Supabase vs Convex — which database wins for your brief, in 2026
Two serverless databases, side by side. Supabase is postgres-based platform: database, auth, storage, edge functions, realtime, vectors. open source. Convex is js-first reactive database — functions are the api, real-time queries by default. The verdict, the criteria, and the honest take below.
ALL DB COMPARISONS →Verdict in one paragraph
SQL vs reactive functions. Supabase wins on portable data, SQL ergonomics, and the open-source / self-hostable story. Convex wins on real-time-first reactivity and the TypeScript-end-to-end DX. For relational app data with eventual portability, Supabase. For real-time-first apps where data reactivity is the differentiator, Convex.
Score across the criteria: Supabase 4 · Convex 2
Side by side
Decision criteria
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Which has portable data?
Supabase
Postgres dump and you are out. Convex's data model is its own.
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Which has the better real-time story?
Convex
Convex queries are reactive by default. Supabase Realtime is opt-in subscriptions.
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Which has the better TypeScript end-to-end?
Convex
Convex's typed-functions story is genuinely best-in-class.
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Which has the better vector / RAG story?
Supabase
pgvector is mature and integrates with the broader Postgres ecosystem. Convex has vector search but the ecosystem is younger.
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Which has the lower vendor lock-in?
Supabase
Supabase is open source. Convex backend is proprietary; client is OSS.
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Which is cheaper at scale?
Supabase
Postgres is the cheaper foundation at high data volumes. Convex pricing scales harder.
What Supabase is best for
- Full-stack apps that need database + auth + storage + functions in one platform
- Postgres + RLS workloads where row-level security is the primary access control
- Vector search + RAG apps using pgvector inside the same database
- Migrating off Firebase to a Postgres-shape data model
Read the full Supabase entry: /serverless-databases/supabase/
What Convex is best for
- Real-time first apps (dashboards, multiplayer, collaborative)
- TypeScript-fluent teams that want backend functions as the only API
- Apps where the database-to-UI reactivity is the differentiator
Read the full Convex entry: /serverless-databases/convex/
The database choice is the easy half — your migration is the hard one
The hard half is migrating your existing data without losing rows, designing a schema your future-self will not curse, and getting realtime / vector / multi-region right when those matter. The 30-min call is where you describe your stack, your scale, your data shape; I tell you whether Supabase or Convex (or something else) is your fit.