Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Supabase VS SockJS

Compare Supabase VS SockJS and see what are their differences

Supabase logo Supabase

An open source Firebase alternative

SockJS logo SockJS

SockJS is a browser JavaScript library that provides a WebSocket-like object.
  • Supabase Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-27
  • SockJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-24

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.

SockJS features and specs

  • Cross-browser Compatibility
    SockJS provides a consistent WebSocket-like API that works across all modern browsers, including fallback options for older browsers that don't support WebSockets.
  • Fallback Options
    SockJS automatically uses the best-available transport method, such as JSONP, XHR streaming, or XHR polling, ensuring connectivity even in challenging network environments.
  • Reliability
    By offering multiple transport methods, SockJS provides reliable real-time communication even when WebSocket connections might be unstable or unsupported.
  • Ease of Use
    SockJS abstracts the complexity of managing various transport protocols, allowing developers to focus on implementing application logic rather than handling connection details.
  • Server Support
    SockJS is supported by several server-side implementations in different programming languages, enabling flexibility in choosing backend technologies.

Possible disadvantages of SockJS

  • Overhead
    The additional abstraction layer and fallback mechanisms may introduce some overhead compared to using native WebSockets directly, impacting performance to some extent.
  • Configuration Complexity
    Setting up SockJS with proper fallback handling and configuring the server-side components might be more complex than using native WebSockets, especially for simple use cases.
  • Less Control
    Developers have less control over the specific transport protocols being used, which might be a disadvantage in scenarios where such control is necessary for optimization or monitoring purposes.
  • Potential Latency
    Using fallback transports like polling can introduce higher latency compared to native WebSocket connections, which might not be suitable for highly time-sensitive applications.
  • Project Maintenance
    As an open-source project, SockJS relies on community support for maintenance and updates. This could pose a risk if development and support decline over time.

Analysis of Supabase

Overall verdict

  • Supabase is a strong choice for developers looking for an affordable, open-source solution to manage their application's back-end with real-time data and user authentication.

Why this product is good

  • Supabase is an open-source alternative to Firebase, providing a robust back-end platform for web and mobile applications.
  • It offers real-time capabilities, authentication, and auto-generated APIs with PostgreSQL, making it versatile and efficient.
  • The platform is developer-friendly with excellent documentation and an active community.
  • Being open-source allows for greater flexibility and control over your projects.

Recommended for

  • Developers seeking an open-source alternative to Firebase.
  • Teams that require real-time data synchronization.
  • Projects needing a scalable and easy-to-use back-end solution.
  • Individuals or teams working with PostgreSQL.

Supabase videos

Basic demo

More videos:

  • Review - Supabase in 100 Seconds by Fireship

SockJS videos

No SockJS videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Supabase and SockJS)
Developer Tools
98 98%
2% 2
Realtime Backend / API
App Development
0 0%
100% 100
Web Frameworks
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

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 Firebaseโ€™s, you need to have a structure ready to be able to manipulate data. But once this step is doneโ€•and youโ€™ll have ready-to-use templates to help speed up this partโ€•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.

SockJS Reviews

We have no reviews of SockJS yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Supabase seems to be a lot more popular than SockJS. While we know about 521 links to Supabase, we've tracked only 2 mentions of SockJS. 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.

Supabase mentions (521)

  • Optimize Read Performance in Supabase with Postgres Materialized Views
    This tutorial explains how I improved my application's read performance using Postgres materialized views in Supabase. - Source: dev.to / 4 days ago
  • Mastering Postgres Window Functions for Data Analysis in Supabase
    All examples in this blog are tested on Supabase, an open source backend-as-a-service (BaaS) platform that simplifies backend development for web and mobile applications. Supabase provides full support for Postgres databases. - Source: dev.to / 10 days ago
  • Data Integrity First: Mastering Transactions in Supabase SQL for Reliable Applications
    But relying on these safeguards isn't as simple as sprinkling BEGIN and COMMIT into your code. You still have to address challenges like race conditions, constraint violations, and mid-transaction failures across API layers. Supabase helps solve these issues by building on Postgres and handling the transaction logic directly at the database itself. It exposes the logic through streamlined interfaces that preserve... - Source: dev.to / 11 days ago
  • Build a Real-Time Chat App with Flutter and Supabase
    If you don't have an account, head over to supabase.com and sign up. Once you're in, create a new project. Give it a name, generate a secure database password, and choose a region. Your project will be ready in a couple of minutes. - Source: dev.to / 11 days ago
  • Cheat Sheet for Basic Python for Postgres
    Instead of setting up a local Postgres instance, I decided to use Supabase because it provides a fully managed, hosted Postgres database out of the box, simplifying the setup time and database management. This allows us to focus entirely on writing and deploying the application code without worrying about infrastructure details. First, visit Supabase and create a free account if you don't have one yet. - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
View more

SockJS mentions (2)

  • WebSockets and Node.js - testing WS and SockJS by building a web app
    SockJS is a library that mimics the native WebSockets API. Additionally, it will fall back to HTTP whenever a WebSocket fails to connect, or if the browser being used doesnโ€™t support WebSockets. Like WS, SockJS requires a server counterpart; its maintainers provide both a JavaScript client library and a Node.js server library. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Top WebSocket libraries for Node.js in 2022
    SockJS is a JavaScript library that provides communication between the client and the server in a way similar to the native WebSockets API. SockJS functions with a server counterpart in the form of sockjs-node and SockJS-client, a JavaScript client library. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

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

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

Socket.io - Realtime application framework (Node.JS server)

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

SocketCluster - An open, scalable realtime engine for Node.js

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

Nakama - Nakama is an open-source distributed social and realtime server for games and apps.