Glide has been a popular choice for non-technical teams and small business owners looking to create apps without coding for over five years.
Yet with recent pricing updates and an increasing number of high-quality competitors, Glide is no longer the default option for everyone. Depending on your budget, project requirements, and scale, there could be alternatives that suit your needs better.
Let’s take a closer look at what Glide offers and how it stacks up against some of the top no-code app builders available today.
What is Glide?
Glide is a no-code platform that allows anyone to build a functional app in just a few hours, no technical skills required. It’s mostly used for creating internal business tools, like employee portals, performance dashboards, CRM systems, project management platforms, and inventory management systems.
Main features
- CRUD (create, read, update, and delete) solution, using data imported from Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, and other data sources.
- Enables users to create both web and progressive web apps (PWAs).
- Has a gentle learning curve.
- Puts strong emphasis on creating beautiful design and interface.
- Offers a variety of pre-built templates tailored to different use cases.
- Allows for sharing apps with collaborators, although its capabilities for teamwork are limited compared to some competitors.
Limitations of Glide
Integration with other tools.
Glide’s integration capabilities can be limiting, especially on lower-tier plans. Key database integrations like Airtable are only available on the $199/month plan, while PostgreSQL is restricted to custom-priced Enterprise plans. Other integrations, such as payment options, are quite limited.
Scalability concerns. Glide’s pricing can escalate quickly as your app grows, with costs increasing based on the number of users, collaborators, or frequency of updates (i.e. syncing changes from your data source).
Focus on internal apps. Glide's pricing structure is primarily designed for internal business tools rather than customer-facing apps.
Limited customization. The platform offers fewer options for customizing app designs or features compared to some competitors.
Poor collaboration capabilities. Glide’s collaboration tools leave a lot to be desired. There’s no version control, and multiple team members can’t work on the same app at the same time.
Performance concerns. Some online reviews have reported issues with app loading and bugs.
Pricing
- Free plan: 1 published app, up to 10 personal users, and 2 editors.
- Maker: starting at $69/month, 3 published apps, unlimited personal users, and 2 editors.
- Business: starting at $199/month, unlimited published apps, 30 personal users, and 10 editors.
- Enterprise: custom pricing.
Online review ratings
G2: 4.7/5 (616 reviews)
7 best Glide alternatives
In this article, we will look at seven alternatives to Glide. For easy skimming, we’ve added a comparison chart of these tools with their main features, ideal use cases, and pricing range for your reference.
1. Softr:The best Glide alternative for creating custom business apps
Softr makes building no-code business apps simple and flexible. With its drag-and-drop editor, pre-built templates, and modular building blocks, you can create anything from client portals to internal tools in mere hours.
The tool naturally balances ease and power: beginner-friendly tools like Softr’s AI App Generator allow you to quickly create functional apps with minimal effort, while features like custom code insertion allow more skilled app builders to create highly customized solutions.
Softr vs Glide
- Softr gives you deeper flexibility over your app’s design and logic than Glide.
- With advanced granular permissions, you can customize and control what data each user can access, and which actions they can take. Glide allows only nine roles per user when the app is connected to external data sources, and just one role per user when using Glide’s own database.
- Softr’s pricing is more favorable for both large-scale internal portals and external apps compared to Glide, offering significantly more user credits at each pricing tier.
- You can design custom page layouts or embed any elements by adding custom code in Softr.
- Softr's AI App Generator can build an app layout for you based on a short prompt.
- While Glide has very limited collaboration features, Softr supports collaborative app development by allowing unlimited editors on all plans.
- Softr also offers stronger data security capabilities, including advanced access controls, enterprise-level data encryption, and compliance with industry standards like GDPR and SOC 2.
For a more detailed comparison, check out our Softr vs. Glide overview.
Softr features
- Ability to build portals and internal tools on top of your existing data source, such as Airtable, Google Sheets, Hubspot, Notion, and others.
- Advanced custom permissions and team collaboration features.
- AWS-powered and server-side authentication for maximum security and performance.
- Real-time data sync.
- Ability to integrate with multiple data sources in a single application.
- Responsive design by default.
