Individual power users
People who are good with computers, maybe a bit of scripting, but not full-stack engineers. They want to ship a real app without learning to roll their own auth.
Build · Train · ad-hoc SupportSaltcorn Collective Ltd · Services
We help organisations design, build, run and evolve Saltcorn applications. Most engagements are a fluid combination of the four offerings below — Build, Support, Train, Enhance.
Saltcorn Collective Ltd is the original developer of the Saltcorn platform and continues to lead its development. When you work with us, the people writing the code and designing the views are the same people who wrote the platform underneath.
Capabilities we add or fix for one client are released into the open-source core under MIT. Clients are effectively sponsors of a shared product — they get differentiation in their own application, and the platform underneath them gets better for everyone.
For projects where deep domain expertise or local presence matters, we partner with specialist agencies and consultancies rather than do everything in-house. You get the right team for your project, not whichever team happened to be on the bench.
From initial discovery through production deployment. Typical engagement shape: business analysis → schema and view design → iterative build with the client → deployment and handover → ongoing support.
Rapid prototyping for market testing is welcome — the data model and APIs we draft for an MVP are designed to survive into production, not to be thrown away. You retain the intellectual property in the resulting application.
Two related offerings for organisations that don't need us to build the whole application — they need our hands on the parts that matter.
For organisations who have identified an opportunity — a manual process, a tangle of spreadsheets, a Microsoft Access app on its last legs — but aren't yet sure what the replacement should look like. We run discovery, model the domain, and produce a design that your in-house team (or your agency) can implement in Saltcorn.
Fixed scope · 2–6 weeksFor organisations whose internal staff or external agency are already building the application but need expert backup — on complex components, deployment, performance tuning, or specific platform features. You stay in the driving seat; we shorten the gap between a hard problem and its solution.
Retainer or hourlyOur public wiki and video courses cover the platform end-to-end. On top of that we offer live training tailored to your situation — non-technical users, in-house "citizen developers", agency staff onboarding to deliver Saltcorn projects, and database-design fundamentals where needed.
Training works best combined with a project-based consulting engagement, so your team learns on the application they actually need to ship, not a sample database.
Two related offerings for clients ready to invest in capability — one that benefits everyone running Saltcorn, and one that's entirely yours.
Sponsor new view types, configuration options, priority bug fixes, security enhancements, and performance work in the open-source Saltcorn project itself. Because the work benefits everyone using the platform, we offer a reduced hourly rate. Your team gets a more capable platform; the community gets the same upgrade.
Reduced rate · open-source releaseFor the parts of your application that need to do something the visual builder can't express on its own — a domain-specific algorithm, a bespoke integration, a hardware bridge, a regulated workflow. We aim for 90% of an application to be built no-code and the remaining 10% to be focused custom work that gives you real differentiation.
90% no-code · 10% bespokeWe provide bespoke hosting for consulting clients where it simplifies delivery — but hosting is not a profit centre for us. Clients are free, and encouraged, to host their applications themselves or with any provider. For evaluation, the free hosted service on saltcorn.com is the easiest start. For production self-host, DigitalOcean and Linode marketplace images are one-click; for behind-the-firewall, Docker and npm images are available. See deploy anywhere for the full picture.
Ask about hosting →Saltcorn is used across a wide span of organisations — from a single developer in a back room to a county authority running statutory processes. Each tends to work with us in a different way.
People who are good with computers, maybe a bit of scripting, but not full-stack engineers. They want to ship a real app without learning to roll their own auth.
Build · Train · ad-hoc SupportEngineers who can build anything, but who would rather not write the repetitive parts. They use Saltcorn to skip the scaffolding and reach for code only where it matters.
Build support · custom modulesAgencies and ITSM providers delivering many small-to-medium database applications, often on fixed-price terms. They want zero licence fee, quick prototyping, and partner-grade backup on the hard bits.
Agency onboarding · Build support · partnershipCompanies with a custom process for which no off-the-shelf SaaS fits. They need a hub for their operations that flexes as the company does.
End-to-end Build · long-running EnhanceMany smaller projects, complex compliance and procurement, hard-to-attract tech talent. Open source they can deploy anywhere is a strategic fit; reduced per-seat economics tilt the maths.
Sponsored platform Enhance · regulated BuildClients sponsor improvements to the platform. Those improvements attract a larger community. More clients fund a better platform. The work we do for one organisation becomes part of the floor every Saltcorn customer stands on.
It's why we charge a reduced rate for sponsored open-source work, why our clients retain the IP in the applications we build for them, and why we feel free to publish what we learn — including in this site.
A few lines is plenty. We usually reply within two working days. Saltcorn Collective Ltd is UK-based; we work internationally and are happy on any time zone.