Engineering & Tech Stack · Pre-seed · high stakes
Should we self-host Postgres or stick with Supabase managed db?. A startup engineering and tech stack decision for founders. We are launching a private fou…
We are launching a private founder intelligence network. We currently run on Supabase managed Postgres with RLS. I am considering whether to self-host PostgreSQL early for ownership and cost control, or keep using Supabase until we have meaningful traction.
Cam Sullivan · CEO
Honestly. I do not know, but if were you I would ask any software engineers in my network to get an honest take instead of just asking Claude or ChatGPT (even though the LLMs probably have a solid answer for this).
Juan Francisco Verhook · Founder & CTO
They have backups. Unless they change their infrastructure and pricing, I would just stick with them and make sure the backup is hosted in your server.
Alan Menaged · Founder & CEO
I don't have a good answer here but I am facing the same issue. I am more worried about auth than the data. Data can always be exported, but Supabase's auth features are extremely tempting and deeply integrated. Do you have any auth provider/framework in mind if you do choose to move off of Supabase?
Henry Waltz · CTO
Stay on Supabase until traction forces your hand. Self-hosting Postgress this early means you're norw a part-time DBA instead of building product. The cost savings are rounding errors at your stage, the time cost is everything.
Joe Berrizbeitia · COO
The RLS set up is the real lock-in, not the hosting. If you self-host later you keep your Postgres + policies and just move where it runs. So this isn't a now or never call; kick it down the road and decide when the bill actually hurts.