- Large selection of ready-to-use templates: sales CRM portal, inventory management, team intranet, etc.
- Custom code option available to premium users for technical teams to jump in and help scale further if needed.
- Option to create mobile applications as PWAs.
Drawbacks
- No offline mode.
Pricing
- Free Plan: 1 published app, unlimited app builders, and up to 10 logged-in users.
- Starter Plan ($49/month): 3 published apps, unlimited app builders, and 20 logged-in users.
- Professional Plan ($139/month): unlimited published apps, unlimited app builders, and 100 logged-in users ($10/per extra 10 users).
- Business Plan ($269/month): unlimited published apps, unlimited app builders, and 2,500 logged-in users.
Online review ratings
- G2: 4.8/5 (423 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (60 reviews)
2. Adalo: Best for mobile-focused teams
Adalo is a no-code tool for building native mobile apps. Like Glide, Adalo relies on drag-and-drop components and pre-designed templates to allow non-tech users to build beautiful app interfaces quickly.
Although it does support web app development, Adalo is primarily optimized for mobile, so it’s a better Glide alternative if your focus is on creating a mobile-first experience.
Adalo features
- No-code app building functionality for building MVP.
- Ability to launch a truly native app on the iOS and Android app stores.
- Very simple, easy-to-use interface. You can get started in less than an hour.
- Ready-to-use templates are available.
- Usage-based pricing.
- Built-in database.
- Opportunity to connect external data sources (new).
Drawbacks
- Very limited set of features.
- While the tool is very easy to get started with, building a functional app will take a lot of effort.
- Adalo is primarily focused on mobile apps, while most internal apps are used on desktop.
Pricing
- Free plan: 1 web app, 1 editor, and 1,000 monthly app actions.
- Starter: $36/month (billed annually), 1 web app, 1 editor, and up to 5,000 monthly app actions.
- Professional: $52/month, 2 apps, 5 editors, and up to 15,000 app actions.
- Team: $160/month, 5 apps, 10 editors, and up to 50,000 app actions.
- Business: $200/month, 10 apps, unlimited editors, and up to 200,000 app actions.
Online review ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (5 reviews)
- Capterra: 3.5/5 (21 reviews)
3. Bubble: Best for no-code generalists
Founded in 2012, Bubble is one of the first no-code platforms. It allows non-technical professionals to build web apps without code while offering enough flexibility and customization for more advanced projects.
A few years ago, Bubble was the go-to choice for most users looking to create an app without coding. Today, with the rise of numerous competitors, Bubble is one of many options, standing out with its extensive feature set and relatively higher pricing. But if you’re looking for a comprehensive platform to build web and mobile apps, don’t mind a bit of a learning curve (which is eased by an active user community), and need a high degree of flexibility, Bubble remains a strong alternative to Glide.
Bubble features
- Drag-and-drop interface with a wide range of pre-made UI components.
- A lot of readily available plugins and integrations.
- Workflow automation.
- Ability to integrate JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
- Version control features.
- Capability to build native IOS and Android apps (new).
- Allows multiple users to work on the same app simultaneously.
- An extensive community and plenty of tutorials to help users at any skill level.
Drawbacks
- Not as many internal tool-specific templates and use cases compared to Glide
- User interface isn’t the most user-friendly and can seem quite stern and difficult to master compared to other options.
- Pricing is per app, meaning that you have to pay for each separate project
- Workload units as a pricing metric has made it more difficult to estimate what it will cost to run your application.
- Reviews online report issues with the responsive mode
- The support is also reported to be lackluster by some users on review sites
Pricing
- Free Plan: includes access for one app editor and limited features for prototyping and testing.
- Starter Plan ($29/month): 1 app, 1 editor, and 175k workload units per month.
- Growth Plan ($119/month): 1 app, 2 editors, and 250k workload units per month.
- Team Plan ($374/month): 1 app, 5 editors, and 500k workload units per month.
- Each app in Bubble requires its own plan, as there’s no option to include multiple apps under a single subscription.
Online review ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (158 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (92 reviews)
4. Retool: Best for developers and technical teams
Retool is a platform designed to help companies build internal tools with minimal (yet some) coding involved. Contrary to most other no-code tools that usually target non-technical app builders, Retool specifically targets developers and technical teams.
