Supabase vs Firebase in 2026: The Honest Comparison After Using Both in Production

Every developer building a SaaS, mobile app, or side project in 2026 hits the same fork in the road: Supabase or Firebase?

The internet is drowning in surface-level comparisons. "Supabase is open-source Firebase!" "Firebase has better real-time!" "Supabase is just Postgres!" These one-liners are worse than useless — they actively mislead. The reality is far more nuanced, and the wrong choice can cost you months of migration work or thousands in unexpected bills.

This guide is different. We've used both platforms in production — not toy projects, not weekend prototypes, real applications with real users and real invoices. We'll compare them across every dimension that actually matters: database architecture, authentication, real-time capabilities, file storage, edge functions, pricing at scale, vendor lock-in, and developer experience.

No sponsorship. No affiliate links. Just an honest breakdown of where each platform genuinely excels and where it'll hurt you.

The Philosophical Divide: SQL vs NoSQL

Before anything else, understand this: the database choice defines everything. It's not a feature comparison — it's a worldview.

Firebase is built on Firestore, a serverless NoSQL document database. You store data as nested JSON-like documents organized into collections. There are no joins, no foreign keys, no schema enforcement. You model data by how you read it, not by how it relates.

Supabase is built on PostgreSQL, the most popular open-source relational database in the world. Tables, columns, foreign keys, joins, constraints, views, stored procedures — the full relational model. You model data by how it relates, and query it however you need.

This single difference cascades into everything else:

Why this matters more than you think: If your data is inherently relational (users → orders → products → reviews), Firestore forces you to denormalize. You'll duplicate data across documents to avoid "joins." This works until you need to update a user's name — now you're tracking down every place that name was copied. In Postgres, you update one row. Done.

Conversely, if your data is inherently hierarchical (chat messages, social feeds, IoT sensor readings), Firestore's document model can be genuinely simpler. No ORM needed, no migrations, no schema files.

The 2026 plot twist: Firebase Data Connect. Google launched Firebase Data Connect (GA since April 2025), which integrates PostgreSQL via Cloud SQL into the Firebase ecosystem. This is a tacit admission that NoSQL-only wasn't enough. You can now use relational schemas and GraphQL-based queries within Firebase. It doesn't replace Firestore, but it fills the relational gap Firebase always had.

Authentication: Both Excellent, Subtly Different

This is one area where both platforms genuinely deliver. But the devil is in the details.

Firebase Auth

Firebase Auth is mature, battle-tested, and handles the hard stuff well:

// Firebase Auth — Social login
import { getAuth, signInWithPopup, GoogleAuthProvider } from 'firebase/auth';

const auth = getAuth();
const provider = new GoogleAuthProvider();

const result = await signInWithPopup(auth, provider);
const user = result.user;
// user.uid, user.email, user.displayName — ready to use

Strengths:

• 20+ auth providers out of the box (Google, Apple, Facebook, GitHub, Microsoft, phone, etc.)
• Anonymous auth (great for onboarding flows)
• Built-in email link (passwordless) auth
• Firebase UI — drop-in pre-built authentication components
• Deep integration with other Firebase services

Gotchas:

• Custom claims are limited and require the Admin SDK to set
• No built-in RBAC — you implement it yourself with custom claims + Security Rules
• Multi-tenancy requires Firebase's Identity Platform (paid upgrade)
• User metadata is limited; for profiles, you need a separate Firestore document

Supabase Auth (GoTrue)

Supabase Auth has matured significantly and now rivals Firebase:

// Supabase Auth — Social login
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';

const supabase = createClient(SUPABASE_URL, SUPABASE_ANON_KEY);

const { data, error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithOAuth({
  provider: 'google',
  options: { redirectTo: 'https://yourapp.com/callback' },
});
// After redirect, session is automatically managed

Strengths:

