PostgreSQL is one of the most beloved open-source databases in the world—powerful, battle-tested, and perfect for modern web applications. When developers want to use it without managing infrastructure, services like Supabase make it incredibly easy to get started.
But there's another path: hosting PostgreSQL on your own VPS. It's not just about saving money—it’s about gaining control, performance tuning, and cost predictability. In this article, we’ll compare Supabase vs your own VPS, with a strong focus on PostgreSQL hosting.
We’ll cover:
Let’s dive in.
Supabase is an open-source backend-as-a-service built on top of PostgreSQL. It offers database hosting, authentication, storage, edge functions, and auto-generated APIs. Think of it as an open-source alternative to Firebase—with PostgreSQL as the foundation.
It’s simple, fast, and extremely attractive for indie devs and startups looking to get their MVP off the ground.
A VPS (Virtual Private Server) gives you your own virtual machine on which you can install and configure PostgreSQL directly. Services like CloudToVPS help developers provision a hardened, production-ready PostgreSQL server that they can fully manage and control.
On a VPS, you choose:
Let’s compare.
Supabase spins up a PostgreSQL database in minutes. You don’t need to touch a terminal. This is a huge win for developers who don’t want to manage infrastructure.
Supabase generates REST and GraphQL APIs from your tables. For frontend devs, this is a huge productivity boost.
Out of the box, Supabase enables row-level change subscriptions via websockets. This is hard to replicate manually.
You get more than just a database. Supabase provides built-in auth, file storage, and edge functions.
Their hosted dashboard gives you visibility into tables, usage, logs, and backups. Even non-tech teammates can use it.
Supabase starts cheap, but production apps can quickly exceed the free tier. Paid plans begin at $25/mo, and advanced features or higher storage/connection limits cost more.
Many developers on Reddit and GitHub report costs climbing fast as they scale reads, writes, or store large amounts of data.
You’re on a shared database server (multi-tenant), with limited tuning options. Heavy queries or concurrent usage may hit throttling.
While Supabase takes daily backups, restore functionality isn’t instant, and customization is limited.
You become dependent on Supabase tooling, roles, schemas, and functions. Moving off Supabase can be complex.
You can’t install all PostgreSQL extensions or run as postgres
. If you want PostGIS, TimescaleDB, or logical replication, you’re out of luck.
A VPS with 2 CPUs and 4GB RAM runs $6–$12/mo depending on the provider. You can host PostgreSQL and even your app on the same box. No per-user, per-connection, or bandwidth-based pricing.
You can:
You decide how often backups happen, where they’re stored, and how to restore. Use pg_basebackup
, logical dumps, PITR, or WAL archiving.
You can tune PostgreSQL to your workload: optimize reads, reduce bloat, or maximize concurrency. Supabase can’t offer that level of tuning.
You manage firewall, TLS certs, and SSH access. With CloudToVPS, you get a pre-hardened server with secure defaults and encrypted backups.
Raw VPS provisioning means installing PostgreSQL, configuring backups, tuning, and monitoring. With CloudToVPS, much of this is automated and managed for you.
You (or your team) must handle security updates, replication, and performance monitoring.
You don’t get a web dashboard or auto-generated API. But you can add tools like pgAdmin, PostgREST, Hasura, or Graphile.
Adding replicas, load balancing, or regional redundancy is a manual process.
Supabase is amazing for getting started fast. It lowers the barrier to entry for powerful apps using PostgreSQL, auth, and storage. But as your app matures, it can become restrictive—and expensive.
Hosting PostgreSQL on your own VPS gives you deep control, better performance, and predictable costs. When managed properly (or provisioned by CloudToVPS), it’s secure, scalable, and production-grade.
If you’re building long-term, need advanced tuning, or want to avoid vendor lock-in, the VPS route gives you freedom.
Need help setting up PostgreSQL on your own server? Get started for $99 with CloudToVPS