Softwr

Technology · head to head

Supabase vs Trino

Supabase logo

Supabase

Technology

The open source Firebase alternative

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Trino logo

Trino

Technology

A distributed SQL engine that queries data where it already lives, across object storage, warehouses and operational databases.

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Supabase free tier projects auto-pause after 1 week of inactivity; Trino trino stores nothing and computes no statistics of its own, so the plan it produces is only as good as the partitioning, file sizes and table statistics on the source; a Hive table of thousands of small files or a lake with no stats produces a slow query the engine cannot improve.
  • They diverge on capability: Supabase covers PostgreSQL database, Trino covers Federated querying.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Supabase and Trino actually diverge.

Attributes where Supabase and Trino differ
AttributeSupabaseTrino
Pricing modelUnknownopen-source
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb
Founded2020Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Technology).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Supabase

  • PostgreSQL database
  • Auto-generated APIs
  • Authentication & authorization
  • Real-time subscriptions
  • Storage
  • Edge functions
  • Vector embeddings
  • Database migrations

Only in Trino

  • Federated querying
  • Connector architecture
  • Predicate and aggregation pushdown
  • Massively parallel execution
  • Fault-tolerant execution
  • Resource groups
  • Iceberg and Delta table support
  • Standard client protocols

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Supabase

  • Web application backends using Postgres plus auto-generated REST/GraphQL APIsnot Trino
  • Mobile app backends via Flutter/Swift/Kotlin client librariesnot Trino
  • AI applications using vector/embeddings storagenot Trino
  • Authentication with 20+ social providers plus email/passwordnot Trino
  • File and media storage (S3-compatible with CDN) and realtime sync over WebSocketsnot Trino

Trino

  • Ad hoc analysis that spans a data lake and one or more operational databases, without building an ingestion pipeline firstnot Supabase
  • Serving a BI tool a single SQL endpoint over an estate that is actually several separate storage systemsnot Supabase
  • Querying Iceberg or Delta tables on object storage interactively, as the compute layer of a lakehousenot Supabase
  • Investigating whether a dataset is worth ingesting, by querying it in place before committing to a pipeline for itnot Supabase

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Supabase

  • Free tier projects auto-pause after 1 week of inactivity
  • Free tier hard caps: 500 MB database, 1 GB file storage, 5 GB egress/month, 50,000 monthly active users, max 2 active free projects per organization
  • Pro plan charges usage overages beyond included quotas, e.g. $0.00325 per MAU above 100,000 and $0.125/GB disk above 8 GB
  • SOC2/ISO 27001 certification and HIPAA (add-on) compliance require the $599/month Team plan; not available on the $25/month Pro plan

Trino

  • Trino stores nothing and computes no statistics of its own, so the plan it produces is only as good as the partitioning, file sizes and table statistics on the source; a Hive table of thousands of small files or a lake with no stats produces a slow query the engine cannot improve.
  • Federated queries pull data out of the systems they touch, so a join between a lake table and a production Postgres can put a full table scan onto an OLTP database that other applications depend on, and the person who wrote the query will not see the incident it causes.
  • Releases come roughly every one to two weeks with no community long-term support line, and deprecations arrive quickly, so you either dedicate someone to keeping current or you buy Starburst Enterprise for a supported long-term version.
  • It is memory-based and disk spilling was deprecated in favour of fault-tolerant execution, so a query exceeding cluster memory fails outright rather than degrading; enabling fault-tolerant execution requires an external exchange store on object storage and makes queries measurably slower.
  • It is a query engine and not a warehouse: there is no built-in job scheduling, no incremental materialised view maintenance and no transformation framework, so producing curated tables still needs dbt or an equivalent layer that somebody has to own.
  • The 2020 fork split the ecosystem, so documentation, connectors, Stack Overflow answers and vendor material written before then describe PrestoDB, which is now a different project with different behaviour, and following the wrong one wastes real time.

Pricing, plan by plan

Supabase

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 50,000 MAU
    • 500MB database
    • 5GB egress
  • Pro$25/month
    • 100,000 MAU
    • 8GB disk
    • 250GB egress
  • Team$599/month
    • SOC2 and ISO 27001
    • HIPAA add-on
    • 28-day log / 14-day backup retention
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Custom limits
    • Dedicated support manager
    • 24/7/365 support

Trino

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Trino review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Supabase if

  • You need postgresql database.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want auto-generated apis.
Supabase review

Choose Trino if

  • You need federated querying.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want connector architecture.
Trino review

Questions people ask

Is Supabase or Trino better?
Neither clearly leads. Supabase starts at Free and Trino at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Supabase or Trino?
Supabase starts at Free and Trino at Free.
Does Supabase or Trino run on more platforms?
Supabase runs on Web, iOS, Android. Trino runs on Web.
Can I use Supabase for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Supabase best used for?
Supabase is most often used for web application backends using postgres plus auto-generated rest/graphql apis, mobile app backends via flutter/swift/kotlin client libraries, ai applications using vector/embeddings storage, authentication with 20+ social providers plus email/password. Of those, web application backends using postgres plus auto-generated rest/graphql apis and mobile app backends via flutter/swift/kotlin client libraries are not what Trino is typically brought in for.
What can Supabase do that Trino cannot?
Supabase covers PostgreSQL database, Auto-generated APIs, Authentication & authorization, Real-time subscriptions. Trino covers Federated querying, Connector architecture, Predicate and aggregation pushdown, Massively parallel execution.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Supabase: How much does Supabase cost?

Supabase offers a free tier and three paid plans. Pro starts at $25 per month, Team at $599 per month, and Enterprise requires a custom quote. All pricing is in USD charged monthly.

Source
Trino: What is the difference between Trino and Presto?

They share an origin. The original creators left Meta and renamed their fork from PrestoSQL to Trino in December 2020; PrestoDB continues separately under the Linux Foundation. They have diverged in features, connectors and SQL behaviour, so material written for one may not apply to the other.

Supabase: What are Supabase's usage overage fees?

Pro plan users pay $0.00325 per monthly active user over the 100,000 included, and $0.125 per GB for database storage exceeding 8 GB per project. Compute instances cost $10 to $3,730+ per month.

Source
Trino: Does Trino replace my data warehouse?

Not on its own. It is compute without storage, scheduling or transformation. Paired with Iceberg or Delta on object storage and something like dbt for modelling it can serve as a lakehouse; used alone it is a query layer over what you already have.

Trino: Why is my federated query slow?

Usually because a connector could not push a filter or aggregation down, so Trino is pulling whole tables across the network to join them itself. The fix is usually better source-side partitioning or statistics, or ingesting that source rather than federating it.

Trino: What happens when a query runs out of memory?

It fails. Disk spilling was deprecated in favour of fault-tolerant execution, which checkpoints to an external exchange store such as S3 and lets long queries survive memory pressure and worker loss, at the cost of noticeably slower execution.

Trino: Is there commercial support?

Yes, from Starburst, which offers Starburst Enterprise with long-term supported releases and Starburst Galaxy as a managed service. The open source project itself has no long-term support line.

Share

Related pages

More on Supabase

More on Trino

Keep looking

Other head to heads