No-code database tools turn a table into a small application with views, forms, automations and permissions.
Pricing is split between seats, rows and records, and the licence decides whether you can run the product yourself. This guide ranks twelve of them on first-ninety-day effort, real price at growth, exit, independence and fit.
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says about a product, including the criticism, and we earn nothing when you click through to a
vendor. How that works.
In short
What no-code database tools software does
A no-code database tool lets non-programmers store structured records in linked tables and build views, forms, automations and simple applications on top, without writing code or managing a database server.
In this order: setup effort, what it really costs, how your data comes back out, whether
you can leave, and who each no-code database tool is built for. One rule sits on top of those tests:
Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. Why those five, and why there is no
score out of ten, is on the how we work page.
Free plan; paid per editing seat per month, published
Yes
Teams already built on Airtable who value its integrations and interface designer
Teams that need self-hosting or an open licence
Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a
different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the
entry says so.
Baserow is open source, self-hostable and Dutch, which makes it the low-risk way to get a shared structured dataset out of a spreadsheet and behind proper permissions.
The REST API means developers can build on top of it rather than around it. It is a database first: an application builder and automations now exist, but logic, screens and automations stop well short of what Budibase or Ninox will do.
What stands out
MIT-licensed core
Rows per workspace
Self-hostable
Where it costs you
The application builder is newer and thinner than the app platforms
Automations lag well behind the app builders
Right for
Teams replacing a shared spreadsheet with something structured and hosted
Wrong for
Anyone who actually needs an application with workflow
NetherlandsFree cloud plan; paid cloud per user per month, published; open source core you can self-host
Spreadsheet-style relational database with an Apache-licensed self-hosted edition
Ranked #2 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Free tierOpen sourceSelf-hostablePublished pricingNorth America
Grist is a database for people who already think in spreadsheets, and its pricing page offers a 30-day trial of Pro and Business. Unlimited documents on the free plan encourage splitting data across files, which works until a document passes its record cap.
The Apache-licensed community edition is free with community support only, while organisations under a stated income threshold may request a free activation key for the supported self-hosted build.
What stands out
Open source core (Apache 2.0)
Per-document limits
Snapshot history
Where it costs you
Record limits apply to every document, from 5,000 on Free to 150,000 on Business
Automations are listed only from the Business plan, which requires five users
Right for
Spreadsheet-minded teams who want relations and a licence they can self-host
Wrong for
Teams that need one very large table in one document
United StatesFree plan; paid per user per month, published; Apache-licensed community edition
Mainz-based table database sold as cloud, dedicated cloud or server edition
Ranked #3 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Free tierSelf-hostablePublished pricingEurope
The first ninety days are cheap: the free plan covers 25 users, and the server edition has a free tier for three.
The cost appears at scale, because rows per base stop at 10,000, 50,000 and 100,000 as you climb the cloud tiers, and Python runs per user a month climb from 100 to 1,000. Exit is helped by CSV, XLSX and DTABLE export, and the self-managed edition removes the vendor from the path.
What stands out
Cloud or on-premises
Python scripting
Row caps per base
Where it costs you
Rows are capped per base at every tier, and Python runs and API calls are capped per user
A dedicated system requires 100 users, so small teams choose the cloud or the server edition
Right for
Teams that want a German-hosted cloud or their own server with scripting
Wrong for
Buyers needing unlimited API calls without a large licence
GermanyFree plan up to 25 users; paid per user per month, published; on-premises edition
Spreadsheet interface over your own SQL database, with a source-available licence
Ranked #4 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Free tierSelf-hostablePublished pricingNorth America
NocoDB's distinct offer is a spreadsheet interface that can sit on a database you already run. That connection is not on Plus and appears on Business with ten external connections.
Cloud bills are capped through the nine-seat bundles, and the community edition has unlimited records and seats. Read the Sustainable Use License before building a business on it, because internal and non-commercial use are the permitted cases.
What stands out
Source available
SQL databases
Seat bundles
Where it costs you
The licence limits redistribution and commercial resale, so it counts as source available only
External databases need Business, and row-level security and audit logs need Scale
Right for
Technical teams putting a spreadsheet layer on an existing SQL database
Wrong for
Agencies that want to resell or embed the software
United StatesFree cloud plan; paid per seat per month, published; community edition free to self-host
Newer database spreadsheet with AI fields and an AGPL-licensed core
Ranked #5 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Free tierOpen sourceSelf-hostablePublished pricingNorth America
Teable's cloud ladder moves from 1,000 rows to 250,000 and then 1,000,000, with attachments rising from 1 GB to 100 GB. Sign-on and an authority matrix appear only on Business.
