Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

RethinkDB VS Supabase

Compare RethinkDB VS Supabase and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

RethinkDB logo RethinkDB

The open-source database for the realtime web

Supabase logo Supabase

An open source Firebase alternative
  • RethinkDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-13
  • Supabase Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-27

RethinkDB features and specs

  • Real-time Capabilities
    RethinkDB offers built-in real-time capabilities that allow applications to subscribe to data changes. This makes it ideal for building real-time applications like live dashboards, multiplayer games, or collaborative tools.
  • Flexible Query Language
    RethinkDB's query language, ReQL, is highly flexible and allows for complex queries. It supports operations such as joins, aggregations, and transformations directly within the database.
  • Distributed Database
    RethinkDB is designed to be distributed from the ground up. It can automatically replicate data and distribute queries across multiple machines to improve scalability and fault tolerance.
  • Web-based Administration
    RethinkDB provides a user-friendly web-based administration interface that simplifies database management and monitoring. This interface makes it easier for developers and system administrators to manage their databases.
  • JSON Data Model
    RethinkDB uses JSON as its data model, which makes it easy to store and work with structured data. This can be especially beneficial for web developers who are used to working with JSON data.

Possible disadvantages of RethinkDB

  • Limited Ecosystem
    Compared to more established databases like MySQL or MongoDB, RethinkDB has a smaller ecosystem. This means fewer third-party tools, libraries, and community support are available.
  • Stalled Development
    After the company behind RethinkDB shut down in 2016, the development slowed significantly. Although the project was later open-sourced and the community keeps it alive, the updates and new features are not as frequent.
  • Learning Curve
    While ReQL is powerful, it can have a steep learning curve for developers who are new to RethinkDB or who are more familiar with SQL or other NoSQL query languages.
  • Resource Intensive
    RethinkDB can be more resource-intensive compared to some other databases. It may require more RAM and CPU resources to achieve optimal performance, which can be a consideration for resource-constrained environments.
  • Fewer Enterprise Features
    RethinkDB lacks some enterprise-level features such as advanced security options, comprehensive backup solutions, and robust user management compared to other database systems like MongoDB or PostgreSQL.

Supabase features and specs

  • Real-time capabilities
    Supabase offers real-time database features that allow you to subscribe to database changes and sync data with your frontend seamlessly.
  • PostgreSQL foundation
    Supabase is built on PostgreSQL, a robust, mature, and highly extensible SQL database, providing strong data integrity and reliability.
  • Open-source
    Supabase is open-source, which means you can inspect, modify, and contribute to the source code. This fosters community engagement and transparency.
  • Ease of use
    Supabase provides an intuitive dashboard and auto-generated APIs, making it easy for developers to manage databases without extensive backend knowledge.
  • Authentication and Authorization
    Supabase includes pre-built authentication and authorization modules, supporting various sign-in methods like email, OAuth, and more, simplifying user management.
  • Scalability
    Supabase is designed to scale with your application, offering plans that can handle from small to large-scale traffic and data operations.

Possible disadvantages of Supabase

  • New and evolving
    As a relatively new platform, Supabase is still evolving, which means it might lack some features found in more mature solutions and could have occasional bugs or stability issues.
  • Limited integration
    Currently, Supabase has fewer third-party integrations compared to other established backend-as-a-service (BaaS) providers, which might limit its utility in diverse tech stacks.
  • Learning curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, there could be a learning curve for those unfamiliar with PostgreSQL or real-time database concepts.
  • Pricing for advanced features
    While Supabase offers a free tier, advanced features, and higher usage plans come with a cost. This might be limiting for startups or hobby projects with tight budgets.
  • Limited geographic presence
    Supabase's infrastructure might have limited geographic data centers compared to larger cloud providers, potentially affecting latency and performance for users in certain regions.

RethinkDB videos

Mike Glukhovsky - RethinkDB Year in Review 2015

More videos:

  • Review - RethinkDB for Windows: developer preview
  • Review - Michael Glukhovsky - Advancing the realtime web with RethinkDB

Supabase videos

Basic demo

More videos:

  • Review - Supabase in 100 Seconds by Fireship

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to RethinkDB and Supabase)
Databases
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
NoSQL Databases
100 100%
0% 0
Realtime Backend / API
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare RethinkDB and Supabase

RethinkDB Reviews

12 Best Open-source Database Backend Server and Google Firebase Alternatives
RethinkDB is an open-source real-time database engine for creating modern reactive apps. It features a rich dashboard with real-time analytics and graphs, data explorer, simple learning curve, rich data models and queries with Geospatial queries support, and a large set of administration tools.The official binary packages for RethinkDB are available for: Ubuntu, Debian,...
Source: medevel.com
9 Best MongoDB alternatives in 2019
RethinkDB is the open-source, scalable DBMS system. It helps you to makes real-time building apps dramatically easier. This DBMS tool offers a flexible query language, intuitive operations, monitoring APIs, and is easy to set up and learn.
Source: www.guru99.com

