Postrust vs Supabase
Supabase is not really the same kind of thing. It is a platform — Postgres, auth, storage, realtime, a dashboard — and its REST API is PostgREST, which Supabase documents plainly.
So a comparison is mostly about scope. If the question is whether to run one small server or adopt a platform, that is a different decision from choosing between API generators.
- Supabase is written in
- Platform (PostgREST, GoTrue, Realtime)
- Licence
- Apache 2.0
- Version compared
- Hosted platform
- Their site
- supabase.com
Feature comparison
Where a capability has a condition attached, the condition is in the cell.
| Feature | Postrust | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | Yes, PostgREST-compatible | Yes, PostgREST |
| GraphQL | Built in | Via a Postgres extension |
| Auth | JWT verification; bring your own issuer | Full auth service with providers |
| Storage | Not in scope | Yes |
| Realtime | GraphQL subscriptions over LISTEN/NOTIFY | Realtime service |
| Dashboard | Admin UI with the admin-ui feature | Yes, extensive |
| Hosting | You run it, anywhere | Managed, or self-host the stack |
| Scope | One server in front of your database | A backend platform |
When Supabase is the better choice
- You want auth, storage, realtime and a dashboard without assembling them.
- You would rather not operate anything.
- You are early and want to move quickly with defaults that are already wired together.
When Postrust fits better
- You already have a PostgreSQL database and want an API in front of it, not a platform around it.
- You need to run inside your own infrastructure, on your own terms.
- You want a single binary you can deploy to Lambda or a small container.
Questions
Supabase uses PostgREST, so is Postrust comparable to Supabase's API?
For the REST layer, the comparison is really Postrust vs PostgREST, which has its own page. Supabase's value is the rest of the platform.
Try it against your own schema
Point it at a database and see what it generates. That is a shorter path than reading a comparison table.