• OAuth providers (Google, Apple, GitHub, Discord, Slack, etc.)
• Built-in Row Level Security (RLS) — auth integrates directly with database permissions
• User data lives in a proper auth.users table — queryable with SQL
• Magic links, phone OTP, SAML, SSO (Team/Enterprise plans)
• RLS policies can reference auth.uid() directly in SQL — no middleware needed

Gotchas:

• Fewer pre-built providers than Firebase (~15 vs 20+)
• No anonymous auth equivalent (you can work around it, but it's not native)
• The redirect-based OAuth flow can feel clunkier than Firebase's popup flow
• SAML/SSO only available on Team ($599/mo) or Enterprise plans

The Real Difference: Authorization

Here's where it gets interesting. Authentication (who are you?) is roughly equal. Authorization (what can you do?) is where they diverge sharply.

Firebase uses Security Rules, a custom DSL that lives alongside your Firestore data:

// Firestore Security Rules
rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /posts/{postId} {
      allow read: if true;
      allow create: if request.auth != null;
      allow update, delete: if request.auth.uid == resource.data.authorId;
    }

    match /users/{userId}/private/{doc} {
      allow read, write: if request.auth.uid == userId;
    }
  }
}

Supabase uses Row Level Security (RLS), native PostgreSQL policies:

-- Supabase RLS Policies
ALTER TABLE posts ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;

-- Anyone can read posts
CREATE POLICY "Posts are publicly readable"
  ON posts FOR SELECT
  USING (true);

-- Only authenticated users can create
CREATE POLICY "Authenticated users can create posts"
  ON posts FOR INSERT
  WITH CHECK (auth.uid() = author_id);

-- Only authors can update/delete their own posts
CREATE POLICY "Authors can manage their posts"
  ON posts FOR UPDATE USING (auth.uid() = author_id)
  WITH CHECK (auth.uid() = author_id);

CREATE POLICY "Authors can delete their posts"
  ON posts FOR DELETE
  USING (auth.uid() = author_id);

Both achieve the same thing, but Supabase's approach has a structural advantage: RLS policies are enforced at the database level. Every query — whether from your app, a cron job, a migration script, or a direct SQL connection — goes through the same security check. With Firebase, Security Rules only protect Firestore SDK access. If you access data through a Cloud Function with the Admin SDK, rules are bypassed entirely.

In 2026, Supabase has further strengthened this advantage: RLS is now enabled by default for new tables, and the dashboard shows security alerts for tables without RLS. They've also introduced a new API key system with publishable keys (scoped, rotatable, auto-revoked if leaked to GitHub) replacing the older JWT-based system.

Real-Time: Firebase's Crown Jewel

Let's be honest: real-time is where Firebase still dominates.

Firebase Real-Time

Firestore's real-time listeners are seamless and deeply integrated:

// Firebase — Real-time listener
import { onSnapshot, collection, query, where, orderBy } from 'firebase/firestore';

const q = query(
  collection(db, 'messages'),
  where('roomId', '==', currentRoomId),
  orderBy('createdAt', 'desc')
);

const unsubscribe = onSnapshot(q, (snapshot) => {
  snapshot.docChanges().forEach((change) => {
    if (change.type === 'added') {
      console.log('New message:', change.doc.data());
    }
    if (change.type === 'modified') {
      console.log('Modified:', change.doc.data());
    }
    if (change.type === 'removed') {
      console.log('Removed:', change.doc.id);
    }
  });
});

Why it's great:

• Offline-first by default — works without internet, syncs when reconnected
• Automatic conflict resolution
• Granular change types (added, modified, removed)
• Works on web, iOS, Android, Flutter — all with native SDKs
• Optimistic UI updates built-in

This is Firebase's killer feature. For chat apps, collaborative tools, live dashboards, and any "multiplayer" experience, Firebase's real-time is genuinely hard to beat. The offline-first architecture with automatic sync is especially valuable for mobile apps.

