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AI App Builders Comparison

Adalo vs. Softr

At a glance

At a glance

Adalo

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

Softr

Best for

Best for teams building client portals and internal tools on top of existing data without writing code.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion Adalo Softr
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; paid plans from $19 / month Rates on annual billing: Basic $19, Pro $99 and Business $329 per month, Enterprise on request. Nonprofit and educational organizations get 50 percent off.
Free trial Free plan with unlimited test apps, 500 records per app and no publishing Free plan
Output Native iOS and Android apps plus a responsive web app from one project Business web apps and portals (PWA for mobile)
API Yes, a Collections API and a Notifications API, plus custom actions against any REST API Not stated
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 Business apps: client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, intranets and inventory 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 No-code, block-based builder with no generated code to manage
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 Native database or 15+ external sources (Airtable, Google Sheets, Notion, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Supabase, HubSpot); email/password, magic link, Google and SSO login with user groups and permissions
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 Published to a Softr URL or a custom domain, with SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance
Payments Yes, Stripe payments collected inside the app Stripe, to sell digital products and sync purchase data
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 No code access, visual editing and vibe coding only
Deployment Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support more entries Email helpdesk, Community forum Community forum
Onboarding more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials Documentation and knowledge base
Company size Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations Stripe, Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, Google Maps, Xano, Airtable more entries Airtable, Google Sheets, Notion, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Supabase, HubSpot, monday.com, ClickUp, Xero, Stripe, Make, Zapier

Compare more tools

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 Softr Free; paid plans from $19 / month
  • Free trial Adalo Free plan with unlimited test apps, 500 records per app and no publishing Softr Free plan
  • Support Adalo Email helpdesk, Community forum Softr Community forum
  • Output Adalo Native iOS and Android apps plus a responsive web app from one project Softr Business web apps and portals (PWA for mobile)
  • What it generates Adalo 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 Softr Business apps: client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, intranets and inventory systems

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

Softr

Strengths

  • Turns a prompt into a full app: database, pages, user groups and navigation
  • Connects to 15+ data sources with two-way sync (Airtable, Google Sheets, Supabase and more)
  • Built-in auth, user groups and permissions, with SSO and SOC 2 Type II

Limitations

  • No access to the underlying code
  • Mobile is delivered as a PWA, not a native app
  • Focused on business apps and portals rather than consumer apps

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.
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Softr

  • Free $0
  • Basic $19 Per month on annual billing.
  • Pro $99 Per month on annual billing.
  • Business $329 Per month on annual billing.
  • Enterprise Custom Quoted by the vendor.
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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.

Softr

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

Softr https://www.softr.io · 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.