Lathe vs Vercel + Supabase: which stack fits your app?
Short answer: Choose Vercel + Supabase if you want Vercel's deployment workflow and edge network, Supabase's broad feature set, or free tiers while you test. Choose Lathe if your app fits on one machine and you want app hosting, Postgres and auth under one fixed monthly plan. It is not a drop-in replacement for every feature of either platform.
| Decision point | Lathe | Vercel + Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | A solo builder or small team with an app that fits on one machine and a preference for a fixed bill | Teams that want separate specialist platforms, their specific integrations and room to scale across them |
| App + data | Containerized app and managed Postgres together on one machine; auth also available | App on Vercel; Postgres and auth through Supabase, connected across services |
| Entry price | Mini $15/month after a 14-day no-card trial; Starter $29/month for the full stack at once | Both have free tiers. The basic paid pairing starts at Vercel Pro $20/month + Supabase Pro $25/month = $45/month, before extras |
| How costs change | Choose a larger machine plan as the workload grows; plans are $15, $29, $49, $89/month | Vercel charges by plan, paid seats and usage; Supabase charges by organization plan, project compute and usage beyond quotas |
| Integrations and interfaces | Web portal, REST API and MCP server; standard Postgres clients, container images and Supabase-compatible auth clients | Vercel Git integrations and deployment previews; Supabase client libraries, database, auth, storage and realtime products |
| Scaling and recovery | One machine per instance, daily backups with seven kept; no HA, automatic failover or point-in-time recovery | Separate platforms with more scaling choices and optional recovery features; costs and limits vary by plan |
Prices in USD, checked September 27, 2026. Compare your actual workload, not only the entry price. See Lathe pricing, Vercel pricing and Supabase pricing.
How much does it cost to replace Vercel + Supabase?
For one commercial app on the basic paid plans, Vercel Pro starts at $20/month and Supabase Pro at $25/month, for a $45/month starting bill. Vercel's Pro plan includes one deploying seat and a $20 monthly usage credit. Supabase Pro includes a $10 monthly compute credit, enough for one Micro project. More deploying seats, projects, larger compute, add-ons and usage beyond included quotas can raise the bill. The free tiers can cost less than Lathe for a small, mostly idle project.
Lathe Mini costs $15/month after its 14-day no-card trial. Starter costs $29/month; Plus $49/month; Pro $89/month. Each is a machine-size plan with app, data engines, auth, daily backups and up to 20 TB outbound traffic per month included. Mini has less room for running multiple engines together; Starter is the practical starting point for the full stack at once. A workload that outgrows its machine needs an upgrade. This comparison does not claim that a $29 Lathe machine matches the capacity of the $45 two-platform pairing.
Read the detailed cost model. Check vendor pricing before making a purchase.
What do you have to connect and operate?
With Vercel + Supabase, the app deployment and the database/auth project live on separate platforms. You connect them with environment variables and client libraries, then manage separate dashboards, quotas and bills. In return you get each platform's own workflow and ecosystem. Vercel supports Git-connected deployments and preview environments; Supabase supplies its own client libraries, database, auth, storage and realtime features.
With Lathe, you deploy your containerized app beside Postgres and auth on one machine. You can add Redis, CouchDB, NATS and S3-compatible buckets as needed. The portal, REST API and MCP server operate the same stack. That removes some cross-platform setup, but it does not reproduce every Vercel or Supabase integration. Follow a Next.js app, database and auth walkthrough.
Which option is better for a solo builder?
Consider Lathe when:
- You can run the app and data on one machine.
- A known monthly machine price matters more than separate usage meters.
- You want standard Postgres access and an API or MCP interface for infrastructure tasks.
- Daily backups and founder-led email support meet your requirements.
Stay with Vercel + Supabase when:
- Their free tiers or a specific integration save you time.
- You need edge delivery, deployment previews or broader managed platform features.
- You need high availability, automatic horizontal scaling, point-in-time recovery or a different recovery target.
- Your team accepts managing two platforms and their separate usage limits.
Can you move an existing app without rewriting it?
Not automatically. Lathe offers standard Postgres access and auth that works with Supabase auth clients, but feature compatibility is not the same as importing an entire Supabase project or Vercel deployment. Inventory the features your app uses, move a staging copy first, and test auth, database connections, deployment and restore before changing production. If you depend on a Vercel-specific runtime or Supabase-specific services, plan that work separately. Read Lathe's Supabase comparison.
What is the tradeoff of one machine?
All parts of a Lathe instance share its machine's CPU, RAM and storage. The bill is easier to predict, but capacity is finite, and a machine outage affects the stack together. Lathe does not offer high availability, automatic failover or point-in-time recovery; backups are daily, with seven kept. If you cannot tolerate losing up to a day of writes or need automatic failover, choose another architecture. Vercel and Supabase have different scaling and recovery options, with their own limits and charges.
Start with a non-critical project: try Lathe Mini for 14 days without a card, or keep the stack you have if its tools and scaling model are the reason it works for you.