For sending a push notification automatically when your Supabase database changes, Entrig removes backend work that OneSignal still leaves you to build: no Edge Function to write for the trigger, no separate user list to keep in sync, and a new notification type is a dashboard change instead of a redeploy. That is the one job this comparison covers. OneSignal is also a full marketing platform, with campaigns, segmentation, and A/B testing built in, and that part of it is real (see the table below for where each one stands). This page stays narrow on purpose: which one does less backend work when a row changes in your database.
What each one actually is
OneSignal
OneSignal is a general purpose customer engagement platform. It sends push, email, SMS, and in-app messages, and it is built around campaigns: segments, journeys, A/B tests, and audiences you manage inside its dashboard. It does not know anything about your Supabase database on its own. You create users (OneSignal calls them “players”) inside OneSignal, tag them with whatever properties you want to target, and call its API when you want to send something.
Entrig
Entrig is built specifically for Supabase. It connects to your Supabase project, installs a Postgres trigger on the table you choose, and sends a notification when a row is inserted, updated, or deleted, worked out from your existing tables rather than a separate list you maintain. It covers two channels: push and email, including taking over Supabase’s own auth emails. It does not do marketing campaigns, segmentation, or A/B testing.
The actual difference
Neither product removes the two requirements every mobile push has: your own Firebase service account for Android, and your own APNs authentication key from an Apple Developer account for iOS. Both OneSignal and Entrig ask you to hand over those credentials. Neither one replaces them.
What differs is where the trigger and the recipient list live.
With OneSignal, firing a notification when a database row changes is still something you build. You write a Postgres trigger, call an Edge Function, and that code calls OneSignal’s API with the right player IDs or tags. OneSignal also needs your Supabase users synced into its own list, kept in step as people sign up, update a profile, or opt out.
With Entrig, the trigger and the recipient resolution are the product. You pick a table and an event in a dashboard, describe who should receive it using your existing foreign keys or a join table, and Entrig installs the trigger itself. There is no Edge Function of your own to write for this part, and no separate user list to keep in sync, because it reads the one you already have.
Side by side
| OneSignal | Entrig | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for Supabase specifically | No, general purpose | Yes |
| Backend you maintain | An Edge Function that calls their API, plus a job to keep users synced | None for this, Entrig installs the trigger for you |
| Time to add a new notification | Write code, redeploy, update tags | Configure it in the dashboard, live on save |
| Where your recipient list lives | Synced and tagged inside OneSignal, kept separate from your database | Your existing Supabase tables, no separate list to maintain |
| Marketing campaigns, segments, A/B testing | Yes, a core part of the product | No |
| Channels | Push, email, SMS, in-app | Push, transactional email, auth email |
| Your own FCM and APNs credentials | Required | Required |
Where OneSignal is the better tool
If what you actually need is a marketing engagement platform, campaigns, journeys, audience segments, and A/B tests across push, email, SMS, and in-app, all from one place, OneSignal is built exactly for that, and nothing here changes it. You will still write the Edge Function that calls it from a Supabase event, but that is a small part of what you are buying.
Where Entrig is the better tool
If the job is narrower, notify the right people automatically when your Supabase data changes, and you would rather not write and maintain the trigger, the recipient query, and the API call yourself, that is what Entrig replaces. It does not do campaigns or segmentation because it was not built to.
What you still do either way
- Create a Firebase project and generate a service account for Android.
- Get an APNs authentication key from an Apple Developer account for iOS.
- Request notification permission from the user and handle taps and deeplinks in your app.
Neither tool removes these steps. For the fuller build-it-yourself walkthrough next to the managed path, see Push Notifications for Supabase without Edge Functions. If you are weighing more than these two, see Best Push Notification Tools for Supabase.
The short version
- Entrig is built for Supabase specifically: it installs the trigger and resolves recipients from your existing tables. It does not do marketing campaigns.
- OneSignal is a marketing platform: push, email, SMS, in-app, built around campaigns and segments. It does not know about your Supabase database on its own.
- Both still require your own Firebase service account and APNs key. Neither removes that step.
- Choose based on the job: campaigns and segmentation point to OneSignal, automatic notifications from database changes point to Entrig.