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Cloudflare R2 vs Supabase

Two sides of the file storage decision: object storage and bundled with your platform. When each fits, what it costs, who moves from one to the other, and what makers who chose it say.

Cloudflare R2Object storagellms.txtMCP
SupabaseBundled with your platformllms.txtMCPCLIIn Bolt, Lovable, v0
Ask your AI about this, with this page as the source:ChatGPT ↗Claude ↗Perplexity ↗

Which fits you

Choose Cloudflare R2 if
  • Your users' images, video or downloads are fetched a lot by the public

Use it whenYou serve user images, video or downloads to the public.

Trade-offFewer storage tiers and event features than S3.

Choose Supabase if
  • Your backend is on Supabase and who can see a file depends on who owns the data

Use it whenWho can read a file depends on who owns the row it belongs to.

Trade-offOnly worth it if the rest of your backend is on Supabase.

At a glance

Cloudflare R2Supabase
Used by4 makers' products3 makers' products
Cost at default usagestored 100 GB, downloaded 200 GB$1.35/mo R2 Standard$25/mo Pro
Downloads25.4M/wk+96% vs npm
PricingFree tier (10GB storage); usage-based pricing for storage and operations beyond that; egress is free. · paid from $0.015/GB-monthFree tier (inactive projects pause); paid plans per project plus usage. · paid from $25/mo
Free tierYesYes
Open sourceNoYes · self-hostable
Incidents, 90 daysfrom its status page50+50+ (16 major)

Cost as you grow

Both cost $0 up to 1 GB; from 10 GB Cloudflare R2 costs less ($0 vs $25); and still does at 10k GB ($150 vs $2,013). They're different kinds of tool — object storage and bundled with your platform — so the prices don't buy the same thing.

$0$50$200$500$1,000$2,000110501002505001k5k10k
SupabaseCloudflare R2x: stored (GB), other usage scaled with it · cheapest usable plan at each point, list prices · try your own numbers
The numbers, plan by plan
StoredCloudflare R2Supabase
1$0 R2 Standard$0 Free
10$0 R2 Standard$25 Pro
50$0.60 R2 Standard$25 Pro
100$1.35 R2 Standard$25 Pro
250$3.60 R2 Standard$51 Pro
500$7.35 R2 Standard$101 Pro
1,000$15 R2 Standard$202 Pro
5,000$75 R2 Standard$1,007 Pro
10,000$150 R2 Standard$2,013 Pro

From each vendor's pricing page: Cloudflare R2, Supabase.

What makers say

Makers on using it for file storage, from Product Hunt and Starter Story interviews, each linked to the source. Products with a page of their own and fuller notes first.

On Cloudflare R2
For S3, super helpful and useful. First time used it, was always weirded out on S3, idk why, but cloudflare made it really easy to setup and manage the receipt upload functionality on PayPing.
PayPing, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Cloudflare R2 si the best way to store data. Cost-effective, S3-compatible, and no egress fees—perfect for scaling projects.
Melies, the makerSep 2026 ↗
On Supabase
Supabase powers much of the backend behind Greta, including database, authentication, and storage. It enables creators to launch full-stack apps quickly without worrying about backend infrastructure.
Greta, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Supabase powers our app with reliable authentication, database, and storage solutions. Its robust infrastructure keeps our application running smoothly and securely, letting us focus on user experience.
BeforeSunset AI, the makerSep 2026 ↗
Supabase powers our entire backend infrastructure — from seamless user authentication to reliable file storage and secure secrets management with Vault. Supabase Storage was a game-changer for our AI workflow engine's reliability. Thank you for building such a developer-friendly platform!
giselle, the makerSep 2026 ↗

Loved and watch-outs

Themes that recur in makers' words and Hacker News comments, each linked to what it summarises.

Cloudflare R2
Most loved
  • No egress fees make it cheap to serve heavy downloads, from screen recordings to petabytes of model files. PHHNHN 2HN 3
  • It is S3-compatible and simple to set up, so existing S3 tools and upload libraries work with it. PHHNHN 2
  • Static sites and small projects hosted on it often run for near-zero cost. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
Watch-outs
  • Some networks block Cloudflare wholesale, such as Spain during football matches, so assets fail to load for some users. HNHN 2HN 3
Supabase
Most loved
  • One project covers Postgres, auth, storage and realtime, so a solo founder ships without stitching vendors or hiring a backend team. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
  • It is real Postgres with SQL, row-level security and pgvector rather than a proprietary store. PHPH 2PH 3PH 4
  • Open source and self-hostable, which reduces vendor lock-in. PHPH 2HNPH 3
Watch-outs
  • Row-level security policies are hard to get right, so many apps end up exposing data publicly. HNHN 2HN 3HN 4
  • Reliability has been shaky for some, and it is not really built for self-hosting in practice. HN
  • Per-project billing adds up for developers running many small side projects. HN
On Product Hunt: 5.0★, 899 reviews · mentioned most: authentication features, easy setup, PostgreSQL integration · complaints: documentation gaps

Who uses each

Cloudflare R24 makers' products
MeliesPayPingBetterPicBrandingStudio.ai®
Supabase3 makers' products
BeforeSunset AIgiselleGreta

What makers pair each with

With Cloudflare R2
Frontend Framework
Database
Transactional Email
Payments
With Supabase
Frontend Framework
Transactional Email
Hosting
LLM API

Neither quite right?

See the whole file storage decision →
Amazon S3Object storageApps already on AWS, or ones that need lifecycle rules, storage tiers and event triggers.
UploadThingUpload serviceTypeScript apps that want typed upload endpoints and drop-in upload components instead of wiring presigned URLs.
Vercel BlobBundled with your platformNext.js apps hosted on Vercel that need simple uploads with no extra account.vs Supabase →