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Supabase self-hosted vs cloud cost has a short answer. The server is cheap: the full official stack ran on our 6.64 € Hetzner CX23 and idled at 1,594 MiB of RAM. Your time is not. For one small app, Supabase Pro at $25 a month is usually cheaper once you count upkeep. Self-hosting pays off when you need more database RAM than Supabase's small compute sizes, or several projects.
This matters now because Hetzner repriced its cloud plans in 2026 and Supabase prices compute per project by the hour. Both sides of the comparison moved. Below are the numbers from both, checked on 5 November 2026.
Verdict
One small production app: Supabase Pro. An app that needs 4 GB+ of database RAM, several projects, or data on your own server: self-host on a Hetzner CX33 (8 GB, 10.27 €), where the whole stack idled at 1,732 MiB.
Tested in the Lab Hetzner CX23, CX33, CX43, CAX11, CAX21 · Nov 2026
Part of our Supabase hosting section. Server sizing in detail: Supabase self-host VPS.
Supabase Cloud prices (checked 5 November 2026)
From the official Supabase pricing page and the Compute and Disk docs. Prices in US dollars.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 500 MB database, 5 GB egress, 1 GB file storage, 50,000 monthly active users, 2 active projects. Projects pause after 1 week of inactivity. |
| Pro | $25/month | $10 compute credits (one Micro instance), 8 GB database disk, 250 GB egress, 100 GB storage, 100,000 MAU, daily backups kept 7 days |
| Team | from $599/month | Higher tier; see the pricing page for what it adds |
| Compute size | CPU | RAM | Per month | Per hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micro | Shared | 1 GB | ~$10 | $0.01344 |
| Small | Shared | 2 GB | ~$15 | $0.0206 |
| Medium | Shared | 4 GB | ~$60 | $0.0822 |
| Large | 2 dedicated vCPUs | 8 GB | ~$110 | $0.1517 |
Pro overage: $0.125 per GB of disk, $0.09 per GB of egress, $0.0213 per GB of storage, $0.00325 per MAU. Point-in-time recovery: $100 a month per 7 days of retention.
One detail matters for a fair comparison. The docs say every project comes with "its own dedicated Postgres instance". The compute size you pick is sized for that database instance. On your own server, one box carries Postgres and all the other services, which is what our RAM figures below include.
Self-hosted: what the server costs
We ran the official Docker Compose stack (11 containers) on five Hetzner servers. Measured after 90 seconds idle:
| Server | Containers | RAM (containers) | RAM used (system) | Fits? | Image pull | Disk (images) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hetzner CX232 vCPU · 4 GB · x86_64 | 11 | 1,399 MiB | 1,594 MiB | yes | 111 s | 9.563GB |
| Hetzner CX334 vCPU · 8 GB · x86_64 | 11 | 1,316 MiB | 1,732 MiB | yes | 50 s | 9.563GB |
| Hetzner CX438 vCPU · 15 GB · x86_64 | 11 | 1,101 MiB | 1,870 MiB | yes | 29 s | 9.563GB |
| Hetzner CAX112 vCPU · 4 GB · aarch64 | 11 | 1,562 MiB | 1,564 MiB | yes | 99 s | 10.14GB |
| Hetzner CAX214 vCPU · 8 GB · aarch64 | 11 | 1,318 MiB | 1,712 MiB | yes | 52 s | 10.14GB |
Measured by AI Hosting Lab on 2026-11-05 · 5 servers · method · raw data
Hetzner gross monthly prices from the Hetzner Cloud API, checked 5 November 2026: CX23 (2 vCPU, 4 GB) 6.64 €, CAX11 (2 vCPU ARM, 4 GB) 7.25 €, CX33 (4 vCPU, 8 GB) 10.27 €, CAX21 (4 vCPU ARM, 8 GB) 12.69 €, CX43 (8 vCPU, 16 GB) 19.35 €.
These are idle numbers with no data and no users. Real traffic and a growing database use more. We have not load-tested Supabase yet.
Your time: the line most cost comparisons skip
Self-hosting moves these jobs to you, in Supabase's own words: server maintenance, security hardening and updates, Postgres maintenance, high availability, backups and disaster recovery, monitoring and uptime. Self-hosted Supabase publishes stable snapshots about once a month, applied with its update.sh script, and you still patch Ubuntu.
We assume 2 hours a month for a single small instance: one Supabase update, OS updates, a look at logs and a restore test now and then. That is our estimate, not a measurement. Your first month, with setup, hardening and backups, will take longer. Price that time at whatever an hour is worth to you; we use 30 € below.
