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AI App Builders Comparison

Appsmith vs. Softr

At a glance

At a glance

Appsmith

Best for

Best for engineering teams that want self-hosted internal tools with the source under an open licence.

  • 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 Appsmith Softr
Starting price lower value Free; Business $15 / user / month Business is billed monthly by credit card for up to 99 users. Enterprise starts at $2,500 per month from 100 users and is usually billed annually. The self-hosted community edition is free. 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 for up to 5 users, plus a 15-day Business trial for new cloud signups Free plan
Output Internal web apps: admin panels, dashboards and service tools Business web apps and portals (PWA for mobile)
Hosting Appsmith cloud or self-hosted (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS AMI) Not stated
What it generates Internal tools: admin panels, dashboards, customer 360 views and IT or service-management apps, assembled from a widget library Business apps: client portals, internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, intranets and inventory systems
Stack and frameworks Drag-and-drop widgets with JavaScript available in every binding; an in-product AI copilot helps write queries, JavaScript and interface changes rather than generating a whole app from a prompt No-code, block-based builder with no generated code to manage
Auth and database 25+ databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, Snowflake, Redshift, DynamoDB, Databricks), REST and GraphQL, and 30+ SaaS connectors; Google SSO on the free plan, SAML and OIDC SSO with SCIM provisioning on Enterprise 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 Appsmith cloud, or self-hosted with Docker, Kubernetes or an AWS AMI; an air-gapped edition on Enterprise Published to a Softr URL or a custom domain, with SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance
Payments No built-in payments; Stripe is one of the SaaS connectors an app can call Stripe, to sell digital products and sync purchase data
Access to the code Apache 2.0 and self-hostable, with Git version control against GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket or Azure: 3 repositories on the free plan, unlimited on Business No code access, visual editing and vibe coding only
Deployment more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support more entries Email helpdesk, Chat, Community forum Community forum
Onboarding Documentation and knowledge base Documentation and knowledge base
Company size Small and mid-sized, Enterprise more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations more entries PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Snowflake, Redshift, DynamoDB, Elasticsearch, Redis, Firestore, Databricks, Amazon S3, Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack, Jira, Asana, Notion, Google Sheets, Airtable, Stripe, monday.com, Linear, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google AI 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 Appsmith Free; Business $15 / user / month Softr Free; paid plans from $19 / month
  • Free trial Appsmith Free plan for up to 5 users, plus a 15-day Business trial for new cloud signups Softr Free plan
  • Deployment Appsmith Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise Softr Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
  • Company size Appsmith Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Softr Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
  • Support Appsmith Email helpdesk, Chat, Community forum Softr Community forum

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Appsmith

Strengths

  • Apache 2.0 licence with a free self-hosted community edition
  • Connects to 25+ databases plus REST, GraphQL and 30+ SaaS services
  • Git version control, including on the free plan

Limitations

  • AI assists the person building rather than generating a whole app from a prompt
  • Enterprise starts at $2,500 a month and 100 users
  • SAML and OIDC SSO and SCIM provisioning are Enterprise-only

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

Appsmith

  • Free $0 Cloud, up to 5 users: 5 workspaces, 3 Git repositories, Google SSO, community support.
  • Business $15 Per user per month, billed monthly, up to 99 users. Adds unlimited workspaces and Git repositories, workflows, premium integrations, custom roles and audit logs.
  • Enterprise $2,500 Per month from 100 users, typically billed annually. Adds SAML and OIDC SSO, SCIM, CI/CD, private app embedding, an air-gapped edition and support with SLAs.
  • Community (self-hosted) $0 Open source under Apache 2.0, self-hosted.
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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

Appsmith

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

Appsmith https://www.appsmith.com · no check date recorded yet

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.