Quick Summary: Supabase offers four pricing tiers: Free ($0/month with 500MB database and 50K MAUs), Pro ($25/month base plus usage with 8GB database (Disk Management update applies) and 100K MAUs), Team ($599/month plus usage with enhanced support), and custom Enterprise plans. Beyond base subscription costs, users pay for compute hours ($10/month for extra micro instance), storage overages ($0.021/GB), egress beyond quotas ($0.09/GB), and additional monthly active users ($0.00325 per MAU).
Calculating the actual cost of running a Supabase project can be trickier than it first appears. The platform advertises a straightforward $25 Pro plan, but that’s just the starting point.
According to the official Supabase documentation, the pricing model combines subscription tiers with usage-based charges. This means your monthly bill depends on both your chosen plan and how much you actually use the platform’s resources.
Here’s the thing though—many developers discover these usage costs only after launching their first project. Community discussions on platforms like GitHub reveal users questioning unexpected compute charges, even on supposedly empty projects.
Supabase Pricing Plans: The Four Tiers
Supabase structures its pricing around four distinct tiers, each designed for different scales of operation. The official pricing page breaks down these options clearly.
Free Plan: $0 Per Month
The Free Plan provides two projects with permanent availability—no time limits or credit card required. According to official documentation, each free project includes:
- 500 MB database storage
- 50,000 monthly active users (MAUs)
- 1 GB file storage
- 5 GB egress bandwidth
- Unlimited API requests
But wait. That 500 MB database limit includes not just your data, but also Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) and system overhead. According to community discussions, databases with schema and minimal data can consume 0.22 GB or more due to WAL and system overhead.
Projects on the Free Plan pause after one week of inactivity, though they restart instantly when accessed.
Pro Plan: $25 Base + Usage
The Pro Plan serves as the production-grade option for most growing applications. The base subscription costs $25 per month, plus usage charges for resources that exceed included quotas.
According to official Supabase documentation, Pro Plan projects include:
- 8 GB database storage (included)
- 100,000 MAUs (included)
- 100 GB file storage (included)
- 250 GB egress bandwidth (included)
- Daily backups for 7 days
- Email support
The critical detail: compute costs are separate for more than one project. The the first Micro Compute instance is included in Pro. Each next requires an additional compute instance, starting at $10 per month.
As stated in the official billing documentation: “Compute Hours are not covered by the Spend Cap.” This means compute charges always apply, even if you enable spending limits for other resources.
Team Plan: $599 Base + Usage
The Team Plan targets organizations requiring enhanced collaboration and compliance features. At $599 per month plus usage, it includes everything in Pro, plus:
- SOC2 compliance reports
- Priority email support with 2-day response SLA
- Daily backups for 14 days
- Dedicated Slack channel
Storage and bandwidth quotas match the Pro Plan. The primary value comes from compliance documentation and faster support response times.
Enterprise Plan: Custom Pricing
Enterprise plans offer custom pricing negotiated directly with Supabase. These include dedicated infrastructure, custom SLAs, on-premise deployment options, and assigned support engineers.
Official documentation lists Enterprise features like custom egress pricing, dedicated database instances, and unlimited projects—but provides no public pricing benchmarks.
Understanding Usage-Based Costs
The base subscription only tells part of the story. Supabase charges for resource consumption beyond included quotas, and these costs can add up quickly for high-traffic applications.
Compute Costs: The Unavoidable Charge
Every Supabase project runs on a dedicated Postgres instance. According to official documentation, compute charges by the hour based on instance size:
| Compute Size | RAM | CPU | Hourly Cost | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micro | 2 GB | Shared | $0.01344 | ~$10 |
| Small | 4 GB | 2-core | $0.0206 | ~$15 |
| Medium | 8 GB | 2-core | $0.0822 | ~$61 |
| Large | 16 GB | 4-core | $0.1517 | ~$113 |
These charges apply 24/7 whenever a project is active. As noted in official documentation: “If a project runs for part of an hour, you are still charged for the full hour.”
