---
id: 'securing-your-data'
title: 'Securing your data'
---

Supabase helps you control access to your data. With access policies, you can protect sensitive data and make sure users only access what they're allowed to see.

## Connecting your app securely

Supabase gives you several ways to access your data. Each option has a different security model:

### Data API

Use Supabase client libraries, REST, or GraphQL with a publishable key. Protect exposed tables with [Row Level Security](/docs/guides/database/postgres/row-level-security) (RLS) and grant only the privileges each role needs.

### Edge Functions

Put custom server-side logic between your client and database with [Edge Functions](/docs/guides/functions). You can use secrets, service role keys, or database connection strings inside the function, and you can [disable the Data API](/docs/guides/database/data-api#disable-the-data-api-completely) if your app only accesses data this way.

### Direct database connections

Connect to Postgres with a connection string from trusted servers, workers, or tools. Keep database credentials secret and use the right [connection method](/docs/guides/database/connecting-to-postgres) for your environment. You can [disable the Data API](/docs/guides/database/data-api#disable-the-data-api-completely) if your app only uses direct connections.

## Frontend access

For frontend apps, the Data API is the usual choice. You can keep your data secure while accessing it from the frontend, so long as you:

- Turn on [Row Level Security](/docs/guides/database/postgres/row-level-security) (RLS) for your tables and properly configure your access policies to grant the least privileges necessary for your app to function
- Use your Supabase **publishable key** when you create a Supabase client

Your publishable key is safe to expose with RLS enabled, because row access permission is checked against your access policies and the user's [JSON Web Token (JWT)](/docs/learn/auth-deep-dive/auth-deep-dive-jwts). The JWT is automatically sent by the Supabase client libraries if the user is logged in using Supabase Auth.

Older projects may also show an `anon` key. Treat it like a publishable key: it can identify your project, but it is not a secret and must be paired with RLS and least-privilege grants.

<Admonition type="danger" label="Never expose your service role key on the frontend">

Unlike your publishable key, your **service role key** is **never** safe to expose because it bypasses RLS. Only use your service role key on the backend. Treat it as a secret (for example, import it as a sensitive environment variable instead of hardcoding it).

</Admonition>

## More information

Supabase and Postgres provide you with multiple ways to manage security, including but not limited to Row Level Security. See the Access and Security pages for more information:

- [Row Level Security](/docs/guides/database/postgres/row-level-security)
- [Column Level Security](/docs/guides/database/postgres/column-level-security)
- [Data API](/docs/guides/database/data-api)
- [Managing Postgres roles](/docs/guides/database/postgres/roles)
- [Managing secrets with Vault](/docs/guides/database/vault)