Convex vs Supabase vs Firebase in 2026
Convex vs Supabase vs Firebase in 2026
Convex vs Supabase vs Firebase in 2026 comes down to your stack and your latency budget. Pick Firebase for mobile-first apps that live inside the Google ecosystem. Pick Supabase for Postgres, OSS, and EU data residency. Pick Convex for TypeScript-native web apps where real-time and end-to-end type safety are core to the product.
The rest of this post explains why, with real 2026 pricing, a head-to-head table, a cost simulation at 1K, 10K, and 100K MAU, and a decision matrix you can hand to your engineering team.
Where Firebase still wins in 2026
Firebase has been shipping since 2011 and Google bought it in 2014. That history shows. If you are building a mobile app first and a web companion second, Firebase is still the default for very good reasons.
The mobile SDKs (iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native) are the most polished in the category. Firestore listeners, Firebase Auth with phone/Google/Apple sign-in, Cloud Messaging push, Crashlytics, Remote Config, AdMob, and Analytics all wire together with one config file. None of the alternatives match that breadth on mobile.
The Spark free tier is also extremely generous for early prototypes. You get 50,000 monthly active users on Auth, 50,000 Firestore reads per day, 20,000 writes per day, and 1 GB of stored documents at no cost. For a side project or a closed beta, you can run for months on $0.
Where Firebase hurts: pricing surprises on the Blaze plan. Firestore charges per document read, and a single bad query loop on a busy day can produce a four-figure bill. The data model is also NoSQL document-only, so analytics, joins, and complex aggregations are painful and usually pushed to BigQuery. Vendor lock-in is the deepest of the three; migrating off Firestore is always a rewrite.
Where Supabase wins in 2026
Supabase is the OSS Postgres-first alternative that took over the indie hacker world from 2022 onward. The pitch is simple: it gives you Postgres, Auth, Storage, Realtime, Edge Functions, and Vector search in one box, and you can self-host the whole thing if you ever want to leave.
The Postgres core is the differentiator. Anything you know about SQL, migrations, indexes, row-level security, and the Postgres extension ecosystem (pgvector, PostGIS, pg_cron, TimescaleDB) ports directly. There is no proprietary query language to learn. When you outgrow Supabase Cloud, you point your existing app at any managed Postgres and most of it keeps working.
Supabase is also the only one of the three with first-class EU data residency on the Pro plan. Frankfurt and Dublin regions ship today, and that single fact closes the deal for many GDPR-sensitive teams. If you want a deeper edge-vs-bundled comparison on the Postgres side, our Neon vs Supabase breakdown walks through the trade.
Where Supabase hurts: the realtime layer is good but not magic. It is Postgres LISTEN/NOTIFY plus a websocket fan-out, and at high concurrency you start tuning replicas and connection pools yourself. Auth is solid but less battle-tested than Firebase Auth on niche providers. The dashboard occasionally lags behind the API, and edge functions on Deno still surprise some Node-only teams.
Where Convex wins in 2026
Convex is the youngest of the three and the most opinionated. It is a TypeScript-native reactive backend where your queries, mutations, and actions are TS functions, your schema is generated from those functions, and your client subscribes to query results over a websocket that guarantees consistency.
If you have ever wired up Firestore listeners by hand, fought Supabase's realtime channels, or written a custom websocket protocol on top of Postgres, Convex feels like cheating. The reactivity is the default, not an opt-in. Optimistic updates, scheduling, cron jobs, file storage, and a native vector index all ship in the same SDK. You write useQuery(api.tasks.list) and the UI re-renders when any input to that function changes, anywhere in the system.
The type safety is the second hook. Schema is defined in TS, validated at write time, and inferred end-to-end from server function to React component. There is no prisma generate step, no SQL types to regenerate, no @ts-ignore on mystery JSON. For a small team shipping a TS-only stack, the velocity is real.
Convex went open source in 2024 and added self-hosting in early 2025, which closes the lock-in objection that blocked many serious teams in 2023. The proprietary cloud is still the easy path, but you can take your data and run.