Exit is cleaner than in closed tools because the core is AGPL-3.0, although the licence file forbids altering the brand assets. The product is young, so check each feature you rely on during the trial rather than assuming parity with older tools.
What stands out
Open source core (AGPL)
AI fields
Rows per space
Where it costs you
The free plan stops at 1,000 rows and 1 GB, and AI credits are a one-time grant
The AGPL core and a brand-protection clause constrain how a modified copy can be shown
Right for
Small teams that want a newer, AI-assisted database with a self-host route
Wrong for
Buyers who want a long-established vendor with many years of history
United StatesFree cloud plan; paid per seat per month, published; self-hosted edition available
Connected-database work platform with EU hosting and free observers
Ranked #6 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
Fibery charges only for members and admins, and observers and guests are free, which changes the maths for firms where most people only read. Data residency is the EU on the lower plans and a choice of region on Enterprise.
Version history is 14 days on Free and 90 on Standard. The whole workspace exports as Markdown and CSV, which makes leaving practical, though the platform's connected-database model takes time to learn.
What stands out
EU data residency
Free observers
Work platform
Where it costs you
The free plan stops at 10 users, 10 databases and 1 GB of files
Enterprise requires at least 25 paid users, and custom apps need Pro
Right for
Organisations with many read-only colleagues who want EU data residency
Wrong for
Teams wanting a plain spreadsheet-like table tool without a learning curve
CyprusFree plan for up to 10 users; paid per user per month, published
Table database with API connectors, priced per seat with row caps
Ranked #7 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingAsia-Pacific
Stackby prices per seat and lists unlimited read-only guests on every plan, so paying seats are the editors. Check the stack limits against your data before committing: Economy gives 7,000 rows per stack and six months of activity history, and Business gives 50,000 rows and twelve months.
Automatic connector refresh and branded forms begin on Economy. The about page names Relytree Technologies Private Limited and says the founder moved to India to start the company.
What stands out
API connectors
Rows per stack
Per-seat pricing
Where it costs you
Rows per stack are capped at 1,500 on Free and 7,000 on Economy
The free plan refreshes API connector data manually only
Right for
Small teams wanting connectors that pull marketing or ad data into tables
Wrong for
Anyone loading tens of thousands of rows on a low tier
IndiaFree plan; paid per seat per month, published
Sheet-based database with a free plan, a concurrent-user model and on-premise hosting
Ranked #8 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Free tierSelf-hostablePublished pricingElsewhere
Ragic is a database in the shape of forms, so staff fill in sheets rather than a grid. Free is permanent for templates and three custom sheets. Concurrent-user licences price per simultaneous login, which is cheaper than named seats when many people log in rarely.
The security page lists ISO 27001, European servers in Belgium and Ireland, and an on-premise option. Contracts are monthly or annual, and a 30-day trial is offered.
What stands out
Concurrent users
On-premise option
Form-style sheets
Where it costs you
Lite allows five custom sheets, and Free allows three with 1,000 records each
The vendor's pages name no country of establishment, which the buyer must ask about
Right for
Operations teams building forms, approvals and records for a few shared seats
Wrong for
Buyers who need to see the company's country on the site
Not stated by the vendorFree plan; paid per user or per concurrent user, published; on-premise option
Record-sized flat monthly plans with unlimited users for web apps
Ranked #9 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Knack sells a database plus a web application layer, with unlimited users and roles on all plans. That helps portals, since login volume does not raise the bill.
Records are the meter instead: 20,000 on Starter, 50,000 on Pro, and 125,000 and above on Corporate. A new-customer discount shows on monthly plans for the first three months only. Trials need no card, though the pricing page does not state their length.
What stands out
Unlimited users
Customer portals
Record-based plans
Where it costs you
Plans scale with record count, and Corporate pricing depends on usage
The brand is removed and a custom domain added only from Pro upward
Right for
Agencies and firms building customer portals where many outsiders log in
Wrong for
Teams that want a free plan to prove the idea
United StatesFlat monthly plans by record count, published; trial without a card
Solution-based work platform with record limits and a 14-day trial
Ranked #10 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
SmartSuite is organised into solutions, each with its own record cap, and the Signature tier is priced per solution rather than per user. Seats are billed with minimums, which makes the first month dearer for a pair of users.
Storage is 50 GB on Team and 100 GB on Professional, and extra storage is billed in 100 GB blocks. European data residency is an Enterprise and Signature option, so a small buyer cannot choose it.
