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# Recursiv vs Supabase

## How Does Recursiv Compare to Supabase?

Supabase is a great general-purpose app backend with Postgres, auth, storage and real-time. It is not agent-native. Recursiv is a backend built for agents: an agent runtime, orchestration, memory and govern, and it still does the app backend with Postgres, auth and storage.

The differentiator is that agents are the design center, not an add-on. Recursiv runs the agents with a dispatcher, jobs, sandboxes, memory and govern, while also giving you the database, auth and storage you expect from a backend.

## Quick Comparison

| Capability     | Recursiv                                     | Supabase             |
| -------------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------------- |
| Agent runtime  | Agents and swarms                            | No                   |
| Orchestration  | Dispatcher and jobs                          | No                   |
| Agent memory   | Brain and memory built in                    | DIY                  |
| Code execution | Managed sandboxes                            | Edge Functions       |
| Govern         | Scoped identity, approvals, audit, self-eval | DIY                  |
| Model support  | Any model, swap anytime                      | No                   |
| Integrations   | Hundreds built in                            | DIY                  |
| Database       | Yes, Postgres                                | Yes, Postgres        |
| Auth           | Yes                                          | Yes                  |
| File storage   | Yes, S3-compatible                           | Yes                  |
| Real-time      | Yes                                          | Yes                  |
| Deploy         | Deployments built in                         | Hosting via platform |

## The Build vs Buy Decision

Building an agent layer on Supabase requires assembling the runtime yourself:

| Agent Capability    | Supabase (DIY)                   | Recursiv                  |
| ------------------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| Agent runtime       | Build orchestration and loop     | `client.agents.create()`  |
| Multi-agent         | Build coordination               | Swarms and dispatcher     |
| Memory              | Stand up a vector store          | Brain and memory built in |
| Sandboxed execution | Isolate and scale yourself       | Managed sandboxes         |
| Govern              | Build identity, approvals, audit | Built in                  |
| **Result**          | **Months of integration**        | **Hours**                 |

## When Supabase Is the Better Choice

* Your app is a standard CRUD product with no autonomous agents
* You want a general-purpose database and do not need an agent runtime, memory or govern
* You need specific Supabase features such as Edge Functions or Vault
* You want to build any agent behavior fully custom on top of a plain backend

## Best Together

Recursiv and Supabase can complement each other:

```typescript
// Use Recursiv for the agent runtime and govern
import { Recursiv } from '@recursiv/sdk';
const recursiv = new Recursiv({ apiKey: 'sk_live_...' });
await recursiv.agents.create({ name: 'support-agent' });

// Use Supabase for your app-specific data
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';
const supabase = createClient(url, key);
await supabase.from('products').insert({ name: 'Widget', price: 9.99 });
```

Recursiv runs and governs the agents. Supabase handles the rest of your app data.

## Get Started

If you need a backend built for agents that still does the app backend, start with the [quickstart](/guides/start-here/quickstart).