Supabase Real-Time

Supabase Realtime is powered by PostgreSQL's logical replication:

// Supabase — Real-time listener
const channel = supabase
  .channel('messages-room')
  .on(
    'postgres_changes',
    {
      event: '*',
      schema: 'public',
      table: 'messages',
      filter: `room_id=eq.${currentRoomId}`,
    },
    (payload) => {
      console.log('Change received:', payload);
      // payload.eventType: 'INSERT' | 'UPDATE' | 'DELETE'
      // payload.new: the new row data
      // payload.old: the old row data (for UPDATE/DELETE)
    }
  )
  .subscribe();

Where it falls short compared to Firebase:

• No offline-first. If the connection drops, you miss events. You need to implement reconnection and catch-up logic yourself.
• No automatic conflict resolution. If two users update the same row, last-write-wins by default.
• No optimistic UI. You implement this in your app logic.
• Latency. Supabase Real-time goes through the WAL (Write-Ahead Log), which adds slight latency compared to Firestore's purpose-built real-time pipeline.

Where Supabase catches up:

• Supabase Realtime also supports Broadcast (pub/sub) and Presence (who's online) channels
• RLS is enforced on real-time subscriptions — a security advantage
• You can listen to INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE separately or with *
• Since it's just Postgres changes, any data modification (even from a cron job or migration) triggers real-time events

Bottom line: If real-time sync is your app's core feature (chat, collaboration, live gaming), Firebase is still the better choice. If real-time is a nice-to-have (notifications, live updates on a dashboard), Supabase is perfectly adequate.

File Storage

Firebase Cloud Storage

Firebase Cloud Storage is built on Google Cloud Storage:

import { getStorage, ref, uploadBytes, getDownloadURL } from 'firebase/storage';

const storage = getStorage();
const storageRef = ref(storage, `avatars/${userId}/profile.jpg`);

// Upload
await uploadBytes(storageRef, file);

// Get download URL
const url = await getDownloadURL(storageRef);

• Resumable uploads for large files
• Security Rules for access control
• Backed by Google Cloud Storage (virtually unlimited scale)
• CDN-backed download URLs
• Thumbnail generation via Firebase Extensions

Supabase Storage

Supabase Storage is built on S3-compatible object storage:

// Upload
const { data, error } = await supabase.storage
  .from('avatars')
  .upload(`${userId}/profile.jpg`, file, {
    cacheControl: '3600',
    upsert: true,
  });

// Get public URL
const { data: { publicUrl } } = supabase.storage
  .from('avatars')
  .getPublicUrl(`${userId}/profile.jpg`);

• Image transformations built-in — resize, crop, format conversion on the fly (no extensions needed)
• RLS policies for access control (same security model as the database)
• S3-compatible API — easy to migrate away
• Resumable uploads via TUS protocol

Advantage: Supabase. The built-in image transformations alone save you from needing a separate service like Cloudinary or Imgix. Firebase requires Extensions (Cloud Functions) for any transformation.

Edge Functions / Serverless

Firebase Cloud Functions

Cloud Functions for Firebase are mature and deeply integrated:

// Firebase Cloud Function (2nd gen)
import { onDocumentCreated } from 'firebase-functions/v2/firestore';
import { onRequest } from 'firebase-functions/v2/https';

// Trigger on Firestore write
export const onNewPost = onDocumentCreated('posts/{postId}', async (event) => {
  const data = event.data?.data();
  // Send notification, update counter, etc.
});

// HTTP endpoint
export const api = onRequest(async (req, res) => {
  // Handle API request
  res.json({ status: 'ok' });
});

• Triggers: Firestore, Auth, Storage, Pub/Sub, Scheduler, HTTP
• 2nd gen functions use Cloud Run under the hood
• Node.js and Python runtimes
• Cold starts: ~500ms-2s (improved with min instances)
• Firebase AI Logic — new toolkit for integrating Gemini models directly

Supabase Edge Functions

Supabase Edge Functions run on Deno Deploy:

