The Best Supabase-as-a-Data Warehouse Alternative
Supabase accelerates shipping applications, but stretching a developer-first Postgres backend into your analytics warehouse piles on SQL upkeep, tuning, and missing BI pieces. Definite gives founders a governed, self-service analytics stack that is purpose-built for startup decision-making.
And you won’t need to hire a data engineer to manage it.
How Supabase and Definite Stack Up
Supabase
Open-source backend-as-a-service built on Postgres for fast application development.
Key Features:
Pricing:
Launch quickly with shared resources.
Includes 500 MB database storage, 1 GB file storage, 5 GB egress, and 50k monthly active users. Projects pause after a week of inactivity.
Scale production apps with more capacity.
Adds 8 GB database storage, 100 GB file storage, 250 GB egress, and 100k monthly active users. Additional usage incurs metered overages.
Definite
All-in-one analytics stack for startups with governed metrics and an AI analyst.
Key Features:
Pricing:
Access to Growth features for qualifying startups.
Comprehensive tools to enable your business to make data driven decisions.
See What’s Included:
The Full Comparison
Supabase is the right tool for building app backends fast; Definite is the right tool for delivering governed analytics fast.
Setup & Time-to-Value
Plug in data sources and ship governed dashboards or AI answers in under 30 minutes.
Spin up a Postgres backend quickly, but analytics setup requires custom schemas, ETL, and BI tooling.
Stack Coverage
Ingestion, storage, modeling, visualization, collaboration, and AI bundled in one subscription.
Provides database, auth, storage, and functions; analytics stack must be assembled separately.
Data Ingestion
500+ managed connectors with automated syncs and monitoring built-in.
Developers script pipelines or use third-party tools to load data into Postgres or Iceberg buckets.
Storage & Query Engine
Columnar DuckDB engine and Iceberg lakehouse tuned for analytical workloads out of the box.
Row-oriented Postgres plus optional Iceberg buckets that still need external query engines.
Modeling & Metrics
Governed semantic layer enforces KPIs and supports dbt and spreadsheet-like modeling.
No semantic layer; teams maintain SQL or code-based models manually.
AI & Insights
Fi AI analyst answers natural language questions with governed data and ready-made visuals.
Offers an AI assistant for developer workflows, not analytics-ready insights.
Automation & Alerts
Schedule dashboards, send Slack/email alerts, and trigger workflows without code.
Requires building custom functions or external services to automate reporting.
Governance & Access
Role-based permissions, audit trails, and metric definitions centrally managed.
Row-level security helps app access, but analytics governance is DIY across tools.
APIs & Extensibility
Open APIs, embedded analytics, Python SDKs, and reverse ETL to operational systems.
REST and GraphQL APIs for app data; analytics extensibility depends on add-on tools.
Ideal For
Startup GTM, ops, finance, and product teams that need rapid, trustworthy insights.
Developers shipping production applications who want Postgres without running infrastructure.
| Category | Definite | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| Setup & Time-to-Value | Plug in data sources and ship governed dashboards or AI answers in under 30 minutes. | Spin up a Postgres backend quickly, but analytics setup requires custom schemas, ETL, and BI tooling. |
| Stack Coverage | Ingestion, storage, modeling, visualization, collaboration, and AI bundled in one subscription. | Provides database, auth, storage, and functions; analytics stack must be assembled separately. |
| Data Ingestion | 500+ managed connectors with automated syncs and monitoring built-in. | Developers script pipelines or use third-party tools to load data into Postgres or Iceberg buckets. |
| Storage & Query Engine | Columnar DuckDB engine and Iceberg lakehouse tuned for analytical workloads out of the box. | Row-oriented Postgres plus optional Iceberg buckets that still need external query engines. |
| Modeling & Metrics | Governed semantic layer enforces KPIs and supports dbt and spreadsheet-like modeling. | No semantic layer; teams maintain SQL or code-based models manually. |
| AI & Insights | Fi AI analyst answers natural language questions with governed data and ready-made visuals. | Offers an AI assistant for developer workflows, not analytics-ready insights. |
| Automation & Alerts | Schedule dashboards, send Slack/email alerts, and trigger workflows without code. | Requires building custom functions or external services to automate reporting. |
| Governance & Access | Role-based permissions, audit trails, and metric definitions centrally managed. | Row-level security helps app access, but analytics governance is DIY across tools. |
| APIs & Extensibility | Open APIs, embedded analytics, Python SDKs, and reverse ETL to operational systems. | REST and GraphQL APIs for app data; analytics extensibility depends on add-on tools. |
| Ideal For | Startup GTM, ops, finance, and product teams that need rapid, trustworthy insights. | Developers shipping production applications who want Postgres without running infrastructure. |
One Choice: One Platform
Definite pulls in all your data, stores it in a fast, reliable data warehouse, applies consistent models, turns it into interactive dashboards, and lets you query it with AI — all in one managed platform. (Skip the three-month build, five different vendors, and full-time data engineer.)
Fi can work with any part of Definite’s Ecosystem to get you results faster.
Sync data in near‑realtime latency from over 500 sources. Need a custom connection? We’ll build it for you.
Send scheduled or triggered alerts, sync data to Google Sheets or your CRM, or export it as downloads or from the API.
Make Every Decision Definite
Supabase is fantastic for launching your product, but bending it into an analytics warehouse slows the rest of the business. Definite gives every team governed, AI-assisted insights without owning pipelines, schemas, or BI servers.
Supabase gives you a developer-first backend. Definite gives you a startup-ready analytics platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers.
Common questions about Definite vs Supabase