Free Plan projects run on shared compute infrastructure at no charge but with performance limitations. Pro and above require paid compute instances.
Database Storage: Per-GB Charges
Database storage is charged at $0.125 per GB per month for usage exceeding plan quotas. The official documentation explains this uses a GB-Hours calculation model.
Pro and Team plans include 8 GB. Beyond that threshold, charges accumulate based on actual usage throughout the billing cycle.
Database size includes not just user data, but also: Write-Ahead Logging (WAL), indexes, and Postgres system tables all consume space within your quota.
Egress Bandwidth: $0.09 Per GB
Network egress—data transferred from Supabase to external clients—costs $0.09 per GB after exceeding plan limits. According to official documentation, egress quotas are:
- Free Plan: 5 GB included
- Pro/Team Plans: 250 GB included
- Enterprise: Custom limits
Cached egress (served through Supabase’s CDN) costs less at $0.03 per GB. Database queries, Storage file downloads, Edge Function responses, and Realtime subscriptions all generate egress.
Official examples show a project with 200 GB uncached egress and 230 GB cached egress would stay within Pro Plan quotas and incur no overage charges.
File Storage: $0.021 Per GB-Month
Storage for files in Supabase Storage buckets costs $0.021 per GB per month (calculated as $0.00002919 per GB-Hour). According to official documentation:
- Free Plan: 1 GB included
- Pro/Team Plans: 100 GB included
- Enterprise: Custom quotas
This charge applies only to the total size of files, not transfer costs (which fall under egress).
Monthly Active Users: $0.00325 Per MAU
Authentication costs scale with monthly active users beyond plan quotas. Official documentation defines MAUs as unique users who authenticate during a calendar month.
Pro and Team plans include 100,000 MAUs. Additional users cost $0.00325 each. So 150,000 MAUs would generate 50,000 × $0.00325 = $162.50 in overage charges.
Free Plan projects have a hard limit of 50,000 MAUs with no overage option—exceeding this requires upgrading to Pro.
Hidden Costs and Gotchas
Beyond the documented pricing structure, several less-obvious costs can impact your bill.
Multiple Projects Multiply Costs
Each project requires its own compute instance. According to the official billing FAQ, if an organization runs three projects on Pro Plan with default compute: “$25 Pro Plan + $20 for 3 projects on the default compute size = $45/month” (before usage charges).
Free Plan users get two projects with no compute charges, but upgrading to Pro means paying compute costs for every active project.
Add-On Features
Several features require additional charges beyond standard usage pricing:
- IPv4 address: $4 per month per project
- Custom domains: Included in Pro, Team, and Enterprise
- Point-in-Time Recovery (PITR): Additional cost on Pro and above
- Log Drains: Additional cost, billed per project
The IPv4 add-on is unavailable on Free Plan, as noted in official documentation.
Real-World Cost Examples
Let’s look at what different usage scenarios actually cost, based on official billing examples.
Small Production App
A simple production application might have:
- Pro Plan base: $25
- Micro compute (more than one): $10
- 3 GB database storage: Included in 8 GB quota
- 75,000 MAUs: Included in 100K quota
- 80 GB egress: Included in 250 GB quota
Total: $35 per month
Growing SaaS Application
A scaling SaaS platform might consume:
- Pro Plan base: $25
- Small compute instance: $15
- 15 GB database storage: (15 – 8) × $0.125 = $0.88
- 150,000 MAUs: (150K – 100K) × $0.00325 = $162.50
- 300 GB egress: (300 – 250) × $0.09 = $4.50
- 120 GB file storage: (120 – 100) × $0.021 = $0.42
Total: $208.30 per month
High-Traffic Consumer App
A popular consumer application could see:
- Team Plan base: $599
- Medium compute instance: $61
- 50 GB database storage: (50 – 8) × $0.125 = $5.25
- 500,000 MAUs: (500K – 100K) × $0.00325 = $1,300
- 800 GB egress: (800 – 250) × $0.09 = $49.50
Total: $2,014.75 per month
These examples show how quickly costs scale with user growth, particularly MAU-related charges.
