I've been running home assistant in docker for years. Just the `homeassistant/home-assistant` image. Don't need anything more. Best I can tell is that the supervisor is for people who just wanted a managed home assistant in a box setup at which point it's fair for the software to take over the system.
I'm running NodeRED and ESPHome in their own docker containers, integrated with home assistant, just fine. Never used supervisor. It's been a few years since I set them up so I don't remember the details but that also means it wasn't anything notable. They've been stable since.