Supabase vs. Hasura: Choosing the Right BaaS For 2025

This article clearly compares Supabase vs Hasura for backend development. It explores their core features, use cases, and differences in handling databases, authentication, and APIs. You’ll gain the insights to choose the right tool based on your project goals.

Stuck choosing between Supabase and Hasura for your next backend project?

Developers often compare them for handling databases, managing auth, and building APIs. Both tools offer strong features, but they work in different ways. Your project goals can also make one option stand out.

This article breaks down the core features, use cases, and differences so that you can pick with confidence. Everything you need is covered, from GraphQL support to PostgreSQL capabilities and client libraries. This clear comparison of Supabase vs Hasura will guide you to the right backend choice.

What are Supabase and Hasura?

Both Supabase and Hasura offer backend services for quickly creating, connecting, and managing applications using PostgreSQL databases. However, their approaches differ significantly.

Architecture Overview

Supabase

Supabase offers a PostgreSQL database, RESTful auto-generated APIs, and built-in authentication, making it a strong Firebase alternative.

Hasura

Hasura focuses on instantly turning your PostgreSQL database into a real-time GraphQL API server. The Hasura Console provides powerful query tooling and remote schema configuration.

Is Supabase a Good Choice?

Supabase offers a developer-friendly, SQL-centric approach to app development with built-in user authentication, file storage, and auto-generated REST APIs .

If your project needs:

• Quick setup with a PostgreSQL backend

• Direct control over your SQL

• Strong client library support across JavaScript, Python, and Dart

• Flexible authentication with JWT and row-level security

Supabase simplifies web server setup by handling authentication, storage, and permissions. It's particularly appealing for developers who want to build with SQL and a modern interface similar to Firebase.

What Makes Hasura Powerful?

Hasura Cloud is optimized for GraphQL support and is known for its instant APIs, GraphQL subscriptions, and remote schemas.

It's ideal if you:

• Prefer writing GraphQL queries instead of REST

• Need powerful GraphQL subscriptions for real-time updates

• Want to connect multiple existing databases or remote schemas

• Plan to keep your business logic modular with event triggers and actions

With the Hasura Console, you can inspect schema, create tables, define permissions, and run queries interactively. It’s an awesome tool for managing complex PostgreSQL relationships without writing too much boilerplate.

Working with an Existing Database

Both platforms allow you to connect to an existing database, but their workflows differ:

• Supabase expects ownership of the PostgreSQL instance. It generates REST endpoints directly and expects row-level security policies for access control.

• Hasura excels when working on top of existing databases, particularly when multiple systems are involved. You can create remote schemas, stitch microservices, and maintain clean API boundaries.

If your new project requires rapid onboarding of a legacy system, Hasura Cloud can be a faster way to expose a GraphQL layer over it.

Authentication and Authorization

User authentication is baked into Supabase with email/password, third-party logins, and JWT-based access. You can define row-level security policies using SQL for precise control.

Hasura, on the other hand, delegates authentication to external providers. It uses JWT claims or webhook-based access control. Though flexible, this adds complexity for a new project unless you already have an authentication system.

Authorization in Hasura is more granular and GraphQL-native, defined at the role and field level in the Hasura Console.

Developer Experience and Client Libraries

Supabase supports multiple client libraries, including JavaScript, Dart, and Python. It integrates well with frontend frameworks like Next.js, React, and Flutter.

Hasura requires knowledge of GraphQL, but once familiar with it, the developer flow is clean. The client library ecosystem is large (Apollo Client, urql, Relay), and Hasura Cloud automatically updates schemas as your database evolves.

For a developer comfortable with SQL and REST, Supabase may feel more direct. If you're already invested in GraphQL, Hasura delivers speed and control.

Creating APIs and Business Logic

Supabase lets you write custom logic with PostgreSQL functions or Edge Functions (written in JavaScript or Deno). You can also trigger logic using database event triggers.

Hasura supports business logic using:

• Remote Schemas: Integrate other GraphQL services.

• Actions: Define custom mutations and connect them to REST endpoints or services.

• Event Triggers: Fire off webhooks on data changes.

Both platforms make it easy to create APIs rapidly. The decision depends on your preferred programming language and where your business logic resides.

Hasura Console: A Power Tool

The Hasura Console is an admin UI where you can:

• Define tables, relationships, and permissions

• Write GraphQL queries with autocomplete

• Inspect logs and modify schemas

• Configure remote schemas and event triggers

For teams managing a large PostgreSQL setup with complex permissions and APIs, the Hasura Console acts as a single point of control.

Hosting and Scalability

Both Supabase and Hasura offer hosted solutions and self-hosting. Hasura Cloud includes auto-scaling and managed caching, which are optimized for production workloads.

Supabase supports regional hosting, built-in backups, and scaling. If your project grows, both services can be scaled, but Hasura’s GraphQL engine is particularly tailored for scalable and distributed environments.

Final Thoughts: Choosing the Right Tool

The point is not which platform is better universally, but which suits your project. If your stack is SQL-first, and you want full control over the Postgres layer, Supabase fits well. If your team builds frontend-heavy apps and prefers GraphQL as the data access layer, Hasura Cloud brings powerful abstraction with minimal overhead.

Before making your final decision, try both platforms. Create a project, connect your database, run a few queries, and evaluate the docs and support.