Consider Supabase when…
Shortlist Supabase when you want SQL, existing Postgres tools, or a database other services can connect to directly.
Explore Supabase alternativesFIND YOUR FIT
Supabase vs Convex
Supabase vs Convex: compare a Postgres platform with a reactive TypeScript backend by data access, realtime, self-hosting, and pricing.
The decision in brief
Supabase gives you Postgres with generated APIs, row-level security, and realtime channels. Convex replaces SQL with TypeScript query, mutation, and action functions, and keeps clients up to date automatically when data changes. Both can be self-hosted, under different licences.
A focused editorial selection based on the linked official documentation. Fit notes are our judgment, rather than firsthand benchmark results or a universal ranking. How we select and verify information.
Compare the working details
| Decision factor | Supabase | Convex |
|---|---|---|
| Main focus | An app backend built on a full Postgres database, so you can use SQL and row-level security directly. | Real-time apps written end to end in TypeScript, without writing SQL or managing subscriptions by hand. |
| Working setup | Create a project, design tables in the dashboard or with migrations, add row-level security policies, then call the generated APIs from a client library. | Install the npm package, write your schema and query, mutation, and action functions in TypeScript, then call them from your client app. |
| Pricing model | A free plan with 50,000 monthly active users, a 500 MB database, and 1 GB of file storage, limited to two active projects; free projects pause after a week of inactivity. Pro is a monthly subscription with compute billed per project and usage beyond the included quotas. Self-hosting with Docker is free. | A Free & Starter plan for up to six developers, free within its included resources and pay as you go beyond them. Professional is priced per developer with larger allowances; Business has a monthly minimum. The backend can also be self-hosted. |
| What to verify | Free projects pause after a week without activity, and each extra paid project adds compute cost; count your projects and environments. | The self-hosted backend uses the FSL Apache 2.0 licence, which forbids building a competing hosted service; check that suits your plans. |
Which belongs on your shortlist?
Consider Convex when…
Shortlist Convex when the app is highly interactive and your team wants the whole backend in TypeScript, with reactivity built in.
Run the same evaluation in both
- Build the same feature in both: a shared list that updates live for two signed-in users.
- Add one access rule and one background job, and note how much code and configuration each needed.
- Compare usage against the free allowances, and check the self-hosting licence if you might run it yourself.
Try the same task before you choose
Back one small app end to end
Use the same fictional app in each candidate: a team notes app with two fictional users in one workspace and a third user outside it. Each note has a title, body, and optional image. Set up sign-in, storage, access rules, and a live update, then compare effort, limits, and cost for the same test data.
Every check starts as Not run. Record your own observations; these are evaluation criteria, rather than completed product tests. Your worksheet stays in this page and can be downloaded.
| Task and expected observation | Supabase | Convex |
|---|---|---|
| Sign up the three fictional users Email sign-up and one OAuth provider work, and each user has a stable ID you can reference in data. | ||
| Create the notes model and seed ten notes Notes are stored with an owner and workspace, and you can query them by workspace from the client. | ||
| Sign in as the outside user The outside user cannot read or change any workspace note, enforced on the server rather than in the UI. | ||
| Attach an image to one note The image uploads, is linked to the note, and is not readable by the outside user. | ||
| Edit a note with two sessions open The second workspace user sees the change without reloading the page. | ||
| Export the data and run locally You can export notes and users, and run the backend locally or self-hosted for development. | ||
| Estimate a month at higher volume Record the billing units each platform counts, then estimate a clearly labelled month with more users and notes. |
0 of 14 checks have an observation. An observation does not imply a passed test.
Sources and check dates
Provider documentation supports the product and billing descriptions. Confirm current limits and terms before choosing a plan.
ShowMeYourSaaS also offers commercial product coverage. These guides follow our editorial selection criteria; placement is not a purchased ranking. Send a correction with the page and a supporting source.