Staxly

Chroma vs Supabase

Open-source vector DB designed for AI apps — embeddings-first, dev-friendly
vs. The open source Firebase alternative with Postgres

Chroma websiteSupabase website

Pricing tiers

Chroma

Cloud — Free
$5 free credits. Great for trying it out.
Free
Cloud — Pro
$100 credits included, then usage-based. Dedicated resources, SOC2, priority support.
$0 base (usage-based)
Self-Host (OSS)
MIT-licensed. Embedded or Docker. Free forever.
$0 base (usage-based)
Cloud — Enterprise
Custom. VPC, compliance, dedicated support.
Custom
Chroma website

Supabase

Free
Perfect for experiments. Projects pause after 7 days inactivity.
Free
Pro
Production-ready. Usage-based overages apply.
$25/mo
Team
For teams; includes SOC2 attestation and priority support.
$599/mo
Enterprise
Custom quotas, HIPAA compliance, dedicated support.
Custom
Supabase website

Free-tier quotas head-to-head

Comparing cloud-free on Chroma vs free on Supabase.

MetricChromaSupabase
bandwidth gb5 GB/month
db storage gb0.5 GB
edge invocations500000 invocations/month
file storage gb1 GB
mau50000 users/month
realtime messages2000000 messages/month

Features

Chroma · 11 features

  • Client-Server ModeRun Chroma via Docker; clients connect over HTTP.
  • CollectionsNamed groups of embeddings + metadata.
  • Distributed (Cloud)Horizontal scaling on Chroma Cloud.
  • Embedded ModeIn-process Python — chromadb.Client() and go. Zero setup.
  • Embedding FunctionsPlug-in embedders (OpenAI, Cohere, SentenceTransformers, HF).
  • Full-Text SearchBM25 + vector hybrid.
  • Metadata FiltersWhere-clause query language.
  • Migration ToolsImport from Pinecone + other stores.
  • Multi-ModalText + image embeddings (CLIP, etc.).
  • Python + JS APIsSame API shape across both SDKs.
  • Serverless CloudPay for storage + queries, auto-scale.

Supabase · 24 features

  • AuthenticationComplete JWT-based auth: passwords, magic links, OTP, OAuth, SSO, phone, MFA.
  • Backups & PITRAutomatic daily backups + Point-in-Time Recovery (WAL-G). 14-day default PITR wi
  • Compute InstancesUpgradeable DB compute: Micro, Small, Medium, Large. Affects CPU, RAM, and conne
  • Connection PoolingSupavisor pooler: Session mode (persistent) and Transaction mode (serverless). D
  • Cron JobsScheduled recurring jobs via pg_cron. Trigger DB functions, edge functions, or H
  • Custom DomainsConfigure custom hostname for API endpoints with SSL certificate management.
  • Database WebhooksAsync HTTP callbacks on INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE via pg_net extension.
  • Edge FunctionsTypeScript (Deno runtime) functions deployed globally at the edge. Supports secr
  • Full-Text SearchPostgreSQL native FTS: to_tsvector, to_tsquery, GIN indexes, fuzzy matching, wei
  • Image TransformationsOn-the-fly resize, crop, quality (20-100), WebP auto-format. Smart CDN caching.
  • Log DrainsRoute all stack logs to HTTP, Datadog, Loki, Sentry, S3, OTLP, or Axiom. Up to 2
  • Metrics API~200 Prometheus-compatible Postgres metrics. OpenTelemetry export to Datadog, Gr
  • Network RestrictionsCIDR allowlist for database access. Multiple IP ranges supported. Pro+ plan.
  • OAuth 2.1 ServerUse Supabase Auth as OAuth provider. Custom Access Token Hooks for claim injecti
  • pgvectorStore and search vector embeddings in Postgres. Supports HNSW/Flat indexes, cosi
  • PostgreSQL DatabaseFull PostgreSQL per project: SQL editor, table editor, CSV import, 50+ extension
  • PostgreSQL Extensions50+ pre-installed extensions: uuid-ossp, pgvector, pg_cron, plv8, pgtap, pg_net,
  • Preview BranchesEphemeral or persistent DB branches for isolated testing. Git integration, auto-
  • QueuesExactly-once message queues built on pgmq. Stored in Postgres with configurable
  • Read ReplicasAsync read-only replicas in multiple regions. Geo-routing, replication lag monit
  • RealtimeWebSocket subscriptions for DB changes (INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE), broadcast, and pr
  • Row Level SecuritySQL-native access control; policies auto-filter rows based on auth.uid() / auth.
  • SSL EnforcementRequire TLS for all DB connections. Configurable: required, preferred, disabled.
  • StorageFiles, Analytics (Iceberg), and Vector buckets with global CDN (285+ cities) and

Developer interfaces

KindChromaSupabase
CLISupabase CLI
SDKchromadb (JS/TS), chromadb (Python)C# SDK, Flutter SDK, JavaScript SDK, Kotlin SDK, Python SDK, Swift SDK
RESTChroma HTTP APIManagement API, REST API (PostgREST)
GRAPHQLGraphQL (pg_graphql)
MCPChroma MCPSupabase MCP Server
OTHERDocker Server, Embedded Mode (in-process Python)Realtime (WebSocket)
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Chroma and Supabase are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.

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