HeliosDB Nano vs Supabase

Supabase is a popular open-source Backend-as-a-Service built on PostgreSQL. HeliosDB Nano delivers the same developer experience — auth, REST API, realtime, vector search — in a self-hosted 47 MB binary with zero cloud dependency.

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Quick Comparison

Feature	Supabase	HeliosDB Nano
Hosting	Cloud (or self-hosted)	Self-hosted (single binary)
Database	PostgreSQL 15	PostgreSQL-compatible + MySQL
Auth	GoTrue (email, OAuth, magic links)	Built-in (email, OAuth, JWT)
REST API	PostgREST (auto-generated)	PostgREST-compatible (19 operators)
Realtime	WebSocket (postgres_changes)	WebSocket (same protocol)
Storage	S3-backed bucket API	In-memory (disk persistence planned)
Vector Search	pgvector extension	Native HNSW (no extension)
Branching	Branching add-on ($$$)	Built-in (zero-cost, COW)
Time Travel	N/A	Built-in (AS OF TIMESTAMP)
Encryption	Optional	AES-256-GCM TDE built-in
MySQL Protocol	N/A	Native MySQL wire protocol
WordPress	N/A	Drop-in MySQL replacement
Binary Size	N/A (cloud service)	47 MB single binary
Pricing	Free tier + usage-based	Free forever (self-hosted)

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Same Client API, No Cloud Required

HeliosDB Nano exposes a Supabase-compatible JS client. Your existing Supabase code works with minimal changes — just point to your own server:

// Supabase
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
const supabase = createClient('https://xyz.supabase.co', 'your-anon-key')

// HeliosDB Nano -- same API, self-hosted
import { createClient } from '@heliosdb/client'
const db = createClient('http://localhost:8080', 'your-anon-key')

Query Data

// Works identically on both platforms
const { data, error } = await db
  .from('users')
  .select('id, name, email')
  .eq('active', true)
  .order('created_at', { ascending: false })
  .limit(10)

Insert with Returning

const { data, error } = await db
  .from('posts')
  .insert({
    title: 'Hello World',
    body: 'My first post',
    author_id: user.id
  })
  .select()

Realtime Subscriptions

// Subscribe to changes -- same API
const channel = db
  .channel('messages')
  .on('postgres_changes',
    { event: 'INSERT', schema: 'public', table: 'messages' },
    (payload) => {
      console.log('New message:', payload.new)
    }
  )
  .subscribe()

Auth

// Sign up -- same flow
const { data, error } = await db.auth.signUp({
  email: 'user@example.com',
  password: 'securepassword'
})

// Sign in with OAuth
const { data, error } = await db.auth.signInWithOAuth({
  provider: 'github'
})

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What HeliosDB Adds Beyond Supabase

1. Database Branching (Free, Built-in)

Supabase offers branching as a paid add-on. HeliosDB Nano includes zero-cost copy-on-write branching at the storage layer:

-- Create an isolated branch for testing
CREATE BRANCH staging FROM main;
USE BRANCH staging;

-- Run migrations, test schema changes
ALTER TABLE users ADD COLUMN preferences JSONB DEFAULT '{}';

-- Merge when ready, or discard
MERGE BRANCH staging INTO main;
DROP BRANCH staging;

2. Time-Travel Queries

Query any historical state of your database without restoring backups:

-- What did the orders table look like yesterday?
SELECT * FROM orders
AS OF TIMESTAMP '2026-04-14 09:00:00'
WHERE status = 'pending';

-- Compare current vs historical
SELECT
    c.balance AS current_balance,
    h.balance AS yesterday_balance,
    c.balance - h.balance AS change
FROM accounts c
JOIN accounts AS OF TIMESTAMP '2026-04-14' h
    ON c.id = h.id;

3. Native Vector Search (No Extension)

Supabase relies on the pgvector extension. HeliosDB has native HNSW indexing with 384x compression:

-- Native vector type, no CREATE EXTENSION needed
CREATE TABLE documents (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    content TEXT,
    embedding VECTOR(768)
);

