A Supabase Branching alternative with your real data in it
Supabase preview branches are built from your migrations and seed.sql, so they start without your data, and copying data in needs Point in Time Recovery. dbplex copies the whole project to your Mac instead: database, auth users, storage files and edge functions, with personal columns masked.
For Apple Silicon Macs. 7 days free with every feature. No card and no account.
- Branching
- Pro plan and up
- Each branch
- $0.01344 an hour, plus disk
- Data in a branch
- Only with PITR
- dbplex
- A Mac app, 7 days free
Which one fits
Supabase Branching gives each pull request an environment. dbplex gives you production's data on your Mac.
Pick Supabase Branching if
- You want a preview environment for each pull request, with its status in GitHub.
- Your team shares a persistent staging branch in the cloud.
- You test against migrations and seed data, not production rows.
Pick dbplex if
- You want your real rows, auth users and files, not a seed file.
- You do not want to buy Point in Time Recovery to get data into a branch.
- You want the copy on localhost, where your agent works without cloud keys.
- You want sign-up and reset emails caught in a local mailbox.
Supabase Branching and dbplex, side by side
A Supabase branch and a dbplex copy of the same project.
| Supabase Branching | dbplex | |
|---|---|---|
| What it holds | Schema from your migrations and rows from seed.sql. Production data only with Point in Time Recovery. | Your project's rows, auth users, storage files and edge functions. |
| Where it runs | Supabase's cloud, with its own URLs and keys. | Your Mac, in the same Supabase stack. |
| Cost | Pro plan from $25 a month, $0.01344 a branch hour, and Point in Time Recovery from $100 a month to include data. | $12.99 a month, or $79.99 for a year of updates, after 7 free days. |
| Personal data | No masking. | Masked as the copy is pulled on Postgres, Supabase, MySQL, MariaDB, Turso, SQL Server and Oracle. You confirm each column. |
| Going back | Recreate the branch. | Saved states and branches are not available for Supabase yet. A backup opens as a new copy. |
| Back to production | Merge the pull request and the migrations run. | The Changes tab writes the migration script. In beta. |
Questions about Supabase Branching and dbplex
Do Supabase branches include my data?
Not by default: Supabase's docs say new branches start without data or storage objects. The dashboard's Include data option needs the Point in Time Recovery add-on.
Is this the same as supabase start?
supabase start runs the stack with your migrations and seed file. dbplex runs the same stack and fills it with your project's real data. More on the Supabase page.
Can dbplex save states of a Supabase copy?
Not yet. Its data sits in Docker volumes that cannot be cloned. To go back, open a backup as a new copy.
Sources
What this page says about Supabase Branching comes from its own pages, checked on 7 November 2026. If something has changed, tell us and we will fix it.
The databases it copies, and other comparisons
Supabase
PostgreSQLBreak prod. Locally.
Try it on your own database for 7 days. No card and no account.