The platform does involve coding, but its drag-and-drop interface allows developers to build and ship internal tools quicker than with code only. This combination of a low-code platform and drag-and-drop functionality makes it easy for developers to collaborate with colleagues who lack coding expertise.
Retool features
- Intuitive drag-and-drop user interface.
- Ability to embed custom JavaScript, SQL, and APIs.
- Wide range of integration options.
- Version control.
- Advanced permission controls.
- Focus on internal tools.
- Possibility to create external portals in higher-tier plans.
- Collection of templates.
- Native mobile app development (new).
- Offline mode for mobile apps.
- Built-in database.
- Extensive documentation.
Drawbacks
- Knowledge of coding and SQL databases is required.
- Frontend and responsive options are limited.
- App deployment is only possible using Docker or Kubernetes.
- High cost per user.
- Not suitable for external app development.
Pricing
- Free plan: up to 5 users and 500 workflow runs per month.
- Team: $10 per app editor + $5 per end user.
- Business: $50 per app editor + $15 per end user.
- Enterprise: custom pricing.
Online review ratings
- G2: 4.6/5 (311 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (24 reviews)
5. Webflow: best for designers and creatives
Webflow is a visual web development platform. It helps professionals design, build, and launch custom websites without much coding.
Webflow is a strong alternative to Glide for users who want to build and maintain a website without relying on a developer. At the same time, it’s sophisticated enough for tech professionals to create more advanced, custom designs.
Webflow features
- Visual website builder with pre-made building blocks.
- Advanced responsive design and animation capabilities.
- SEO-friendly Content Management System (CMS).
- Ecommerce features (payment integrations, eCommerce components, etc.).
- Ability to manipulate HTML, CSS, and Javascript in a visual canvas.
- Granular control over everything, without code. Ideal for designers.
- Great documentation and resources, including video tutorials and a community of users.
- Website performance management tools.
Drawbacks
- Building can get quite elaborate, and some concepts will require a learning curve.
- Webflow is a very general website builder and might not be the best fit for internal tools specifically.
- Pricing is more complicated than it looks and can quickly become expensive. The lower subscription plans are restrictive in terms of features (no CMS, no eCommerce), and hosting and collaboration come at an additional cost.
Pricing
*Webflow offers a variety of plans to suit different needs. Here's a breakdown of the tiers within its General pricing plan:
- Free: 2 pages, 50 form submissions in total, and up to 100 user accounts.
- Basic: $14 per month, 150 pages, 500 form submissions per month, and up to 20,000 user accounts.
- CMS: $23 per month, 150 pages, 1,000 form submissions per month, and up to 20,000 user accounts.
- Business: $39 per month, 300 pages, 2,500 form submissions per month, and up to 20,000 user accounts.
- Enterprise: Quote upon request.
Online review ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (634 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (246 reviews)
6. AppSheet: best for power Google Workspace users
AppSheet is a no-code platform by Google that lets you build custom apps directly from your database hosted in Google Sheets. While it connects to other data sources, AppSheet is especially popular among users who prefer working with Spreadsheets.
It’s a great alternative for those looking to add frontend and automation capabilities to their existing Google Sheets setup. And best of all, it’s free for Google Workspace users, so if your organization provides Workspace accounts for employees, you already have access to it.
AppSheet features
- Converts Google Sheets into fully functional apps for spreadsheet-based workflows.
- Internal app templates.
- Enterprise-grade security features.
- Apps compatible with both iOS and Android platforms.
- Offline syncing.
- AI-assisted app development.
Drawbacks
- Limited functionality compared to other no-code app builders.
- The desktop view version is relatively limited compared to the mobile and tablet view.
- Requires programming background.
Pricing
If you don’t have a Google Workspace account, or your subscription doesn’t include access to AppSheet Core, the following pricing applies:
- Free Plan: up to 10 test users.
- Starter Plan ($5/user/month): 5 AppSheet databases.
- Core Plan ($10/user/month): 10 AppSheet databases.
- Enterprise Plus Plan ($20/user/month): 200 AppSheet databases.