Where Convex hurts: smaller community, fewer tutorials, a custom data model that is not Postgres or Mongo, and a US-only managed cloud (self-host for EU). If you want Postgres for analytics or a different stack-comparison angle, our TypeORM vs Drizzle vs Prisma vs Kysely guide is a good companion read.
Head-to-head feature and pricing comparison
| Factor | Firebase | Supabase | Convex |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 50K Auth MAU, 50K Firestore reads/day, 1 GB | 500 MB DB, 1 GB storage, 50K MAU, 5 GB egress | 1M function calls/mo, 0.5 GB storage |
| Paid entry | Pay-as-you-go (Blaze) | $25/mo Pro per org | $25/dev/mo Pro |
| Database | Firestore (NoSQL document) | Postgres | Custom transactional doc store |
| Realtime | Firestore listeners | Postgres LISTEN/NOTIFY + WS | Reactive functions (default) |
| Type safety | SDK types only | Generated TS types | End-to-end TS, schema from code |
| Vector search | via Vertex AI extension | pgvector built-in | Native vector index |
| Open source | No | Yes (Apache 2.0) | Yes (since 2024) |
| EU data residency | Multi-region setup | Pro tier (Frankfurt, Dublin) | Cloud US-only; self-host for EU |
| Mobile SDKs | iOS, Android, Flutter, RN | Swift, Kotlin, Flutter, RN | RN + web; native via REST |
| Best fit | Mobile-first, Google ecosystem | Postgres + OSS + EU | TS-native real-time apps |
Real cost at 1K, 10K, and 100K MAU
Pricing pages are misleading because they show unit costs. What founders actually want is a monthly bill at three scale points. Below is a rough projection for a moderately read-heavy SaaS app (~50 reads per session, ~5 writes per session, 5 sessions per MAU per month, 1 GB total stored data).
| Scale | Firebase (Blaze) | Supabase | Convex |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 MAU | ~$0 (under free tier) | ~$0 (under free tier) | ~$0 (under free tier) |
| 10,000 MAU | ~$30-80 | $25 (Pro flat) | $25 (Pro flat per dev) |
| 100,000 MAU | ~$300-900 | ~$25-150 (Pro + add-ons) | ~$75-300 (Pro + function call overage) |
A few honest caveats. Firebase's range is wide because Firestore reads dominate the bill, and a poorly-written onSnapshot listener can 10x your spend overnight. Supabase's number assumes you stay on the standard Pro plan and do not need a dedicated compute add-on or PITR. Convex's number scales with function calls, not MAU, so a chatty real-time app pushes the upper end while a CRUD app stays near the floor.
For comparison shoppers also looking at adjacent decisions, our Express vs Fastify vs Hono breakdown covers the framework layer that often sits in front of these backends.
Decision matrix by stack
Here is how we route founders who ask us this question on calls.
- Mobile-first iOS, Android, or Flutter app. Pick Firebase. The SDK quality, push notifications, crash reporting, and analytics integration save weeks. The lock-in is real, but the velocity is worth it for most consumer mobile apps.
- Web-first React, Next.js, or SvelteKit app, TypeScript stack, real-time matters. Pick Convex. End-to-end types and reactive queries cut the boilerplate by half compared to Firebase or Supabase for this exact stack shape.
- You will need analytics, joins, or a dedicated data team later. Pick Supabase. Postgres is the only choice that does not punish you when the analytics request inevitably arrives.
- EU data residency is a contract requirement. Pick Supabase Pro in Frankfurt or Dublin. Firebase requires manual multi-region setup and Convex Cloud is US-only today.
- Open source is non-negotiable. Either Supabase or self-hosted Convex. Skip Firebase.
- Real-time collaboration is the core feature (think Figma, Linear, multiplayer doc). Pick Convex. The reactive consistency model is genuinely better than Firestore listeners for collaboration UX.
- AI app with vector search and RAG. Supabase wins on portability (pgvector is everywhere). Convex wins on integration (vectors are first-class). Firebase is the heaviest lift; only pick it if you are already deep in Vertex AI.
