Re:Should I Open Source my Company?
by codeptualize on Monday January 22, 2024 @08:32AM
(#39089338)
I think you are missing the point.
The open source part, especially it being Postgres, makes it possible for me to move away if I choose to do so, while picking and choosing the parts I want to keep. This ability was crucial for me, I would not have used Supabase otherwise.
If you look at Firebase for example, there are countless stories of how difficult it is to move away.
Even if I won't self host Supabase, I can just take my schema, take my data, and put it elsewhere fairly easily as all the postgres extensions and everything is open source. I have the ability to move away from Supabase completely, and people have done this successfully before (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36004925).
Some people do actually self host btw, and supabase is adding more options like hosting on Fly.io.
Besides this there are other advantages:
- I run Supabase locally for testing (using their docker
images and CLI)
- We run Supabase in GH actions for automated testing and migrations
- I connect directly to the db, and use postgres tools for various things, backups, snapshots, db admin tasks.
- There are community clients for many different languages
Sure, it's also marketing, as these are all great benefits that really had a big impact on my decision to build on Supabase. Open source is more than just self hosting.
The open source part, especially it being Postgres, makes it possible for me to move away if I choose to do so, while picking and choosing the parts I want to keep. This ability was crucial for me, I would not have used Supabase otherwise.
If you look at Firebase for example, there are countless stories of how difficult it is to move away.
Even if I won't self host Supabase, I can just take my schema, take my data, and put it elsewhere fairly easily as all the postgres extensions and everything is open source. I have the ability to move away from Supabase completely, and people have done this successfully before (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36004925).
Some people do actually self host btw, and supabase is adding more options like hosting on Fly.io.
Besides this there are other advantages:
- I run Supabase locally for testing (using their docker images and CLI)
- We run Supabase in GH actions for automated testing and migrations
- I connect directly to the db, and use postgres tools for various things, backups, snapshots, db admin tasks.
- There are community clients for many different languages
Sure, it's also marketing, as these are all great benefits that really had a big impact on my decision to build on Supabase. Open source is more than just self hosting.