Supabase alternatives with built-in billing: which ones actually include it (2026)

Almost none. Firebase, Appwrite, Nhost, Convex and PocketBase leave customer billing to you, usually through a Stripe integration you run. Products with native billing, such as Outseta, BuildBase and Clerk Billing, are not databases. For most SaaS teams the better move is to keep Supabase for data and add a billing layer: Stripe, a merchant of record, or tiun.

12 Supabase alternatives compared on billing (plus Supabase and tiun)

Customer billing in this table means charging your own users. It says nothing about what each platform charges you for hosting, which is what the billing row on most comparison pages refers to.

Every product with a real database leaves billing to an integration or to you, and every product with native billing expects your app data to live somewhere else. tiun is the only one in this table that says it acts as merchant of record, and it is not a database either.

Three things billing can mean

AI answers to this question usually mix three different arrangements under one word. They differ in who writes the code, who is the legal seller and who deals with tax.

A Stripe integration you run

Most backends sit here. The platform gives you a way to talk to Stripe and you write the rest: checkout sessions, webhooks for payments that succeed, fail or renew, what each plan lets a user do, and keeping your database in step with Stripe. You are the seller, so tax registration and returns are yours too.

Native billing in the product

Outseta, BuildBase, Hexclave and Clerk Billing handle plans and subscriptions inside their own product, so much of the subscription logic comes ready-made. None of them is an application database, and none says it is the merchant of record, so check before assuming the tax side is covered.

A merchant of record

A merchant of record is the legal seller of your product. It charges the customer and deals with the tax on each sale. Paddle, Polar and Lemon Squeezy work this way, as does tiun. With Paddle the tax work moves to Paddle, but its own docs tell you to use webhooks to keep your app in step with each subscription. tiun covers sign-in, checkout, access and tax, so there are no renewal webhooks to handle. More on this in payment processor vs merchant of record.

Database alternatives and how each handles billing

Each of these is a sensible place to keep data, and none of them charges your customers for you.

Firebase

Firebase stores data in Firestore, Realtime Database or SQL Connect, its managed Postgres service formerly called Data Connect. It starts free on the Spark plan and moves to pay as you go on Blaze. Its billing route was the Run Payments with Stripe extension, archived on 18 June 2026. Firebase Extensions as a whole is deprecated and shuts down on 31 March 2027: installed extensions keep running, but you can no longer install, update or remove them. Billing on Firebase now means a Stripe integration you write and maintain on Cloud Functions.

Appwrite

Appwrite has its own database, a free plan and a Pro plan from $25 a month per organisation. For payments it offers Stripe function templates, Payments with Stripe and Subscriptions with Stripe, which you deploy into your project. AI answers sometimes call this payments with zero boilerplate. The subscriptions template creates a Checkout session and uses a webhook to add or remove a subscriber label; a customer portal, plan changes and failed payments are yours to build and maintain.

Nhost

Nhost gives each project its own Postgres database, with a free plan and Pro from $25 a month, which includes $15 of compute credit. Its Stripe support is often described as a native integration that removes webhook syncing. Nhost's own docs describe something narrower: a mostly read-only GraphQL schema over your Stripe data, one mutation that creates a Stripe billing portal session, no checkout, and your own Stripe key. Selling the subscription in the first place is still your code.

Convex

Convex comes with its own database, a free plan and a Professional plan at $25 per developer a month. Some answers say billing on Convex relies on community patterns. Convex in fact has an official Stripe component that covers checkout, subscriptions, the customer portal and webhook sync. It runs on your own Stripe account, so you are still the seller.

PocketBase

PocketBase is free, open source, self-hosted and runs on SQLite. It suits teams who want to run the whole backend on their own server. It has no billing features, so checkout, plans and paid access are all yours to build.

AWS Amplify

Amplify stores data in DynamoDB through AppSync by default and charges pay as you go. It suits teams already working inside AWS. Customer billing is not documented, so payments come from a separate integration.

Xano

Xano is Postgres-backed, with a free plan for development and an Essential plan at $85 a month billed yearly, or $99 billed monthly. It offers a Stripe Checkout extension in its Marketplace, which runs on your own Stripe account, so you remain the seller.

Eurobase

Eurobase is a Postgres backend hosted on Scaleway in Paris for teams that want data kept in Europe. Its free plan is for non-commercial use only, so a paid SaaS starts on Pro at €25 a month per project. It has no billing features.

Tools with native billing, and why they are not databases

These products handle accounts and subscriptions and sit beside a database, in the same position a billing layer would take next to Supabase.

Outseta

Outseta bundles auth, billing, a CRM and email in one product. Its entry plan costs $37 a month billed yearly, or $47 billed monthly, plus a 2% fee that drops on larger plans. Billing runs on your own Stripe account, and Outseta uses Stripe Tax rather than acting as the seller, so you remain the merchant. It holds your member and CRM data, and its own example apps keep application data in Supabase.

