Staxly

Supabase vs Polar

The open source Firebase alternative with Postgres
vs. Merchant of Record for devs — usage-based billing, MoR, 4% + 40¢

Supabase websitePolar website

Pricing tiers

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

Polar

Pay-as-you-go
4% + 40¢ per transaction. Cheapest Merchant-of-Record. No monthly or setup fees.
$0 base (usage-based)
Enterprise
Custom. Volume discounts for high-growth teams.
Custom
Polar website

Free-tier quotas head-to-head

Comparing free on Supabase vs payg on Polar.

MetricSupabasePolar
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

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

Polar · 15 features

  • Customer PortalSelf-serve subscription management.
  • Feature FlagsSimple flag mgmt tied to subscription tiers.
  • Framework AdaptersNext.js, BetterAuth, TS, Python, Laravel, Ruby, 11+ more.
  • Fraud ProtectionChargeback + fraud handling included.
  • GitHub Sponsors ImportImport existing sponsors to Polar.
  • Global Tax ComplianceVAT/GST/sales tax filed by Polar.
  • Hosted CheckoutPolar-hosted + embeddable checkout.
  • License KeysGenerate + validate license keys for software.
  • MeteringTrack API calls, tokens, custom units.
  • One-off PurchasesSingle purchases + digital downloads.
  • Open-Source BackendFull platform code on GitHub.
  • Sandbox EnvironmentTest transactions without charging.
  • SubscriptionsTiered plans with upgrades/downgrades.
  • Usage-Based BillingEvent ingestion → meter → invoice.
  • WebhooksResource events with HMAC signatures.

Developer interfaces

KindSupabasePolar
CLISupabase CLI
SDKC# SDK, Flutter SDK, JavaScript SDK, Kotlin SDK, Python SDK, Swift SDKpolar-sdk-python, @polar-sh/better-auth, @polar-sh/nextjs, @polar-sh/sdk
RESTManagement API, REST API (PostgREST)Polar REST API
GRAPHQLGraphQL (pg_graphql)
MCPSupabase MCP ServerPolar MCP
OTHERRealtime (WebSocket)Polar Checkout, Polar Webhooks
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