Supabase vs Firebase Pricing
Comparing Supabase to Google’s Firebase reveals fundamentally different pricing philosophies.
Firebase uses pure usage-based pricing. According to comparison analyses, Firebase charges per document read, write, and delete. Small operations accumulate costs quickly—50,000 daily document reads can generate significant monthly charges.
Supabase’s subscription model with included quotas provides more cost predictability for established workloads. An application with 80,000 MAUs costs $35 per month on Supabase Pro (if within other quotas), while Firebase would charge per authentication operation.
However, Firebase’s free Spark plan includes more generous daily quotas for document operations compared to Supabase’s storage limits. Small projects might stay free longer on Firebase.
The deciding factor: Firebase costs scale gradually with every operation, while Supabase costs spike when exceeding quota thresholds.
Cost Optimization Strategies
Several approaches can minimize Supabase expenses without sacrificing functionality.
Leverage the Free Plan Fully
The two free projects can serve development, staging, and small production workloads. According to official limits, 50,000 MAUs support substantial traffic for new applications.
Pause unused projects to prevent them from consuming quota limits, though official documentation notes paused projects don’t count toward free project limits anyway.
Optimize Database Storage
Database size directly impacts costs once exceeding the 8 GB Pro Plan quota. Strategies include:
- Archive old data to external storage
- Implement data retention policies
- Use Postgres table partitioning
- Regularly vacuum and analyze tables to reclaim space
Reduce Egress Bandwidth
Egress costs $0.09 per GB after quota. Minimize transfers by:
- Implementing aggressive caching strategies
- Using Supabase’s CDN for cached content ($0.03/GB vs $0.09/GB)
- Paginating large result sets
- Compressing responses
- Serving media through CDNs outside Supabase
Right-Size Compute Resources
The extra micro compute instance ($10/month) suffices for many applications. Monitor CPU and memory usage before upgrading to larger instances.
Official documentation indicates compute size affects performance but not storage capacity, so don’t over-provision unnecessarily.
Monitor MAU Growth
At $0.00325 per additional MAU, authentication costs can explode. The jump from 100,000 to 200,000 MAUs adds $325 monthly.
Consider implementing session duration limits or monthly access restrictions to control MAU counts, though this trades cost optimization against user experience.
Claim Supabase Credits Before Scaling Your Backend
Supabase pricing is usage based, which means costs increase as your database, storage, and API usage grow. Once a project moves from testing into production, expenses can rise quickly, especially for apps handling real user traffic. Many startups pay full price at this stage without checking if credits are available.
Get AI Perks lists startup credits and discounts for AI and developer tools, including Supabase offers such as around $300 in credits for new accounts and up to $500 for active projects. Instead of searching through vendor programs individually, founders can review available perks in one place and see their approval likelihood before applying.
Check Get AI Perks first and claim available Supabase credits before scaling your infrastructure.
When to Choose Each Plan
Different tiers suit different stages and use cases.
Free Plan Is Best For:
- Side projects and prototypes
- Learning and experimentation
- MVPs with under 50K users
- Development and staging environments
The performance limitations and 500 MB database constraint make Free unsuitable for production workloads with any growth trajectory.
Pro Plan Is Best For:
- Production applications under 100K MAUs
- Small business applications
- Projects needing daily backups
- Teams requiring email support
At $35 minimum monthly cost, Pro provides production-grade infrastructure at competitive pricing compared to managing Postgres on AWS RDS or DigitalOcean.
Team Plan Is Best For:
- Organizations requiring SOC2 compliance
- Teams needing priority support
- Companies willing to pay for faster response times
The $564 premium over Pro Plan ($599 vs $35) buys compliance documentation and support SLAs—valuable for enterprise sales but unnecessary for many applications.
