Compare / Supabase
The Supabase alternative that also runs your app
Supabase is a very good managed Postgres with a backend bolted on, and your application still runs somewhere else. Lizard runs the app and the database in the same project, on the same bill, with the connection string wired in by reference.
Why developers look for a Supabase alternative
The app is still someone else’s problem
Supabase hosts Postgres, Auth, Storage, and Edge Functions. A Django API, a Go service, or a queue consumer needs a second platform and a second bill.
The compute add-on is the real price
Pro is $25 a month with a $10 compute credit. Micro is $10, Small $15, Medium $60, Large $110 — the headline and the invoice are different numbers.
Free projects pause
A free Supabase project auto-pauses after a week of inactivity, which is fine for a prototype and surprising in a demo.
Edge Functions are not a server
They are Deno functions with execution limits. A long-lived worker is not one of the things they do.
Lizard vs Supabase
Every figure read off Supabase’s published pricing and our own. Last verified: August 2026.
| Compared by | Lizard | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| What it runs | Your app, your workers, and the database | The database, Auth, Storage, and Edge Functions |
| Postgres | PostgreSQL 18, ready in under a second, billed on measured use | Postgres with row-level security, on a sized compute add-on |
| Compute pricing | $0.0278 per vCPU-hour, $0.0139 per GB-hour, measured | Compute add-ons: Micro $10, Small $15, Medium $60, Large $110 a month |
| Entry price | Free with $5 of credit, then $5 a month | Free tier that pauses after a week idle; Pro $25 with $10 of compute credit |
| Egress | $0.05 per GB | 250 GB included on Pro, then $0.09 per GB |
| Long-lived workers | A service with no HTTP port | Not offered |
| Auth | Bring your own | First-party, and the strongest part of the product |
| Shell into a running app | lizard ssh | Not applicable |
When Supabase is the better choice
You are building a client-heavy app and want auth, row-level security, realtime subscriptions, and storage without writing a backend. Supabase Auth is excellent, the row-level security model is the real product, and the dashboard is better than ours at database work. Many teams run Supabase for auth and Lizard for the services — that combination is fine.
Moving from Supabase
No Dockerfile required — lizardpack detects the stack and writes one on the build node. If your repo already has a Dockerfile, it is used as it stands.
Frequently asked questions
For the database and the app, yes — Lizard runs Managed Postgres in the same project as the service that reads it, wired in by reference. For auth and row-level security, Supabase does more out of the box; plenty of teams keep Supabase Auth and run their services on Lizard.
Pro is $25 a month including a $10 compute credit, which covers a Micro instance. Larger instances are add-ons: Small $15, Medium $60, Large $110, up to 16XL at $3,730. Egress is 250 GB included, then $0.09 per GB.
No. Free projects auto-pause after a week of inactivity and have to be restored. Lizard’s free start gives $5 of credit with no card and no pause, and a service keeps running while the credit lasts.
Yes: pg_dump from the Supabase connection string, lizard add postgres, then pg_restore into the connection string Lizard prints. Check your extensions — Supabase enables several by default that a plain Postgres does not.
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