// Supabase Edge Function
import { serve } from 'https://deno.land/std/http/server.ts';
import { createClient } from 'https://esm.sh/@supabase/supabase-js';

serve(async (req) => {
  const supabase = createClient(
    Deno.env.get('SUPABASE_URL')!,
    Deno.env.get('SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY')!,
  );

  const { data, error } = await supabase
    .from('users')
    .select('*')
    .limit(10);

  return new Response(JSON.stringify(data), {
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  });
});

• Globally distributed — runs at the edge, near users
• Deno runtime (TypeScript native, no build step)
• Cold starts: ~42ms average (97% reduction since Deno 2 upgrade — much faster than Firebase)
• 500K invocations/month on free tier
• No Firestore-style triggers (you use database webhooks or pg_notify)

Key difference: Firebase Cloud Functions are more feature-rich with native triggers for every Firebase service. Supabase Edge Functions are faster (edge-deployed, Deno runtime) but require more manual wiring for event-driven patterns.

Pricing: Where Dreams Die

This is where the comparison gets painful. Both platforms have pricing models that look simple on the surface but hide complexity underneath.

Firebase Pricing

Firebase uses the Blaze plan (pay-as-you-go) for production:

Firebase Blaze Plan — Key Costs:

Firestore:
  Reads:   $0.06 per 100K documents   ($0.60/million)
  Writes:  $0.18 per 100K documents   ($1.80/million)
  Deletes: $0.02 per 100K documents   ($0.20/million)
  Storage: $0.108/GB/month

Cloud Functions:
  Invocations: $0.40 per million
  Compute:     $0.00001667/GB-second
  Networking:  $0.12/GB outbound

Cloud Storage:
  Storage:   $0.026/GB/month
  Downloads: $0.12/GB

Authentication:
  Free for most providers
  Phone auth: $0.01-0.06 per SMS

The Pricing Trap — Read Amplification:

This is the #1 thing that surprises Firebase developers. A single "page load" can trigger hundreds of document reads:

User opens their dashboard:
  - Fetch user profile:          1 read
  - Fetch 20 recent posts:      20 reads
  - Fetch author info for each: 20 reads (no joins!)
  - Fetch like counts:          20 reads
  - Fetch comment counts:       20 reads
  - Fetch user's notifications: 10 reads
  ---
  Total: 91 reads for ONE page load

Because Firestore has no joins, you often need multiple queries to assemble what would be a single SQL query. At $0.60 per million reads, this adds up fast. A modest app with 10,000 DAU loading 10 pages each generates ~9.1 million reads/day, or ~273 million reads/month — that's ~$164/month just for reads.

The February 2026 Change: Google now requires projects using *.appspot.com storage buckets on the free Spark plan to upgrade to Blaze. Free usage is still available on Blaze, but you need a billing account attached. This caught many hobby projects off guard.

Supabase Pricing

Supabase uses a tiered model:

Supabase Plans:

Free:     $0/month
  - 2 projects (pause after 7 days inactive)
  - 500MB database, 1GB file storage
  - 50K MAUs, 500K Edge Function invocations
  - 2GB egress

Pro:      $25/month + usage
  - 8GB database, 100GB file storage
  - 100K MAUs
  - Unlimited Edge Function invocations
  - $10/month compute credit included
  - No project pausing

Team:     $599/month
  - SSO, audit logs, priority support

Enterprise: Custom pricing
  - HIPAA, SLA, dedicated infrastructure

The Supabase Pricing Trap — Compute Add-ons:

The $25/month Pro plan sounds great until you realize it comes with the smallest compute instance. For any production workload, you'll need to add compute:

Compute Add-ons (monthly, before $10 credit):
  Micro  (shared CPU, 1GB RAM):   ~$10 (covered by credit)
  Small  (2-core ARM, 2GB RAM):   ~$15/month
  Medium (2-core ARM, 4GB RAM):   ~$60/month
  Large  (2-core ARM dedicated, 8GB RAM):  ~$110/month
  XL     (4-core ARM dedicated, 16GB RAM): ~$210/month

A realistic production setup is Pro ($25) + Medium compute (~$60) = ~$85/month. The $10 compute credit helps offset the smallest instances, but for real workloads you'll likely need Medium or above.

