Supabase started metering logs, then raised the free allowance from 5 GB to 20 GB. Which version would developers keep?
In June 2026, Supabase said log usage on its paid plans was now metered: 5 GB of log ingest included, then $0.50 per GB, with log queries metered too. On September 25, it relaunched the change with 20 GB included, queries not billed, and no charges until early 2027. This teardown looks at the decision behind it, and how you'd test it.
- Supabase's logs
come out of the box
with every backend; until 2026 there was no per-GB charge for them.2 - June 2026: 5 GB of log ingest included on Pro and Team, then $0.50 per GB, and log queries metered above 1,000 GB.1 September 2026: 20 GB included, queries not billed, grace period through early 2027.2,3,4
- Supabase says more than 90% of projects are within the included limits.2 The test: what does a meter cost in goodwill, and how much does the allowance matter?
Logs came with the backend
Supabase is a hosted Postgres backend with auth, storage and functions. In its words, logs come out of the box
so developers can monitor and debug without separate infrastructure.2 Pro starts at $25 a month with 7 days of log retention; Team keeps logs for 28 days.5
Supabase says that as we've scaled to millions of projects, the infrastructure behind logs has scaled with us
.2
Keep logs in the plan fee, or meter the heavy users?
Supabase's stated reason: when infrastructure costs reflect actual use, high-volume projects pay their share rather than that cost being spread across the fleet
.2
So the pricing decision was this: a meter puts the cost on the projects that cause it, but it adds a line to every bill that developers have to watch. How large should the free allowance be so that the meter only reaches the heavy users?
Four questions a pricing study can answer
- Which parts of logging on a hosted backend do developers care about most?MaxDiff →
- Should logs stay in the plan fee, or be metered above an allowance, and how large should it be?Conjoint →
- What is the acceptable price range for logs as a flat add-on?Van Westendorp →
- At what price per GB above the allowance will teams keep sending their logs?Gabor-Granger →
The order runs from the offer to the price: what buyers value, how to package it, the range they accept, then the exact price. Each question is asked separately of the two groups the change affects differently: teams whose apps produce a high volume of logs, more than about 20 GB a month, and teams with modest volume. The study, run in Albi, is at the end.
A meter in June, a bigger allowance in September
Supabase's June 6, 2026 developer update said: Logs usage is now metered.
New organizations could move to the new pricing from June, and existing ones from July 1.1 On September 25, Supabase announced usage-based pricing for logs as a soft launch: metered and visible in the dashboard, but not enforced until early 2027.2
| Pro plan | June 2026 update | September 2026 version |
|---|---|---|
| Log ingest included | 5 GB a month | 20 GB a month |
| Above that | $0.50 per GB | $0.50 per GB |
| Log queries | 1,000 GB, then $0.002 per GB | Not billed; 100 GB allowance per GB ingested |
| Billing starts | June or July 1, 2026 | After a grace period through early 2027 |
Sources: June update1; September changelog and current docs.2,3,4 Supabase also cut noisy logging defaults across the fleet, such as connection logging.2 Spend caps are on by default on Pro.5
The included allowance quadrupled
What is public so far
The change is new: on Supabase's own timeline, billing starts after a grace period through early 2027.2 Supabase says more than 90% of projects are within the included limits, and it is asking for feedback on pricing, limits and tooling.2
What isn't public: why the allowance went from 5 GB to 20 GB, or how many projects were affected under each version. This teardown makes no claim about either.
From the four questions to the decision
Illustrative study with synthetic respondents — not the company's data.We ran the four questions above as one Albi survey. The respondents are developers and engineering leads at US companies of 1 to 200 people who choose or pay for a hosted Postgres backend for production apps: 150 whose apps produce a high volume of logs, more than about 20 GB a month, and 150 with modest volume.
These results come from synthetic respondents: AI-modelled buyer profiles, not people. Use them to shape the question, then confirm with real respondents. Run in Albi on October 3, 2026, with 300 synthetic respondents generated by Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite. Every chart below meets the minimum sample Albi sets for its method.
Which parts of logging on a hosted backend do developers care about most?
MaxDiff · all 300Result. No surprise bills came first by a wide margin (28.0, two and a half times the average), followed by per-service controls on log volume (19.2) and a higher included quota (14.0). Unlimited log queries ranked sixth (8.2), dashboard warnings eighth (2.1), and AI analysis of logs last. High-volume teams gave more weight to controls and to the quota; teams with modest volume put no surprise bills even further ahead.
