K monthly active users on Auth and 1 GiB Firestore. You lose SQL and open source, and gain mature mobile SDKs and Hosting, but get vendor lock-in.
Price: Free (Spark no-cost plan: Firestore 1 GiB stored, Auth 50K monthly active users, Hosting 10 GB) (Firebase pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Cloud. Proprietary.
Best for: Mobile apps and document data.
Worth knowing: Blaze is pay as you go with no flat monthly fee; eligible users may get $300 free credit. Firestore is a document database, not Postgres.
Coolify
Compared with Supabase: Self-hosted deployment platform, not a backend. Coolify lets you run Postgres and other services on your own server, so you can keep Supabase's open source stack but pay only for hardware. Self-hosting is free; Cloud is $5 a month.
Price: Free (self-hosted is free forever); paid from $5 per month, Coolify Cloud base (includes 2 servers) (Coolify pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted, Coolify Cloud. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 65.1k GitHub stars · latest release v4.5.1 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Self-hosting your own stack.
Worth knowing: Deploys over SSH using Docker, Compose or Nixpacks.
Other popular options (paid)
Neon
Compared with Supabase: Serverless Postgres with a permanent free plan of 100 projects, 100 CU-hours and 1 GB storage per project. Paid use is metered at $0.106 per CU-hour with no monthly minimum, rather than Supabase Pro's flat $25.
Price: Free (Free plan (permanent): 100 projects, 10 branches, 100 CU-hours, 1 GB storage per project, 5 GB public network transfer, community support); paid from $0.106 per per CU-hour, metered with no monthly minimum (Launch rate) (Neon pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
PlanetScale
Compared with Supabase: Postgres clusters start at $5 per month for a single-node PS-5 on AWS us-east-1, with storage, backups and egress billed extra. No free plan is recorded, unlike Supabase's two free projects.
Price: Paid from $5 per per month, Postgres PS-5 single-node cluster on AWS us-east-1 (cluster only; storage, backups and egress billed extra) (PlanetScale pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Which one to pick
- You want the closest Postgres-based replacement: Nhost
- You run a small app on one cheap server: PocketBase
- You build mobile apps on a document model: Firebase
- You want broad SDK coverage and a hosted option: Appwrite
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Appwrite, PocketBase, Nhost, Firebase, Coolify: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Supabase. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
Related guides
More in Databases & Database Tools
All Databases & Database Tools alternatives →Sources
- Supabase pricing
- Appwrite pricing
- Appwrite license
- Appwrite (more detail)
- Appwrite (more detail)
- Appwrite GitHub repository
- PocketBase pricing
- PocketBase license
- PocketBase GitHub repository
- Nhost pricing
- Nhost license
- Nhost GitHub repository
- Firebase pricing
- Coolify pricing
- Coolify license
- Coolify GitHub repository
- Neon pricing
- PlanetScale pricing
Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Supabase, Appwrite, PocketBase, Nhost, Firebase, Coolify, Neon, PlanetScale. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.