The MAU Trap: Once you exceed 100K monthly active users on Pro, overages hit at $3.25 per 1,000 users. A 200K MAU app adds $325/month just for auth. At that scale, you're looking at $400+ total.

Pricing Comparison at Scale

Let's model a realistic SaaS with 50K DAU:

Scenario: SaaS App — 50,000 DAU, ~150K MAU

Firebase (Blaze):
  Firestore reads:  ~150M/month    = ~$90
  Firestore writes: ~15M/month     = ~$27
  Firestore storage: 10GB          = ~$1.08
  Cloud Functions:   5M invocations = ~$2
  Cloud Storage:     50GB + 200GB   = ~$25.30
  Auth:              Free (email)
  ──────────────────────────────────
  Estimated total:                  ~$145/month

Supabase (Pro):
  Base plan:                        = $25
  Compute (Medium):                 = ~$60
  Database storage: 10GB (included) = $0
  File storage: 50GB (included)     = $0
  Egress: ~200GB (under 250GB cap)  = $0
  MAU: 150K (50K overage × $3.25)   = ~$162.50
  ──────────────────────────────────
  Estimated total:                  ~$247.50/month

Closer than you'd think, right? At this specific scale, Firebase is still cheaper — because Supabase's MAU-based auth pricing hits hard. But increase the reads per page (very common with denormalization) or add a few more complex queries, and the numbers flip quickly.

The honest answer: neither is consistently cheaper. It depends entirely on your read/write patterns, user count, and which features you use. Always model your specific workload.

Vendor Lock-In: The Escape Hatch

This is the elephant in the room that most comparisons brush past.

Firebase Lock-In

Let's be direct: Firebase lock-in is significant.

• Firestore has no standard query language. Your queries use Firebase SDK methods. Moving to Postgres, MySQL, or MongoDB means rewriting every data access call.
• Firestore data model (document/collection) doesn't map cleanly to tables. Migration requires restructuring your data.
• Security Rules are proprietary. Moving to another platform means re-implementing your entire authorization layer.
• Cloud Functions triggers (onDocumentCreated, etc.) are Firebase-specific. Moving to AWS Lambda or Cloudflare Workers means rewriting your event-driven logic.
• Firebase Auth user data can be exported, but the auth flow integration is proprietary.

Migration off Firebase is typically a 3-6 month project for a mid-complexity application. Google knows this, and (to their credit) the platform is stable enough that most teams never need to migrate. But if you do, it hurts.

Supabase Lock-In

Supabase's lock-in story is fundamentally different:

• PostgreSQL is the database. Your data, schema, functions, triggers, and RLS policies are all standard Postgres. You can take a pg_dump and restore it on any Postgres host (AWS RDS, Neon, Railway, your own server).
• PostgREST API is auto-generated from your schema. Moving to another Postgres host means you lose the auto-API, but your data and schema transfer cleanly.
• Edge Functions run on Deno — a standard runtime. The code is largely portable.
• Auth (GoTrue) is open-source. You could self-host it.

Supabase's escape hatch is real: you can pg_dump your database, set up Postgres elsewhere, and keep running. You'll lose the managed dashboard, auto-API, real-time, and storage layer, but your data and business logic survive.

That said, Supabase does have some lock-in:

• The Supabase client SDK abstracts PostgREST. If you switch to raw Postgres, you'll rewrite your data access layer.
• Real-time, Storage, and Auth integrations use Supabase-specific APIs.
• The developer experience (dashboard, SQL editor, RLS management) is hard to replicate.

Bottom line: Supabase's lock-in is recoverable (weeks of work). Firebase's lock-in is structural (months of work). If exit strategy matters to your team, this is a decisive factor.

