---
title: 'Architecture'
description: 'Supabase Architecture'
---

# Architecture

Supabase is open source. Wherever possible, we use and support existing tools rather than developing from scratch. We choose open source tools which are scalable and we make them simple to use.

![Supabase Architecture](https://supabase.com/docs/assets/images/supabase-architecture-9050a7317e9ec7efb7807f5194122e48.png)

Supabase is not a 1-to-1 mapping of Firebase. While we are building many of the features that Firebase offers, we are not going about it the same way.

Our technological choices are quite different to Firebase. Everything we use is open source. Wherever possible, we use and support existing tools in the ecosystem, rather than developing from scratch.

Most notably, we use Postgres rather than a NoSQL store. This was a deliberate choice. We believe that no other database on the market offers the scalability and functionality required to legitimately compete with Firebase.
