Product details — Authentication & Identity

Supabase Auth

This page is a decision brief, not a review. It explains when Supabase Auth tends to fit, where it usually struggles, and how costs behave as your needs change. This page covers Supabase Auth in isolation; side-by-side comparisons live on separate pages.

Jump to costs & limits

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Last Verified: Jan 2026

Based on official sources linked below.

Quick signals

Complexity

Low

Easy to adopt in Supabase apps with strong defaults, but enterprise identity and governance requirements can expand the scope quickly

Common upgrade trigger

Enterprise customers require SSO and identity governance features

When it gets expensive

Auth and data layer coupling increases switching cost later

What this product actually is

Supabase Auth is product-embedded authentication designed to pair login with Postgres-first authorization (RLS). Choose it when you want one cohesive stack and standard CIAM requirements.

Pricing behavior (not a price list)

These points describe when users typically pay more, what actions trigger upgrades, and the mechanics of how costs escalate.

Actions that trigger upgrades

Enterprise customers require SSO and identity governance features
Need for SCIM provisioning and lifecycle workflows for B2B tenants
Need stronger auditability and admin controls for large tenants
Need to standardize identity across multiple products/apps
Need advanced security and anomaly controls beyond defaults

When costs usually spike

Auth and data layer coupling increases switching cost later
B2B identity expands scope beyond login (orgs, roles, audits, provisioning)
Account recovery and abuse prevention are operational costs at scale
RLS is powerful but requires discipline to avoid security footguns
Identity incidents are outages: logs and runbooks still matter

Plans and variants (structural only)

Grouped by type to show structure, not to rank or recommend specific SKUs.

Plans

Core - Platform-included - Auth integrated with Supabase stack (see docs)
Scale - Usage-driven - Costs appear with broader platform usage and operations

Enterprise

Enterprise - Platform shift - SSO/provisioning often requires a CIAM layer

Costs & limitations

Common limits

Enterprise CIAM depth (SSO/provisioning/governance) may require additional tooling
Auth becomes coupled to your backend stack choice (switching cost)
Advanced identity workflows can push you beyond platform defaults
B2B requirements can expand scope (org roles, audits, provisioning)
Operational maturity still required (abuse, recovery flows, monitoring)
Some teams prefer dedicated CIAM platforms for enterprise procurement needs

What breaks first

Enterprise procurement requirements when SSO/provisioning become mandatory
Engineering time spent on identity edge cases instead of core product work
Security posture if RLS policies drift or are inconsistently applied
Migration complexity if switching to a dedicated CIAM later
Support load when multi-tenant roles and access models grow

Fit assessment

Good fit if…

Teams building on Supabase who want integrated auth + database patterns
SaaS products that want Postgres-first authorization with RLS
Startups prioritizing speed-to-market with a cohesive platform
Apps with standard CIAM needs and predictable auth flows
Teams that want fewer vendors and simpler infrastructure

Poor fit if…

Enterprise SSO and SCIM provisioning are immediate requirements
You need maximum CIAM flexibility and enterprise integrations now
Your stack is mobile-first and heavily invested in Firebase ecosystem
You want cloud-provider primitives and minimal platform coupling
You need workforce IAM governance (Okta/Entra use case)

Trade-offs

Every design choice has a cost. Here are the explicit trade-offs:

Cohesive platform velocity → More coupling to backend stack choice
RLS-based authorization → Requires careful policy design and testing
Fewer vendors → Less enterprise CIAM depth out of the box
Postgres-first model → Not as plug-and-play as SDK-only auth layers
Ship fast → Plan for enterprise identity requirements if selling B2B

Common alternatives people evaluate next

These are common “next shortlists” — same tier, step-down, step-sideways, or step-up — with a quick reason why.

Supabase Auth — Same ecosystem / platform auth

Compared when teams want auth tightly integrated with a Postgres developer platform experience.
Firebase Authentication — Step-sideways / app-first auth

Considered when teams are Firebase-first and want built-in auth primitives.
Auth0 — Step-up / CIAM platform

Shortlisted when enterprise SSO and extensibility requirements outgrow lightweight auth defaults.

Sources & verification

Pricing and behavioral information comes from public documentation and structured research. When information is incomplete or volatile, we prefer to say so rather than guess.