Self-host Supabase
updated Jul 2026deployed & timed by usprices checked · Aug 2026Install verified on Ubuntu 26.04 · Jul 2026 · how we test
Postgres-native backend platform bundling auth, realtime subscriptions, storage, and edge functions behind a single API gateway. The open-source Firebase alternative.
Firebase / yr$300
Self-hosted / yr~$55
You keep$245/yr
Pocket the difference — spin it up on a cheap VPS in minutes.Start free on Kamatera → (opens in new tab)
Key facts
Our recommendation
Pick Supabase when you want a Postgres-native backend — auth, realtime, storage, and edge functions on top of a real relational database you can query and back up like any other Postgres install. Budget a genuine box: the official Compose stack is a dozen-plus containers and wants 4 GB of RAM. If you only need auth and a data API on SQLite, PocketBase is dramatically less to run.
Follow the Supabase deploy guide →What you need
- Any VPS with at least 4096 MB of RAM
- A domain you control — most self-hosted setups need HTTPS in front of them
- About the better part of a day
Install
Run these commands on your server:
# Supabase — official self-hosting via Docker Compose
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/supabase/supabase
mkdir supabase-project && cp -rf supabase/docker/* supabase-project && cp supabase/docker/.env.example supabase-project/.env
cd supabase-project
# generate real secrets for POSTGRES_PASSWORD, JWT_SECRET, etc. in .env before starting
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d # → http://SERVER_IP:8000 (Studio via Kong)deploy guideHow to Deploy Supabase on a VPSdeploy guideBuilding AI-Powered Apps with Supabase and pgvectorvps picksBest VPS for Supabasebenchmarked quarterly · re-priced monthly
What you take on
Supabase self-hosted is the same open-source engine as the cloud product, but you inherit what the paid platform quietly handles for you:
non-negotiableYou are the backup story. Self-hosted Supabase has no built-in automated backups or point-in-time recovery — that's a paid-cloud feature; plan your own pg_dump or WAL-archiving schedule from day one.
non-negotiableStudio isn't full parity. The bundled admin UI trails the hosted dashboard on some features — expect to drop into psql or the API for anything Studio doesn't cover.
non-negotiableIt's a real container stack. Kong, GoTrue, PostgREST, Realtime, Storage, and Postgres all run separately — docker compose up is one command, but keeping a dozen-plus services patched and healthy is the ongoing job.
An alternative to
Head-to-head
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