Managed databases

MongoDB Atlas vs Supabase

MongoDB Atlas is a managed document database on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud with search and vector search; Supabase is a Postgres backend with auth, storage and functions, billed per organization plus compute.

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The short answer

The choice starts with the data model. Atlas runs MongoDB, a document database, as three-node replica sets in 125+ regions on three clouds, with full-text search, vector search and stream processing on the same cluster. Supabase gives each project a dedicated Postgres database with auth, S3-compatible storage, edge functions, realtime and generated REST and GraphQL APIs.

Free tiers: Atlas offers one 512 MB M0 cluster per project, capped at 100 operations per second, with no backups. Supabase Free gives two active projects with a 500 MB database, 1 GB of file storage and 50,000 auth MAU, but projects pause after a week idle.

Paid entry points: Atlas Flex runs about $8 to $30 a month by throughput, and dedicated clusters start at M10 at $0.08 an hour. Supabase Pro lists $25 a month per organization, with a $10 compute credit covering one Micro instance. Both can be self-hosted; Supabase’s core is open source, while MongoDB Community Server is source-available.

Choose MongoDB Atlas if

Your app is built on MongoDB’s document model
You need full-text or vector search next to operational data
You want to pick AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, or span several

Choose Supabase if

Your data is relational and you want SQL joins and constraints
You want authentication and file storage from the same vendor
You want 50,000 auth MAU on the free plan

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Side by side

	MongoDB Atlas	Supabase
Stages	HobbyIndieStartupScale-upEnterprise	HobbyIndieStartupScale-upEnterprise
What it is	Managed document database	Managed Postgres backend platform
From	From about $8/mo (Flex base tier, $0.011/hour)	From $25/mo (Pro, per organization, includes $10 compute credit)
Free tier	One Free (M0) cluster per project: 512 MB storage, shared RAM and vCPU, up to 100 operations per second, 500 connections; no backups, and idle clusters may be deactivated	2 active projects, 500 MB database on shared CPU with 500 MB RAM, 1 GB file storage, 5 GB egress, 50,000 auth MAU, 500,000 edge function calls; projects pause after 1 week of inactivity and have no automatic backups
Engines	MongoDB (document)	PostgreSQL
Scale to zero	Partly; Flex bills by ops/second tier, no scale to zero	No; per-project compute billed hourly
Branching	No	Yes, $0.01344 per branch-hour (paid plans)
Backups	None on Free; automated backups on paid clusters	Daily: 7 days Pro, 14 days Team; PITR add-on
Open source	No	Yes
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
EU data residency	Available	Available
Compliance	Not stated	SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA
Checked	28 Sept 2026	28 Sept 2026
Strengths	Permanent free cluster for learning and prototypes Choice of AWS, Azure or Google Cloud and many regions, including EU Search, vector search and streaming in the same managed service Clear path from Free to Flex to dedicated and sharded clusters	Database, auth, storage, functions and realtime in one project with shared permissions Plain Postgres, so data and SQL skills stay portable Open source and self-hostable Free tier includes 50,000 auth MAU and two projects
Limitations	Free clusters have no backups and can be deactivated when idle Free and Flex clusters cannot write temporary files to disk for large aggregations No scale to zero on dedicated clusters, which bill every hour Prices vary by provider, region and storage, making estimates harder	Free projects pause after one week of inactivity and have no automatic backups Compute is billed per project, so several projects on Pro cost more than the $25 headline Point-in-time recovery costs $100/mo per 7 days of retention SOC 2 and ISO 27001 reports and dashboard SSO require the $599/mo Team plan

Sources: MongoDB Atlas pricing, Supabase pricing. Full plans on each tool's page.

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Plans

MongoDB Atlas

Free (M0) 512 MB storage, shared resources, 100 ops/second, one per project, no backups	$0
Flex $0.011/hour base for 0-100 ops/second, rising by tier to $30/mo at 400-500 ops/second	$8 to $30/mo
Dedicated M10 2 GB RAM, 2 vCPUs, 10-128 GB storage; M10 and M20 use shared vCPUs	$0.08/hr
Dedicated M30 8 GB RAM, 2 vCPUs, 40-512 GB storage; recommended for production traffic, supports sharding	$0.54/hr
Dedicated M50 32 GB RAM, 8 vCPUs, 160 GB-4 TB storage	$2.00/hr
Enterprise Advanced Self-managed MongoDB Enterprise Server with Ops Manager and commercial license	Custom

Supabase

Free 2 active projects, 500 MB database, 1 GB storage, 5 GB egress, 50,000 MAU; pauses after 1 week idle	$0
Pro 8 GB disk per project, 250 GB egress, 100 GB storage, 100,000 MAU, daily backups 7 days; $10 compute credit covers one Micro instance	$25/mo
Team SOC 2 and ISO 27001, dashboard SSO, 14-day backups, 28-day logs, HIPAA as paid add-on	$599/mo
Enterprise Uptime SLAs, AWS PrivateLink, 24x7 support, designated support manager	Custom

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