Developer Experience in 2026

Firebase DX

Firebase's developer experience has always been its strength:

• Firebase Console — polished, easy to navigate, great for non-technical team members
• Firebase Emulator Suite — local development with Firestore, Auth, Functions emulators
• Firebase Extensions — pre-built integrations (Stripe, Algolia, SendGrid, etc.)
• Firebase AI Logic — new in 2026, integrates Gemini for client-side AI features
• FlutterFire — first-class Flutter integration
• Firebase Studio — enhanced dev environment with Figma import and backend integrations
• Excellent documentation and massive community

Pain points:

• Firestore's query limitations force you to rethink data modeling
• Security Rules syntax has a learning curve and is hard to test
• No SQL access (Data Connect adds PostgreSQL support, but it's a separate product)
• Debugging Cloud Functions in production can be painful

Supabase DX

Supabase has rapidly caught up and in some areas surpassed Firebase:

• Supabase Dashboard — SQL editor, table viewer, RLS policy manager, real-time inspector
• Supabase CLI — local development, migrations, type generation, seed data
• Type generation — auto-generates TypeScript types from your database schema
• Database branching — create preview databases for PRs (Team/Enterprise)
• Claude connector — manage your database with natural language
• Stripe Sync Engine — one-click Stripe data sync
• Supabase Studio — SQL snippets saved locally, Git-friendly

Pain points:

• Learning SQL and Postgres concepts (RLS, policies, functions) has a steeper curve
• Edge Functions are Deno-based — Node.js libraries may not be compatible
• Real-time lacks offline support
• Dashboard can be slow for large datasets

The TypeScript Experience

This matters a lot in 2026. Let's compare:

Firebase:

// Firebase — manual typing required
interface Post {
  title: string;
  content: string;
  authorId: string;
  createdAt: Timestamp;
}

const postRef = doc(db, 'posts', postId) as DocumentReference<Post>;
const postSnap = await getDoc(postRef);
const post = postSnap.data(); // Post | undefined

You define types manually and cast references. There's no automatic type generation from your data model because Firestore is schemaless.

Supabase:

// Supabase — auto-generated types
import { Database } from './database.types'; // generated by CLI

const supabase = createClient<Database>(url, key);

const { data } = await supabase
  .from('posts')
  .select('*, author:users(name, avatar)')
  .eq('published', true);
// data is fully typed: { title: string, content: string, author: { name: string, avatar: string } }[]

Run supabase gen types typescript and your entire database schema becomes TypeScript types. Select, insert, update — everything is type-checked against the actual schema. This is a genuine productivity advantage.

When to Pick Each One

Stop asking "which is better?" and start asking "what does my project actually need?"

Choose Firebase when:

• Real-time sync is your core feature. Chat apps, collaborative editors, live gaming — Firebase's offline-first real-time sync is genuinely superior.

• You're building for mobile-first. Firebase's native SDKs for iOS, Android, and Flutter are more mature and deeply integrated. If your app is mobile-first, Firebase feels more natural.

• Your team isn't comfortable with SQL. Firestore's document model is easier to pick up for frontend developers. No migrations, no schemas, no SQL — just push JSON.

• You need the Google ecosystem. If you're already using GCP, BigQuery, Vertex AI, or Google Analytics, Firebase integrates seamlessly.

• Your data is hierarchical. IoT sensor data, chat threads, social feeds — if your data naturally nests, Firestore can be simpler than tables.

Choose Supabase when:

• Your data is relational. Users, orders, products, reviews — if entities reference each other, PostgreSQL handles this natively and elegantly.

• You want SQL power. Complex aggregations, window functions, CTEs, full-text search, JSONB, materialized views — Postgres gives you the full toolkit.

• Type safety matters. Auto-generated TypeScript types from your schema eliminate an entire class of bugs.

• Exit strategy matters. If vendor lock-in keeps you up at night, Supabase's Postgres foundation means you can always leave.

• You need image transformations. Built-in resize, crop, and format conversion without a third-party service.

