Bubble.io Backup & Supabase Migration FAQ

Comprehensive answers to every question about protecting your Bubble.io application data. From basic backups to advanced Supabase migrations, this FAQ covers everything you need to know.

Quick Reference - Top 10 Questions

1. How often should I backup? → Daily minimum, hourly for critical apps
2. How much does PlanB cost? → $49/month for all app sizes
3. How long is setup? → 15-30 minutes
4. Can I restore single records? → Yes, granular restore included
5. Is it HIPAA compliant? → Yes, SOC 2 and HIPAA certified
6. Do I need Supabase? → No, but recommended for analytics
7. Can I use my AWS? → Yes, included in all plans
8. How fast is recovery? → Minutes to hours depending on size
9. What if Bubble goes down? → Your backups are safe offsite
10. Free trial available? → Yes, 14 days no credit card needed

Backup Basics

What is a Bubble.io backup?

Short Answer:
A complete copy of your Bubble application's data, files, and logs stored securely outside of Bubble's infrastructure.

Detailed Answer:
A Bubble.io backup includes:

• Data Records: All entries in your data types with full fields
• Relationships: Connections between data types preserved
• File Attachments: Images, documents, and media files
• Server Logs: Application logs, errors, and API calls
• Schema Information: Data type structures and field definitions
• Privacy Rules: Stored as documentation (not recoverable)

Unlike traditional database backups, Bubble backups must account for the platform's unique architecture, including the separation of data, files, and logs across different systems.

Why do I need backups?

Short Answer:
Because data loss can happen from human error, bugs, security breaches, or platform issues—and it can cost you thousands of dollars and your entire business.

Common Causes of Data Loss:

• Human Error (40% of cases): Accidental bulk deletion, incorrect workflows, copy/paste mistakes
• Development Mistakes (30%): Buggy workflows corrupting data, testing in production
• Security Issues (15%): Unauthorized access, malicious deletion, account compromise
• Platform Issues (10%): While rare, technical problems can occur
• Integration Failures (5%): Third-party API issues, plugin bugs

Real Cost Examples:

• Healthcare SaaS: $85,000 loss from workflow error
• E-commerce: $25,000 from accidental deletion
• Enterprise: $200,000 from security breach

Statistics:

• 60% of small companies close within 6 months of major data loss
• 93% of companies without disaster recovery fail within a year
• Average cost of data loss: $18,000 for small business, $5,600/minute for enterprise

How often should I backup?

Short Answer:
Daily minimum for production apps. Hourly for critical business apps. Real-time for financial/healthcare apps.

By App Type:

• Personal/Testing Apps: Weekly (low risk, easy to recreate)
• Small Business Apps: Daily (moderate risk, important but not critical)
• Production SaaS Apps: Hourly (high transaction volume, customer data)
• E-commerce Platforms: Every 6 hours or hourly (financial transactions, inventory)
• Healthcare/Financial Apps: Real-time to hourly (regulatory requirements, critical data)

Decision Framework:

Calculate your Recovery Point Objective (RPO): How much data loss can you tolerate?

• If data is worth $100/hour of loss → Backup hourly
• If data is worth $1,000/hour of loss → Backup every 15-30 min
• If data is worth $10,000/hour of loss → Real-time backup

PlanB Backups Specific

What is PlanB Backups?

Short Answer:
PlanB is a comprehensive automated backup solution specifically built for Bubble.io applications, created by Bubble.io expert Lindsay Smith.

What Makes PlanB Different:

1. Bubble-Native Integration: Built specifically for Bubble.io architecture, understands data types and relationships
2. Complete Automation: Scheduled backups (hourly to daily), automatic file downloads, no manual intervention
3. Supabase Integration: Native PostgreSQL export, real-time or scheduled sync, enables advanced analytics
4. Disaster Recovery: Point-in-time recovery, granular restore (single record to full database), one-click restoration
5. Compliance Ready: HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 Type II certified, GDPR ready, automated compliance reports

Who Uses PlanB:

• 500+ Bubble.io applications
• Startups to Fortune 500 companies
• Healthcare, fintech, e-commerce, SaaS
• Solo developers to large teams

How much does PlanB cost?

Short Answer:
$49/month for all Bubble.io applications, regardless of size. Simple, transparent pricing.

Single Plan - $49/month includes:

• Unlimited app size (records, file storage)
• Daily automated backups (configurable to hourly)
• File attachment backups
• Server log retention (1 year included)
• Unlimited backup history retention
• Native Supabase sync
• Your own AWS S3 storage option
• Email support
• 99.9% uptime SLA
• Point-in-time recovery
• Granular restore (single record to full database)

Volume Discounts:

• 3+ apps: 15% discount ($41.65/month per app)
• 10+ apps: 25% discount ($36.75/month per app)
• Agency/reseller plans available - contact for pricing

ROI Examples:

• Small app: Save $14,000+/year vs manual backups
• Medium app: Save $190,000+/year vs manual backups
• Enterprise: Save $150,000+/year vs building custom solution

Free Trial:

• 14-day trial
• No credit card required
• Full feature access
• Cancel anytime

How long does setup take?

