Supabase Pricing vs AWS RDS: Is Supabase Free? Full Cost Comparison (2026)
When choosing a PostgreSQL database platform, whether for a side project or a production app, you need to look beyond features and assess the total cost of ownership — including compute, storage, backups, and bandwidth. One of the most common questions developers ask is: is Supabase free? The short answer is yes — Supabase offers a generous free tier with no time limit, but there are important limits to understand.
In this guide, we compare Supabase pricing vs AWS (RDS and Aurora) across free, entry-level, and production tiers. We focus strictly on database-related costs and explain on-demand vs reserved pricing where applicable.
Supabase Free Tier vs AWS Free Tier: What Do You Get for $0?
Both platforms offer free tiers, but they differ significantly in duration, compute power, and resource isolation.
| Feature | Supabase Free Tier | AWS Free Tier (12 months) |
|---|---|---|
| Duration | Forever | 12 months from signup |
| Compute | Shared CPU / 500MB RAM | 2 vCPU (burstable) / 1GB RAM (t4g.micro, 750 hrs/mo)* |
| Compute Type | Shared container environment | Dedicated EC2 instance (Graviton2, burstable) |
| CPU Architecture | x86 | ARM (AWS Graviton2) |
| Storage (DB) | 500MB | 20GB gp3* |
| Backup | 7-day snapshot | 20GB snapshot |
| Bandwidth | 5GB outbound | 15GB outbound |
| OS / Isolation | Serverless (no OS access) | Full OS-level isolation |
- Supabase Free is ideal for hobby projects, quick MVPs, or internal tools with light traffic. It requires no setup and stays free forever.
- AWS Free Tier gives you significantly more power and isolation but is limited to the first 12 months after signup.
1. Entry-Level (Low Cost)
When you outgrow the free tier but don’t need production-grade resources, these plans offer low-cost paths. Supabase simplifies everything with a flat rate. AWS offers more control and deeper savings through reserved pricing.
| Feature | Supabase Pro Tier | RDS t4g.micro (On-Demand) | RDS t4g.micro (1yr Reserved) | RDS t4g.micro (3yr Reserved) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $25 (includes $10 compute)* | $11.68 | $6.69 | $4.76 |
| Compute | 2-core ARM (shared) / 1GB RAM | 2 vCPU (burstable) / 1GB RAM | 2 vCPU (burstable) / 1GB RAM | 2 vCPU (burstable) / 1GB RAM |
| Compute Type | Shared container environment | Dedicated ARM instance (Graviton2) | Dedicated ARM instance (Graviton2) | Dedicated ARM instance (Graviton2) |
| OS Access | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Storage Included | 8GB | 20GB gp3 | 20GB gp3 | 20GB gp3 |
| Extra Storage | $0.125/GB | $0.115/GB | $0.115/GB | $0.115/GB |
| Backups | 7-day snapshot | Free up to DB size, then $0.095/GB* | Free up to DB size, then $0.095/GB | Free up to DB size, then $0.095/GB |
| Bandwidth | 250GB outbound included, then $0.09/GB | $0.09/GB outbound | $0.09/GB outbound | $0.09/GB outbound |
- Supabase Pro is great if you want simple, predictable pricing without dealing with EC2, storage classes, or IOPS tuning.
- RDS On-Demand offers low-cost dedicated compute with more configurability.
- Reserved instances (1yr and 3yr) reduce costs dramatically, but require long-term commitment.
2. Mid-Tier Production (100GB Storage + Moderate Usage)
For established applications with real user traffic and non-trivial data volumes, cost differences and platform flexibility become more significant.
