Supabase

Honestly? If you're starting a SaaS in 2026 and you don't know what to use for your backend, just use Supabase. It's a real Postgres database with auth, file storage, edge functions, and realtime baked in. And unlike Firebase, your data is portable. If you ever decide Supabase isn't for you, run pg_dump and you're out. That portability alone is worth it. I've shipped two production apps on Supabase. The first few hours felt like cheating. Auth working, database queries returning, file uploads handled, all in an evening. The Studio UI for poking at your data is genuinely good. Row Level Security takes a minute to wrap your head around but once it clicks you'll wonder how you ever did multi-tenant without it. The catch with the free tier: your project pauses after 7 days of inactivity. For a side project that's fine. For anything you actually care about, get on Pro ($25/month) immediately and skip the heartburn. The Pro tier also gets you daily backups, which you want. Where it gets less polished: Realtime is powerful but the docs assume you already know what you're doing. Edge Functions are fine but cold starts can bite. If you have a team of 3+ designers and PMs poking at the Studio, the UI starts to feel cramped and you'll want CLI workflows. But for 90% of indie SaaS, this is the obvious call. Free tier covers your side projects, Pro is reasonable, and you're never locked in. If you'd asked me five years ago what to use for a quick SaaS backend, I would've stalled. Today the answer is just 'Supabase' and we can move on. The team ships at a pace that's borderline unfair, the community is helpful, and they keep adding things you'll actually use (pgvector for AI apps, broadcast for realtime chat). Recommended without hesitation for almost any new project.