What stands out
Per-seat minimums
Record limits
EU data residency
Where it costs you
There is no permanent free plan, only a 14-day trial
Team needs three seats and Professional five, with 5,000 and 100,000 records per solution
Right for
Departments that want one governed platform with approvals and records
Wrong for
Solo builders or very small teams wanting a free tier
United StatesPer seat per month, published; 14-day trial only
Document workspace whose databases serve small teams, not heavy data
Ranked #11 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Notion earns its place because so many teams genuinely run projects in it, and the reason is context: the brief, the decisions and the task list are the same document rather than three systems to reconcile.
Databases, views and relations take that surprisingly far, and paid plans add subtasks and dependencies. What you do not get is project management in the discipline's sense: no critical path, no resource levelling, no baseline. Large workspaces also decay without an owner, and search alone will not save you.
What stands out
Docs and databases
Per-member pricing
AI add-ons
Where it costs you
Dependencies need a paid plan; no resource management
Large workspaces get slow and disorganised
Right for
A small team that wants notes, specs and tasks in one place
Wrong for
A project manager who needs dependencies and resource planning
United StatesFree plan; paid per member per month, published
The incumbent, billed per editing seat with record caps per base
Ranked #12 of 12 in Best No-Code Database Tools in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Airtable's meter is the editing seat: read-only collaborators, form submissions and share links are free, but anyone who can edit a base is charged. The free plan stops at 1,000 records per base and 100 automation runs a month.
Team raises that to 50,000 records and Business to 125,000. Records beyond the cap cannot be added until you upgrade, though the vendor says it never removes data. Exit means exporting, since the pricing page lists no self-hosted edition.
What stands out
Per-seat editors
Records per base
Incumbent
Where it costs you
Editors are billed per seat, and records are capped per base at every plan
Business and Enterprise Scale need a private email domain
Right for
Teams already built on Airtable who value its integrations and interface designer
Wrong for
Teams that need self-hosting or an open licence
United StatesFree plan; paid per editing seat per month, published
A no-code database tool lets non-programmers store structured records in linked tables and build views, forms, automations and simple applications on top, without writing code or managing a database server. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is
the order we would work through them.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
12 of the 12 tools here publish what they cost; the other 0 quote per organisation. The ones you can compare without a sales call: Baserow, Grist, SeaTable, NocoDB, Teable, Fibery, Stackby, Ragic, Knack, SmartSuite, Notion, Airtable.
02
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
These 12 vendors are established in 6 countries across 4 regions (North America 7, Europe 3, Asia-Pacific 1, Elsewhere 1). That decides whose disclosure law applies to what the vendor holds, wherever the servers are.
03
Consider whether you want the source
3 of these are open source: Baserow, Grist, Teable. Hosting one yourself trades a subscription for maintenance.
How no-code database tools meter growth: rows, seats and records
The headline price tells you little because each vendor meters a different thing. Baserow counts rows per workspace, Grist counts records per document, SeaTable counts rows per base and Airtable counts records per base, so the same 40,000-row table sits on a different tier depending on how you split it. Knack ignores seats and sells by record count with unlimited users, while Fibery charges members but not observers.
Write down your largest table, your number of editors and your number of read-only viewers, then price each product against all three. The cheapest product for ten editors is often the dearest for a hundred viewers, and the reverse holds for a small team with a very large table. Ask each vendor to quote that exact mix in writing rather than reading the entry price off a plan card.
List your biggest table in rows and your editors and viewers separately.
Check whether the cap is per table, per base, per document or per workspace.
Ask what happens at the cap: blocked writes or an automatic upgrade.
Open licences and self-hosting: Baserow, Grist, NocoDB, Teable
Four products here let you run the software yourself, and the licences differ. Baserow publishes its core under MIT, Grist's community edition is Apache 2.0, Teable's core is AGPL-3.0 with a brand clause, and NocoDB uses the Sustainable Use License, which allows internal business use but is source available rather than open source.
That distinction decides whether you may embed or resell the product, and whether a fork is possible if the vendor changes course. Self-hosting removes the licence meter but moves backups, upgrades and security onto your staff. SeaTable and Ragic sell on-premises editions without publishing source. Before choosing either route, decide who in your organisation will own updates and restores, because that person's time belongs in the total price.
Read the licence file in the vendor's repository, not the marketing page.
Price the server, backups and upgrade hours of running it yourself.
Confirm which features sit in paid directories of an open core.
Data limits that arrive before the feature limits: Stackby, SeaTable, Airtable
Small tables fit anywhere, so the free plans look similar. The difference shows when data grows. Stackby's free plan allows 1,500 rows per stack and Economy 7,000; SeaTable's free plan allows 10,000 rows and 3,000 API calls per user a month; Airtable's free plan allows 1,000 records per base and 100 automation runs.