Short Answer:
15-30 minutes for basic setup. Up to 2 hours if including Supabase integration and testing.

Setup Timeline:

• Account Creation: 5 minutes - Sign up, verify email, choose plan
• Connect Bubble App: 10 minutes - Enable Data API, copy API key, PlanB scans schema
• Configure Backups: 10 minutes - Select schedule, choose data types, enable files, set retention
• Storage Setup (Optional): 15 minutes - Create S3 bucket, set IAM permissions if using own AWS
• Supabase Integration (Optional): 30 minutes - Create project, generate connection string, configure sync
• Validation: 15 minutes - Trigger first backup, verify completeness, test

Total Time:

• Basic: 15-30 minutes
• With own storage: 30-45 minutes
• With Supabase: 1-2 hours
• Full enterprise setup: 2-4 hours

No Developer Required: Point-and-click interface, guided setup wizard, help available at every step.

Can I use my own AWS storage?

Short Answer:
Yes! All plans support using your own AWS S3 bucket for complete control over your backups.

Why Use Your Own Storage:

• Complete control over data location
• Direct access to backup files
• Custom retention policies
• Potential cost savings at scale
• Meet specific compliance requirements
• Integrate with existing AWS infrastructure

Cost Estimation:

• Small App (1-5 GB): ~$1.35/month
• Medium App (10-50 GB): ~$25/month
• Large App (100-500 GB): ~$170/month

Security Features:

• Encryption at rest (AES-256)
• Encryption in transit (TLS)
• Versioning enabled
• Object lock for compliance
• Access logging
• MFA delete protection

Supabase Integration

Why export to Supabase?

Short Answer:
Supabase gives you a proper PostgreSQL database enabling advanced queries, analytics, BI tools, and multi-platform data access that Bubble.io can't provide.

Key Benefits:

1. Advanced Querying: Run complex SQL queries that would timeout in Bubble - aggregations, joins, window functions
2. Business Intelligence Tools: Connect Tableau, PowerBI, Looker, Metabase for executive dashboards
3. Multi-Platform Access: Use same data in multiple Bubble apps, mobile apps (React Native, Flutter), web apps
4. Data Warehousing: Long-term historical data, compliance archival (7+ years), cost-effective storage
5. Performance & Scalability: Complex queries don't slow your Bubble app, offload reporting to Supabase
6. Data Science & ML: Export to Python/R for analysis, train machine learning models, predictive analytics

Use Cases:

• E-commerce: Product performance analysis, customer lifetime value calculations, inventory forecasting
• SaaS: Usage analytics, feature adoption tracking, churn prediction, revenue forecasting
• Healthcare: Patient outcome analysis, compliance reporting, research data queries

Real Example:
An e-commerce client couldn't run performance reports in Bubble without timing out. After Supabase export: generated monthly reports in seconds, built executive dashboard in Tableau, enabled data science team to work, discovered $200k in optimization opportunities.

Read more: Complete Supabase migration guide →

How does Supabase sync work?

Short Answer:
PlanB automatically extracts data from Bubble via the Data API and inserts it into your Supabase PostgreSQL database on your chosen schedule.

Sync Options:

• Real-time: Changes sync within seconds (webhook-triggered)
• Hourly: Data syncs every hour on the hour
• Daily: Overnight sync, minimal Bubble impact
• On-demand: Manual trigger when needed

How It Works:

1. PlanB reads new/modified records from Bubble via Data API
2. Data is transformed to PostgreSQL-compatible format
3. Relationships converted to foreign keys
4. Data inserted/updated in Supabase tables
5. Confirmation sent to you via email/webhook

Data Mapping:

• Bubble data types → Supabase tables
• Bubble fields → PostgreSQL columns
• List fields → Array columns or junction tables
• Relationships → Foreign keys with proper constraints
• Files → URLs or downloaded to Supabase storage

Is Supabase free?

Short Answer:
Yes, Supabase has a generous free tier. Paid plans start at $25/month for production use.

Free Tier includes:

• 500MB database space
• 1GB file storage
• 50,000 monthly active users
• 500MB bandwidth
• 2GB RAM
• Auto-pause after 1 week of inactivity (just log in to wake it up)

Pro Plan - $25/month:

• 8GB database space
• 100GB file storage
• 100,000 monthly active users
• 50GB bandwidth
• No auto-pause
• Daily backups
• Email support

When to Upgrade:

• Production applications (no auto-pause risk)
• Need more than 500MB data
• Daily backups required
• Priority support needed

Compliance & Security

Is PlanB HIPAA compliant?

Short Answer:
Yes, PlanB Backups is fully HIPAA compliant with SOC 2 Type II certification. We provide encrypted storage, access controls, audit trails, and can sign Business Associate Agreements (BAA) as required.

