Softr Alternatives: 8 Options for Airtable and Sheets Data

You put your clients, projects, or inventory in Airtable or Google Sheets. Now someone outside the team needs a login to see their own slice of it. Softr is the tool most people try first for that job, and it does it well. People still look elsewhere, and the reasons are usually specific: who counts as a paid user, which data sources sit behind which plan, or whether you need a native mobile app instead of a web portal.

Here is the short version:

• Closest to Softr for client portals: Noloco and Stacker (both portal-first), and Glide if you also want mobile-style apps.
• You need native iOS and Android apps: Adalo or Bubble.
• The users are all employees, not clients: Retool or Appsmith, which are built for internal tools.
• You only need a better view of your Airtable base: Airtable's own interfaces may be enough.

If Softr already covers your data source and your user count fits its plan, there's no reason to move. Every tool below also changes its plans and branding often, so treat this as a map and check each pricing page before you commit.

Quick comparison

What to check before you leave Softr

Most "Softr isn't working" stories trace back to one of three things, so check these first.

1. How app users are counted. Softr's pricing page counts unique emails across your published apps, and splits them into team users (your company's email domain) and client users (everyone else, including Gmail addresses). Each plan includes a set number of each. A portal with a few hundred external clients behaves very differently from an intranet with twenty employees, so model your real headcount against the plan table.

2. Which data source sits on which plan. According to Softr's own site, Airtable, Notion, Google Sheets and SmartSuite are available on all plans. Coda and Xano are not: the current plan data restricts both on Free and Basic, and they open up from Professional. Sources like Excel, HubSpot and SQL databases move further up the tiers, and Salesforce sits at Enterprise. Softr also has a native database, and its Airtable page describes two-way sync with your base. If your data lives somewhere that's gated, that gate is a real cost.

3. Features that move up the ladder. On the same pricing page, a custom domain starts on the first paid plan, removing Softr branding and Google sign-in for app users come on the next one, and SSO is an Enterprise feature. None of that is unusual, but a client-facing portal usually needs all three.

Portal-first alternatives

Noloco

Noloco describes itself as an AI portal builder for teams running complex operations, with Airtable and Sheets as typical starting points. Its pricing page is organized around the things a portal owner actually counts: active clients, records, and team seats. Airtable, Google Sheets, Xano, SmartSuite, Postgres, Supabase and others are listed as included data sources on the Build plan and above, while the entry plan uses Noloco's own tables and CSV import. Salesforce and API data are listed under Enterprise, as is full white-labeling.

It suits agencies and service firms that deliver a portal to each client. It's a poorer fit if your users are mostly internal, because the pricing is shaped around clients.

Stacker

Stacker is the one to look at twice, because it's no longer quite what many comparison pages say it is. Its own announcement says Stacker AI is a completely new platform, not compatible with earlier Stacker versions. The docs now describe a workspace that combines customer portals, AI agents and chat threads, with branded portals for external users and rules for which records each user can see.

On data, the sync connector docs list Salesforce, Stripe, HubSpot, Airtable and Google Sheets. The Google Sheets connector signs in with OAuth and syncs rows from a spreadsheet into a Stacker table, with an incremental sync every 10 minutes, so a Sheets-first team should check whether that delay suits a live portal. The pricing page describes credit-based billing with no per-seat charge, which is attractive when the user count is the thing that hurts on Softr. The trade-off is that you're buying into an AI-agent product that includes portals, rather than a portal builder.

Glide

Glide has changed shape. Its current product, GlideOS, is described on the pricing page as a standalone product, completely separate from the original Glide platform, which is now called Glide Classic. The homepage lists Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, QuickBooks, Salesforce and PostgreSQL among the sources it connects to, and it names customer portals as one of the things you can build.

Billing is credit-based, tiers are gated by team members and published apps, and publishing public apps starts at a mid-tier plan. Org-level roles come in on the Pro tier and SSO is Enterprise. If you're deciding specifically between Glide generations, our Glide alternatives guide goes further. Glide fits operations teams that want mobile-friendly apps on spreadsheet data; a branded client portal with a large external user base is where Noloco or Stacker are more purpose-built.

When you need more than a portal

Bubble

Bubble is a different category. It's a full application builder with its own database, where you design logic, workflows and the login system yourself. Its pricing is based on workload units rather than users, plans are bought per project, and a live site on a custom domain starts at the first paid plan. It also supports native mobile apps built on React Native, with a paid plan required for store publishing.

