Alternatives to Hasura
Hasura generates a GraphQL API over Postgres and other sources, with a permission system defined in metadata and applied as it builds each query. It is very good at that. People look elsewhere when GraphQL turns out not to have been the requirement, or when they need a back office that the console is not.
Published by Rebase, which is one of the tools on this page. Every other entry is described by what it is good at, several of the recommendations below are not us, and there are no prices anywhere — competitor pricing changes quarterly and a stale number is worse than none.
Start from why you are leaving
Almost nobody wants "the best alternative". They want the one that fixes the specific thing that broke. Find your row.
“We did not actually need GraphQL”
Rebase or SupabaseBoth give you a REST API and a typed client over Postgres with much less machinery between you and the database.
“We need an admin panel, not a developer console”
RebaseThe Hasura console is for building and inspecting the graph. A generated back office with roles, forms and media is the piece teams usually end up building on top of Hasura by hand.
“We need to know exactly what we are licensing”
PostgREST or Supabasegraphql-engine is Apache-2.0, but Hasura's newer DDN product is a separate offering under separate terms, and the two do get confused. PostgREST is a small, permissively licensed piece of infrastructure that does one job; Supabase builds on it and is Apache-2.0.
“We want GraphQL with auth and storage already attached”
NhostHasura plus the parts around it, assembled and maintained together.
“We are federating several data sources behind one graph”
HasuraStay. That is its home ground and nothing else here comes close.
7 alternatives to Hasura
Ordered roughly by how often each one turns out to be the answer, not by any score. Where a head-to-head exists, it is linked.
- 1
Rebase
That's usOpen source· BothBest for: A typed REST API plus an admin panel, from one schema
A Postgres backend — REST API, typed SDK, auth, realtime, storage, functions, cron — plus an admin panel generated from the same TypeScript collection definitions. Row-level security is written in code and compiled to real Postgres policies, so authorization is enforced by the database rather than by the layer in front of it. Connects to a Postgres database that already exists.
- 2
Supabase
Open source· BothBest for: The largest ecosystem, and getting started fastest
Postgres with auth, storage, realtime and edge functions, and by a distance the most documented product in this category. The dashboard is a table editor rather than an admin panel, and RLS is written as SQL in that dashboard, which is the two things people most often go looking to replace.
- 3
Nhost
Open source· BothBest for: Postgres and GraphQL with auth already wired up
Bundles Postgres, Hasura, auth, storage and functions into one platform, so you get the GraphQL model without assembling it. A good fit if Hasura is what you wanted plus the parts around it.
- 4
PostgREST
Open source· Self-hostBest for: One small binary that turns Postgres into a REST API
Serves your schema as REST and delegates authorization entirely to Postgres roles and row-level security. Does one thing, does it well, and leaves auth, storage and an admin UI to you — which is either the appeal or the problem.
- 5
Directus
Source-available (MSCL)· BothBest for: A mature editorial interface over an existing database
Wraps a SQL database in a REST and GraphQL API and a well-built admin app, and it will work with a schema you already have. Permissions are enforced in the Directus layer rather than in the database, and the app owns a set of its own tables.
- 6
Neon
Open source (core)· HostedBest for: Serverless Postgres with branching, and nothing else
Managed Postgres with database branching and scale-to-zero, part of Databricks since May 2025. Deliberately not a backend — no auth, no API, no admin panel — which makes it a good foundation to put one of the other tools here on top of, including Rebase.
- 7
Hasura
Open source (Apache-2.0)· BothBest for: GraphQL, especially federated across several sources
Generates a GraphQL API over Postgres and other sources with a permission system defined in metadata. The strongest option here if GraphQL is a product decision rather than a preference. It gives you an API and a console, not a back office for non-developers.
Rebase and Hasura, answered
What is the best alternative to Hasura?
For GraphQL specifically, Nhost is the nearest — it is Hasura with auth, storage and functions assembled around it. If GraphQL was not the point, Supabase and Rebase both give you an instant API over Postgres with less between you and the database; Rebase also generates an admin panel from the same definitions.
Is there a REST alternative to Hasura?
PostgREST is the minimal one — a single binary that exposes your schema as REST and leaves authorization to Postgres roles and RLS. Supabase builds on it. Rebase generates REST plus a typed TypeScript SDK plus a panel, which is more product for the cases where you wanted more than an API.
Do I need GraphQL for a Postgres API?
Usually not. GraphQL earns its complexity when many clients need differently-shaped data from many sources, or when a schema is a contract across teams. For one application over one database, a typed REST client gets you the same safety with far less to operate.
How do Hasura permissions compare to row-level security?
Hasura's permissions live in its metadata and are applied by the engine as it builds each query — expressive and well-designed, and in force for requests that go through Hasura. Postgres row-level security is enforced by the database for every client. The trade is expressiveness against reach, and which one matters depends on how many things touch your database.
Can I run Hasura and something else on the same database?
Yes, and it is the sensible way to evaluate. Hasura, Rebase and Directus all point at an existing Postgres rather than owning it, and each keeps its own bookkeeping in its own schema. Run them side by side on a copy before committing to anything.
Don't take our word for it.
The comparison that matters is the one you run. Point Rebase at a Postgres database you already have and see how it holds up next to Hasura.