Lovable Cloud vs Supabase: which backend to keep when you leave Lovable

We write guides for leaving Lovable, so we look at this from the side of someone who might leave. Everything below comes from the Lovable and Supabase docs and pricing pages, checked on 3 November 2026. We did not benchmark either one.

Same engine, different owner

Lovable's docs say the built-in backend "utilizes Supabase's open-source foundation". Lovable calls it the built-in backend in the docs and Cloud in parts of the product. It is on by default, so if you never chose, your app probably uses it. Not sure which one your app uses? Check first with Lovable Cloud or Supabase: which one does your app use?

Side by side

The rest of this article goes through the rows that change your bill or your move.

What Lovable Cloud costs

Cloud has no price list of its own. It uses the same credit balance you build with. Lovable bills it by database server (instance size and how long it runs), database storage, network, file storage, compute and realtime.

Free, Pro and Business workspaces get a 20-credit Cloud grant every month. Lovable uses it first, then takes Cloud usage from your general credits. Lovable calls the grant "a temporary offering and subject to change".

What a credit costs depends on the plan:

Lovable says running an app costs the same in dollars on Pro and Business. Business just takes fewer credits for it, because each credit is worth more. Free has no top-ups. When Cloud runs out of credits on Free, you upgrade or wait for the grant to reset on the 1st of the month.

So on Pro, a Cloud credit past the grant costs you 25 cents (from your plan) or 30 cents (from a top-up). At those rates the 20-credit grant covers about $5 to $6 of Cloud usage.

Lovable doesn't publish a price per instance size. The Manage instance dialog (More, Database, Manage, Settings) shows an estimated monthly cost for each size, based on your last 30 days of usage. On Free you stay on Tiny. To see what a project really spends, open More, Usage in the project.

What Supabase costs

Supabase bills per organization, and each project runs on its own compute instance.

Bigger instances are add-ons. Small is $15 a month, Medium $60 and Large $110. A second project on Pro adds its own compute, so two Micro projects cost about $35 a month. Spend caps are on by default on Pro, so usage over the included limits doesn't run up a surprise bill unless you turn them off. Compute is not capped, because you pick it yourself.

How to compare them for your app

Open More, Usage in your Lovable project and look at the Cloud credits of the last 30 days. Take away the 20-credit grant and multiply the rest by 25 or 30 cents. If that is well under $25, Cloud is cheaper for now. If it is close to $25 or above it, a Supabase Pro project with a Micro instance is probably the cheaper one, as long as Micro is big enough for your app.

Keep in mind the move itself costs time, and on Lovable you keep paying for building either way.

Backups

Lovable backs up the Cloud database once a day and keeps up to roughly 14 days of backups. You restore one from More, Database, Manage, Backups. There is no restore to a point between two backups. Backups cover the database only, not the files in storage.

Supabase Free has no automatic backups. Pro keeps daily backups for 7 days, Team for 14 days. Point-in-time recovery costs about $100 a month per 7 days of history, and the project needs at least the Small compute add-on.

So on backups, Lovable Cloud gives you more for nothing than Supabase Free does. If you move to Supabase Free, make your own backups. Back up the database of a Lovable app shows how.

Pausing and running out of credits

Both pause, for different reasons.

Lovable pauses a Cloud backend after about 7 days without activity. Projects with scheduled jobs or other background activity are not paused. Lovable also pauses a Cloud backend when your workspace runs out of credits or hits a credit limit. While paused, the published app can't read or write data, sign anyone in or serve files.

The part that catches people: traffic to your app does not wake it up, and neither does adding credits. After a top-up you open the project and click Wake up. Waking up takes a few minutes.

Supabase Free pauses a project after 1 week of inactivity. Paid Supabase projects are never paused.

If your app has paying users, an empty credit balance on Lovable is a real outage risk. If you stay on Cloud with a paid plan, set an alert on your remaining balance in Workspace settings, Usage limits & alerts.

Access to your data

On Cloud you work with data inside Lovable: browse and edit tables, run SQL in the SQL editor, download a table as CSV. Lovable manages the database password and doesn't show it. You can ask Lovable to rotate it. Lovable also supports only a fixed set of PostgreSQL extensions.

On your own Supabase project you get the whole Supabase dashboard: Table Editor, SQL Editor, Authentication, Storage, Edge Functions and logs. You can connect psql, Prisma, Drizzle or a BI tool with the connection string, and outside tools can use the REST API Supabase generates from your database.

This matters when you work in Claude Code, Codex or Cursor. With your own project the AI tool can push migrations with the Supabase CLI (npx supabase db push) and read logs through the Supabase MCP server. On Cloud you paste the SQL into Lovable's SQL editor or ask Lovable to make the change.

Logins and emails

On Cloud, Lovable configures sign-in for you: email, phone, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Sign in with Lovable, SAML SSO and OIDC. Google can run as managed Google login, without your own Google Cloud credentials.

On your own Supabase project you set up every provider in the Supabase dashboard with your own credentials. Social logins are included on every Supabase plan. SAML SSO starts on Pro, with 50 users included and then $0.015 per user.

