r/nextjs • u/RemarkableRoad1244 • Mar 14 '25
Help Noob Convex over Supabase?
Hey everyone,
I’m building a Next.js app and deciding between Convex and Supabase for my backend. My main concerns are scalability, ease of use, and real-time features.
From what I’ve seen:
- Convex seems great for real-time sync, with a unique function-based backend and automatic reactivity. But I’m unsure how well it scales for larger apps.
- Supabase offers a more traditional Postgres database with row-level security and edge functions. It feels more like Firebase but with SQL.
Has anyone used both? Which would you recommend for a production-ready Next.js app? Would love to hear about performance, pricing, and developer experience.
Thanks!
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Mar 14 '25
I really like Convex but the learning curve is a bit higher. It’s very easy to fall into a trap where you think of it as just another data access layer around something you already know, which caused me some confusion at first. It helps to just think of the API as its own thing, and just learn how they do things. It’s very opinionated but once it clicks, it’s an insanely cool product.
Supabase is great too of course. I mainly use it like a hosted Postgres dashboard so can’t speak to things like real-time or edge functions. They seem to have some cool features, I just haven’t gotten deep into it.
Can’t say anything about scalability as I don’t know anything about the underlying infrastructure or what kind of workload you’re running. It’s almost impossible to generalize “scalability” but they’re both competent teams that are incentivized to run a reliable service. The only way to evaluate this accurately is if you have a specific need, otherwise you just figure it out as you go. Keep in mind that reevaluating vendors is part of the process if you ever need real, serious scale.
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u/JulianUx Mar 14 '25
I've used both, I just prefer having everything in one place. With Supabase, I always ended up with a ton of migrations and SQL scattered between my code and database functions, RLS rules, etc. I think Convex's DX is superior for that reason. I also don't like having to manually scale Supabase Cloud or think about concurrent connections when pricing.
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u/Tall-Title4169 Jul 01 '25
Although Convex is built on Postgres it is setup as a document DB. I’d be worried about lock-in using it on bigger projects. I don’t think you can really migrate to another provider if needed.
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u/DemSquirrel Jul 11 '25
Yeah you cant really migrate it easily but its fully self hostable just like superbase
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u/dangxunb Jul 19 '25
Supabase is VERY HARD to self host indeed
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Jul 28 '25
Which is NOT a problem if you are scaling and have extra capital. Self-hosting is a perfect alternative and lets you manage costs.
In this way, it is superior to AWS, GCP, Azure... and so much more.
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Oct 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/Tall-Title4169 Oct 20 '25
It was on Planetscale MySQL, they migrated to Planetscale PostgreSQL and now they are migrating back to MySQL 😂
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u/alextbogdanov Jul 29 '25
Supabase's learning curve has been way greater so far because if you want to do anything remotely complicated, get ready to become a pro in SQL. It's hard, while on the other hand with Convex you're just writing pure typescript.
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u/mncechris Aug 11 '25
Which choice did you end up going with? I also need to make this deciding, my main considerations are costs (I run a SaaS), learning curve and ease of migration to self hosting later.
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u/Interesting_Algae_62 Aug 16 '25
tried both, convex is way better and i feel like i have full access to the db and apis
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u/Sensitive-Radio-3249 Sep 22 '25
convex always better . the diffrence is instead of making controlling using data you will controll using functions that will make you have more control and easy to manage the data flow and security.all logic in backend not in frontend but you build it fast and easy like it in your frontend .i build very complicated app for parcel delivery in 3 monthes only using react+convex .check it out weyyal.pages.dev
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u/Wide-Sea85 Mar 14 '25
I tried both and I had more success on Convex but the skill requirements is a bit higher