# VibeKit vs Supabase vs Zite

> Three hosted ways to put an AI-built app in front of Airtable, compared capability by capability for teams who keep Airtable as their source of truth and run no infrastructure of their own.

This page compares three hosted ways to put a custom, AI-built app in front of an Airtable base. The app might be a customer portal, a staff tool, a shop or a public site with sign-in.

- **VibeKit** is a backend made specifically to sit between your app and Airtable. Airtable stays the database. VibeKit adds what Airtable doesn't have: sign-in, per-user security, caching, images that don't expire, public links and live updates.
- **Supabase** is a general-purpose backend built on a Postgres database. To use it with Airtable, you sync a copy of your data into it, and the app works on the copy.
- **Zite** is an AI app builder that hosts your app. Its Airtable connector lets the app read and write your base, and its Build MCP lets your own AI agent do the building.

**Who it's for.** Someone who runs their business on Airtable and wants to keep it. They want an AI agent to build the app. They are **not** a DevOps engineer, and they don't want to run servers or infrastructure of their own. So every option is judged on one question: *how useful is it to a team whose data lives in Airtable?*

## The assumptions

- **Airtable stays the source of truth.** Your team keeps working in Airtable, and your automations keep running there.
- **Everything is hosted.** Supabase means its hosted cloud, synced from Airtable by a sync service such as Whalesync.
- **Your own AI agent builds the app** in all three. For Zite, that means its Build MCP and its Airtable connector.

## Capability by capability

| | VibeKit | Supabase | Zite |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Data** | | | |
| **Data source** | ✓ Airtable | ✗ A copy of it, in Supabase | ✓ Airtable |
| **Sync infrastructure** | ✓ None | ✗ A sync service, such as Whalesync | ✓ None |
| **Airtable automations** | ✓ Fire immediately | ◐ Fire after the sync | ✓ Fire immediately |
| **Schema changes (field renames)** | ✓ Nothing breaks: the app uses field IDs | ◐ Check the sync mapping | ○ Not documented |
| **Authentication and security** | | | |
| **Authentication** | ✓ Google, email link or code | ✓ Email and password, magic link, social, phone | ✓ Magic link, Google |
| **User management** | ✓ An Airtable view. Remove their row and they're signed out | ◐ Supabase's own user list. Checking it against Airtable needs a hook on the Team plan | ◐ Access rules can check an Airtable list |
| **Row-level security (RLS)** | ✓ Enforced by VibeKit | ✓ Enforced by the database | ✗ Code your agent writes |
| **API token storage** | ✓ Sealed in VibeKit, never in the app | ◐ Held by the sync service | ✓ Held in Zite's backend |
| **Request logs** | ✓ Every Airtable call | ◐ API logs, kept 7 days on Pro | ◐ Workflow run history |
| **Performance** | | | |
| **Rate limiting (Airtable's 5 requests/second)** | ✓ Cached, merged and throttled | ◐ The sync's problem | ○ Not documented |
| **Cache invalidation** | ✓ Refresh from a button or automation in Airtable | ◐ On the next sync | ✓ On the next page load |
| **Realtime updates** | ✓ Pushed when Airtable changes | ◐ Realtime, once the sync lands | ○ Not documented |
| **Media and files** | | | |
| **Media caching (image URLs)** | ✓ Permanent links, cached at the edge | ✗ Synced links expire. Copy files to storage yourself | ○ Not documented |
| **Public forms** | ✓ Limited fields, rate-limited | ✓ Through database policies | ✓ Built in |
| **File uploads** | ✓ Straight into the attachment field | ○ Depends on the sync | ○ Not documented |
| **Redirects, file links and QR codes** | ✓ [Quick Proxies](/products/vibekit/features/quick-proxies), no code | ✗ Build it | ✗ Build it |
| **Operations** | | | |
| **CMS variables and feature flags** | ✓ Live, no redeploy | ✗ Build it | ✗ Build it |
| **Theming and branding** | ✓ Live, no redeploy | ✗ A code change | ◐ Brand kit, then republish |
| **Monitoring and alerts** | ✓ Email digest of slow-downs and errors | ○ Not documented | ○ Not documented |
| **Customer API keys** | ✓ [Self-service, read-only](/products/vibekit/features/customer-api-keys) | ✗ Build it | ✗ Zite's API only covers its own database |
| **Development and deployment** | | | |
| **AI coding agent** | ✓ Your agent | ✓ Your agent | ✓ Your agent |
| **MCP server** | ✓ Reads your base, then sets up queries, security, caching, sign-in, branding and deploy | ◐ Manages the Supabase copy. The sync is set up separately | ◐ Builds and publishes. Airtable through a generated client |
| **Hosting** | ✓ Any host, including Cloudflare Pages' free plan, with guided deploys | ✓ Any host | ◐ Included, but only on Zite |
| **Pricing** | | | |
| **Plans** | ✓ Free now, then from $12/month | ◐ From $45/month: Supabase Pro $25 plus sync from $20 | ✗ From $75/month (Business, for Build MCP) |
| **Funding** | [Self-funded](/#independent) | Venture-backed | Seed-funded |

