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How They Work
Supabase
Supabase is a Firebase alternative built on Postgres. You define your database schema, and Supabase auto-generates REST and GraphQL APIs. Client SDKs let you query data directly from your frontend with row-level security for access control.
For custom backend logic beyond CRUD, you write Edge Functions in Deno. These run on Supabase's infrastructure with cold start latency. Authentication, storage, and realtime subscriptions are built-in.
Encore
Encore is a backend development platform where you write full backend services in TypeScript or Go. You define APIs, databases, Pub/Sub, and other resources as code. When you deploy, Encore provisions the corresponding AWS or GCP resources in your account.
This gives you complete control over your API design and business logic, with infrastructure ownership, built-in observability, and support for microservices architectures.
Infrastructure Ownership
Supabase runs everything on their managed platform. Your database, storage, and functions all live on Supabase infrastructure. This is convenient, but creates vendor lock-in.
With Encore, resources are provisioned in your own AWS or GCP account. You can see your databases in the cloud console, set up VPC peering, configure IAM policies, and use any cloud service alongside Encore resources.
For compliance requirements or teams that need direct cloud access, Encore provides full ownership. For simpler projects where you don't need cloud control, Supabase's managed approach works well.
Learn more about infrastructure ownership →Local Development
Supabase provides a CLI that runs the full Supabase stack locally via Docker. This includes Postgres, Auth, Storage, and the API gateway. It requires Docker and can be resource-intensive.
Encore runs encore run and automatically provisions local PostgreSQL, Pub/Sub emulation, and cron scheduling. A local dashboard shows distributed tracing and architecture diagrams.
Both provide local development, but Encore's is more lightweight and includes observability tools that work identically to production.
Learn more about local development →Automatic Infrastructure
Supabase provides a fixed set of services: Postgres, Auth, Storage, Edge Functions, and Realtime. You work within these boundaries. For message queues or other infrastructure, you'd integrate external services.
Encore provisions infrastructure from your code. Declare a database, Pub/Sub topic, cron job, or object storage as a TypeScript object, and Encore creates the corresponding cloud resources when you deploy.
import { SQLDatabase } from "encore.dev/storage/sqldb";
const db = new SQLDatabase("users", {
migrations: "./migrations",
});
// Encore provisions RDS/Cloud SQL automaticallyDatabases, Pub/Sub, Cron Jobs, Object Storage, and more. See all primitives →
Built-in Observability
Supabase provides basic database metrics, query performance insights, and logs through their dashboard. For distributed tracing or advanced monitoring, you'd need to integrate external tools.
Encore includes distributed tracing, metrics, and structured logging out of the box. Every request is traced across services automatically. No instrumentation code needed.
This matters more as your backend grows beyond simple CRUD operations into multi-service architectures.
See observability docs →AI-Assisted Development
With Supabase, your data model lives in SQL schemas while business logic lives in separate Edge Functions. AI agents like Cursor and Claude Code lack full context about how these pieces connect, leading to inconsistencies.
Encore defines infrastructure as TypeScript objects alongside your application code. AI agents see everything in one context: your APIs, databases, queues, and how they connect. This makes AI-generated code accurate, reviewable, and safe to deploy.
Built-in guardrails, auto-documentation, and observability ensure your systems stay maintainable, even when AI writes most of the code.
Learn about AI-assisted development →Customer stories
See how teams are shipping faster with Encore.
"Encore is our foundation for all new development. Since adopting it, we've seen a 2-3x increase in development speed."
"Encore is an unfair advantage. At Pave we've moved 2x faster than we did at Monzo."
"We've reduced time spent on DevOps by 95%, and we're now on track to save $60K annually."
Feature Comparison
See how Encore and Supabase differ across key capabilities.
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about Encore vs Supabase.
Encore is a backend development platform that provisions infrastructure in your own AWS or GCP account with full observability and type-safe APIs. Supabase is a Firebase alternative that auto-generates REST/GraphQL APIs from your Postgres database, but runs entirely on Supabase's managed platform without cloud account ownership.
Encore is purpose-built for backend development with support for microservices, custom business logic, Pub/Sub, cron jobs, and distributed tracing. Supabase auto-generates APIs from your database schema, which works for simple CRUD but requires Edge Functions for any custom backend logic.
No, Supabase runs all infrastructure on their managed platform, creating vendor lock-in. Encore deploys to your own AWS or GCP account, giving you full ownership, compliance control, and the ability to use native cloud services like RDS, SQS, and S3.
In Supabase, custom logic requires Edge Functions which run on Deno and have cold start latency. Encore lets you write full backend services in TypeScript or Go with complete control over your API design, business logic, and infrastructure. There's no distinction between 'database APIs' and 'custom logic'.
Encore is designed specifically for microservices with automatic service discovery, type-safe inter-service calls, distributed tracing, and auto-generated architecture diagrams. Supabase is optimized for single-database CRUD applications and doesn't provide microservices architecture support.
Encore provides built-in distributed tracing, metrics, and structured logging across all services with no setup required. Supabase offers basic database metrics and logs, but lacks distributed tracing and requires external tools for comprehensive observability.