• Your team knows SQL. If your backend developers are comfortable with relational databases, Supabase will feel like home.

The Hybrid Approach

Here's what nobody tells you: some teams use both.

• Supabase for the relational core (users, orders, products, business data)
• Firebase for real-time features (chat, notifications, live updates)

Firebase's real-time is genuinely excellent, and Supabase's relational model is genuinely powerful. For some applications, combining them gives you the best of both worlds. It adds operational complexity, but for the right use case, it's worth it.

The Sustainability Question

Both platforms need to make money. Understanding their business models helps predict their futures.

Firebase is backed by Google. It's part of Google Cloud Platform's developer acquisition strategy. Firebase brings developers to GCP, where they eventually use paid services. This means Firebase is well-funded and not going anywhere, but product decisions are driven by Google's broader cloud strategy — which has historically included sunsetting products (remember Google Cloud Messaging? Firebase Predictions? Fabric?).

Supabase is venture-funded (~$116M+ raised). The open-source core is their growth engine, and paid plans + Team/Enterprise are the revenue model. The risk: VC-funded companies need to show growth, which can lead to pricing pressure or feature gating. The upside: being open-source means the community can fork if the company changes direction.

Neither model guarantees long-term stability. But Supabase's open-source foundation means your data isn't trapped even if the company pivots. Firebase's Google backing means it's unlikely to disappear but could change in ways you don't control.

Migration Paths

Firebase → Supabase

Supabase actually provides a migration tool:

1. Export Firestore data as JSON
2. Transform document structure to relational tables
3. Import into Supabase via SQL or CSV
4. Rewrite Security Rules as RLS policies
5. Migrate Cloud Functions to Edge Functions
6. Update client SDK calls

Hardest part: Restructuring denormalized Firestore data into a relational schema. If you denormalized heavily, this can mean weeks of data modeling.

Supabase → Firebase

1. Export Postgres data via pg_dump or CSV
2. Transform relational data into document collections
3. Import into Firestore via Admin SDK
4. Rewrite RLS policies as Security Rules
5. Migrate Edge Functions to Cloud Functions

Hardest part: Deciding how to denormalize relational data into Firestore's document model. Joins become data duplication.

Looking Ahead: The Convergence

The most interesting trend in 2026 is convergence.

Firebase is moving toward SQL with Data Connect (PostgreSQL integration). They've also launched Firebase AI Logic for Gemini integration, Firestore Enterprise Edition with pipeline operations, and improved security features. Firebase is becoming more database-aware.

Supabase is moving toward better real-time, AI integration (vector search via pgvector, Claude connector for database management), and platform completeness (Stripe Sync, auth improvements, database branching). Supabase is becoming more platform-like.

Both are also investing heavily in AI capabilities — Firebase with AI Logic and Gemini integration, Supabase with its "relational AI infrastructure" positioning and native vector search.

In five years, the gap between them will be smaller. But right now, the differences are still significant enough to matter.

Conclusion

Here's the uncomfortable truth: there is no wrong answer. Both Firebase and Supabase are production-ready, well-maintained platforms with genuine strengths.

But if you need a mental model:

Firebase is the simpler path to a working app. Supabase is the more powerful path to a maintainable one.

Firebase gets you from zero to deployed faster, especially for real-time apps and mobile-first projects. Its learning curve is gentler, and the ecosystem is more polished. But when your data gets complex, you'll feel the absence of SQL.

Supabase takes more upfront investment (schemas, SQL, RLS policies), but that investment compounds. Type-safe queries, proper foreign keys, migration-managed schemas — these pay dividends as your app grows. And if you ever need to leave, you can.

The real advice? Start with the database your team knows. If your team thinks in SQL, use Supabase. If your team thinks in documents, use Firebase. The ORM/BaaS layer matters less than you think — the data model is what stays with you.

Build something great. Ship it. Solve real problems. The database choice is important, but it's not the thing that determines whether your project succeeds.

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