# The Best Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) Platforms for Startups in 2026

> A pricing-first comparison of Supabase, Firebase, AWS Amplify, Appwrite, Convex, Nhost, and PocketBase, with real 2026 rates pulled from each vendor's own pricing page.

Published: 2026-11-04 · By: The AI Tools Desk

## What a BaaS actually buys you, and how we judged these

A backend-as-a-service bundles the parts every app needs before it ships a feature: a database, authentication, file storage, serverless functions, and usually realtime updates. The pitch is that you stop reinventing that plumbing. The catch is that every BaaS makes different bets about what's included, what's metered, and how painful it is to leave if you outgrow it.

We judged the seven platforms below on what's actually free versus what just looks free until you check a usage graph, how predictable pricing stays once you have real traffic, how much lock-in you're signing up for, and whether the developer experience holds up past the demo. Every number below comes straight from each vendor's own pricing page as of November 2026.

## [Supabase](https://supabase.com/?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list)

Supabase wraps a real Postgres database, authentication, file storage, auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs, and edge functions around the open source Postgres ecosystem you already know. That's the core appeal: if you understand SQL, you're not fighting a proprietary query language to get your data out.

The Free plan covers 50,000 monthly active users, 500 MB of database, 5 GB of egress, and 1 GB of file storage, with unlimited API requests, but projects pause after a week of inactivity and you're capped at two active projects. Pro starts at $25/month per project: 100,000 MAUs (then $0.00325 per additional), 8 GB of disk (then $0.125/GB), 250 GB of egress (then $0.09/GB), plus $10/month in compute credits covering one Micro instance. Compute scales up from there, a dedicated Large instance (2 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM) runs $110/month. Team, at $599/month, adds SOC 2, ISO 27001, and SSO; HIPAA is a paid add-on even there.

The tradeoff: because each project is a real dedicated Postgres instance, you pay for compute even at low traffic, unlike pure serverless competitors. Best for teams who want Postgres and don't want to manage it themselves.

## [Firebase](https://firebase.google.com/?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list)

Firebase is Google's BaaS, and it's the most battle-tested option here for mobile apps, thanks to tight integration with Crashlytics, Cloud Messaging, and Analytics. The free Spark plan needs no payment method and covers real usage: 1 GiB of Firestore storage, 20,000 writes/day, 50,000 reads/day, and 10 GiB/month of egress. Cloud Functions give you 2 million invocations a month free, then $0.40 per additional million.

Blaze (pay-as-you-go) keeps all of Spark's free quotas and only bills usage above them, with $300 in free credit on upgrade for eligible accounts. The catch: as of February 3, 2026, creating or maintaining a Cloud Storage bucket requires a linked billing account, meaning you're on Blaze regardless of how little you're using. Past the free quota, Firestore reads, writes, and Cloud Functions scale with standard Google Cloud rates, which is where a chat app with a busy realtime listener can get an unpleasant surprise.

Best for teams already in the Google Cloud ecosystem, or mobile-first apps that want Crashlytics and FCM bundled in. Worst fit for teams that want SQL or want to self-host.

## [AWS Amplify](https://aws.amazon.com/amplify/?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list) (Gen 2)

Amplify is AWS's answer, and Gen 2 rewrites the backend definition in TypeScript instead of a CLI-driven config. There's no per-seat charge for team collaboration, which AWS calls out directly on its pricing page. Hosting is metered by build minutes ($0.01/min), data transfer ($0.15/GB), and storage ($0.023/GB) rather than a flat tier, so a low-traffic app with 10,000 daily users and two deploys a month lands around $66/month by AWS's own worked example, almost entirely bandwidth.

The real cost question is that Auth, Data, and Functions aren't bundled flat fees, they map to underlying AWS services (Cognito, AppSync and DynamoDB, Lambda), each billed under its own AWS pricing. New accounts get up to $200 in Free Tier credit and a free plan for the first 6 months. Gen 1 is on a retirement clock, critical fixes only from May 2026 and end of support May 2027, so new projects should start on Gen 2 regardless.

Best for teams already paying for AWS elsewhere, who are comfortable reasoning about several AWS line items instead of one BaaS invoice.