-- HNSW index with Product Quantization
CREATE INDEX ON documents USING hnsw (embedding vector_cosine_ops);

-- Semantic search
SELECT content, embedding <=> $1 AS distance
FROM documents
ORDER BY distance
LIMIT 10;

4. MySQL Wire Protocol

Supabase is PostgreSQL-only. HeliosDB Nano speaks both PostgreSQL and MySQL wire protocols natively, making it a drop-in replacement for WordPress, Laravel, and any MySQL application:

# Connect via PostgreSQL
psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U admin mydb

# Connect via MySQL -- same database, same data
mysql -h localhost -P 3306 -u admin mydb

5. AES-256-GCM Encryption at Rest

Transparent Data Encryption is built into the storage engine. No configuration, no extension, always on:

-- Encryption is automatic and transparent
-- Your queries work exactly the same
SELECT * FROM sensitive_data WHERE user_id = 42;

-- Data at rest is always AES-256-GCM encrypted
-- Zero performance impact from hardware acceleration

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Self-Hosted Supabase: 12 Docker Containers vs 1 Binary

Self-hosting Supabase requires orchestrating multiple services:

Component	Supabase Self-Hosted	HeliosDB Nano
Database	PostgreSQL container	Single 47 MB binary
REST API	PostgREST container
Auth	GoTrue container
Realtime	Realtime container
Storage	Storage API + S3
Edge Functions	Deno container
Dashboard	Studio container
Total RAM	~2 GB minimum	~30 MB
Startup Time	30-60 seconds	10 milliseconds
Disk Space	~3 GB (images)	47 MB

# Supabase self-hosted: docker-compose.yml (simplified)
services:
  postgres:
    image: supabase/postgres:15
  gotrue:
    image: supabase/gotrue
  postgrest:
    image: postgrest/postgrest
  realtime:
    image: supabase/realtime
  storage:
    image: supabase/storage-api
  studio:
    image: supabase/studio
  # ... plus kong, meta, imgproxy, etc.

# HeliosDB Nano: that's it
./heliosdb-nano --data-dir ./data --port 8080

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When to Choose Supabase

Supabase might be a better fit if you need:

• Managed hosting -- zero ops, Supabase handles everything
• Edge Functions -- serverless Deno runtime at the edge
• Dashboard UI -- built-in table editor and SQL console
• S3 file storage -- production-grade object storage with CDN
• Ecosystem -- Supabase CLI, migration tools, community templates

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When to Choose HeliosDB Nano

• Self-hosted / air-gapped -- single binary, no internet required
• Edge / IoT deployment -- 47 MB, 30 MB RAM, 10ms startup
• MySQL applications -- WordPress, Laravel, legacy systems
• Database branching -- free, built-in, zero-cost COW
• Time-travel queries -- audit, compliance, debugging
• Vector search without extensions -- native HNSW with PQ compression
• Zero cloud bills -- free forever, no usage metering
• Data sovereignty -- your data never leaves your server

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Migration from Supabase

1. Export Your Schema

# Export from Supabase
supabase db dump --schema public > schema.sql

# Import to HeliosDB Nano
psql -h localhost -p 5432 -U admin mydb < schema.sql

2. Update Your Client

// Before: Supabase cloud
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
const db = createClient('https://xyz.supabase.co', 'your-anon-key')

// After: HeliosDB Nano (same API surface)
import { createClient } from '@heliosdb/client'
const db = createClient('http://localhost:8080', 'your-anon-key')

// All your existing queries work unchanged
const { data } = await db.from('users').select('*').eq('active', true)

3. Keep Your RLS Policies

-- Supabase RLS policies work in HeliosDB Nano
ALTER TABLE posts ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;

CREATE POLICY "Users can view own posts"
    ON posts FOR SELECT
    USING (auth.uid() = author_id);

CREATE POLICY "Users can insert own posts"
    ON posts FOR INSERT
    WITH CHECK (auth.uid() = author_id);