# How do you handle Supabase free-tier cold starts when you need realtime features?

I like that Supabase gives Postgres, auth, and realtime out of the box, so I can skip repetitive backend code and still use RLS for data security. Realtime makes live leaderboards work without building my own WebSocket layer, and I can always drop into raw SQL when needed. The main struggle is free-tier cold starts after inactivity, where the first request takes several seconds to wake up. If you’ve run into this, how are you dealing with cold starts while keeping realtime experiences smooth?

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: about 1 month ago
- Author title: Full-stack developer turning startup ideas into production-ready SaaS — Next.js, React, PostgreSQL, deployed and maintained end to end.
- Net upvotes: 1


## Comments
### Comment 1

When I use Supabase's Free tier for projects that need realtime features, I treat it mainly as a development and testing environment rather than assuming the database will always stay warm. I make sure my application handles reconnects properly so that if the project has been paused, the client can recover cleanly once the project is active again. During development, normal project activity generally keeps things usable, but I avoid relying on artificial keep-alive requests just to prevent pausing. For projects where realtime availability needs to be consistent and uninterrupted, I would move to a paid Supabase plan. This approach works well for me because I can keep development costs low while still designing the application to handle connection interruptions properly.


##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: 29 days ago
- Author title: Computer Software Engineer at Dev Innovations




## Related Product
[Supabase](https://www.g2.com/products/supabase-supabase/reviews)

## Related Category
[Backend as a Service (BaaS)](https://www.g2.com/categories/backend-as-a-service-baas)

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