HIPAA Requirements Met:

• Encryption: Data encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3)
• Access Controls: Role-based access, multi-factor authentication, audit logs
• Audit Trails: Complete activity logging, tamper-proof records
• Business Associate Agreement: Available for all HIPAA-covered entities
• Breach Notification: Automated alerts and reporting procedures
• Data Integrity: Checksums and validation on all backups

For Healthcare Applications:

• PHI data properly encrypted
• Granular restore for compliance needs
• 7+ year retention available
• Automatic compliance reports
• HIPAA training provided

Read case study: How a healthcare SaaS achieved HIPAA compliance →

What about GDPR?

Short Answer:
PlanB is GDPR compliant with EU data residency options, data processing agreements, and right-to-deletion support.

GDPR Features:

• Data Residency: EU region storage available (Frankfurt, Ireland)
• DPA Available: Data Processing Agreement provided
• Right to Deletion: Automated deletion from backups on request
• Data Portability: Export data in standard formats (CSV, JSON, SQL)
• Privacy by Design: Minimal data collection, encrypted storage
• Breach Notification: 72-hour notification procedures in place

How is data encrypted?

Short Answer:
All data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). Zero-knowledge encryption options available for enterprise plans.

Encryption Details:

• In Transit: TLS 1.3 for all API communications, certificate pinning
• At Rest: AES-256 encryption for all stored data, separate encryption keys per customer
• Keys: AWS KMS-managed keys, automatic rotation, customer-managed keys available
• Files: Separate encryption for file attachments
• Databases: Encrypted database volumes

Technical Details

How does PlanB access my data?

Short Answer:
PlanB uses Bubble's official Data API with API keys you provide. Read-only access is recommended for maximum security.

Access Method:

• You enable Data API in Bubble settings
• Generate an API key in Bubble
• Provide key to PlanB (encrypted storage)
• PlanB reads data via HTTPS API calls
• No direct database access required

Security:

• API keys encrypted in PlanB database
• Read-only access recommended
• Rate limiting to protect your app
• IP whitelisting available
• Revocable at any time

Will it slow down my app?

Short Answer:
No. PlanB uses minimal API calls during off-peak hours and includes intelligent rate limiting to protect your app's performance.

Performance Protection:

• Scheduled During Off-Peak: Default backups run at 2-4 AM your timezone
• Rate Limiting: Configurable API call limits (default: 10 requests/second)
• Chunked Processing: Large datasets processed in small batches
• Incremental Backups: Only new/modified data after first backup
• Monitoring: Real-time impact monitoring, automatic throttling

Typical Impact:

• Small app (<10k records): <0.1% of daily API calls
• Medium app (<100k records): <1% of daily API calls
• Large app (<1M records): <5% of daily API calls

Can it backup files?

Short Answer:
Yes, PlanB backs up all file attachments including images, PDFs, documents, and any other files stored in file fields.

File Backup Features:

• Automatic detection of all file fields
• Downloads and stores files securely
• Preserves original filenames
• Maintains file relationships to records
• Compressed storage to save space
• Direct restoration to Bubble or download

File Types Supported:

• Images: JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG, WEBP
• Documents: PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX
• Media: MP4, MP3, MOV, AVI
• Archives: ZIP, RAR
• Any file type Bubble supports

Comparison & Migration

PlanB vs manual backups?

Short Answer:
PlanB saves 20+ hours/month and $14,000-$190,000/year compared to manual backups, with better reliability and compliance.

Comparison:

See complete backup guide →

Should I migrate to Supabase?

Short Answer:
If you need advanced analytics, complex queries, BI tools, or multi-platform access - yes. If you're happy with Bubble's built-in features - no rush.

Migrate if you:

• Need complex SQL queries or aggregations
• Want to connect BI tools (Tableau, PowerBI)
• Need data in multiple apps/platforms
• Require long-term data warehousing
• Want to offload reporting from Bubble
• Need data science/ML capabilities

Stay with Bubble if you:

• Simple app with basic queries
• Small dataset (<10k records)
• No external analytics needed
• Happy with Bubble's performance
• Team not comfortable with SQL

Hybrid Approach (Recommended):

• Keep Bubble as primary database
• Use PlanB to sync to Supabase
• Run analytics on Supabase
• Best of both worlds

Additional Resources

• Complete Guide to Bubble.io Backups
• Case Study: Healthcare SaaS Achieves HIPAA Compliance
• How to Export Data to Supabase Tutorial
• PlanB Backups Website

About the Author

Lindsay Smith is the creator of PlanB Backups and an active Bubble.io community expert with 300+ app implementations. These answers are based on real-world experience helping developers protect their Bubble applications.

Connect: LinkedIn | Bubble Forum

Last Updated: November 13, 2025
Questions not answered? Contact me directly or ask in the Bubble.io forum