Supabase vs AWS: Database Pricing 🛢️💰 Comparison in 2025

When choosing a PostgreSQL database platform, whether for a side project or a production app, you need to look beyond features and assess the total cost of ownership — including compute, storage, backups, and bandwidth.

In this guide, we compare Supabase vs AWS (RDS and Aurora) across free, entry-level, and production tiers. We focus strictly on database-related costs and explain on-demand vs reserved pricing where applicable.

0. Free Plans: What Do You Get for $0?

Both platforms offer free tiers, but they differ significantly in duration, compute power, and resource isolation.

Feature Supabase Free Tier AWS Free Tier (12 months)
Duration Forever 12 months from signup
Compute Shared CPU / 500MB RAM 2 vCPU (burstable) / 1GB RAM (t4g.micro, 750 hrs/mo)*
Compute Type Shared container environment Dedicated EC2 instance (Graviton2, burstable)
CPU Architecture x86 ARM (AWS Graviton2)
Storage (DB) 500MB 20GB gp2*
Backup 7-day snapshot 20GB snapshot
Bandwidth 5GB outbound 15GB outbound
OS / Isolation Serverless (no OS access) Full OS-level isolation
  • Supabase Free is ideal for hobby projects, quick MVPs, or internal tools with light traffic. It requires no setup and stays free forever.
  • AWS Free Tier gives you significantly more power and isolation but is limited to the first 12 months after signup.

1. Entry-Level (Low Cost)

When you outgrow the free tier but don’t need production-grade resources, these plans offer low-cost paths. Supabase simplifies everything with a flat rate. AWS offers more control and deeper savings through reserved pricing.

Feature Supabase Pro Tier RDS t4g.micro (On-Demand) RDS t4g.micro (1yr Reserved) RDS t4g.micro (3yr Reserved)
Monthly Price $25 (includes $10 compute)* $11.68 $6.69 $4.76
Compute 1 vCPU (shared) / 1GB RAM 2 vCPU (burstable) / 1GB RAM 2 vCPU (burstable) / 1GB RAM 2 vCPU (burstable) / 1GB RAM
Compute Type Shared container environment Dedicated ARM instance (Graviton2) Dedicated ARM instance (Graviton2) Dedicated ARM instance (Graviton2)
OS Access No Yes Yes Yes
Storage Included 8GB 20GB gp2 20GB gp2 20GB gp2
Extra Storage $0.125/GB $0.115/GB $0.115/GB $0.115/GB
Backups 7-day snapshot Free up to DB size, then $0.095/GB* Free up to DB size, then $0.095/GB Free up to DB size, then $0.095/GB
Bandwidth 250GB outbound included, then $0.09/GB $0.09/GB outbound $0.09/GB outbound $0.09/GB outbound
  • Supabase Pro is great if you want simple, predictable pricing without dealing with EC2, storage classes, or IOPS tuning.
  • RDS On-Demand offers low-cost dedicated compute with more configurability.
  • Reserved instances (1yr and 3yr) reduce costs dramatically, but require long-term commitment.

2. Mid-Tier Production (100GB Storage + Moderate Usage)

For established applications with real user traffic and non-trivial data volumes, cost differences and platform flexibility become more significant.

Feature Supabase (Large) RDS m5.large (On-Demand) RDS m5.large (1yr Reserved) RDS m5.large (3yr Reserved) Aurora r5.large (On-Demand) Aurora r5.large (1yr Reserved) Aurora r5.large (3yr Reserved)
Monthly Price $110 (flat)* $130 $81 $56 $211 $138 $96
Compute 2 vCPU (shared) / 8GB RAM 2 vCPU / 8GB RAM 2 vCPU / 8GB RAM 2 vCPU / 8GB RAM 2 vCPU / 16GB RAM 2 vCPU / 16GB RAM 2 vCPU / 16GB RAM
Compute Type Shared container environment Dedicated EC2 (x86) Dedicated EC2 (x86) Dedicated EC2 (x86) Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized)* Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized) Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized)
OS Access No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Storage (100GB) Included $11.50 (gp2) $11.50 (gp2) $11.50 (gp2) $10 (I/O-Optimized) $10 (I/O-Optimized) $10 (I/O-Optimized)
Backup Included Free up to DB size* Free up to DB size Free up to DB size $0.021/GB* $0.021/GB $0.021/GB
Bandwidth (500GB) $22.50 (250GB included + $0.09/GB) $45 ($0.09/GB) $45 ($0.09/GB) $45 ($0.09/GB) $45 ($0.09/GB) $45 ($0.09/GB) $45 ($0.09/GB)
Total/Month $145 $186 $138 $112.50 $266 $193 $161
  • Supabase (Large) bundles all costs and removes infrastructure complexity — ideal for fast-moving teams.
  • RDS Reserved (especially 3-year) cuts monthly bills by over 50%.
  • Aurora Reserved costs more, but adds built-in high availability, multi-AZ replication, and better scaling.

3. Heavy Workload (500GB+ Storage, High Throughput)

For mission-critical workloads with large storage, high concurrency, and peak traffic, this tier shows how pricing stacks up across platforms.