Bubble can do almost anything Softr can, and a lot more, but you build it rather than assemble it. Expect a real learning curve and plan for how it will connect to your spreadsheet, usually through its API connector or by moving the data into Bubble's database.

Adalo

Adalo is the pick if the portal is really a mobile app. It compiles to native iOS and Android builds as well as a web app, and its External Collections feature connects to an Airtable base through the REST API with a personal access token. Adalo's pricing page describes flat plans with no usage-based charges, scaled by published apps and editors. The store developer accounts are separate costs. It's oriented toward app-store style apps, so check its permission and table features against your portal needs.

If the users are your own employees

Retool

Retool is built for internal tools on top of databases and APIs, so expect to work with queries and some code. Billing is per builder and per internal user. On the pricing page, external users and embedded apps are listed as not included on the Free and Team plans and included on Business and Enterprise, with Enterprise also offering self-hosted and air-gapped deployment. That makes it a heavy choice for a small client portal and a strong one for a data-heavy admin panel.

Appsmith

Appsmith is the open-source option. The repository is Apache-2.0 licensed, describes the project as a platform for admin panels, internal tools and dashboards, and lists Docker, Kubernetes and an AWS AMI as self-hosting routes. Hosted plans are priced per user. You'll want a developer or a patient operator, and its pitch is internal tools rather than client portals, so treat it as a Retool alternative more than a Softr one.

The cheapest answer: stay in Airtable

If all you need is a cleaner way for your own team to work in a base, Airtable's Interface Designer may be enough. Airtable's help center notes that on its free plans only base collaborators can see interfaces, and that sharing interfaces separately from the base is limited to paid workspaces. For clients who shouldn't see your base at all, that's the gap tools like Softr and Noloco fill.

When the job isn't a portal

Every tool above assumes you're designing something for other people to log into. Sometimes the real task is smaller: clean up a spreadsheet, reconcile a report, or run an AI workflow someone else already built, and you only need it for yourself.

Taku isn't a portal builder and doesn't give your clients logins. It's an AI-native desktop workspace where you mirror an AI app or workflow that already works, run it, and save it. If your spreadsheet chore is the problem rather than who can see the data, browse the free app library before you build anything. Taku is in Beta, and the Mac app is available now.

How to choose

1. Many external clients, branded logins, data in Airtable or Sheets? Softr, Noloco or Stacker. Compare how each one counts users.
2. Operations team that wants apps on spreadsheet data? Glide.
3. Native mobile app is the product? Adalo, or Bubble if you need custom logic. Our FlutterFlow alternatives guide covers the code-adjacent route.
4. Employees only, with a database behind it? Retool, or Appsmith if you want to self-host.
5. Just a nicer view for your team? Stay in Airtable interfaces.

For the wider landscape, see our overview of low-code and no-code.

FAQ

What is the closest alternative to Softr?

Noloco is the nearest match for client portals on Airtable or Google Sheets data, since it's built around active clients and branded portals. Stacker and Glide overlap on parts of the job but have both reshaped around AI recently, so test them on your actual data.

Can I keep Airtable as my database?

With Softr and Noloco, yes. Both list Airtable as a data source. Adalo can read an Airtable base through its External Collections feature, and Stacker's docs list Airtable as a sync connector. Glide also lists Airtable among its sources.

Is there a self-hosted Softr alternative?

Appsmith is the clearest one: its code is Apache-2.0 on GitHub and it documents Docker and Kubernetes installs. It's oriented toward internal tools. Retool offers self-hosted deployment on its Enterprise plan.

Which option is best for a native mobile app?

Adalo and Bubble both publish to the App Store and Google Play on paid plans. Softr's own tier list mentions an installable mobile app (PWA) at its Business plan, which is a web-based approach rather than a native build.

Do the pricing models really differ that much?

Yes, and that's the main reason to compare. Softr bills by app users and records, Noloco by active clients, Glide and Stacker by credits, Bubble by workload units, and Retool by builder and internal user. Pick the unit that grows slowest in your business, then confirm on each vendor's pricing page.

Does Taku replace Softr?

No. Taku runs AI apps and workflows in a desktop workspace; it doesn't publish login-protected portals for your clients. Use it for the work behind the data, and a portal tool for the people who need to see it.