Key takeaways
- A Softr client portal is a web app where each client logs in and sees only their own records: status, documents, invoices and requests.
- Softr’s permissions reach down to the individual record, which is what makes one portal safe to share with many clients.
- Softr’s Pro plan, $99 a month on annual billing, includes 50 client users before extra users are charged from $1 a month each.
Client portals are most of what we build on Softr, and Catalytics is listed in Softr’s partner directory. This is the version of the conversation we have before a portal project starts: what it does, how the data stays separated, and what it costs once the client list grows.
What is a client portal?
A client portal is a private area where each of your clients logs in and sees their own information: where their work stands, the documents that belong to them, what they owe, and what you need from them next. It replaces the emails and phone calls people send when they have no other way to check.
How a Softr client portal keeps each client’s data apart
This is the part that decides whether a portal is safe to launch, and it is worth understanding before any screens get built.
Softr controls visibility in layers. User groups decide which pages a person can reach. Block and record permissions decide what appears on those pages, down to individual records, so a client sees the rows linked to them and nothing else. The rule is set once against the data, rather than page by page.
Softr also splits your app users into team users and client users, and it decides which is which by email domain: anyone sharing a domain with one of your builders is a team user, and everyone else, including anyone on Gmail, is a client user.
On the Business plan two more controls become available: domain-restricted signup, so only addresses you allow can register, and conditional filters on the two-way user sync.
What goes into a Softr client portal
The portals that get used tend to hold the same handful of pages.
- A status view, where a client sees where each of their jobs, cases or projects stands
- Documents that belong to that client, with nothing from anyone else in the list
- Forms that write straight back into your data, so a request or an update lands as a record rather than an email
- Invoices or payment status, when the finance system can feed it
- Notifications, sent by workflows when something changes
From the Pro plan, clients can also comment, sign documents and export what they see to CSV or PDF.
A Softr client portal we built
A compliance firm we work with used to answer the same question by phone all day: where does this client stand right now?
We built them a Softr portal where each of their client organisations logs in and sees its own standing: what is open, what is coming up, and which documents are waiting for a signature. Behind it, signed documents route automatically into the right folder and the record updates itself, so nobody moves files by hand. Five systems are connected into that one operation, and manual document transfers are down to zero.
The portal did not make their compliance work easier. It removed the calls that existed only because clients had no way to look.
How much does a Softr client portal cost?
The plan you need depends on how many clients log in, more than on which features you want.
| Clients logging in | Plan | Monthly, annual billing |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 5 | Basic | $19 |
| Up to 50 | Pro | $99 |
| 80 | Pro plus 30 extra client users | From $129 |
| Up to 100 | Business | $329 |
Two details change that arithmetic. Staff who log in with a personal email address count as client users, not team users. And extra users on Pro start at $1 a month, with Softr’s own calculator giving the exact figure, so there is a point where Business, with 100 client users included, is simply cheaper.
For comparison, Airtable’s own Portals add-on starts at $120 a month for 15 guests on the Team plan, on top of what your editors already cost. The full breakdown is in Softr pricing.
Should the portal sit on Airtable or on Softr’s own database?
Either works, and the answer usually comes from where your team works today. If they are in Airtable every day, keep the base and put the portal in front of it. Softr’s own database keeps a new, mostly client-facing portal to one system and one bill. Softr and Airtable works through both setups.
Before you build
Not sure what your clients should be able to see and do?
Bring how many clients need access, what they ask you for most often, and where those answers live today. The first call is free, thirty minutes, and you will leave with the shape of the portal, even if we never work together.
Book the free first callFrequently asked questions
Can clients edit their own records in a Softr portal?
Yes, if you allow it. Creating, updating and deleting records are available on every plan, and permissions decide which fields and records each group can touch.
Can a Softr portal use our own domain?
Yes, from the Basic plan. The Pro plan also removes Softr’s branding from the app.
Can clients sign documents inside the portal?
From the Pro plan, yes. E-signature, comments and export to CSV or PDF all arrive at Pro.
Can clients log in with Google?
From the Pro plan, yes. Pro adds Google sign-in and email one-time codes, and Business adds two-factor authentication.
A client portal is worth building when the same questions keep arriving by email, and the answers already exist in your system. What makes it safe is the permission model underneath, and what makes it affordable is understanding how Softr counts the people who log in.
For the wider product, what Softr is covers the basics, and Softr examples shows what other businesses run on it. If you want one built, Softr development is how we work.