pgStack vs Supabase

pgStack is designed as a self-hosted Supabase alternative. This page covers the feature overlap, differences, and migration path.

Feature comparison

Feature	Supabase	pgStack
Containers	15+ (GoTrue, PostgREST, Realtime, Storage, Kong, ...)	2 (PostgreSQL + Proxy)
Auth provider	GoTrue (Go service)	Built-in Go proxy
REST API	PostgREST	pgstack-proxy (Go, PostgREST-compatible)
Real-time	Phoenix Elixir server	pg_reactive C extension + Go proxy
Row Level Security	Yes	Yes
Storage	S3-backed (Supabase Storage)	Built-in (PostgreSQL-backed by default; optional disk backend via STORAGE_BACKEND=disk)
Edge Functions	Deno runtime	Deno + PL/v8 + PL/Python + embedded JS + per-function HTTP containers (5 backends)
Transaction Batching	Not available	Built-in (POST /rest/v1/batch)
Studio / Dashboard	Supabase Studio (React)	pgStack Studio (React)
SDK	supabase-js	@pgstack/sdk (/pgstack entry, Supabase-compatible API)
Self-hosting	Complex (15+ services, Kubernetes recommended)	docker compose up -d
Job queues	Via pg_cron or external	Built-in DBOS (PostgreSQL-backed)
Migrations	Supabase CLI	pgstack CLI
Type generation	supabase gen types	pgstack generate types
OAuth	Google, GitHub, Discord, Twitter, Apple, ...	Google, GitHub, Apple, Microsoft, any OIDC provider
Magic links	Yes	Yes
Phone auth	Yes (Twilio)	Not included
Pricing	Free tier + paid cloud	Open source (self-host free)
PostgreSQL version	15 (cloud: managed)	16 (your own)

Where pgStack wins

Simplicity. Two containers. One docker-compose.yml. Zero cloud dependencies. This makes pgStack vastly easier to understand, debug, and operate — especially for teams without dedicated infrastructure engineers.

Resource footprint. Supabase's full self-hosted stack requires 2-4 GB of RAM at idle. pgStack runs comfortably in 512 MB.

Real-time efficiency. pg_reactive delivers SQL-level deltas using EXCEPT-based diff. You get typed, structured change events — not raw WAL events that require client-side re-querying.

Transaction batching. POST /rest/v1/batch executes multiple REST operations in a single PostgreSQL transaction with {{opId.field}} cross-referencing. Supabase has no equivalent — users have been requesting this since 2015.

Edge Functions flexibility. Five runtime backends (Deno, PL/v8, PL/Python, embedded JS, and per-function HTTP containers in any language) — pick the right tool for the job. Supabase only offers Deno.

Presence and broadcast included. Ad-hoc _channel_/_presence_ channels, presence join/leave/state events, peer broadcast, and GET /ws/_presence/{channel} ship in the same proxy that serves live SQL queries.

Durable job queues. The DBOS integration gives you a PostgreSQL-backed job queue with automatic retries, cron scheduling, and observability — no Redis or RabbitMQ.

Auditability. With two containers and a single database, your entire system state lives in PostgreSQL. No syncing between microservices.

Where Supabase wins

Managed hosting. Supabase Cloud handles backups, upgrades, and scaling. pgStack is self-hosted only.

Ecosystem. Supabase has more OAuth providers and a larger community.

Phone auth. Supabase supports SMS-based auth via Twilio.

SDK compatibility

The @pgstack/sdk/pgstack client is designed to be a drop-in replacement for @supabase/supabase-js for the most common patterns:

// Supabase
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';
const supabase = createClient(url, anonKey);
const { data } = await supabase.from('todos').select('*').eq('done', false);

// pgStack — identical API
import { createClient } from '@pgstack/sdk/pgstack';
const pgstack = createClient(url, anonKey);
const { data } = await pgstack.from('todos').select('*').eq('done', false);

Auth methods match the Supabase JS client:

Supabase method	pgStack method
auth.signUp()	auth.signUp()
auth.signInWithPassword()	auth.signInWithPassword()
auth.signInWithOAuth()	auth.signInWithOAuth()
auth.signOut()	auth.signOut()
auth.getUser()	auth.getUser()
auth.getSession()	auth.getSession()
auth.onAuthStateChange()	auth.onAuthStateChange()

Migrating from Supabase

1. Export your schema. Use supabase db dump or pg_dump to export your tables, RLS policies, and functions.

2. Import into pgStack. Run the dump against your pgStack PostgreSQL instance:

   docker compose exec -T db psql -U postgres -d app < schema.sql

3. Update your client URL. Change the Supabase URL to your pgStack proxy URL in your environment variables.

4. Update your anon/service keys. Generate new keys in your .env file.

5. Test auth flows. The auth API paths are identical (/auth/v1/signup, /auth/v1/token, etc.).

6. Test REST queries. Most PostgREST-compatible queries work without changes.

7. Migrate storage. pgStack has built-in storage (PostgreSQL-backed by default; set STORAGE_BACKEND=disk + STORAGE_DIR for filesystem storage). Upload files via the storage API.