When to Use Storage and Realtime

Pick the lightest tool

Store large binary files in Storage and keep only their paths in tables. Use Postgres Changes for modest volumes of row-level updates such as dashboards or task boards; for high-traffic feeds, Broadcast (optionally sent from the database) scales better because every Postgres change must be checked against RLS for each subscriber. Simple refresh-on-focus or polling is often enough when updates are rare. Connection and message limits depend on your plan, so check the docs and pricing page.

A decision sketch

Rules of thumb.

# images, PDFs, video                      -> Storage (save the path in a table)
# few users watching row edits             -> Realtime Postgres Changes
# chat, cursors, typing, high message rate  -> Realtime Broadcast
# who is online in a room                   -> Realtime Presence
# data changes rarely                       -> refetch on focus or poll

Never store files as base64 in rows

Large blobs bloat the database, backups and every query; Storage and a CDN serve them far more cheaply.

त्वरित जाँच: Where should a user-uploaded video be kept?

• In Storage, with its path saved in a table
• As base64 in a text column
• In a Realtime channel
• In an environment variable