Best for
Best for founders and freelancers who want one project published as a native iOS app, a native Android app and a web app without writing code.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
AI App Builders Comparison
Adalo vs. Budibase
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for operations teams automating forms, approvals and internal requests, self-hosted or in the cloud.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Adalo | Budibase |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free plan; paid from $36 / month Annual billing is the rate shown by default; monthly billing costs 20 percent more. Plans differ mainly in published apps (1 on Starter, 2 on Professional, 5 on Team), editors and storage. Publishing to the stores also needs an Apple Developer account ($99 / year) and a Google Play developer account ($25 one-time), both charged by Apple and Google directly. | lower value Free self-hosted; cloud from $19 / month Cloud on annual billing: Pro $19, Premium $49 and Business $299 per month. On monthly billing that becomes $22.80, $58.80 and $358.80. Extra creators $50 and end users $5 per month. Enterprise on request. |
| Free trial | Free plan with unlimited test apps, 500 records per app and no publishing | Free self-hosted open-source edition |
| Output | Native iOS and Android apps plus a responsive web app from one project | Internal apps, forms, automations and AI agents |
| API | Yes, a Collections API and a Notifications API, plus custom actions against any REST API | Not stated |
| Hosting | Not stated | Budibase cloud or self-hosted (Docker, Kubernetes, DigitalOcean, Portainer) |
| What it generates | Native iOS and Android apps plus a responsive web app from one project, assembled on a multi-screen canvas or built and edited by prompting the Ada assistant | Internal operations: forms, approvals, task routing and admin tools, plus automations and AI agents that act across connected systems |
| Stack and frameworks | Visual no-code editor with more than 200 drag-and-drop components; a developer mode allows private custom components, and a marketplace adds third-party ones | Visual builder with automations; AI generates JavaScript bindings, cron expressions and table schemas from a written description rather than building a whole app from a prompt |
| Auth and database | Built-in hosted Postgres database with relational collections; outside data through external collections over REST, Google Sheets and Xano, which can also supply external users | Internal BudibaseDB built on CouchDB, plus external SQL databases such as PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server, REST APIs and custom datasource plugins; app users sign in with OpenID Connect or Google |
| Hosting and deploy | Published to an Adalo-hosted domain or a custom domain, and from paid plans to the Apple App Store and Google Play | Budibase cloud, or self-hosted with Docker, Docker Compose, Kubernetes, DigitalOcean or Portainer |
| Payments | Yes, Stripe payments collected inside the app | No built-in payments; a payment provider is reached through a REST datasource like any other API |
| Access to the code | Custom components rather than an exportable codebase. A component is bootstrapped outside Adalo with the create-adalo-component tool, which needs Node 10.2 or newer and developer mode enabled on the account, and is published with npx adalo publish, either publicly or privately. Code otherwise reaches an app from the outside: custom actions call any external REST API, and the Adalo API, documented for the Team and Business plans at up to 5 requests per second, reads and writes the app's collections and triggers push notifications. The developer documentation covers building and publishing components and does not document exporting an app's own source | Open source: GPL v3 core, MPL client and component libraries so apps built with it can carry their own licence, and a Business Source Licence on the paid features |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise |
| Support | Email helpdesk, Community forum | Email helpdesk, Community forum |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Stripe, Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, Google Maps, Xano, Airtable | more entries PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, REST API, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, OpenRouter, Groq |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Adalo Free plan; paid from $36 / month Budibase Free self-hosted; cloud from $19 / month
- Free trial Adalo Free plan with unlimited test apps, 500 records per app and no publishing Budibase Free self-hosted open-source edition
- Deployment Adalo Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Budibase Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
- Company size Adalo Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Budibase Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Output Adalo Native iOS and Android apps plus a responsive web app from one project Budibase Internal apps, forms, automations and AI agents
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Adalo
Strengths
- One project publishes as a native iOS app, a native Android app and a web app
- Ada, the AI assistant, is included on every plan with no token or usage charges
- Built-in relational Postgres database, so no external backend is required to start
- Flat monthly price with no usage-based or per-action charges
Limitations
- The free plan can build and test but cannot publish an app
- Published apps are capped per plan, so shipping several apps means moving up tiers
- App store publishing needs paid Apple and Google developer accounts on top
- Email support runs on a response-time SLA of three, two or one business days depending on the plan
Budibase
Strengths
- Free self-hosted edition with unlimited actions, apps, agents and users, SSO included
- AI agents deploy into Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord
- Choice of AI provider: Budibase AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, OpenRouter or Groq
Limitations
- Cloud plans below Business include only one creator, with extra creators at $50 a month
- Cloud usage is metered in actions and AI credits, so cost tracks volume
- AI assists with parts of an app rather than generating one from a prompt
Plans
Pricing
Adalo
- Free $0 Unlimited test apps and screens, 500 records per app, 1 editor, Ada AI assistant. No publishing.
- Starter $36 Per month, billed annually. 1 published app, 1 editor, 5 GB storage, web and app store publishing, custom domain.
- Professional $52 Per month, billed annually. 2 published apps, 5 editors, 25 GB storage.
- Team $160 Per month, billed annually. 5 published apps, 10 editors, 125 GB storage.
- Adalo Blue Not stated Enterprise offering with dedicated infrastructure, custom monitoring, on-premise deployment and connections to data sources without an API. Priced on request.
Budibase
- Pro $19 Per month on annual billing ($22.80 monthly). 5,000 actions and 2,000 AI credits a month, 1 creator, 1 workspace.
- Premium $49 Per month on annual billing ($58.80 monthly). 20,000 actions, 10,000 AI credits, 10 workspaces, custom branding, backups and SSO.
- Business $299 Per month on annual billing ($358.80 monthly). 250,000 actions, 50,000 AI credits, 3 creators, unlimited workspaces, 30-day log retention, email support.
- Enterprise Custom Quoted by the vendor. Unlimited actions, Active Directory and SCIM, audit logs, 365-day log retention and priority support with SLAs.
- Open source (self-hosted) $0 Unlimited actions, apps, automations, agents and users on one workspace, SSO included, community support.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Adalo
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Budibase
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.
Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Adalo https://www.adalo.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-12
Budibase https://budibase.com · no check date recorded yet
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.