Emails are where people get stuck after a move. Supabase's built-in email sender only delivers to members of your Supabase team and currently sends 2 messages an hour. For real users you need your own SMTP server. Once you add one, Supabase starts you at 30 messages an hour, and you can raise it on the Rate Limits page.

On Cloud, Lovable sends auth emails through Lovable Auth. Branded auth emails from your own domain only work on the built-in backend and only on paid plans.

What you lose in Lovable with your own Supabase

If you connect your own Supabase project to Lovable, Lovable lists these as Cloud-only:

• The Database, Users, Storage, Secrets, Jobs, Usage and Logs views in the More panel
• Daily backups with restore, pausing and resizing from inside Lovable
• Built-in Paddle and Stripe payments on older React and Vite apps (TanStack Start apps created from 13 May 2026 can use them with your own Supabase)
• Auth emails from your own domain
• Changing auth settings from the chat, including managed Google login and SAML SSO
• Testing your app as a signed-in user
• Sensitive data (PII) scanning

If you are leaving Lovable anyway, most of this list doesn't matter. If you still build in Lovable, it does.

Switching later

There is no automatic migration in either direction. From Supabase to Cloud, Lovable says migration "is not supported" and that it will keep supporting Supabase. Remixing a Cloud project only makes another Cloud project.

From Cloud to your own Supabase, you do it by hand:

• The database export holds tables, data and user accounts with password hashes, so users keep their passwords and only sign in again.
• It doesn't hold storage files, edge function code, secrets, sign-in provider settings or API keys. You set those up again.
• Lovable exports databases up to 15 GB of storage. The file can be at most 5 GB and you can export once every 24 hours. Bigger databases go through Lovable support.
• You can only export while the database runs. If it is paused, wake it up first.
• Removing the Cloud database deletes the export too, because Lovable saves it in your project's storage. Download it first.

The full order is in Move Lovable Cloud to your own Supabase project. Files and logins have their own guides: Move Lovable storage files and Move Lovable auth, both to your own Supabase project.

Every week you stay on Cloud the database gets a bit bigger and the move a bit longer. That's not a reason to move today, but if you know you will leave, earlier is easier.

Which one for your route

You move your editing to Claude Code, Codex or Cursor and keep Lovable hosting. Cloud can stay. Your AI tool edits the code, GitHub sync keeps Lovable up to date and the database stays where it is. Move it only if you want the backend in your own account or you plan to cancel Lovable. Keeping the two in sync is in Keep Lovable in sync when you edit in another tool.

You move hosting to Vercel or your own server. Cloud can stay, but Lovable's docs say that Cloud usage keeps using your workspace credits. You'd pay Vercel or your server and Lovable for one app. The step-by-step guides for both hosts move the backend to your own Supabase project when you say you are leaving Lovable.

You leave Lovable completely. Then it's not a choice. The backend moves to Supabase, because Cloud only exists inside a Lovable workspace. Leave Lovable without losing your app has the full list.

Which one fits you?

Pick Lovable Cloud if:

• you still build in Lovable and want the Database, Users and Storage views there
• the app is small and its Cloud credits stay under the monthly grant or close to it
• you want daily backups without paying for Supabase Pro
• you use managed Google login, branded auth emails or built-in payments on an older React and Vite app
• you don't want a second account and a second bill

Pick your own Supabase project if:

• you are leaving Lovable, or moving hosting to Vercel or your own server
• your Cloud usage is near $25 a month or more
• you want the Supabase dashboard, a connection string and your AI tool running migrations itself
• an empty Lovable credit balance must never take your app down
• you need files bigger than 5 GB, a Postgres extension Cloud does not support or a database bigger than the 15 GB Lovable can export

Sources

1. Lovable docs: Built-in backend
2. Lovable docs: Connect to Supabase
3. Lovable docs: Credits and usage
4. Lovable docs: Subscription plans
5. Lovable docs: Credit top-ups
6. Lovable docs: Project usage and costs
7. Lovable docs: Back up, restore, and export your project's database
8. Lovable docs: Pause, resume, or remove your project's database
9. Lovable docs: Fix a slow database and choose the right capacity
10. Lovable docs: Database
11. Lovable docs: Control who can access your app's data
12. Lovable docs: Storage
13. Lovable docs: Authentication
14. Lovable docs: Send branded emails from your own domain
15. Lovable docs: Deploying and hosting outside Lovable
16. Lovable: Pricing
17. Supabase: Pricing
18. Supabase docs: Compute usage
19. Supabase docs: Database backups
20. Supabase docs: Cost control
21. Supabase docs: Storage file limits
22. Supabase docs: Send emails with custom SMTP
23. Supabase docs: Model context protocol (MCP)

• Lovable Cloud or Supabase: which one does your app use?
• Move Lovable Cloud to your own Supabase project
• Back up the database of a Lovable app
• Move Lovable storage files to your own Supabase project
• Move Lovable auth to your own Supabase project
• Keep Lovable in sync when you edit in another tool
• Leave Lovable without losing your app
• Lovable pricing
• Lovable to Vercel
• Lovable to own VPS