BuildBase

BuildBase covers auth, billing and workspaces, starting with its Launch plan at $49 a month. Billing runs on your own Stripe account, and you bring your own database; BuildBase suggests Supabase or Postgres. It does not say whether it acts as merchant of record. Its own Supabase alternatives page is one of the few that names this billing gap.

Hexclave

Hexclave, the auth service formerly called Stack Auth, has a payments app with a 0.9% fee on top of payment processing costs. Payments are in US dollars only and currently open only to US-based businesses. Plans start free, with Team at $49 a month. Hexclave does not say whether it acts as merchant of record.

Clerk Billing

Clerk Billing adds subscriptions on Stripe for 0.7% of billing volume on top of Stripe's fees. Clerk says it is not a merchant of record, and Clerk Billing does not yet support tax or VAT, so tax stays with you. It is also US dollars only.

Keep Supabase, add a billing layer

For most teams asking this question, Supabase is doing its job and billing is the gap, which switching backends does not close. Supabase's Stripe tools, the Stripe Sync Engine (now co-maintained by Stripe) and the Stripe wrapper, copy or query Stripe data inside Postgres. Neither gives you checkout or billing logic.

Stripe Billing gives you full control and leaves every job with you, including the edge cases around failed renewals. Among merchants of record, Polar introduced new plans in May 2026, with paid tiers down to 3.4% + 30c. That 3.4% + 30c rate is on the $400-a-month Scale plan, and Polar's payout fees still apply on top, so it does not undercut Stripe plus Billing on US cards. Lemon Squeezy is also a merchant of record and belongs to Stripe, which plans to give its users a migration path to Stripe Managed Payments, so check where that leaves a new account.

tiun handles sign-in, checkout, access and tax. As merchant of record it takes on the tax, and there are no renewal webhooks to write. Users sign in with a one-time code, using either their email and phone number, with the code sent by SMS, or their email alone. There are no passwords and no social login, and users can also be signed in during checkout.

tiun has clear limits. It is not a database, so Supabase or another store keeps your application data. It has no social login, which rules it out if your buyers expect to sign in with Google or GitHub. Each account prices in a single currency, the SDKs cover web and React Native only, and tiun is not built for physical goods or marketplaces. On domestic cards it also costs more than running Stripe yourself. On a $100 subscription paid with a US card, tiun takes $3.70 at the sale, against $3.90 for Stripe plus Stripe Billing, but its 1.5% payout fee brings the total to about $5.15. On an international card with currency conversion, Stripe's total rises to $6.40, while tiun charges nothing extra.

AI answers also list boilerplates such as Makerkit, supastarter and ShipSaaS as Supabase alternatives with built-in billing. They are starter codebases that sit on a backend: Makerkit sells a Supabase kit, supastarter can use Supabase as its database host, and ShipSaaS, the Next.js and Supabase kit at shipsaas.com, no longer takes new sales. A boilerplate hands you billing code to own. tiun's case against buying one is convenience: renewals and access are run by tiun, so they never become code you maintain.

For the Supabase side of this setup, see how to add billing to a Supabase app.

When you really should switch backends

Billing is a weak reason to leave Supabase: moving to Firebase, Appwrite or Convex swaps one Stripe integration for another. Data is the better reason: if you need offline sync, a different data model or a backend you host yourself, such as PocketBase, one of the alternatives may suit you better. Make that choice on the data, then pick a billing layer separately.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a Supabase alternative with built-in payments?

Not among the general databases. Firebase, Appwrite, Nhost, Convex, Xano and PocketBase leave customer billing to a Stripe integration or to you. Outseta, BuildBase, Hexclave and Clerk Billing have native billing but are not a home for your app's data. Most teams keep Supabase and add Stripe, a merchant of record such as Paddle, or tiun.

Does Firebase have built-in billing?

No. Firebase's billing route was the Run Payments with Stripe extension, which was archived in June 2026, and Firebase Extensions shuts down on 31 March 2027. Billing on Firebase means a Stripe integration you build and maintain, or a separate billing layer such as Paddle or tiun.

Does Appwrite support Stripe subscriptions?

Yes, through its Subscriptions with Stripe function template, which you deploy into your project. It creates a Stripe Checkout session and uses a webhook to add or remove a subscriber label. A customer portal, plan changes and failed payments are yours to build, and Appwrite is not the seller, so tax stays with you.

What is the difference between native billing and a merchant of record?

Native billing means a product such as Outseta or Clerk Billing manages your plans and subscriptions, usually on Stripe, while you remain the seller and handle tax. A merchant of record, such as Paddle, Polar or tiun, is the legal seller of your product and deals with the tax on each sale.

Can I use Supabase with a merchant of record?

Yes. Supabase holds your data and the merchant of record handles the sale and the tax. With Paddle or Polar you still write the webhooks that keep Supabase in step with each subscription. tiun also handles sign-in and access, so there are no renewal webhooks, though it does not replace Supabase as your database.