Upstash vs Supabase for Solo Developers

Upstash and Supabase are both popular choices for solo developers, but they fill very different roles. Supabase is a full backend platform built on PostgreSQL. Upstash provides serverless Redis, Kafka, and messaging services. Comparing them is like comparing a Swiss Army knife to a scalpel. Both are useful, but for different tasks.

I have used both extensively and want to be clear upfront: most developers use these together rather than choosing between them. But if you are picking one to start with, here is what you need to know.

Upstash Overview

Upstash provides serverless data infrastructure, primarily Redis, Kafka, QStash (HTTP message queue), and Vector (for AI embeddings). Their flagship product is serverless Redis, which is accessible over HTTP and compatible with edge runtimes like Cloudflare Workers and Vercel Edge Functions.

The pay-per-request pricing means you never pay for idle resources. Your bill reflects actual usage, starting from zero. The free tier includes 10,000 Redis commands per day, which handles lightweight applications and development without any cost.

Upstash Redis is durable by default, meaning your data persists even through restarts. This makes it usable as a lightweight primary store for certain use cases, not just a cache.

Supabase Overview

Supabase is an open-source Firebase alternative built on PostgreSQL. It provides a managed PostgreSQL database, authentication, real-time subscriptions, file storage, edge functions, and auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs. You get a full backend platform out of the box.

For solo developers, Supabase is often the quickest way to get a production backend running. Create a project, define your tables in the dashboard, and you immediately have REST endpoints, real-time capabilities, and user authentication working together.

The free tier includes 500MB of database storage, 1GB of file storage, 50,000 monthly active users for auth, and 500MB of bandwidth. That covers most MVPs and side projects comfortably.

Comparison Table

When to Pick Upstash

Choose Upstash when you need fast, serverless data access for specific technical needs. Rate limiting API endpoints, caching expensive database queries, managing user sessions, processing background jobs through queues, or storing real-time counters and leaderboards. These are Upstash's sweet spots.

Upstash is also the right choice if you are building for edge runtimes. If your app runs on Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge Middleware, or similar platforms, Upstash's HTTP-based access is one of the few data solutions that works natively in those restricted environments.

For AI applications, Upstash Vector provides a serverless vector store that pairs naturally with their Redis offering. You can cache LLM responses in Redis while storing embeddings in Vector, all on the same platform.

When to Pick Supabase

Choose Supabase when you need a complete backend for your application. If you are building a SaaS app, a content platform, an e-commerce site, or any project where you need a relational database, user authentication, and file storage, Supabase gives you all of that in one place.

Supabase makes sense for solo developers who want to move fast without stitching together multiple services. Instead of setting up PostgreSQL, Auth0, S3, and a REST API separately, you get a unified platform where everything works together.

The PostgreSQL foundation is a major advantage. You have the full power of SQL, including joins, transactions, views, stored procedures, and extensions like PostGIS. When you outgrow Supabase, you can take your PostgreSQL database with you.

Verdict

If you need a primary backend for a full-stack application, start with Supabase. It gives you a relational database, authentication, storage, and APIs immediately. You can build a complete product on Supabase's free tier alone.

If you need fast data access for caching, queues, rate limiting, or edge computing, Upstash is purpose-built for those workloads. It is not a replacement for a primary database in most cases, but it makes your primary database work better.

The best setup for many solo developers is both: Supabase as your backend and Upstash for caching and edge data access. But if you are picking one to start with, Supabase covers more ground as a general-purpose backend. Add Upstash when you need speed and edge compatibility.