Where is the interface your customers can actually use?
Saltcorn builds the screens too — forms, dashboards, portals, native mobile apps — straight off the same tables, with roles deciding who sees which row.
Comparison · Saltcorn vs Airtable
Airtable rents you a base. Saltcorn gives you the whole application — relational database, user interface and workflows — on your own server, under an MIT licence. No seat fees.
Where is the interface your customers can actually use?
Saltcorn builds the screens too — forms, dashboards, portals, native mobile apps — straight off the same tables, with roles deciding who sees which row.
Three subscriptions glued together to run one application?
Database, interface and automation are one system. Nothing to sync, nothing to re-authorise, no integration to break at 2am.
A monthly fee every time someone needs to read a record?
In Saltcorn a user is a row in a table. Add ten, or ten thousand — the licence cost does not move.
| Feature | Saltcorn | Airtable |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Database, interface and workflows in one platform | A backend; the front end is a separate tool |
| Data model | True relational — PostgreSQL, keys, constraints, SQL | An upgraded spreadsheet with linked records |
| Users | Unlimited, at no per-user cost | Priced per seat, every month |
| Deployment | Your server, your cloud, or hosted by us | Vendor cloud only |
| Mobile | Your app, built for iOS and Android, offline capable | Your data inside the vendor's app |
| Data sovereignty | Behind your firewall, no telemetry | On the vendor's servers |
| Extending it | Open plugin ecosystem, or your own JavaScript and SQL | Scripting within the vendor's limits |
| Scale | Whatever PostgreSQL will hold | Record and attachment caps per plan |
Airtable Business list price, billed annually. Every viewer counts.
$0
Ten users or a million: the licence costs nothing. You pay for the server it runs on — yours, or ours.
MIT licence. No seats, no tiers, no renewal.
Deploy on-premises with zero telemetry. Nothing about your data leaves the network you control.
MIT-licensed since 2020. If a vendor doubles its price, its customers are stuck; you already own the code and the server.
Install a module from the open store, or write your own — instead of waiting for a roadmap you don't control.
With Airtable you rent seats on someone else's database. With Saltcorn you run the application.Open source · MIT licence · self-hosted
Export each Airtable table as CSV and import it. Saltcorn can create the table straight from the file and infer the field types, then you turn linked columns into real foreign keys. Larger bases can go via a direct Airtable-to-PostgreSQL migration instead.
No. Tables, views, pages and workflows are point-and-click, with a learning curve close to a spreadsheet. Code is there — JavaScript, SQL, plugins — when you want it, never because you need it.
Yes. Saltcorn owns the front end as well as the database, so external users get their own login, their own screens and access to only their own rows.
The software is open source and free. You pay for ordinary server hosting — a small application runs on a cheap VPS — or for our hosting and services if you would rather not run it yourself.
Spin up Saltcorn, import a CSV, and have a working interface over it in an afternoon.
The Saltcorn team can model the schema, move the data and build the application around it.