Stripe
Supabase
| Feature | Stripe | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From $2.9/mo | Free / from $25/mo |
| Free Plan | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.7 / 5 | 4.7 / 5 |
| Best For | saas-companies, developers, startups, e-commerce, marketplaces | developers, startups, indie-hackers, full-stack-teams |
| Founded | 2010 | 2020 |
| Payments | ✓ | ✗ |
| Subscriptions | ✓ | ✗ |
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✗ |
| Connect Marketplace | ✓ | ✗ |
| Radar Fraud | ✓ | ✗ |
| Checkout | ✓ | ✗ |
| Billing Portal | ✓ | ✗ |
| Postgres Database | ✗ | ✓ |
| Authentication | ✗ | ✓ |
| Edge Functions | ✗ | ✓ |
| Real Time | ✗ | ✓ |
| Storage | ✗ | ✓ |
| Vector Embeddings | ✗ | ✓ |
| Self Hosting | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Stripe Pros
- Best-in-class developer documentation
- Supports 135+ currencies and payment methods
- Powerful subscription and billing management
- Radar fraud prevention included
✗ Stripe Cons
- 2.9% + 30c per transaction adds up
- Account freezes can happen without warning
- Complex pricing for international payments
✓ Supabase Pros
- Full Postgres with SQL access
- Generous free tier (500MB, 50K monthly active users)
- Auth, storage, and edge functions included
- Open-source and self-hostable
✗ Supabase Cons
- Can be complex for non-developers
- Pauses inactive free projects after 7 days
- Real-time can be expensive at scale
The Verdict
Stripe is built for saas companies and developers, with a focus on payments and subscriptions. Supabase targets developers and startups and leads with postgres-database and authentication.
On pricing, Stripe is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $2.9/mo compared to $25/mo for Supabase. That $22.1/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Supabase has a free plan, which gives it a meaningful edge for individuals and small teams exploring their options. Stripe requires a paid subscription from day one.
Both tools are a solid fit for developers, startups — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.