One fine day, as I stared at my Heroku bill, I could hear my wallet whimpering in despair.

Heroku, once my go-to buddy for its early-day charm, had morphed into that clingy friend who demands way too much and gives back way too little.

The dashboard crawled slower than a snail on a coffee break, the pricing felt like highway robbery, and I couldn’t help but wonder: “Am I paying for a luxury yacht just to paddle across a puddle?”

So, I decided it was time to break up with Heroku and find a new flame. Enter Supabase — breezing into my life like a breath of fresh spring air.

Why Heroku Started Feeling Like a Bad Deal

Heroku was my first love as a budding developer. Push some code, slap on a few add-ons, and voilà — everything ran smoothly without me sweating over servers or deployments. It was magic.

But then my projects grew, and so did Heroku’s appetite for my money. A basic dyno already cost a chunk, and don’t get me started on the add-ons — Postgres, Redis, you name it — piling up like I was funding a tech buffet.

Worse still, the dashboard took so long to load I could brew a coffee, drink it, and still be waiting for my app stats. For a speed freak like me, this was torture.

Meanwhile, I’d been knee-deep in NextJS, my front-end framework of choice for its flexibility and performance. Heroku, with its sky-high costs and “do-it-all” vibe (I jokingly call it “overbearing”), just didn’t fit anymore. I craved something leaner, cheaper, and — crucially — NextJS-friendly. That’s when Supabase swooped in to save the day.

Time to changeTime to change — image generated by Grok

Supabase: My New Tech Crush

Supabase isn’t just a catchy name — it’s a dream come true for anyone who wants to build apps fast without backend headaches. It hands you a pre-managed Postgres database, authentication, realtime APIs, and storage, all wrapped up in a neat little package.

Best of all? It plays beautifully with NextJS. A few lines in middleware.js, a sprinkle of **@supabase/ssr**, and bam — cookie-based auth works like a charm.

The dashboard? Lightning-fast. The pricing? Usage-based and wallet-friendly, not the “pay-for-the-whole-universe-upfront” nonsense I got from Heroku.

Lately, I’ve been churning out apps with the holy trinity of NextJS, Supabase, and Stripe. This combo feels as light as a feather. NextJS handles front-end and server-side rendering, Supabase takes care of the backend and database, and Stripe swoops in for payments. I once worried about stitching them together, but they clicked like a rom-com power couple. A subscription app I built recently — complete with auth, user management, and payment processing — took less than a week. With Heroku, I’d have shelled out extra cash and time tweaking dynos and add-ons.

The perfect trioThe perfect trio of NextJS, Supabase, and Stripe — image generated by Grok

My New Path: Less Backend Coding, More Third-Party Magic

Let’s be real — I’m not a fan of writing backend code from scratch. Time’s too precious, and if a third-party service can save me effort while still delivering, I’m all in. Supabase is my poster child for this: a battle-ready backend at a sane price. No server scaling or maintenance woes — it’s all handled. This lets me focus on front-end and business logic, the stuff that actually gets my creative juices flowing.

Heroku, on the other hand, felt like a big-shot uncle insisting I rely on its entire ecosystem — at a premium. I realized I didn’t need an overpriced “all-in-one” solution, especially when my work mostly revolves around front-end and a handful of simple APIs.

Supabase pricingSupabase reasonable price

Strengths and Weaknesses: Heroku, Supabase, and an AWS Contender

For fairness, here’s a quick rundown of Heroku, Supabase, and — since you asked — AWS Elastic Beanstalk, a solid Amazon option for deploying web backends.

Heroku:

• Strengths: Dead simple, perfect for beginners. Supports tons of languages (Node.js, Python, Ruby, etc.), slick CI/CD with review apps, and a rich add-on marketplace.

• Weaknesses: Pricey when scaling, a sluggish dashboard, and a bit of a “lock-in” trap. Migrating away isn’t always a picnic.

Supabase:

• Strengths: Generous free tier, seamless NextJS integration, built-in realtime and auth features. Usage-based pricing keeps costs in check. Open-source, so you can self-host if you’re fancy.

• Weaknesses: Still young, with a smaller community than Heroku or AWS. For complex backend logic, you might need extra tools.

AWS Elastic Beanstalk:

• Strengths: Insanely flexible, ties into the vast AWS ecosystem (S3, Lambda, RDS, etc.). Scales effortlessly for big, hairy apps. Cost-effective if you optimize.

• Weaknesses: Steep learning curve for newbies, requires basic AWS know-how. Setup takes time — not the “plug-and-play” vibe of Heroku or Supabase.

Wrapping Up: My Personal Tech Tale

Dumping Heroku wasn’t easy — I’d grown comfy with its convenience. But Supabase showed me I didn’t need a heavy, pricey platform anymore.

With NextJS, Supabase, and Stripe, I’ve found a trio that’s light, powerful, and doesn’t make my bank account sob. If Heroku’s cost or sluggishness has you down, give Supabase a whirl — you might fall for it like I did.

As for AWS? I’ll save Elastic Beanstalk for the day I tackle a “dinosaur-sized” project needing max firepower. For now, I’m keeping it breezy and living the good life!