For the decision: a meter is judged on whether it can surprise you. A bigger allowance helps; tools to cut volume per service help more.
Should logs stay in the plan fee, or be metered above an allowance, and how large should it be?
Conjoint · all 300 · 4 prices × 3 log levels × 2 retention levelsLogs included vs metered: who keeps Pro, and what it earns
Logs included, no meter
| Teams | Revenue | |
|---|---|---|
| No plan bought (vs. these options) | 0% | — |
| Pro | 100% | 100% |
20 GB included, then $0.50 per GB
| Teams | Revenue | |
|---|---|---|
| No plan bought (vs. these options) | 1% | — |
| Pro | 99% | 100% |
Result. Price drove 48% of the choices and how logs are charged 44%; retention only 8%. With logs included, almost every team keeps Pro at $25. With 20 GB included, 99% still do, and plan fees per 100 teams go from $2,496 to $2,480 a month, −1%. The June version, with 5 GB included and queries metered, loses 8% of teams: $2,308, −8%. Teams with modest log volume dropped out more often than heavy ones under the June version (9% against 6%).
For the decision: how logs are charged matters almost as much as the price. At 5 GB, the meter costs plan sales; at 20 GB, almost nothing. The September version recovers nearly all of what the June one lost.
What is the acceptable price range for logs as a flat add-on?
Van Westendorp · all 300, then each groupResult. Across all 300, the acceptable range for unmetered logs as a flat add-on was $30 to $48 a month, with the optimal price at about $45. High-volume teams accept $46 to $71; teams with modest volume $27 to $40.
For the decision: at $0.50 per GB above 20 GB, a project would pay $30 a month in log charges at 80 GB of ingest, and $48 at 116 GB (our arithmetic). Below roughly that volume, the meter costs less than the flat price these respondents call acceptable.
At what price per GB above the allowance will teams keep sending their logs?
Gabor-Granger · each group · $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, $0.75, $1 per GBResult. Up to $0.25 per GB, every team would keep sending its logs. At $0.50, 87% would; at $0.75, 44%. Revenue per GB peaks at $0.50 for both groups and overall ($44 per 100 teams per GB), which is Supabase's price.
For the decision: $0.50 per GB is the highest of the tested prices that most teams accept; above it, half of them would cut or move their logs.
Metering at $0.50 per GB works, if the allowance is large enough that the meter rarely surprises anyone.
- Value: developers care most about not being surprised, then about controlling volume (question 1).
- Packaging: with 20 GB included, a meter costs almost no plan sales (−1%); with 5 GB, −8% (question 2).
- Price: $0.50 per GB is where per-GB revenue peaks, and most teams keep their logs at that price (question 4).
What this study can't tell you: how much the per-GB charges will bring in, which depends on each project's real log volume; revenue here is the plan fee only. "No plan bought" is not a measured move to another backend. Supabase hasn't published what happened, and billing hasn't started yet (see Result).
How each method works, and how many respondents you need: Van Westendorp · Gabor-Granger · MaxDiff · Conjoint · Sample size
Find out what your buyers will pay, before you change the price
Supabase is a trademark of Supabase, Inc. Albi has no affiliation with Supabase, and this teardown is not endorsed by it.
Sources
- Supabase changelog, "Developer Update - June 2026", June 6, 2026:
Logs usage is now metered.
Pro and Team include 5 GB ingest and 1,000 GB query a month, with overage at $0.50 and $0.002 per GB; new organizations may move as early as June, existing ones from July 1. supabase.com - Supabase changelog, "Logs usage-based pricing", September 25, 2026: usage-based pricing for logs ingest and a query quota that scales with ingest; a soft launch with a grace period through early 2027;
More than 90% of projects are within the included limits
; fleet-wide changes to reduce noisy defaults; the stated reason. supabase.com - Supabase docs, "Manage Logs Ingest usage": $0.50 per GB after the plan's included quota; 1 GB on Free, 20 GB on Pro, Team and Enterprise; grace period through the start of 2027. supabase.com/docs
- Supabase docs, "Manage Logs usage":
Logs Query isn't billed
; an allowance of 100 GB for every 1 GB ingested. supabase.com/docs - Supabase pricing page, checked October 3, 2026: Pro from $25 a month; 7-day log retention on Pro, 28 days on Team; spend caps on by default on Pro. supabase.com
We'd rather do this on your pricing than Supabase's.
Same method, your own data behind it, and a proposal you approve or don't.