## [Appwrite](https://appwrite.io/?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list)

Appwrite bundles auth, databases, storage, functions, messaging, and realtime under what it calls "one subscription," and it's the only platform here that rebuilt its database pricing around a serverless-vs-dedicated choice. Free is $0, Pro starts at $25/month. On top of that, each database you run is billed separately: serverless has no fixed fee and you pay per read/write past the included quota, or you pick a dedicated tier starting at $10/month for a 1-core/1GB instance, scaling to a 32-core/256GB Scale Max tier at $4,099/month. Paid organizations get $10/month in compute credits toward database usage.

That's more granular than Supabase's single compute dial, good for right-sizing spend per database, less good if you just want one predictable number. Appwrite is also SOC 2 Type II certified and will sign a BAA for HIPAA workloads.

Best for teams that want one platform for the whole backend surface and are willing to tune database compute tier by tier.

## [Convex](https://www.convex.dev/?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list)

Convex is the odd one out: instead of exposing a database to query directly, you write TypeScript functions and Convex handles reactivity, caching, and consistency underneath. Free & Starter is $0/month with pay-as-you-go overage: 1 million function calls included (then $2.20/million), 0.5 GB of database storage, 1 GB of file storage, open to 1 to 6 developers.

Professional is priced per developer, not per project: $25 per developer per month for teams up to 20 developers, with 25 million function calls included (then $2/million), 50 GB of database storage, daily backups, custom domains, and HIPAA/SOC 2 reports. Business & Enterprise starts at a $2,500/month minimum for 50+ developers with SAML/SSO. Worth noting before you scale a team: a 10-person Professional team is $250/month in seats alone before any usage.

Best for teams building something genuinely reactive, live dashboards, collaborative tools, who'll trade raw SQL access for not writing cache-invalidation logic by hand.

## [Nhost](https://nhost.io/?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list)

Nhost pairs Postgres with Hasura's GraphQL engine, giving you instant GraphQL over your schema without writing resolvers, plus auth, storage, and serverless functions. Starter is free: 1 GB database, 1 GB storage, 5 GB egress, unlimited users, with the same pause-after-a-week-of-inactivity caveat as Supabase's free tier.

Pro starts at $25/month with $15 in compute credits included, 10 GB of database (then $0.20/GB), 50 GB of storage (then $0.05/GB), and 50 GB of egress (then $0.10/GB), plus automated backups and point-in-time recovery from $100 for 7 days of retention. Team, at $599/month, adds SOC 2 Type II. Custom domains cost $10 per project per month on every paid tier, a line item Supabase doesn't charge separately.

Best for teams who want GraphQL-first access to Postgres without hand-rolling a GraphQL layer on top of Supabase, and who are fine with a smaller ecosystem than Supabase or Firebase.

## [PocketBase](https://pocketbase.io/?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list)

PocketBase isn't a managed cloud service at all, it's a single open source Go binary (currently v0.41.1) that bundles an embedded SQLite database, OAuth2 authentication (Google, GitHub, and others), file storage with S3 support, realtime subscriptions, and an admin dashboard. You run it yourself, so the software is free and the only cost is wherever you host the binary.

The appeal is radical simplicity: no accounts, no usage dashboards, no surprise bills, just a REST and realtime API generated from your schema. The tradeoff is that you own the ops, and SQLite's single-writer model makes it a poor fit for write-heavy, highly concurrent workloads. It's extendable via Go and JavaScript hooks for custom server logic.

Best for solo developers and small side projects that want zero recurring BaaS cost and are comfortable managing a VM. Worst fit for anything that needs to scale writes horizontally.

## Comparison table

| Platform | Free tier highlights | Entry paid tier | Core model | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supabase | 50K MAU, 500MB DB, 5GB egress | $25/mo/project | Dedicated Postgres | Teams who want real SQL |
| Firebase | 1GiB Firestore, 2M function calls/mo | Pay-as-you-go (Blaze) | NoSQL (Firestore) | Mobile-first, Google Cloud shops |
| AWS Amplify (Gen 2) | 6mo free plan, $200 AWS credit | Usage-based (build/hosting/data) | AWS services (Cognito/AppSync/Lambda) | Teams already on AWS |
| Appwrite | $0 Free plan | $25/mo + per-database compute | Serverless or dedicated DB tiers | One platform, tunable per database |
| Convex | 1M function calls/mo, 6 devs | $25/mo per developer | Reactive TypeScript functions | Realtime/collaborative apps |
| Nhost | 1GB DB, 1GB storage, 5GB egress | $25/mo | Postgres + Hasura GraphQL | GraphQL-first teams |
| PocketBase | Unlimited (self-hosted) | $0 (software) + hosting cost | Single Go binary, SQLite | Solo devs, side projects |

