ChartDB vs Supabase
| Tagline | Browser-based database diagram editor that visualizes your schema with a single query | Open-source Firebase alternative built on PostgreSQL with realtime and auth |
| Category | Databases & Spreadsheets | Databases & Spreadsheets |
| Replaces | Airtable, Retool, Smartsheet | Airtable, Google Sheets, Retool |
| GitHub stars | 23k | 107k |
| Language | Nodejs | TypeScript |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Self-host difficulty | 2/5 Easy | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Docker Manual | Docker Docker Compose Kubernetes |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 16 days ago | 5 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
ChartDB
- Diagramming and visualization only; no data editing, querying, or CRUD interface
- No team collaboration features (comments, live multiplayer editing) in self-hosted version
- No support for NoSQL or non-relational database schemas
- No migration generation or schema diffing workflow tools
Supabase
- Self-hosted Docker Compose stack is complex: 8+ services including Kong, GoTrue, PostgREST, Realtime
- Studio table editor is less polished than Airtable UX for non-technical users
- Edge Functions are limited to Deno; no Node.js runtime in the self-hosted edition
Bottom line
Choose ChartDB if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Supabase for the larger community and ecosystem. Supabase has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.