Attachments follow the same ladder, from 1 GB at Airtable and Teable to 2 GB at Baserow and SeaTable. Build a test base with a realistic data load during the trial, run your busiest automation twice, and compare the number you hit with the plan you were quoted. Vendors usually raise these ceilings only in the next tier, so a trial that stays under every limit proves nothing about the plan you will actually need.
Load your real row count into the trial before judging the product.
Count monthly automation runs and API calls your workflows would use.
Check attachment storage against your files, not the plan name.
Leaving a no-code database: exports, workspace copies and a self-hosted fallback
A no-code database holds the structure of your process, so the exit test is whether views, links and attachments leave with the rows. Fibery exports the entire workspace as Markdown and CSV, SeaTable lists CSV, XLSX and DTABLE export, and Baserow lists CSV export alongside XML, JSON and Excel export rows.
Airtable's help page says data is never removed at the record cap, but the pricing page offers no self-hosted route. Test an export during the trial and open the file in a spreadsheet. A self-hosted route, as with Grist or Baserow, gives you a second copy of the system as well as the data. Whichever product you pick, keep a recent export outside the vendor's cloud and note the date you last restored from it.
Export a real base during the trial and open the file elsewhere.
Ask whether links between tables and attachments survive the export.
Check the notice period and what happens to the data after cancelling.
What goes wrong most often when buying no-code database tools software
Judging a plan on the seat price and finding the row cap per base forces an upgrade after a few months.
Choosing Notion or SmartSuite for a large table because the product is familiar, then finding it is built around pages and solutions.
Reading a source-available licence as open source and building a product on NocoDB that the licence does not allow.
Never testing an export, so the first time anyone opens the file is the day the team wants to leave.
07
Frequently asked questions
8 answers
What is the best no-code database tools in 2026?
Baserow leads our ranking of 12. Baserow B.V. is registered in Amsterdam and publishes the core under the MIT licence, so a team can run it, read it and leave without asking permission.
Cloud plans count rows per workspace: 3,000 on the free plan, 50,000 on Premium. Role-based permissions and audit logs start at Advanced, the higher per-user rate. Premium and enterprise code sits under a separate licence.
Which no-code database tools publish their pricing?
12 of the 12, with the pricing model each one publishes:
Baserow: Free cloud plan; paid cloud per user per month, published; open source core you can self-host.
Grist: Free plan; paid per user per month, published; Apache-licensed community edition.
SeaTable: Free plan up to 25 users; paid per user per month, published; on-premises edition.
NocoDB: Free cloud plan; paid per seat per month, published; community edition free to self-host.
Teable: Free cloud plan; paid per seat per month, published; self-hosted edition available.
Fibery: Free plan for up to 10 users; paid per user per month, published.
Stackby: Free plan; paid per seat per month, published.
Ragic: Free plan; paid per user or per concurrent user, published; on-premise option.
Knack: Flat monthly plans by record count, published; trial without a card.
SmartSuite: Per seat per month, published; 14-day trial only.
Notion: Free plan; paid per member per month, published.
Airtable: Free plan; paid per editing seat per month, published.
The other 0 quote per organisation.
Is there a free no-code database tool?
Baserow, Grist, SeaTable, NocoDB, Teable, Fibery, Stackby, Ragic, Notion, Airtable offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition.
Where are these no-code database tool vendors established?
In 6 countries across 4 regions: North America 7, Europe 3, Asia-Pacific 1, Elsewhere 1.
Baserow: Netherlands.
Grist: United States.
SeaTable: Germany.
NocoDB: United States.
Teable: United States.
Fibery: Cyprus.
Stackby: India.
Ragic: Not stated by the vendor.
Knack: United States.
SmartSuite: United States.
Notion: United States.
Airtable: United States.
Which no-code database tools are open source?
Baserow, Grist, Teable.
Which no-code database tools can you host yourself?
Baserow, Grist, SeaTable, NocoDB, Teable, Ragic. The other 6 are hosted by the vendor only.
What should you use instead of Baserow?
Grist and SeaTable are the next two on this page. Grist is for Spreadsheet-minded teams who want relations and a licence they can self-host; SeaTable is for teams that want a German-hosted cloud or their own server with scripting.
Who should not buy Baserow?
Anyone who actually needs an application with workflow. The application builder is newer and thinner than the app platforms.
If your no-code database tools product belongs among these 12, tell us what it does and who it is for. Inclusion is an editorial call; what a listing is and is not is set out under software advice.
