Database & Backend
Databases and backend platforms. Browse the 6 parent tools below — each has a dedicated page with up to 10 indie or bootstrapped alternatives, plus pricing, founders, and where applicable, open-source flags.
Firebase is convenient until you outgrow it, and then it's a multi-year migration. Supabase changed the calculus by giving you Postgres + auth + storage + real-time on a stack you can self-host. PlanetScale, Neon, Turso and Xata have splintered the database side — each picked a different optimization. Pick based on the shape of your read/write workload, not the marketing site.
What to look for
- Branching: can every PR have its own database copy in seconds?
- Connection pooling included, or do you bolt on PgBouncer / Hyperdrive yourself?
- Region coverage that matches your actual users
- Backups: point-in-time recovery, not just nightly snapshots
Common gotchas
- Storage billed separately from compute, with no shared free tier
- Read replicas counted as full compute, not metered traffic
- Free tier paused after inactivity — fine for side projects, bad for staging
Top tools in Database & Backend
← All categoriesSupabase
Open-source Firebase alternative.
Firebase
Google's app backend platform.
PlanetScale
Serverless MySQL platform.
MongoDB Atlas
Managed MongoDB in the cloud.
Liveblocks
APIs for real-time collaboration.
Ably
Realtime messaging + pub-sub platform.