Convex vs Supabase: What should you choose in 2025

Convex vs Supabase: Picking the Right Full-Stack Platform for Your Project

When you’re evaluating backend platforms, you need clarity on features, pricing, ecosystem, and future-proofing. In this guide, you’ll discover how Convex and Supabase stack up on core capabilities, open-source philosophy, AI/ML support, compliance, performance, migration paths—and more. By the end, you’ll know which platform fits your next web or mobile app.

What Are Convex and Supabase?

Convex is a batteries-included, full-stack development platform with a reactive data model designed for real-time synchronization , created for collaborative applications. Supabase is an open-source Backend-as-a-Service built around PostgreSQL , focused on traditional web and mobile use cases.

Core Feature Comparison

Both platforms cover database, authentication, functions, and hosting—but they take different approaches.

Architecture & Data Model

• Supabase uses PostgreSQL at its core, so you write SQL and enjoy ACID guarantees on every query.

• Convex employs a reactive programming paradigm with a document-style data model, syncing state across clients in real time.

Open Source vs. Closed Source

• Supabase is fully open source , encouraging community plugins and contributions.

• Convex is closed source, trading community extensibility for a tightly controlled developer experience.

Open source ensures our ecosystem can grow organically and adapt over time.

– Supabase team based on our review of their open source philosophy .

Pricing Models

1. Supabase charges per service usage (database row compute, storage, bandwidth)

2. Convex bills based on compute operations and storage volume

Extensibility & Integrations

Your platform should meet your framework and edge-computing needs.

• Supabase offers Edge Functions for low-latency, global serverless code.

• Convex provides first-class JavaScript/TypeScript SDKs on npm , with plans for Rust and Dart clients.

Advanced AI/ML Workflows

If you’re building AI-powered features, here’s how each stacks up:

• Convex has built-in RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) components and hybrid ranking functions, simplifying search and LLM integration. Learn more about the Retrieval-Augmented Generation approach .

• Supabase can integrate with external AI services via edge functions, but lacks native RAG tooling.

Schema Management & Migrations

How you evolve your database matters over time.

• Supabase uses SQL-based migrations you’re likely familiar with ( Flyway schema migration guidelines ) and a dashboard to track changes.

• Convex takes a code-centric approach: define your schema in code, and migrations run automatically on deploy, similar to Prisma’s code-first migration system .

Data Privacy & Compliance

Enterprises often need GDPR, SOC 2, or HIPAA compliance.

• GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is the EU’s framework for data protection ( official text ).

• SOC 2 (Service Organization Controls) standards are defined by the AICPA .

• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is enforced by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services .

Supabase publishes its compliance commitments and offers enterprise plans with SOC 2 and GDPR support. Convex maintains strict data-protection standards and outlines its security controls in its documentation.

Performance & Scalability

Real-world benchmarks highlight differences under heavy load:

• Convex can sustain sub-50 ms read/write latency at 5,000 concurrent connections.

• Supabase, powered by PostgreSQL replicas, handles large analytics queries efficiently but can see 100–200 ms p99 latencies under similar loads.

Migration Paths from Firebase

Moving off Firebase? Both platforms offer guides:

1. Supabase provides a Firebase-to-PostgreSQL migration tool.

2. Convex has a step-by-step Firebase migration guide.

The Final Verdict

Now that you’ve seen how Convex and Supabase compare across real-time sync, open vs. closed source, AI support, compliance, performance, and migrations, you’re ready to choose:

• Pick Convex if you need a turnkey, reactive backend with first-class collaboration and AI features.

• Pick Supabase if you want open-source freedom, SQL familiarity, and edge-compute extensibility.

Armed with these insights, you can confidently select the platform that aligns with your project’s scale, tech stack, and compliance requirements. Good luck building!