Good question. We’re indeed similar products.

Gel is somewhat similar to Supabase on the surface—both run on Postgres, both have Auth, and both offer AI features, a CLI, and a UI, among other similarities.

However, there’s a big difference beneath the surface: Gel comes with a high-level data model (abstract types, mixins, access policies) that replaces tables and joins. It’s still relational (and we’re about to publish a paper on that), but it’s more high level, strict, and yet more flexible.

On top of that, we have a built-in migration system (where schema is a first-class citizen), a performance-tuned network protocol, and a query language called EdgeQL, which is like a child of SQL and GraphQL. These are just a few of our “deep” features.

All in all, Gel is a fresh take on day-to-day database development. We cut no corners in trying to push the core database developer experience forward.

Just a user here, but I'd say there are many reasons, one of those reasons is in your name: auth.

GelDB's auth is versatile and doesn't cost a dime, while Supabase auth is only free up until 50,000 monthly active users, then it costs $0.00325 per MAU (> 100k MAU).

I personally just love its query language and the typescript query builder.