Online review ratings
- G2: 4.8/5 (397 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7 (546 reviews)
7. FlutterFlow: best for building native mobile apps and MVPs
FlutterFlow is a low-code app builder that blends drag-and-drop simplicity with advanced customization options.
A tool for native mobile app development in the first place, it also supports building and publishing web applications alongside mobile apps. It has a rather steep learning curve for those who want to go beyond creating a simple app or an MVP, but at the end of the day, you get more flexibility for implementing custom business logic.
FlutterFlow features
- Drag-and-drop interface for designing app layouts with ease.
- Advanced customization options, including access to custom code insertion.
- Integration with Firebase and Supabase.
- iOS and Android app development.
- Rich template gallery.
- Support for animations and visual effects to create engaging user experiences.
- Collaborative tools.
- Source code export in paid plans.
Drawbacks
- FlutterFlow is more of a low-code platform than a purely no-code tool. While you can build applications without extensive coding, some level of coding knowledge is required.
- As projects grow in complexity, FlutterFlow may show limitations in performance, such as longer loading times, especially when working with custom code or actions.
- Although FlutterFlow supports direct deployment from its interface, testing specific features like notifications can be limited within the platform.
Pricing
- Free plan: web app publishing, no limits on users or editors across all plans.
- Standard Plan ($30/month): unlocks code export, automated testing, and custom domain web publishing (additional charge per domain).
- Pro Plan ($70/month): unlocks one custom domain, one-click Apple & Google Store deployment, and GitHub Integration.
Online review ratings
- G2: 4.4/5 (15 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (80 reviews)
Conclusion: What is the best Glide alternative?
The answer depends on what you’re looking for, of course.
Are you building an internal business tool or a public-facing app? How large is your user base? Do you prefer using standard templates or crafting a fully custom UI?
Softr is the only tool that checks all the boxes, regardless of your answers. It provides a wide range of templates for various business needs, offers a pricing structure that stays predictable regardless of your user base size, and includes advanced features for designing custom interfaces and workflows when needed.
Getting started is easy (and it’s also free), and you can join an active Softr community to exchange ideas with other no-code enthusiasts.
Frequently asked questions about Glide
What is the best Glide alternative for you?
Picking the best Glide alternative will be highly dependent on your business, and things like your budget, your objectives, and what you’re looking to build.
In the list above, you can see that there are a lot of options out there. From the designer who doesn’t want to get involved with code to the entrepreneur specifically focused on shipping a native app to the iOS store, there’s something for everyone.
Start by giving Softr a try. You can build a fully functional business app in just a few days, seamlessly integrating with your preferred database, whether it’s Google Sheets, MySQL, or others.
How to start building internal tools without code?
The best and easiest way to get started with building internal tools is Softr.
With our intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can turn your existing data into web apps easily, without technical knowledge.
Where to find free internal tools templates?
Get a no-code app builder that offers free internal tool templates. Softr gives you access to a rich template library for various business needs, including sales CRM systems, employee directories, SaaS customer portals, applicant tracking systems (ATS), and more.
What is Softr
Softr is the easiest way to turn your data into powerful business apps—no code required. Connect to your spreadsheet or database, customize layout and logic, and share with your team or clients.
Join 700,000+ users worldwide, building client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, project management systems, inventory management apps, and more—all without code.
Join 700,000+ users worldwide, building client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, project management systems, inventory management apps, and more—all without code.
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Thierry Maout
Thierry is a content marketer based in France. He has extensive experience writing about B2B SaaS, automation, and user onboarding. Originally from France, he has lived and worked in Ireland, the US, Germany, the UK and Canada as well as collaborated with companies from all over the world including UserGuiding, Make (formerly Integromat), and others. Thierry has a Bachelor's degree in International Affairs from Le Havre University (France) as well as a Master's degree in Law, Economics, and Management from the Institute of Evolutionary Science of Montpellier (France). Passionate about education and the no-code movement, Thierry has been featured in publications such as UX Collective and The Startup on Medium. A frequent Softr collaborator (freelance-based), he’s also a former startup co-founder and has, among others, co-founded and managed growth at Fairwai.
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