India blocks access to developer platform Supabase

Developer database platform Supabase has been blocked in India, according to a source familiar with the matter. The blocking order was issued on February 24 under Section 69A of India’s Information Technology Act, an Indian law empowering the government to restrict public access to online content. While Supabase’s main website remained accessible in India, its underlying developer infrastructure did not, leaving the service inaccessible on ACT Fibernet, JioFiber (operated by Reliance Industries), and Airtel connections. On Friday, Supabase tagged India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a social media post seeking intervention, though the platform remains blocked for many users. The Indian government did not publicly cite a reason for the move.

The disruption cuts off access to a critical market for the startup. India is Supabase’s fourth-largest source of traffic, accounting for about 9% of global visits, according to data from Similarweb. The platform’s global traffic jumped more than 111% year over year to about 4.2 million visits in January. During that same period, visits from India rose roughly 179% to about 365,000, compared with a 168.5% increase in the U.S. to about 627,000 visits. Founded in 2020 by CEO Paul Copplestone and CTO Ant Wilson, Supabase positions itself as an open-source alternative to Firebase built on PostgreSQL. The company has gained traction amid rising interest in vibe-coding—a term for AI-driven app development tools—and has raised about $380 million across three funding rounds since September 2024, lifting its valuation to $5 billion.

The sudden block has created immediate friction for local developers and raised concerns about regulatory predictability. Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia Pacific policy director at the nonprofit Access Now, highlighted the systemic risk of such abrupt blocks. “This is a simple fact that has grave consequences for developers and others,” Chima said. “You don’t know where you can safely run projects without the danger that something might happen where it gets blocked, and suddenly you’re scrambling to find a way.”

Why it matters

The blocking of Supabase in India, its fourth-largest market, disrupts access for developers and highlights broader concerns about the country’s website-blocking regime.