Day 3 | Why Supabase again for the backend? Starting from what a personal site costs

With Astro and Cloudflare settled, day three is the backend. I went with Supabase again.

I've used it before, it's open source, and the community behind it is strong. The free plan makes it easy to start, and even if I have to pay later, the price is manageable.

To explain the choice properly, though, I had to answer one question: would running my own database on AWS be cheaper?

First, what are we buying?

Besides a PostgreSQL database, Supabase comes with backend features like user auth and file storage, each with its own plan limits. Supabase pricing

A server where you install the database yourself is a different purchase. Once it's rented, database updates, backups and restores, user auth and the backend API are all still yours to set up.

So I limited this comparison to a personal site that's just starting: low traffic, a few users, mostly text. The frontend stays on Cloudflare; I only looked at backend cost and the work I'd have to take on.

Where the starting costs differ

USD prices as of September 2026, excluding tax, short-term trial offers and overage fees.

What you get

Supabase FreeUS$0/month within the limitsDatabase plus integrated backend features; watch storage, the pause rules and backups

Supabase ProFrom US$25/month The first Micro project fits within the compute credits; more projects, bigger instances or overages cost more

Firebase: Firestore + standard sign-inCan be US$0/month within the free tier Another managed backend combination; Firestore is a document database, not PostgreSQL

AWS Lightsail, self-hosted databaseUS$12/month for the server in this exampleA Linux server with 2 GB RAM and a public IPv4 address; database software, API, user auth and maintenance are up to you

Sources: Supabase, Firebase, AWS Lightsail bundles

Supabase Free includes a 500 MB database and 1 GB of file storage per project. Free projects pause after a week without activity, the free plan allows at most two active projects, and there are no automatic backups. If you already have other projects there, check that you still have a free slot and enough quota. Supabase plan limits

Firebase also lets you start free. Firestore's free tier includes 1 GiB of stored data, 50,000 document reads and 20,000 writes a day. This comparison assumes Firestore with standard sign-in, no SMS. File storage, Cloud Functions, SMS and similar services are billed separately, and you may need to move to the Blaze plan. Firestore pricing, Firebase pricing

Self-hosting on AWS may cut the monthly bill, but count the maintenance

Going by the table, Supabase Pro at US$25 and the Lightsail server at US$12 differ by US$13 a month on paper. That leaves out the backups, the other services and my own time that self-hosting needs.

This is how I look at cost:

Monthly total = service fees + extra resources + the cost of maintenance time.

If you already know how to run servers and databases, self-hosting can be worth it. If you'd rather get the site's features built first, ask how much maintenance and integration work that monthly fee saves you.

AWS CLI can automate it, but deploying still takes time

I also looked at doing the setup with the AWS CLI, using commands and scripts instead of clicking around the console. AWS CLI

I stayed with Supabase mostly because I know it

My earlier projects already use it, so that experience carries over and I skip relearning and wiring up other tools. While I'm on the free tier, I check whether the limits cover what I need. When it's time to pay, I'll look at actual usage, backup needs and maintenance cost, so I don't waste money.