Supabackup vs BackupDrill — dumps to Google Drive vs verified snapshots in your own bucket
Supabackup is the simplest way to get a Supabase database dump into Google Drive on a schedule, and at $9/month it is cheaper than anything here. BackupDrill costs more and does more: Storage files in the same snapshot once you add the project’s Storage S3 keys, a bucket you own instead of Drive, and a weekly restore drill that proves the backup comes back. Here is the honest version, facts checked in September 2026.
Side by side
| Supabackup | BackupDrill | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (as of September 2026) | Free: 1 backup job, weekly, databases up to 500 MB. Pro $9/month: 3 jobs, daily, up to 5 GB per database. Business $59/month (listed as coming soon): 10 jobs, hourly, up to 100 GB | Free: 1 project, weekly, one restore drill on the first backup. Solo $19/month: 5 projects, daily backups, weekly restore drills. Team $49/month: 20 projects. Agency $99/month: 100 projects plus client PDF reports |
| Where the backup lands | Your Google Drive, under a supabackups folder — Supabackup says the dump streams there without being stored on its servers | Your own S3, Cloudflare R2, or Backblaze B2 bucket — bytes stream through the worker and are never written to BackupDrill's disks |
| What gets backed up | The Postgres database as a dump file | The Postgres database (public schema by default), plus Storage files once you add the project's Storage S3 keys — each file with a sha256 in the snapshot manifest |
| Restore verification | Not described on its site — the job reports success when the dump reaches Drive | Yes — scheduled drills restore the latest snapshot into a throwaway Postgres and verify archive checksum, table counts, populated tables, and sampled Storage file checksums; the report is emailed |
| Connecting a project | Sign in, connect Google Drive, paste the database connection URI | Connect with Supabase OAuth — BackupDrill creates a read-only backup role in the project and never sees your database password — or run a generated SQL snippet, or paste a connection string |
| When a backup fails | The job pauses so it is not retried blindly; the dashboard shows the error, and Pro users get an email | A failed backup emails you immediately, again after about a day, then weekly until it recovers, with a recovered email when it does; a >30% size drop emails too; credential failures stop after six attempts with a paused notice asking you to fix the credentials |
| Restore path | Download the dump from Drive and restore it yourself with psql or pg_restore | Hosted restore wizard restores the database into a fresh Supabase project and hands you the Storage-only CLI command for the files; or the open-source CLI end to end; or plain pg_restore on the artifact |
| Retention | Pro keeps the latest 7, 14, or 30 backups, or everything if auto-delete is off | 3 snapshot records on Free, 30 on Solo and Team, 60 on Agency; objects in your bucket are never deleted by BackupDrill — lifecycle rules on the bucket decide |
Facts checked against supabackup.com in September 2026 — plans and limits change, so confirm on their site. Both tools read your whole database on every run, which counts as egress on your Supabase project.
Choose Supabackup if
- You want a daily dump in Google Drive and nothing else. Twenty seconds of setup, $9/month, a file you can open — for a side project whose whole state is the database, that is a complete answer.
- Drive is where your team already keeps things. A backup nobody can find is not a backup; if Drive is the shared drawer, put it there.
- Your database is under 500 MB and you are fine with weekly — the free plan covers that outright.
Choose BackupDrill if
- Users upload files. A database dump restores
storage.objectsrows that point at files you no longer have; BackupDrill copies the files into the same snapshot once you add the project’s Storage S3 keys, and the drill checks a sample of them by checksum. - You want proof, not a green tick. Every week on paid plans, the latest snapshot is restored into a throwaway Postgres and verified — you get the report by email, and you find out about a broken backup before the incident that needs it.
- You would rather not paste a database password anywhere. Connecting with Supabase OAuth creates a read-only role in the project; the authorization token is discarded once the role exists.
- You want the copy in object storage you control — S3, R2, or B2 — with lifecycle rules you set, rather than a personal Drive account.
The one-sentence difference
Supabackup answers “do I have a copy of my database?” cheaply and well; BackupDrill answers “will my project — files included — actually come back?” and charges $10/month more for the answer. If the second question is the one keeping you up, start with the quickstart — the free plan covers one project.
FAQ
Is Supabackup free?
It has a free plan: one backup job, weekly, for a database up to 500 MB, into your Google Drive. Daily backups, more jobs, and email alerts start on Pro at $9/month. BackupDrill's free plan also covers one project weekly, into a bucket you own rather than Drive, and runs a restore drill on the first backup.
Does Supabackup back up Supabase Storage files?
Its site describes database dumps only. Storage files live outside the database, so a Supabackup dump restores your tables and none of your users' uploads. BackupDrill includes Storage files in the same snapshot once you add the project's Storage S3 keys.
Does Supabackup test that backups restore?
Nothing on its site says so — success means the dump reached Google Drive. BackupDrill restore-tests on a schedule: each drill restores the latest snapshot into a throwaway Postgres and checks tables, rows, and a sample of Storage files before reporting.
Which is cheaper for one production project?
Supabackup, at $9/month for daily backups versus $19/month for BackupDrill Solo. The $10 buys restore drills every week, Storage files in the snapshot, your own bucket instead of Drive, and a hosted restore wizard. If you would rather pay less and restore by hand, Supabackup is the honest pick.
Sources
Facts and prices last verified September 7, 2026 against the sources above. Written by the team behind BackupDrill.