Free Glide Alternatives: No-Code App Builders With a Real Free Plan
Glide made it easy to turn a spreadsheet into an app, but its free plan has changed: on GlideOS, the new Glide platform, the free plan lets you build and test, not publish. If you need an app that real users can open without a monthly bill, you need to know exactly what each free plan allows. We checked every tool below on its official pricing page in October 2026: what the free plan includes, whether you can put a live app in front of users without paying, and what the cheapest paid plan costs. Tools from the older version of this list that changed or lost their free plan are listed separately at the end.
Quick answer: to publish a real app for free, use Softr (unlimited apps, 5 app users), Appsmith (free cloud for up to 5 users) or Baserow (database plus apps for 500 external users). If you can host it yourself, Budibase is free with unlimited apps and users. For a web app on a free subdomain, try FlutterFlow. Bubble, Adalo, Thunkable and Power Apps are free to build and test, but going live needs a paid plan.
Boost Your SEO by Getting Featured in Our Blogs and get a backlink.
We publish content about startups, education, tech, funding, etc. that ranks well not only in Google but also in Perplexity, ChatGPT, Grok and other AI tools.
👉 Get featured now!
What Glide's Free Plan Includes in 2027
The Glide pricing page (checked October 2026) now lists plans for GlideOS, an AI platform that builds internal business apps from a spreadsheet, a prompt or a file. The Free plan costs $0 and includes limited AI credits, 2 team members and 10 projects, but 0 published apps and 0 enabled workflows. Publishing starts with Basic at $25 a month (100 credits, 2 published apps); Plus is $50 and Pro $125 a month, and annual plans are listed as coming soon. Glide's FAQ says GlideOS is a separate product from the original Glide, now called Glide Classic: existing Classic apps keep working, but there is no tool to move them to GlideOS. So if you want a free app that people can actually use, look at the alternatives below.
Free Glide Alternatives Compared
Sources: each tool's official pricing page in its default view, checked 30 October 2026. Free plans change often, so check the limits again before you build.
The Best Free Glide Alternatives in 2027
1. Softr: the best free plan for portals and internal tools
Softr builds client portals, CRMs, knowledge bases and internal tools on top of its own database or data from Airtable, Google Sheets, HubSpot, Notion, SQL and other sources. Its free plan includes unlimited apps, databases, workflows, agents and forms, up to 3 builders, 5 app users, 5,000 database records, 500 workflow actions and 5 AI credits a month, plus the Softr API and MCP. That is enough to launch a small portal or an MVP for your first customers. Basic costs $19 a month on yearly billing and adds a custom domain and 10 app users.
2. Appsmith: free cloud for small teams, open source to self-host
Appsmith is an open-source (Apache-2.0) low-code platform for internal tools: admin panels, support dashboards and forms on top of databases and APIs. Its free plan covers up to 5 users in the cloud, 5 workspaces, 3 Git repositories, public apps and Google sign-in; the open-source Community edition can be self-hosted for free. Business costs $15 per user per month for up to 99 users. It expects a bit of JavaScript, so it suits founders who are comfortable with code. Version 2.6.0 came out on 28 October 2026.
3. Budibase: free and unlimited if you host it yourself
Budibase builds internal apps, automations and AI agents on its own database or external data sources. Its open-source self-hosted plan is free with 1 workspace and unlimited apps, automations, agents and users, plus SSO and community support. There is no free cloud plan: Budibase Cloud starts with Pro at $19 a month after a 14-day trial, and end users cost $5 each. Version 3.51.0 came out in October 2026.
4. Baserow: a free database with an application builder
Baserow is an open-source, Airtable-style database with an application builder, automations and dashboards, so it can replace a Glide app built on a spreadsheet. The free cloud plan gives each workspace 3,000 rows, 2GB of storage, 2,000 automation credits and 500 external app users; self-hosting has no storage restrictions. Premium costs $10 per user per month billed yearly and adds AI features and all views.
