Supabase has emerged as the leading open-source Firebase alternative, but the managed cloud tier can quickly become expensive. Self-hosting Supabase on AWS EC2 with Docker Compose provides the same powerful backend at a fraction of the cost.
This guide walks through deploying the full Supabase stack on a t3.medium instance, handling ~10,000 concurrent users for roughly $30/month versus $200+/month managed.
Launch a t3.medium instance with Ubuntu 24.04, 30GB gp3 root volume. Configure security group for ports 22, 80, 443, and 3000.
Clone the official Supabase self-hosted repo and configure environment variables including JWT secrets and database password.
| Resource | Self-Hosted | Managed Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Compute (t3.medium) | $30 | $200 |
| Storage (30GB gp3) | $6 | Included |
| Bandwidth (500GB) | $10 | $50+ overage |
| Total | $46/month | $250+/month |
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