Side-by-side: four common cases
Self-hosted totals are server price plus 2 hours at 30 €. Cloud totals are Pro plus the compute add-on minus the $10 credit, which is our reading of how the included credit works. Supabase charges in dollars and Hetzner in euros; we did not convert.
| Case | Supabase Cloud | Self-hosted server | Self-hosted incl. 2 h upkeep | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side project, low traffic | Free: $0 (pauses after 1 week idle) | CX23: 6.64 € | 66.64 € | Cloud Free |
| Small production app | Pro + Micro (1 GB): $25 | CX33: 10.27 € | 70.27 € | Cloud Pro |
| App that needs 4 GB for Postgres | Pro + Medium: $75 | CX33: 10.27 € | 70.27 € | About even |
| App that needs 8 GB and dedicated CPU | Pro + Large: $125 | CX43: 19.35 € | 79.35 € | Self-hosted |
The last two rows are not perfect matches. Our CX33 and CX43 are shared vCPU servers that also run the 11 other containers, while Supabase's Large size has 2 dedicated vCPUs just for Postgres. Treat them as rough equivalents, not identical products. What the rows show: Supabase's compute price climbs steeply above 2 GB (from ~$15 for Small to ~$60 for Medium), while a VPS with 8 GB costs 10.27 € and our whole stack idled at 1,732 MiB on it.
Count your time at zero (a hobby, or you already run servers) and self-hosting wins every row in cash. Count it at 30 € an hour and it only wins once you need bigger compute.
Costs that change the picture
Backups and recovery
Pro includes daily backups kept 7 days. Self-hosted, Supabase lists managed backups and PITR as not available, so you build backups yourself and pay for off-site storage. If you need point-in-time recovery, Cloud charges $100 a month per 7 days for it; self-hosted, you would have to set up Postgres WAL archiving yourself.
Several projects
On Cloud, every project has its own compute instance billed by the hour. Self-hosted Studio runs a single project per stack. Two apps mean two stacks. We have not measured two stacks on one server, so we do not claim how many fit on an 8 GB box.
Disk and egress
Pro includes 8 GB of database disk, then $0.125 per GB, and 250 GB of egress, then $0.09 per GB. Our CX33 showed 75G of disk, of which the x86 images took 9.563 GB. Check the included traffic of whichever server you rent.
Features you do not get
Self-hosted Supabase has no branching, no Management API, no advanced metrics beyond logs, no analytics or vector buckets and no ETL, according to the self-hosting docs. If your team relies on branching for preview environments, that is a real cost, not just a missing checkbox.
Support
Self-hosted Supabase is community-supported. If something breaks at night, you fix it.
Who should pick which
- Pick Supabase Free for prototypes you can live with being paused after a week of no activity.
- Pick Supabase Pro for one production app with modest database needs and no wish to run a server. It is the cheapest option once your time counts.
- Self-host on a CX33 if your database needs 4 GB or more, you want data on a server you control, or you already maintain Linux servers. Change every default secret first; the self-host VPS guide covers it.
- Self-host on a CX23 only for testing or a hobby. It runs the stack, with about 2.2 GB left at idle.
If you also want n8n or a local model on the same server, add them up in the VPS RAM calculator before you choose a size.
Next step: pick and set up the server with our measured sizing in Supabase self-host VPS.
Hetzner prices on this page include 21% VAT, as charged to our Czech (EU consumer) account by the Hetzner API on 2026-11-05. Without VAT (businesses, most buyers outside the EU): CX23 5.49 €, CX33 8.49 €, CX43 15.99 €, CAX11 5.99 €, CAX21 10.49 € per month.
FAQ
Is self-hosting Supabase cheaper than Supabase Cloud?
In cash, yes: the official stack ran on a 6.64 € Hetzner CX23 in our tests, against $25 a month for Supabase Pro. Once you count a couple of hours of upkeep a month at any reasonable hourly rate, Pro is cheaper for one small app. Self-hosting wins when you would otherwise pay for bigger compute add-ons.
What does Supabase Pro include?
On 5 November 2026 the pricing page listed $25 a month with $10 of compute credits (one Micro instance, 1 GB RAM), 8 GB database disk, 250 GB egress, 100 GB file storage, 100,000 monthly active users and daily backups kept for 7 days.
What server do I need to self-host Supabase?
At least 4 GB of RAM. The whole system used 1,594 MiB on our 4 GB CX23 and 1,732 MiB on our 8 GB CX33 with the stack idle. We recommend the CX33 at 10.27 € a month for production.
What costs do people forget when self-hosting Supabase?
Your time for updates (Supabase publishes self-hosted snapshots about once a month), off-site backups, monitoring, and the fact that point-in-time recovery is not available self-hosted. On Cloud, PITR costs $100 a month per 7 days of retention.