| Feature | Supabase (Large) | RDS m5.large (On-Demand) | RDS m5.large (1yr Reserved) | RDS m5.large (3yr Reserved) | Aurora r5.large (On-Demand) | Aurora r5.large (1yr Reserved) | Aurora r5.large (3yr Reserved) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $110 (flat)* | $130 | $81 | $56 | $211 | $138 | $96 |
| Compute | 2-core ARM (dedicated) / 8GB RAM | 2 vCPU / 8GB RAM | 2 vCPU / 8GB RAM | 2 vCPU / 8GB RAM | 2 vCPU / 16GB RAM | 2 vCPU / 16GB RAM | 2 vCPU / 16GB RAM |
| Compute Type | Dedicated ARM instance | Dedicated EC2 (x86) | Dedicated EC2 (x86) | Dedicated EC2 (x86) | Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized)* | Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized) | Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized) |
| OS Access | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Storage (100GB) | Included | $11.50 (gp3) | $11.50 (gp3) | $11.50 (gp3) | $10 (I/O-Optimized) | $10 (I/O-Optimized) | $10 (I/O-Optimized) |
| Backup | Included | Free up to DB size* | Free up to DB size | Free up to DB size | $0.021/GB* | $0.021/GB | $0.021/GB |
| Bandwidth (500GB) | $22.50 (250GB included + $0.09/GB) | $45 ($0.09/GB) | $45 ($0.09/GB) | $45 ($0.09/GB) | $45 ($0.09/GB) | $45 ($0.09/GB) | $45 ($0.09/GB) |
| Total/Month | $145 | $186 | $138 | $112.50 | $266 | $193 | $161 |
- Supabase (Large) bundles all costs and removes infrastructure complexity — ideal for fast-moving teams.
- RDS Reserved (especially 3-year) cuts monthly bills by over 50%.
- Aurora Reserved costs more, but adds built-in high availability, multi-AZ replication, and better scaling.
3. Heavy Workload (500GB+ Storage, High Throughput)
For mission-critical workloads with large storage, high concurrency, and peak traffic, this tier shows how pricing stacks up across platforms.
| Feature | Supabase 2XL | RDS r5.xlarge (On-Demand) | RDS r5.xlarge (1yr Reserved) | RDS r5.xlarge (3yr Reserved) | Aurora r5.xlarge (On-Demand) | Aurora r5.xlarge (1yr Reserved) | Aurora r5.xlarge (3yr Reserved) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Price | $410 (flat)* | $422 | $246 | $170 | $422 | $287 | $210 |
| Compute | 8-core ARM (dedicated) / 32GB RAM | 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM | 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM | 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM | 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM | 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM | 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM |
| Compute Type | Dedicated ARM instance | Dedicated EC2 (x86) | Dedicated EC2 (x86) | Dedicated EC2 (x86) | Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized)* | Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized) | Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized) |
| OS Access | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Storage (500GB) | Included | $57.50 (gp3) | $57.50 (gp3) | $57.50 (gp3) | $50 (I/O-Optimized) | $50 (I/O-Optimized) | $50 (I/O-Optimized) |
| IOPS / Throughput | Included (abstracted)* | $100+ (io1 estimated)* | $100+ (io1 estimated) | $100+ (io1 estimated) | Included | Included | Included |
| Backup (500GB extra) | Included | $47.50* | $47.50 | $47.50 | $10.50 | $10.50 | $10.50 |
| Bandwidth (1TB) | $67.50 (250GB included + $0.09/GB) | $90 ($0.09/GB) | $90 ($0.09/GB) | $90 ($0.09/GB) | $90 ($0.09/GB) | $90 ($0.09/GB) | $90 ($0.09/GB) |
| Total/Month | $477.5 | $717 | $541 | $465 | $572 | $437 | $361 |
- Supabase 2XL is an all-inclusive bundle that scales without requiring DBAs or infra tuning.
- RDS Reserved (3yr) delivers maximum cost-efficiency if your workload is stable.
- Aurora Reserved is ideal for high-volume, multi-region, or high-availability requirements.
Cost Reference for Storage & Compute
| Metric | Supabase | AWS RDS (On-Demand) | AWS RDS (Reserved)* | Aurora (I/O-Optimized)* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Storage | $0.125/GB | $0.115/GB (gp3)* | $0.115/GB (gp3) | $0.10–$0.225/GB* |
| Backup | Included | $0.095/GB* | $0.095/GB | $0.021/GB (snapshot)* |
| Bandwidth | 250GB outbound included | $0.09/GB outbound | $0.09/GB outbound | $0.09/GB outbound |
| Compute | $10–$3,730 (flat) | $11–$1,688 | $6–$1,080 | $67–$3,376 |
- Reserved pricing can reduce compute cost by 30–60%, especially for year-long or 3-year commitments.
- Aurora charges by I/O operations, unless you're on their newer I/O-optimized pricing model.