5. FlutterFlow: free web publishing, native mobile apps when you pay
FlutterFlow is a visual builder for Flutter apps for mobile, web and desktop, with Firebase and Supabase integrations. Its free plan allows 2 projects, web publishing on up to 2 free subdomains, API integrations and 5 AI generation requests in total. Code download, APK download and one-click App Store deployment start with Basic at $39 a month. Choose it if you want a native mobile app later and do not mind a steeper learning curve.
Validate your startup idea with the unique borrowed authority approach: we publish articles about your product in our blog and you get traffic and testers for your MVP
- Prove Market Demand: See real organic traffic and waitlist conversions
- Unlock High-Potential Keywords: Receive a curated list of top-performing keywords directly from Google Search Console data.
- Estimate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Gain financial foresight with an estimated CAC based on real keyword performance data.
🔗 Start validating your startup now
6. Stackby: spreadsheet-database apps on a free plan
Stackby combines spreadsheet, database and automations, close to how Glide apps start from a sheet. Its free plan includes 5 editors per workspace, 50 read-only users, 20 stacks, 1,500 rows per stack, 1 app per stack and 100 automation runs. It suits small trackers and team databases more than customer-facing apps.
7. Jotform Apps: free apps built from forms
Jotform Apps is Jotform's free app maker: you combine forms, widgets, products and your branding into an app people can install on a phone or computer, and you can also build one from a chat with the Jotform App Builder for ChatGPT and Claude. Apps run on your Jotform account, and the free Starter plan on the Jotform pricing page allows 5 active forms, 100 submissions and 10,000 form views a month, with Jotform branding. Good for booking, order and sign-up apps, not for complex data apps.
8. AppSheet: free while you build and test
AppSheet, Google's no-code app builder, is the closest match to classic Glide: it turns Google Sheets, Excel and other data into apps with forms, maps, barcode scanning and offline use. On the AppSheet pricing page you can build and test apps with up to 10 users at no cost; to deploy to your team you need Starter ($5 per user per month) or Core ($10, included in most paid Google Workspace plans). For open-source options built the same way, see our open-source AppSheet alternatives.
9. Bubble: free to build, paid to launch
Bubble is the most powerful tool here for full web apps and SaaS products, and it now builds native mobile apps as well, with an AI app generator to start from. Its free plan includes 50,000 workload units a month, one app editor and on-device testing for mobile, but it covers apps under construction only: Bubble's pricing FAQ says a paid plan is needed to deploy a live version. Starter costs $59 a month billed annually.
10. Adalo: free to test native mobile apps
Adalo builds native iOS and Android apps and web apps, and its AI builder, Ada, creates a first version from a description. The free plan includes 5 Ada prompts a month, one free app build, unlimited test apps, 1 app editor and 500 records per app. Publishing to the app stores and the web starts with Builder at $65 a month (with a $30 first month as a launch offer when we checked).
11. Thunkable: free mobile prototypes
Thunkable is a drag-and-drop builder for native mobile apps. The free plan gives you 2,000 AI tokens, 3 public projects and 5 screens per project. Free projects cannot be private, and a live published app starts with the Builder plan, so treat the free plan as a way to prototype and test on your phone.
12. Microsoft Power Apps Developer Plan: free for building and testing
Power Apps is the obvious choice if your company already runs on Microsoft 365. The free Developer Plan lets you build and test unlimited apps and automation flows in three developer environments, with 2 GB of Dataverse and up to 750 automation flows a month, but only in a non-production environment. Running apps for your team needs Power Apps Premium at $20 per user per month, paid yearly.
Glide Alternatives That Changed or Lost Their Free Plan
The 2025 version of this article included three tools that no longer belong on a free Glide alternatives list:
- Zapier Interfaces: zapier.com/interfaces now redirects to Zapier Forms, a form builder that starts workflows, not an app builder. For automation, see our open-source Zapier alternatives.
- AppGyver: its website now says AppGyver is SAP Build and points to an SAP Build free tier. It is a tool for SAP customers rather than a simple Glide replacement.