Supabase Reviews

10 Top Firebase Alternatives to Ignite Your Development in 2024
Supabase makes it incredibly easy to migrate from Firebase. Its data structure and APIs are designed to feel familiar, so you can switch without a major learning curve. Plus, the open-source nature means you have complete control over your code and data.
Source: genezio.com
Top 7 Firebase Alternatives for App Development in 2024
Community Support and Longevity: Investigate the size and activity of the platform's community. A larger, more active community can provide better support and resources. Platforms like Parse and Supabase have strong community support.
Source: signoz.io
5 Best Vercel Alternatives for Next.js & App Router
Supabase distinguishes itself through its focus on data and community-driven development. Self-hosting capabilities allow you to deploy Supabase's suite of products within your own infrastructure. This maintains data ownership while still leveraging Supabase's tools.
Source: il.ly
Best Serverless Backend Tools of 2023: Pros & Cons, Features & Code Examples
Create an account, a project, and a database. Unlike a NoSQL database like Firebase’s, you need to have a structure ready to be able to manipulate data. But once this step is done―and you’ll have ready-to-use templates to help speed up this part―you can call Supabase like so:
Source: www.rowy.io
2023 Firebase Alternatives: Top 10 Open-Source & Free
Supabase is another trusted platform in our list that calls itself an open-source alternative to Firebase. You can also name it one of the newest cloud service providers similar to Firebase because it launched in 2020. Indeed, with great scalability and documentation support, Supabase could be an ideal option.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Supabase seems to be a lot more popular than RethinkDB. While we know about 501 links to Supabase, we've tracked only 12 mentions of RethinkDB. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

RethinkDB mentions (12)

  • Ask HN: How Can I Make My Front End React to Database Changes in Real-Time?
    Throwing RethinkDB in the mix as well. https://rethinkdb.com/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • You forget RethinkDB, it's a shame
    I've been poking around, testing and breaking database servers for a long time (more than 20 years today). But a few years ago I came across a jewel, the grail, one of the best solutions available. Under the radar, shunned for whatever reason, RethinkDB is nonetheless one of the finest database server projects I've ever tested. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Ask HN: Anyone Using RethinkDB in Production?
    RethinkDB[0] looks like a "too good to be true" type of database. Anyone using it in production? What is your experience like? What are the pros and cons? [0] https://rethinkdb.com. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • Help wanted for a project idea - A multi-room live chat experience, similar to Twitch chat's functionality
    Since you’re not new to the field you might want to peek https://rethinkdb.com/ since it got picked up as an open source project. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Python, the usefulness of "dataclass"
    A Data Objects represents data which can be saved inside a database. This concept is in the heart of SQLAlchemy, but as the name should be obvious: it's for SQL Database (in general). Today, there are now document databases too (like MongoDB, ArangoDB, RethinkDB that I love so much, or even PostgreSQL). So, a "data" is like a "structured and typed document" that you save "as is". That's not the same paradigm, not... - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
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Supabase mentions (501)

  • Why devs are quitting aws and what they’re choosing instead
    Platforms like Railway, Render, Fly.io, Vercel, Supabase, and Cloudflare are leading the charge with a shared philosophy:. - Source: dev.to / 3 days ago
  • I analyzed how Supabase and Laravel launched. Here's what I learned.
    Supabase is an open-source alternative to Firebase. They turned fast shipping into a format: launch weeks — announcing something new every day. They were first and initiated a movement. Picture this: according to launchweek.dev, there were 126 launch weeks run by 94 different companies in 2024. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Why You Shouldn’t Invest In Vector Databases?
    In fact, even in the absence of these commercial databases, users can effortlessly install PostgreSQL and leverage its built-in pgvector functionality for vector search. PostgreSQL stands as the benchmark in the realm of open-source databases, offering comprehensive support across various domains of database management. It excels in transaction processing (e.g., CockroachDB), online analytics (e.g., DuckDB),... - Source: dev.to / 18 days ago
  • How to Host a Scalable Full-Stack App for Free Using Cloudflare Pages, Workers, and Supabase
    Create an account at Supabase and create a new project. You’ll get:. - Source: dev.to / 20 days ago
  • Supabase WordPress Integration - SupaWP Plugin
    Supabase provides a robust authentication system supporting email/password, OAuth providers, and magic links. Integrating this with WordPress allows you to leverage Supabase’s secure and scalable auth backend to manage user registration and login seamlessly. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing RethinkDB and Supabase, you can also consider the following products

MongoDB - MongoDB (from "humongous") is a scalable, high-performance NoSQL database.

Firebase - Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications for mobile and web.

CouchDB - HTTP + JSON document database with Map Reduce views and peer-based replication

Next.js - A small framework for server-rendered universal JavaScript apps

ArangoDB - A distributed open-source database with a flexible data model for documents, graphs, and key-values.

AppWrite - Appwrite provides web and mobile developers with a set of easy-to-use and integrate REST APIs to manage their core backend needs.