## How to choose: scenario-based picks

If you want Postgres and plan to run complex queries or analytics later, Supabase or Nhost beat a NoSQL store like Firestore, full stop. Pick Supabase for the bigger ecosystem and more auth providers out of the box; pick Nhost if you specifically want GraphQL without building a resolver layer.

If you're building a mobile app already using Google Analytics or Crashlytics, Firebase's integration advantage outweighs the NoSQL tradeoff. If your company runs infrastructure on AWS and finance wants one cloud bill, Amplify Gen 2 keeps you inside that boundary even though the backend pricing is less bundled.

If your product is fundamentally realtime, live collaborative editing or multiplayer state, Convex's reactive model saves weeks versus hand-building cache invalidation, but budget for per-developer pricing as the team grows. If you want the whole backend surface under one bill with database cost you can tune later, Appwrite's tiered compute gives you that control. If you're prototyping solo and want zero billing involved, PocketBase removes vendor billing entirely, at the cost of doing your own ops.

## The verdict

For most startups shipping a web app with a real data model, we'd start with Supabase: real Postgres, a usable free tier, predictable scaling past $25/month. Firebase still wins for mobile-heavy products already in Google's orbit, and Convex earns its per-developer premium specifically for realtime products where it removes real engineering work. Appwrite and Nhost are credible Supabase alternatives if one specific feature, GraphQL for Nhost, granular per-database compute for Appwrite, matters more to you than ecosystem size. PocketBase is the right call only once you've decided you don't want a BaaS bill at all.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Supabase cheaper than Firebase for a growing app?

It depends on your usage pattern. Supabase's Pro plan is a flat $25/month with predictable overage rates for MAUs, disk, and egress, while Firebase's Blaze plan bills Firestore reads, writes, and Cloud Functions against Google Cloud rates once you're past the free quota. A read-heavy app can get expensive on Firebase faster than on Supabase's flat compute model, but a low-traffic app can stay free longer on Firebase's generous Spark tier.

### Can I self-host any of these to avoid recurring fees?

Supabase, Appwrite, and Nhost are all open source and can be self-hosted, though you lose managed backups, scaling, and support unless you build that yourself. PocketBase is self-hosted by design, there's no managed cloud version at all. Firebase, AWS Amplify, and Convex do not offer a realistic self-hosted path since they're tied to their respective cloud platforms.

### What happens when I exceed my free tier limits?

On Supabase, Firebase, Appwrite, Convex, and Nhost, you're billed for overage automatically once you're on a paid plan; most send usage alerts before you hit the cap. On the free tier specifically, Appwrite freezes the project into read-only mode until you upgrade or usage resets, while Supabase and Nhost pause inactive free projects after a week rather than charging you. Firebase's Spark plan simply blocks additional usage until you upgrade to Blaze.

### Does switching BaaS providers later mean rewriting my app?

It depends on how deep you integrate. Supabase, Nhost, and Appwrite all sit on top of standard Postgres (Appwrite optionally supports Postgres and MySQL too), so your data model is portable even if client SDK calls need rewriting. Firebase's Firestore and Convex's reactive function model are the most proprietary here, migrating off either typically means redesigning your data access layer, not just swapping a connection string.

## Sources

- [Supabase Pricing](https://supabase.com/pricing?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list) — Supabase
- [Firebase Pricing](https://firebase.google.com/pricing?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list) — Google Firebase
- [AWS Amplify Pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/amplify/pricing/?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list) — Amazon Web Services
- [Appwrite Pricing](https://appwrite.io/pricing?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list) — Appwrite
- [Convex Pricing](https://www.convex.dev/pricing?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list) — Convex
- [Nhost Pricing](https://nhost.io/pricing?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list) — Nhost
- [PocketBase](https://pocketbase.io/?utm_source=guides.reviews&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=best_list) — PocketBase