Feature Supabase 2XL RDS r5.xlarge (On-Demand) RDS r5.xlarge (1yr Reserved) RDS r5.xlarge (3yr Reserved) Aurora r5.xlarge (On-Demand) Aurora r5.xlarge (1yr Reserved) Aurora r5.xlarge (3yr Reserved)
Monthly Price $410 (flat)* $422 $246 $170 $422 $287 $210
Compute 4 vCPU (shared) / 16GB RAM 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM 4 vCPU / 32GB RAM
Compute Type Shared container Dedicated EC2 (x86) Dedicated EC2 (x86) Dedicated EC2 (x86) Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized)* Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized) Aurora cluster (I/O-Optimized)
OS Access No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Storage (500GB) Included $57.50 (gp2) $57.50 (gp2) $57.50 (gp2) $50 (I/O-Optimized) $50 (I/O-Optimized) $50 (I/O-Optimized)
IOPS / Throughput Included (abstracted)* $100+ (io1 estimated)* $100+ (io1 estimated) $100+ (io1 estimated) Included Included Included
Backup (500GB extra) Included $47.50* $47.50 $47.50 $10.50 $10.50 $10.50
Bandwidth (1TB) $67.50 (250GB included + $0.09/GB) $90 ($0.09/GB) $90 ($0.09/GB) $90 ($0.09/GB) $90 ($0.09/GB) $90 ($0.09/GB) $90 ($0.09/GB)
Total/Month $477.5 $717 $541 $465 $572 $437 $361
  • Supabase 2XL is an all-inclusive bundle that scales without requiring DBAs or infra tuning.
  • RDS Reserved (3yr) delivers maximum cost-efficiency if your workload is stable.
  • Aurora Reserved is ideal for high-volume, multi-region, or high-availability requirements.

Cost Reference for Storage & Compute

Metric Supabase AWS RDS (On-Demand) AWS RDS (Reserved)* Aurora (I/O-Optimized)*
Storage $0.125/GB $0.115/GB (gp2)* $0.115/GB (gp2) $0.10–$0.225/GB*
Backup Included $0.095/GB* $0.095/GB $0.021/GB (snapshot)*
Bandwidth 250GB outbound included $0.09/GB outbound $0.09/GB outbound $0.09/GB outbound
Compute $10–$3,730 (flat) $11–$1,688 $6–$1,080 $67–$3,376
  • Reserved pricing can reduce compute cost by 30–60%, especially for year-long or 3-year commitments.
  • Aurora charges by I/O operations, unless you’re on their newer I/O-optimized pricing model.

📝 Explanatory Notes

  • t4g.micro (burstable): AWS uses burstable instances like t4g.micro for its Free and entry-level RDS tiers. These provide 2 ARM-based vCPUs with a CPU credit system — ideal for low-to-moderate workloads with occasional spikes.

  • gp2 Storage (AWS): gp2 volumes offer 3 IOPS per GB, with a minimum baseline of 100 IOPS at 20GB. They also include burst capacity, giving better performance than basic shared storage.

  • Supabase Flat Pricing: Supabase’s pricing includes compute, storage, backups, and bandwidth in a single monthly rate — simplifying cost tracking and reducing surprise bills.

  • Backup Costs (AWS): RDS provides free backup storage up to the size of your DB. Additional snapshot storage is charged at:

    • $0.095/GB for RDS
    • $0.021/GB for Aurora
  • Aurora I/O-Optimized: This newer Aurora pricing tier eliminates per-I/O charges and instead bills a flat rate per GB stored. Ideal for write-heavy or high-throughput workloads with unpredictable I/O.

  • IOPS Costs (RDS): For high-performance needs, RDS users may upgrade to io1 or gp3 storage with provisioned IOPS — typically adding $100+ per month for workloads requiring consistent low-latency throughput.

  • Reserved Pricing (AWS): RDS and Aurora support 1-year and 3-year reservations, reducing monthly compute costs by 30–60%. These are billed upfront or monthly and require workload stability.

Conclusion

Use Case Best Choice Price Range (Monthly) Why
Free hobby project Supabase Free $0 No time limit, zero config
Low-cost dev/test DB Supabase Pro $25 Simple flat rate, includes compute, storage, and bandwidth
AWS trial or AWS-focused team AWS Free Tier $0 (12 mo) Best value compute & storage for teams already using AWS
Cost-sensitive production workload RDS Reserved $4.76–$96 Long-term commitment cuts RDS compute cost by up to 60%
Simple mid-sized app Supabase or RDS $110–$186 Supabase for ease, RDS for control & cost tuning
High write/read throughput Aurora Reserved $96–$437 Built-in performance, replication, and I/O-optimized pricing
Multi-region / enterprise scale Aurora or RDS $161–$717 Supports replication, multi-AZ, and enterprise-grade configurations
  • Supabase offers simple pricing and easy setup, ideal for fast-moving projects.
  • AWS RDS Reserved is best for long-term, cost-optimized workloads with more control.
  • Aurora suits high-performance, high-availability needs, but at a higher cost.

Choose based on your need for simplicity vs control, and how stable your usage will be. Supabase works well for early-stage apps; AWS shines for scaled, mature systems.

Need more than a database? Our next post will compare Supabase vs AWS pricing across auth, messaging, and more.

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