Supabase (pgvector) vs AWS EC2
Agent-native side-by-side. Scores are curated estimates on a 0–10 scale. Lock-in: higher = worse. Prefer JTBD picks via /api/decide when choosing for a job.
| Dimension | Supabase (pgvector) | AWS EC2 |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 8.6 | 8.0 |
| Capability fit | 8.5 | 9.2 |
| Price / performance | 9.0 | 7.0 |
| Latency / reliability | 8.6 | 9.5 |
| Developer & agent DX | 9.4 | 6.5 |
| Privacy / data retention | 8.0 | 8.8 |
| Lock-in risk (higher = worse) | 3.0 | 7.5 |
| Maturity / track record | 9.0 | 9.9 |
| Pricing | Postgres + pgvector + Auth + Storage; usage on compute/storage; free tier. Vectors hitchhike on Postgres. | Broadest instance catalog; Spot/Savings Plans; everything else in AWS orbits EC2. |
| Tagline | Depot default for most agent apps under ~25–50M vectors. Don't add Pinecone until Postgres actually hurts. | Default enterprise VM substrate. Agents should wrap it — humans shouldn't live in the console. |
Supabase (pgvector)
Depot default for most agent apps under ~25–50M vectors. Don't add Pinecone until Postgres actually hurts. Strengths: One backend for auth, DB, storage, vectors; Best DX for many Next.js agent apps; Open standards (Postgres).
Strengths
- One backend for auth, DB, storage, vectors
- Best DX for many Next.js agent apps
- Open standards (Postgres)
Weaknesses
- Vector scale ceiling vs dedicated engines
- Need pgvectorscale/careful indexing past tens of M
- Not a pure vector specialist
AWS EC2
Default enterprise VM substrate. Agents should wrap it — humans shouldn't live in the console. Strengths: Infinite instance types and regions; Enterprise controls; Spot for cheap batch.
Strengths
- Infinite instance types and regions
- Enterprise controls
- Spot for cheap batch
Weaknesses
- Complexity tax
- Easy to misconfigure security/cost
- DX raw vs PaaS
More pairs: anthropic-vs-openai · openai-vs-google-ai · groq-vs-fireworks · fireworks-vs-together · qdrant-vs-pinecone · pinecone-vs-supabase-pgvector · e2b-vs-modal · browserbase-vs-firecrawl