Enterprise Plan Is Best For:
- Large-scale applications with millions of users
- Organizations requiring dedicated infrastructure
- Companies needing custom SLAs
- Projects with specific compliance requirements
Common Pricing Complaints
Community discussions reveal recurring friction points with Supabase’s pricing model.
Compute Charges on Empty Projects
GitHub discussions document user experiences with compute charges on newly created projects. One common observation: compute instances generate charges from project launch regardless of actual data or traffic.
This occurs because compute instances run continuously once a project launches, regardless of actual database activity. The charges are documented, but many users expect pay-per-query pricing similar to serverless databases.
Pricing Page Clarity
GitHub discussions have highlighted user confusion about what’s included in base subscriptions versus usage charges, particularly regarding compute instance costs being separate from the base plan fee.
Supabase has since updated documentation to emphasize compute costs more prominently, but the multi-component pricing model remains more complex than simple per-user or per-request alternatives.
MAU Costs at Scale
The $0.00325 per MAU overage rate becomes expensive for consumer applications. Growing from 100,000 to 1,000,000 MAUs adds $2,925 monthly—potentially more than database hosting itself.
Some developers report considering self-hosted Supabase instances to avoid MAU charges once reaching this scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Supabase free forever?
Yes, according to official documentation. The Free Plan has no time limit and provides two projects permanently. Projects pause after one week of inactivity but restart instantly when accessed. There are no trial periods or forced upgrades.
What happens when I exceed free tier limits?
On the Free Plan, services stop functioning when you exceed hard limits like the 50,000 MAU cap or 5 GB egress quota. You must upgrade to Pro to continue service. Pro Plan users can enable the Spend Cap to prevent usage overages, which restricts services after exceeding quotas, or disable it to allow automatic overage billing.
How much does Supabase cost for 100,000 users?
If you have exactly 100,000 monthly active users, the Pro Plan covers you within its included quota. The minimum cost would be $25 per month for the one project using micro compute ($25 base plus $10 compute for the next one). Additional costs depend on database size, file storage, and bandwidth usage. The first GB beyond quota thresholds would add minimal charges.
Does Supabase charge for API requests?
No. Supabase includes unlimited API requests on all plans, including Free. You’re not charged per query, function call, or authentication request. Costs come from resource consumption (storage, bandwidth, compute) and MAUs, not request volume.
How does Supabase compare to AWS RDS pricing?
For small projects, Supabase is typically cheaper. An equivalent AWS RDS db.t3.micro Postgres instance costs around $16 per month for compute alone, plus separate charges for storage ($0.115/GB), backups ($0.095/GB), and data transfer ($0.09/GB). Supabase’s $35 Pro Plan includes compute, 8GB storage, backups, and 250GB transfer. However, AWS RDS becomes more cost-effective at enterprise scale with reserved instances.
Can I self-host Supabase to save money?
Yes. Supabase is open-source and fully self-hostable. Running your own instance on a VPS eliminates subscription and usage fees, but requires DevOps expertise to manage Postgres, PostgREST, GoTrue, Realtime, and Storage services. Self-hosting makes sense for large-scale applications where cloud costs would exceed infrastructure management costs, but most teams find managed hosting more economical when factoring in engineering time.
The Bottom Line
Supabase pricing combines subscription tiers with usage-based charges, creating a model that’s transparent in structure but complex in practice.
For small projects under 50,000 MAUs, the Free Plan provides genuine value—a full backend platform at zero cost. Growing applications find the Pro Plan competitively priced at $25 minimum monthly cost, especially when compared to managing Postgres infrastructure manually.
But costs can escalate quickly. The combination of per-MAU charges, egress fees, and compute hours means a popular application can easily reach several hundred dollars monthly. Understanding these components before launch prevents billing surprises later.
The key: Supabase works best for applications with predictable resource usage that fits within plan quotas. Highly variable workloads or massive user bases may encounter unexpected costs.
Ready to try Supabase? Start with a free project to evaluate whether its pricing model aligns with your application’s growth trajectory. Monitor usage closely during early deployment, and upgrade strategically when you understand your actual consumption patterns.