- Appy Pie: its pricing page offers a 7-day free trial for personal, non-commercial use, not a free plan.
Which Free Glide Alternative Should You Choose?
- You want a free, live app for customers or a small team: Softr, or Baserow if your data lives in a database.
- You build internal tools and can write a little code: Appsmith in the cloud, or Budibase or Appsmith self-hosted with no user limit.
- You want a web app now and a native mobile app later: FlutterFlow.
- Your data is in Google Sheets and your team uses Google Workspace: AppSheet, which may already be in your Workspace plan.
- You plan a full SaaS product: Bubble, but budget for a paid plan at launch.
- You need an app in the App Store and Google Play: Adalo, Thunkable or FlutterFlow, all on paid plans for publishing.
- You mostly collect orders, bookings or sign-ups: Jotform Apps.
Want to own the code and the data? We compare self-hosted builders in our open-source Retool alternatives, and database-first tools in our open-source Airtable alternatives and open-source Airtable AI alternatives. If you only need a one-page site, see our free Carrd alternatives.
Join ElonaHunt (like ProductHunt but for women) and explore the coolest women-focused startups out there!
Discover your next big inspiration and connect with like-minded female entrepreneurs!
👉 Join the Hunt Here
How Founders Use Free No-Code App Builders
A free plan is perfect for testing whether anyone wants your product. Build the smallest app that solves one job, put it in front of ten real users and watch what they do before you pay for more. Our guides to no-code web app builders and no-code AI app builders for startups cover more tools, and the biggest mistakes when choosing no-code tools explains how to avoid getting locked in. Watch the limits that end free plans: users, records, AI credits and workload units. Our article on the hidden costs of no-code AI development shows where the bills start, and low-code vs AI-code prototyping tools helps you choose between a builder and an AI coding tool.
Before you build anything, validate your startup idea with real customers, and when the app is live, write about it with the F/MS AI SEO Tool so people find it in Google and AI assistants.
FAQ About Free Glide Alternatives
Is Glide still free in 2027?
Glide has a free plan, but on GlideOS it includes limited AI credits, 2 team members and 10 projects with 0 published apps. Publishing starts with Basic at $25 a month (checked October 2026).
What is the best free alternative to Glide?
Softr has the most useful free plan for a live app: unlimited apps, up to 3 builders, 5 app users and 5,000 records. Appsmith and Baserow are also free for small live apps, and Budibase is free without limits if you host it yourself.
Which Glide alternative lets me publish an app for free?
Softr, Appsmith (public apps, up to 5 cloud users), Baserow (500 external app users), FlutterFlow (web publishing on a free subdomain) and self-hosted Budibase. Bubble, Adalo, Thunkable and Power Apps need a paid plan to go live.
Is Bubble free?
You can build and test on Bubble for free with 50,000 workload units a month, but Bubble's pricing FAQ says a paid plan is needed to deploy a live app. Starter costs $59 a month billed annually.
Is AppSheet free?
AppSheet is free while you build and test with up to 10 users. Deploying to your team needs Starter at $5 or Core at $10 per user per month, and Core is included in most paid Google Workspace plans.
Is there an open-source alternative to Glide?
Yes. Budibase, Appsmith and Baserow are open source and can be self-hosted for free. Our open-source AppSheet and Retool alternatives cover more options.
Can I build a mobile app for the App Store for free?
Not completely. Adalo, Thunkable and FlutterFlow let you build and test for free, but app store publishing is on paid plans, and Apple and Google charge their own developer fees.
What happened to Glide Classic?
Glide says existing Glide Classic apps keep working. GlideOS is a separate product with its own plans, and there is no tool to move Classic apps to GlideOS.
Is AppGyver still free?
AppGyver is now SAP Build. Its website points to an SAP Build free tier, which is aimed at SAP customers rather than founders replacing Glide.
Where can I get a backlink by writing about my startup?
You can publish a guest post in one of the Fe/male Switch startup blogs, which rank in Google and in AI tools. Get a quality backlink.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
