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Is self-hosted Supabase cheaper than Supabase Cloud?

For one small project, no: Supabase Cloud's free tier costs nothing and Pro's included quotas cover a lot, while a self-hosted stack needs a machine with at least 4 GB of RAM and someone to run it. For several projects, or once a Pro project adds compute, egress, storage or the custom-domain add-on, a dedicated instance with a flat price is cheaper, because every project on it shares one bill. Hostwares runs the full open-source stack (Postgres, Auth, Storage, Realtime, Studio) on a dedicated instance per account with several projects per pack, so the trade is a flat pack against Cloud's per-project line items, not against your own weekends.

Deploy a dedicated Supabase Self-hosted Supabase

Step by step

  1. 1

    Write down what Cloud actually bills you

    Open the Supabase billing page for the organisation. Add the plan fee, compute add-ons per project, egress and storage overage, the custom-domain add-on if any, and multiply the per-project items by the number of projects. That total is the monthly number to beat.

  2. 2

    Count projects, not rows

    The price of a dedicated instance does not move with rows, monthly active users or egress. It moves with pack size, and each pack allows several projects. If you have two or more projects, or one project with add-ons, the flat side usually wins.

  3. 3

    Decide who runs the stack

    Self-hosting from the official docker-compose means you patch, back up and monitor it. A dedicated instance on Hostwares is provisioned for you (Dashboard → Supabase → New), with keys generated, a URL with HTTPS, and backups you can take from the dashboard or with create_backup over MCP; restores are yours to run.

  4. 4

    Run the calculator with your numbers

    The Supabase cost calculator takes projects, compute and overage and shows both sides with live pack prices. It is the fastest way to see where the break-even sits for you.

  5. 5

    Move one project first

    Supabase is standard Postgres underneath. pg_dump the Cloud project, restore it into a project on the instance, point one app at the new URL and keys, and update its Auth redirect URLs. Migrate the rest only once that one is quiet.

    Dump and restore

    pg_dump "<cloud connection string>" --no-owner -Fc > project.dump
pg_restore --no-owner -d "<instance connection string>" project.dump

What it costs

  • A dedicated Supabase pack from $5/mo, several projects per pack, flat for the term.
  • No per-project compute line, no egress meter, no monthly-active-user pricing.

App

$1/mo

Starter Frontend pack, 1 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 10 GB

Database, users and files

$5/mo

Smallest dedicated Supabase pack; several projects fit on one

For comparison

  • Supabase Cloud Pro, per organisation, plus usage and per-project compute: $25/mo (checked 2026-11-06, supabase.com)
  • Supabase Cloud custom domain add-on, per project: $10/mo (checked 2026-11-06, supabase.com)
  • Supabase Cloud Team plan: $599/mo (checked 2026-11-06, supabase.com)
All packs and specs Supabase cost calculator

Questions

Is Supabase free to self-host?+

The software is open source under Apache 2.0, so the licence is free. The machine, the backups, the patching and the time are not; that is where the cost sits.

How much RAM does the full stack need?+

The official self-hosting guidance and our own testing agree on 4 GB as a working minimum for Postgres, Auth, Storage, Realtime and Studio together. Our smallest Supabase pack is sized for that.

Where is the break-even?+

Roughly at two projects, or at one Pro project that has added compute or a custom domain. Below that, Cloud's free tier is hard to beat. Run the calculator with your billing page open.

What do I give up by leaving Cloud?+

Supabase's own dashboard for billing and branching, their managed point-in-time features on paid tiers, and their support. You keep Studio, the client libraries, Auth, Storage, Realtime and standard Postgres.

Are backups included?+

You can take a backup from the dashboard or with create_backup over MCP, and restore it yourself. Backups are not scheduled for you; treat them as yours to take.

Can I move back to Cloud later?+

Yes. It is standard Postgres: dump from the instance, restore into a Cloud project, update the URL, keys and redirect URLs.

What does a dedicated instance cost?+

From $5/mo for the smallest pack, flat for the term, several projects per pack.

Related

Next guides

Sources: Supabase pricing (plans and add-ons) (2026-11-06) · Supabase docs: self-hosting (2026-11-06)