📝 Explanatory Notes
-
t4g.micro (burstable): AWS uses burstable instances like
t4g.microfor its Free and entry-level RDS tiers. These provide 2 ARM-based vCPUs with a CPU credit system — ideal for low-to-moderate workloads with occasional spikes. -
gp3 Storage (AWS): gp3 is now the default storage type for new RDS instances. It provides a baseline of 3,000 IOPS and 125 MB/s throughput at no extra cost — a significant improvement over the older gp2 type. The per-GB price remains the same at $0.115/GB-month.
-
Supabase Flat Pricing: Supabase’s pricing includes compute, storage, backups, and bandwidth in a single monthly rate — simplifying cost tracking and reducing surprise bills.
-
Backup Costs (AWS): RDS provides free backup storage up to the size of your DB. Additional snapshot storage is charged at:
- $0.095/GB for RDS
- $0.021/GB for Aurora
-
Aurora I/O-Optimized: This newer Aurora pricing tier eliminates per-I/O charges and instead bills a flat rate per GB stored. Ideal for write-heavy or high-throughput workloads with unpredictable I/O.
-
IOPS Costs (RDS): For high-performance needs beyond gp3's 3,000 IOPS baseline, RDS users may provision additional IOPS on gp3 or upgrade to
io1/io2storage — typically adding $100+ per month for workloads requiring consistent low-latency throughput. -
Reserved Pricing (AWS): RDS and Aurora support 1-year and 3-year reservations, reducing monthly compute costs by 30–60%. These are billed upfront or monthly and require workload stability.
Conclusion
| Use Case | Best Choice | Price Range (Monthly) | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free hobby project | Supabase Free | $0 | No time limit, zero config |
| Low-cost dev/test DB | Supabase Pro | $25 | Simple flat rate, includes compute, storage, and bandwidth |
| AWS trial or AWS-focused team | AWS Free Tier | $0 (12 mo) | Best value compute & storage for teams already using AWS |
| Cost-sensitive production workload | RDS Reserved | $4.76–$96 | Long-term commitment cuts RDS compute cost by up to 60% |
| Simple mid-sized app | Supabase or RDS | $110–$186 | Supabase for ease, RDS for control & cost tuning |
| High write/read throughput | Aurora Reserved | $96–$437 | Built-in performance, replication, and I/O-optimized pricing |
| Multi-region / enterprise scale | Aurora or RDS | $161–$717 | Supports replication, multi-AZ, and enterprise-grade configurations |
- Supabase offers simple pricing and easy setup, ideal for fast-moving projects.
- AWS RDS Reserved is best for long-term, cost-optimized workloads with more control.
- Aurora suits high-performance, high-availability needs, but at a higher cost.
Choose based on your need for simplicity vs control, and how stable your usage will be. Supabase works well for early-stage apps; AWS shines for scaled, mature systems.
Need more than a database? Our next post will compare Supabase vs AWS pricing across auth, messaging, and more.
FAQ
Is Supabase free?
Yes, Supabase offers a free tier that lasts forever (no time limit). It includes a shared CPU with 500MB RAM, 500MB database storage, 7-day backup snapshots, and 5GB outbound bandwidth. It is ideal for hobby projects, quick MVPs, or internal tools with light traffic.
What is included in the Supabase free tier?
The Supabase free tier includes shared CPU / 500MB RAM compute, 500MB database storage, 7-day snapshot backups, and 5GB outbound bandwidth. There is no time limit on the free tier, unlike AWS which limits its free tier to 12 months.
How much does Supabase Pro cost?
Supabase Pro costs $25/month (includes $10 compute credit). It provides 2-core ARM shared compute with 1GB RAM, 8GB storage included, 250GB outbound bandwidth, and 7-day backup snapshots.
Is Supabase cheaper than AWS RDS?
For small to mid-sized projects, Supabase is often simpler and more predictable in pricing. At the entry level, Supabase Pro ($25/month) is more expensive than RDS t4g.micro on-demand ($11.68/month), but Supabase bundles compute, storage, and bandwidth into one flat rate. For mid-tier production workloads (100GB storage), Supabase ($145/month) is comparable to RDS 1-year reserved ($138/month).
Does Supabase have storage pricing limits?
Supabase charges $0.125/GB for additional database storage beyond what is included in your plan. The free tier includes 500MB, Pro includes 8GB, and higher tiers include more. By comparison, AWS RDS charges $0.115/GB for gp3 storage.