- Generous free tier for a long beta. Firebase Spark or Convex free tier both work; Supabase pauses free projects after one week of inactivity.
How to actually evaluate before committing
Reading comparison posts (including this one) only gets you 60% of the way. The other 40% comes from building the same small thing on each platform and feeling the difference. Here is the cheap way to do that.
Pick the three highest-stakes features in your app. Usually that is auth, a real-time list view, and a file upload. Build those three on each backend, end to end, with a real frontend. Time how long each one takes. Note where you got stuck. Note what the hosted bill projects to at your real expected MAU. Then pick.
The catch: this evaluation only works if you have someone fluent enough in TypeScript, React, and backend trade-offs to ship three POCs in a week without burning the fourth week debugging tooling. That is not a junior developer task and it is not a generalist contractor task. It is a senior frontend-plus-backend engineer who has shipped on at least two of the three platforms before.
This is the gap Cadence was built for. Every engineer on the platform is AI-native by default, vetted on Cursor, Claude Code, and Copilot fluency in a voice interview before they unlock bookings. We have a 12,800-engineer pool with a 27-hour median time to first commit, and you can book a Senior at $1,500/week for the evaluation sprint, then keep them or replace them weekly with no notice. The 48-hour free trial means the first two days cost you nothing if the fit is wrong.
For the broader debate on whether this kind of weekly booking beats a full-time hire or a freelancer for short projects, our full-time vs freelance developers comparison walks through the trade-offs.
A note on the third option most people miss
A small but growing number of teams are running two of the three in production: Supabase for Postgres and analytics, Convex for the real-time layer that talks to the user. This works because the two systems can synchronize through Convex actions or Supabase webhooks, and you get the best of both data models. The integration tax is real (one more deploy, one more billing relationship, one more failure surface), so only do this if real-time UX is a competitive moat.
Most teams should pick one and move on. The wrong choice is recoverable inside the first six months; the right choice compounds for years.
What to do next
If you are still on the fence after the table and the cost simulation, default to the one that matches your stack: TypeScript web app pick Convex, mobile or Google-ecosystem pick Firebase, anything Postgres-shaped pick Supabase. Build the three-feature POC. Make the call.
If you need an engineer to ship that POC inside a week so you can stop debating in Slack and start measuring, book a Senior on Cadence at $1,500/week with a 48-hour free trial. We shortlist four AI-native engineers in two minutes, you pick one, they start the same day. If the fit is wrong, you owe nothing.
The fastest way to settle a backend debate is to ship the same feature on each candidate and read your own diff. An AI-native Senior on Cadence will deliver three POCs in a week for $1,500, with a 48-hour free trial and weekly billing.
FAQ
Can I migrate from Firebase to Supabase or Convex later?
Yes, but it is a rewrite, not a port. Firestore's document model and Firebase Auth token shape do not translate cleanly to Postgres or to Convex's reactive functions. Budget 2 to 6 weeks for a small app and longer for anything with significant analytics or scheduled work.
Which is cheapest at 100K monthly active users?
Supabase Pro at $25 per month plus modest add-ons usually wins for steady-state apps. Firebase can be cheaper at low-read traffic patterns or 10x more expensive when listeners go wild. Convex sits in the middle and is the most predictable per function call.
Is Convex production-ready in 2026?
Yes. Convex has been GA since 2022, went open source in 2024, and added self-hosting in early 2025. Several YC-funded startups and AI tooling companies run on it in production. The remaining caveat is community size: Stack Overflow answers are still thinner than Firebase's.
Which one is best for AI apps with vector search?
Supabase wins on portability because pgvector ships with every modern Postgres. Convex wins on integration because vectors are first-class and reactive. Firebase requires the Vertex AI extension and is the heaviest lift; pick it only if you are already deep in Google Cloud.
Can I use all three together?
Technically yes, practically no. Pick one as your system of record. Some teams pair Supabase (Postgres + analytics) with Convex (real-time UX), but that is a deliberate moat decision, not a default. The integration cost will eat any feature win unless real-time is genuinely core to your product.