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Is local Supabase free?
Supabase’s Local Development & CLI documentation describes a self-contained stack on your computer and says local development is free and does not consume project quota. That means you do not need to run a production self-hosted deployment just to avoid hosted project charges while developing.
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Your computer and time are still part of the practical cost: you need a container runtime and must operate the local environment. But the local stack itself does not create a Supabase-hosted project charge under the documented workflow.
What to use for local development
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Install the Supabase CLI and a compatible container runtime. Supabase lists Docker Desktop, OrbStack, Rancher Desktop, and Podman as options in its local development documentation.
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Initialize the project with the CLI, then start the local services with
supabase start. -
Keep your schema and migrations in version control so the team can recreate the project locally and apply the same changes to a remote instance. Supabase’s local development workflow explains this approach.
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Use the local stack for development and testing only. Supabase warns that it is not hardened for production and must not be exposed to external traffic.
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How the three Supabase choices differ
| Choice | Best suited to | Cost and responsibility | Important distinction |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLI local stack | Development and testing on a developer’s computer | Supabase says it is free and does not consume project quota; you provide the computer and manage the local environment. | Not a production deployment. |
| Managed Supabase | Hosted projects where you want Supabase to operate the platform | Paid monthly costs combine a plan fee and variable usage fees; project compute is charged separately from database usage. | Billing and quotas depend on the organization’s plan and project usage. |
| Production self-hosting | Production workloads where operating the stack yourself is an intentional choice | You pay for infrastructure and take on provisioning, security, upgrades, service configuration, and Postgres maintenance. | Some managed-platform features are unavailable, including managed backups and point-in-time recovery. |
What managed Supabase billing includes
Supabase says billing is organization-based. On paid monthly plans, costs include a fixed plan fee plus variable usage fees. Each project has a dedicated Postgres instance on its own server, with compute charged independently of database usage; selected usage quotas are summed across projects in the organization. See Supabase’s billing documentation for plan terms and current limits.
Figures below are the quotas and overage rates published in Supabase’s billing documentation, accessed October 7, 2026. They are not a complete project-cost estimate; plan details can change.
| Published item | Free plan | Pro/Team |
|---|---|---|
| Egress | 5 GB included | 250 GB included, then $0.09 per GB |
| Storage | 1 GB included | 100 GB included, then $0.021 per GB |
| Database size | 500 MB per project | Not stated here; check the current billing documentation. |
| Edge Function invocations | 500,000 included | 2 million included, then $2 per million |
What production self-hosting requires
Supabase’s self-hosting documentation treats operating the stack as the operator’s responsibility: that includes server provisioning and maintenance, security hardening and updates, service configuration, and Postgres maintenance. You must weigh that work alongside server costs, backups, monitoring, and the operational risk your team is willing to own.
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For its Docker self-hosting setup, Supabase lists a minimum of 4 GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, and 40 GB SSD, and recommends 8 GB or more RAM, 4 or more CPU cores, and 80 GB or more SSD. The guide describes its minimum as suitable for development and small-to-medium production workloads, not as a price or a workload-independent guarantee. Removing services such as Realtime, Storage, imgproxy, or Edge Runtime can reduce resource needs; optional logging and analytics services increase them. Consult the Docker self-hosting guide for the deployment requirements.
Self-hosting also changes what you receive. Supabase lists managed-platform capabilities that are not available in a self-hosted deployment, including managed backups and point-in-time recovery. Review the self-hosting overview against your required features before choosing it. Supabase calls Docker the fastest and recommended way to self-host; that production deployment is distinct from the CLI’s local stack.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When does self-hosting make sense?
There is no universal break-even point in the published guidance. Whether production self-hosting costs less depends on the workload’s infrastructure requirements and the value of the operational effort your team must supply. A meaningful comparison needs to include:
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Expected traffic, storage, and compute needs, along with the server configuration and its price.
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Backup, monitoring, security, and upgrade arrangements—and the staff time needed to maintain them.
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Any managed Supabase features your application depends on, including backup and recovery capabilities.
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The managed plan fee, project compute charges, and usage that exceeds included quotas.
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Deployment consistency and the operational risk your team is prepared to own.
For development, the simpler answer is the CLI local stack. For production, compare managed Supabase with a real self-hosted deployment using your own workload and staffing assumptions; a server’s monthly price alone does not establish a saving.
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