Comparison
ɳSelf vs the field
An honest look at ɳSelf against Supabase, Nhost, PocketBase, Coolify, and Appwrite. We win on ownership and cost. They win on managed hosting. Neither is wrong.
Data based on public documentation. Last reviewed May 2026.
| Feature | ɳSelf | Supabase | Nhost | PocketBase | Coolify | Appwrite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ownership Self-hosted | ✓ | ~ Enterprise only | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| You own all data | ✓ | ~ Cloud = shared infra | ✗ Vendor-hosted | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| MIT or FOSS license | ✓ Core MIT | ~ Apache 2 core, proprietary addons | ~ MIT frontend, proprietary platform | ✓ MIT | ✓ Apache 2 | ✓ BSD 3-clause |
Stack Postgres included | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ SQLite only | ~ Deploy separately | ✗ MariaDB |
| GraphQL API | ✓ Hasura auto-gen | ~ Via pg_graphql | ✓ Hasura managed | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| REST API | ✓ Via Hasura + plugins | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ Deployment only | ✓ |
| Auth (email, OAuth) | ✓ 13+ providers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ App-layer, not built-in | ✓ |
| File storage (S3-compatible) | ✓ MinIO | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ Local disk | ~ Bring your own | ✓ |
| Real-time subscriptions | ✓ Hasura live queries | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
Extensibility Plugin ecosystem | ✓ 126 plugins | ~ Edge Functions only | ~ Limited | ~ Go hooks | ~ Via Docker services | ~ Functions only |
| Custom services (Docker) | ✓ CS_N slots in config | ✗ Cloud: no | ✗ | ~ DIY Docker compose | ✓ | ~ Self-hosted only |
| AI / LLM plugins | ✓ ɳClaw bundle | ~ Edge Functions + pg_vector | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Pricing Free tier | ✓ 26 plugins, no limits | ✓ 2 projects, 500 MB | ✓ 1 project, limited | ✓ Full features, self-host | ✓ Self-host only | ✓ Limited quotas |
| All-in monthly cost (production) | ✓ $3.99/mo (ɳSelf+) + server | $ $25/mo+ (Pro) | $ $25/mo+ | ✓ $0 + server | ✓ $0 + server | ✓ $0 self-host / $15 cloud |
| Usage-based pricing risk | ✗ Flat rate, no surprises | ~ Compute + egress fees | ~ Function invocations | ✗ | ✗ | ~ Cloud tier has limits |
Operations One-command install | ✓ brew install / curl | bash | ✓ supabase start (local) | ~ Cloud-first, local dev available | ✓ Single binary | ✓ | ✓ Docker Compose |
| Monitoring included | ✓ Prometheus + Grafana + Loki (10 services) | ~ Cloud dashboard only | ~ Cloud dashboard only | ✗ | ~ Basic metrics | ~ Limited |
| Multi-environment (dev/staging/prod) | ✓ nself env switch | ✓ | ✓ | ~ Manual config | ✓ | ~ Manual |
Security Row-level security | ✓ Free, always on | ✓ | ✓ | ~ Collection rules | ✗ | ✓ Permissions system |
| Security features paywalled | ✗ All security is free, always | ~ SSO, advanced auth = paid | ~ MFA = paid plan | ✗ | ✗ | ~ Some features cloud-only |
Where ɳSelf wins
- Cost: $3.99/mo all-in vs $25+/mo for managed plans
- Data ownership: your server, your Postgres, no shared infra
- Extensibility: 126 plugins across 6 product bundles
- Monitoring: 10-service observability stack included free
- Security: every hardening feature is free, always
Where alternatives win
- Supabase: polished cloud console, no server to manage
- Nhost: Hasura managed for you, good DX for teams
- PocketBase: single binary, simpler if you don't need Postgres
- Coolify: broader app deployment, not backend-specific
- Appwrite: strong mobile SDK ecosystem
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