✓ good for a team keeping Airtable · ◐ partly · ✗ works against it · ○ not documented

## How each one works

### VibeKit: a backend built for Airtable

Your app never talks to Airtable directly. It talks to VibeKit, which holds your Airtable token sealed on the server and does everything Airtable can't do as a web backend:

- **Authentication and user management.** Google, email link or one-time code. Your users are an Airtable view: remove someone's row and they're signed out. Groups come from fields on their record, such as plan or role.
- **Row-level security.** Each query has rules: which fields, which operations, and which rows, such as "only rows linked to this user's company". VibeKit applies them on every request, so the app can't widen them, and anything it can't resolve is refused.
- **Caching and rate limiting.** Reads come from a global edge cache. Identical requests merge into one Airtable call, and calls are throttled under Airtable's 5-per-second limit. Editors refresh a record from a button in Airtable, or an automation does it. Urgent lists are pushed live to open pages.
- **Media caching and file uploads.** Airtable's attachment links expire. VibeKit serves them on permanent links, cached at the edge. Form uploads go straight into Airtable attachment fields.
- **[Quick Proxies](/products/vibekit/features/quick-proxies).** A public link per record for one field, with no app code: an outbound or affiliate redirect, an image, a permanent file link, a download or a QR code.
- **CMS variables, feature flags, theming and monitoring.** Text, numbers and feature flags live in VibeKit and change instantly in the live app. So do the logo and colours. Customers can create their own [read-only API keys](/products/vibekit/features/customer-api-keys). Every request is logged, and a quiet email digest tells you when something slows down or errors.
- **MCP server and deployment.** Over MCP, your agent reads your base, sets up the queries and security, and gets a written brief, a design system and step-by-step deploy instructions. The app is ordinary code in your own repository, so field renames in Airtable don't break it: it uses field IDs, not names.

### Supabase: a second database, kept in sync

Supabase is an excellent backend, with a full sign-in system, database-enforced security, file storage and realtime. But for an Airtable team, everything it offers works on a **copy** of your data. Something has to keep that copy in step with Airtable, and that something is now part of your stack:

- **The sync is a product of its own.** Whalesync, a common choice, starts at $20/month for 2,000 records.
- **Images break.** Synced attachment links are temporary, so you copy files into Supabase Storage yourself.
- **Automations run late.** App changes reach Airtable only when the sync runs, so your automations fire after it.
- **Your user list lives in Supabase.** Checking sign-ups against Airtable needs a hook on the Team plan.
- **Everything around the app is yours to build.** Redirects, editable text, branding and customer API keys don't come built in.

### Zite: an app builder with an Airtable connector

Zite works on your Airtable data directly, with no copy and no sync, and it hosts the app for you. Sign-in, forms and publishing are built in. The gaps show up around Airtable specifically:

- **Row-level security is your agent's code.** Zite's roles and row filters only cover Zite's own database. On Airtable data, "each customer only sees their own records" is code your agent writes, and you need to review it.
- **Airtable is reached through code, not tools.** Your agent works through a generated Airtable client. Zite's MCP data tools only work on Zite's own database.
- **Airtable's limits aren't covered.** Zite doesn't document caching or rate-limit handling for Airtable, or how attachment links are served.
- **The app lives on Zite.** Hosting is included, but you can't move the app to another host, and branding changes need a republish.

## Which one should you choose?

- **Supabase** if you already know it, and you're prepared to run and pay for a sync and to build what sits around it.
- **Zite** if you want everything in one hosted product, and either every user can see the same data or you'll review your agent's permission code.
- **VibeKit** if you want Airtable to stay the one place your data lives, with security, speed, images, links and live updates handled for you.

Not sure yet? Start with the [FAQ](/products/vibekit/faq), or see the [demos](/products/vibekit/demos). Each one is a real app running on an Airtable base.

*Facts and prices were checked against each vendor's own pages in October 2026.*

## Questions this page answers

- VibeKit vs Supabase vs Zite
- Should I sync Airtable to Supabase for my app?
- Can I build a custom app on Airtable without migrating?
- Zite Build MCP with Airtable vs VibeKit
- How do I keep Airtable as my backend for an AI-built app?
- Airtable customer portal with row-level security
- How do I stop Airtable image links expiring on my site?

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Part of [VibeKit](/md/home.md) — all pages: [llms.txt](/llms.txt)