Startups > Supabase

Supabase

Supabase helps developers build apps with instant PostgreSQL backends.

Series E $544M total Founded 2020 San Francisco, California 204 employees

Supabase is an open-source backend-as-a-service platform that provides developers with a PostgreSQL database, authentication, instant APIs, real-time subscriptions, edge functions, and storage—all accessible through a web interface. It eliminates backend infrastructure setup, allowing developers to focus on frontend development while maintaining full control over their data through self-hosting capabilities. The platform has become the default backend for AI coding tools like Bolt and Lovable, and serves over 4 million developers including 36% of recent Y Combinator batches.

Problem solved

Developers waste weeks building backend infrastructure (databases, authentication, APIs, storage) before shipping product features.

Target customer

Startups, AI-native companies, and enterprise teams building SaaS products who prefer PostgreSQL, open-source tooling, and developer control over proprietary databases.

Website LinkedIn Crunchbase Twitter / X

Founders

Paul Copplestone

CEO & Co-Founder

Serial entrepreneur with two previous startups; second was office management services in Singapore; has always wanted to build a database company.

Ant Wilson

CTO & Co-Founder

Co-founder who joined Paul Copplestone in January 2020 to build Supabase.

Funding history

Seed $6M December 2020 Led by Coatue · Developer advocacy angels

Series A $30M September 2021 Led by Unknown · Unknown

Series B $80M May 2022 Led by Unknown · Felicis Ventures (first investment)

Series C $80M September 2024 Led by Peak XV, Craft Ventures · Unknown

Series D $200M April 2025 Led by Accel · Coatue, Y Combinator, Craft Ventures, Felicis

Series E $100M October 2025 Led by Accel, Peak XV · Figma, Y Combinator, Coatue, Felicis, Craft Ventures, Square Peg

Total raised: $544M

Industries

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Database Developer Tools Information Services Information Technology Software

Pricing

Free plan (2 projects, 500MB storage, 50K MAUs); Pro plan starting at $25/month plus usage-based overages; Team plan at $599/month with collaboration tools; Enterprise with custom pricing for HIPAA and large-scale deployments.

Notable customers

Mozilla, PwC, Johnson & Johnson, Shell, GitHub, Razer, Vimeo, Wiz, Brevo, eXp Realty, Chatbase, Udio, Pebblely, Mobbin, 1,000+ YC startups

Integrations

Bolt.new, Lovable, Cursor (vibe coding tools); ecosystem includes edge function deployments, vector embeddings, real-time subscriptions

Tech stack

Next.js (Web servers) React (JavaScript frameworks) Lodash (JavaScript libraries) core-js (JavaScript libraries) Webpack RSS PWA Open Graph Module Federation HSTS (Security) Node.js (Programming languages) Google Workspace (Email) Cloudflare (CDN) HubSpot (Marketing automation) Vercel (PaaS)

Website

supabase.com/

Competitors

Firebase

Firebase uses NoSQL Firestore and is proprietary; Supabase uses PostgreSQL and is fully open-source with self-hosting options.

Neon

Neon is a serverless PostgreSQL provider; Supabase offers a broader backend platform including auth, APIs, storage, and real-time features.

PlanetScale

PlanetScale focuses on MySQL databases; Supabase provides a complete backend-as-a-service with PostgreSQL.

Hasura

Hasura specializes in GraphQL APIs on PostgreSQL; Supabase offers a broader developer experience with REST APIs, auth, storage, and more.

Appwrite

Appwrite is open-source but offers a narrower feature set; Supabase provides deeper PostgreSQL integration and better performance at scale.

Why this matters: Supabase has achieved $70M ARR and $5B valuation by becoming the default backend for AI coding tools (Bolt, Lovable, Cursor), capturing the explosive growth in AI-native development. Its combination of PostgreSQL flexibility, open-source transparency, and rapid infrastructure setup makes it particularly attractive to startups and the AI developer community.

Best for: Startups and developers building web and mobile applications who want to ship faster with PostgreSQL, need real-time features, and prefer open-source control over proprietary databases.

Use cases

AI-Powered App Backends

AI coding tools like Bolt.new and Lovable use Supabase as their default backend, allowing non-technical users to scaffold full-stack applications. This represents ~30% of new Supabase signups, showing strong adoption in AI-native product development.

Multi-Tenant SaaS Applications

Companies like Mobbin (200K+ creators) migrated from Firebase to Supabase to leverage PostgreSQL's row-level security for isolating user data. The platform's instant APIs and isolated Postgres clusters enable rapid scaling without engineering overhead.

Real-Time Collaborative Tools

Applications requiring live data synchronization (e.g., collaborative editing, gaming leaderboards, notification systems) use Supabase's real-time subscriptions. Pebblely scaled to 1M+ users in 7 months by leveraging this all-in-one platform approach.

Alternatives

Firebase Choose Firebase if you prefer NoSQL, don't need SQL queries, and accept vendor lock-in for managed services.

Hasura Choose Hasura if your primary need is GraphQL APIs on PostgreSQL without needing authentication, storage, or edge functions.

AWS Amplify Choose Amplify if you're already in the AWS ecosystem and need tighter integration with Lambda, DynamoDB, and other AWS services.

FAQ

What does Supabase do? +

Supabase is an open-source backend-as-a-service platform that provides PostgreSQL databases, authentication, REST/real-time APIs, edge functions, storage, and vector embeddings. It eliminates the need for developers to build and manage backend infrastructure, allowing them to launch apps faster. Every project gets an isolated Postgres cluster with instant scaling and instant auto-generated APIs.

How much does Supabase cost? +

Supabase offers a Free plan (2 projects, 500MB storage, limited MAUs), Pro plan starting at $25/month with usage-based overages, Team plan at $599/month with collaboration tools, and Enterprise pricing with custom terms for HIPAA compliance and dedicated support.

What are the main alternatives to Supabase? +

Main alternatives include Firebase (NoSQL, proprietary), Hasura (GraphQL-focused), PlanetScale (MySQL databases), Neon (serverless Postgres), and Appwrite (open-source but narrower feature set). Each has trade-offs in terms of database choice, pricing model, and feature breadth.

Who uses Supabase? +

Supabase serves 4M+ developers including startups, enterprises (Mozilla, PwC, Johnson & Johnson), YC companies (36% of recent batches), and AI-native teams. Notable customers include Wiz ($12B valuation), Shell, GitHub, Razer, Vimeo, and 1,000+ YC startups. ~30% of new signups are AI-related.

How does Supabase compare to Firebase? +

Supabase uses PostgreSQL (SQL) while Firebase uses Firestore (NoSQL). Supabase is fully open-source and self-hostable; Firebase is proprietary with no self-hosting option. Supabase gives developers full control over data and schema; Firebase enforces a NoSQL document model. Choose Supabase if you need SQL power and flexibility; choose Firebase if you want managed NoSQL simplicity.