Key takeaways
- Softr is a no-code platform for building client portals, internal tools and dashboards, with user logins and permissions built in.
- Softr now has its own database, so Airtable is optional: you can keep your data in Airtable and put Softr in front of it, or move the data into Softr.
- There is a free plan with 5 app users and 1,000 records per database, and paid plans start at $19 a month on annual billing.
We build client portals on Softr for service businesses, and Catalytics is listed in Softr’s partner directory. It is worth knowing that before you read on, because it means we use this product for a living, and it is also why this page covers where Softr stops as well as what it does well.
What is Softr?
Softr is a no-code platform for building the apps a business runs on: client portals, internal tools, directories and dashboards. You assemble pages from ready-made blocks, connect them to your data, and decide who can log in and what each person is allowed to see. Softr also offers an AI co-builder that drafts an app from a description.
Softr started out as a friendly front end for Airtable data, and a lot of the explanations online still describe it that way. That picture is out of date. Softr now has its own database, which Softr says is built on an SQL foundation, along with workflows, forms and AI agents, so a team can run an app on Softr alone.
What can Softr do?
Softr builds apps that people log in to: client portals, internal tools, directories and dashboards, with databases, workflows, forms and AI agents around them. In our own work, most Softr apps turn out to be client portals or internal tools.
Client portals. Each client logs in and sees only their own records: project status, documents, invoices, requests. Softr’s permissions reach down to the page, the block and the individual record, and that is what makes one app safe to share with many clients.
Internal tools. A screen a team works from, showing the fields they need and hiding the rest, on top of data the business already keeps.
Directories and dashboards. Lists people can search and filter, and summary views that update as the data changes.
Around the apps themselves, Softr includes:
- Databases, with record limits that depend on the plan
- Workflows that run on a schedule, from a button inside the app, or when something happens in another tool
- Forms that write straight into the data
- AI agents that can run inside an app or on a schedule
- Connections to other data sources, including Airtable, and more than 100 in total by Softr’s count
What are the key differences between Softr and Airtable?
Airtable is a database a team works in directly. Softr is an app builder that puts a controlled screen in front of data, for the people who should not be working in the database itself. The difference shows up the moment someone outside your company needs access.
| Airtable | Softr | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | A team organising and editing data together | Apps with logins, for clients, partners and staff |
| Who works in it | Editors, in the grid or in Interfaces | App users, who see only what their role allows |
| Own database | Yes | Yes, or it can connect to Airtable instead |
| Records | 50,000 per base on Team, 125,000 on Business | 50,000 per database on Pro, 200,000 on Business |
| How it is priced | Per editor, plus a paid add-on for outside guests | Per plan, with a set number of team and client users included |
| Access for clients | Portals add-on, from $120 a month for 15 guests on Team | 50 client users included on Pro, extra users from $1 a month |
If Airtable itself is new to you, what Airtable is and where it stops covers it first.
Do you still need Airtable if you use Softr?
Not necessarily. Softr can run on its own database, or it can sit in front of an Airtable base and keep the two in sync.
We keep Airtable underneath when the team already works in it every day. Their views, automations and reports are built there, and Softr only needs to show clients a slice of that data. Moving everything into Softr would mean rebuilding what the team relies on, and the clients would not notice any difference.
We put the data in Softr’s own database when the app is new and mostly client-facing, when nobody on the team needs the Airtable grid, or when the record count is heading past what the business’s Airtable plan allows. Softr says it can import an Airtable base and keep the links between its tables.
We compared the two setups in more detail in Softr and Airtable.
Do you have to pay for Softr?
No. Softr has a free plan that is enough for a small real app: unlimited apps, up to 5 app users, 1,000 records per database and 500 workflow actions a month.
Paid plans start at $19 a month on annual billing for Basic ($25 billed monthly), then $99 for Pro and $329 for Business. Softr describes its paid plans as having no per-seat pricing, and for the people using an app that is mostly true up to the included number of users. Builders are a different matter. Basic includes one builder, Pro two and Business three, and each extra builder costs between $5 and $20 a month depending on the plan.
The full arithmetic by team size is in what Softr actually costs.
Is Softr a legitimate site?
Yes. Softr’s pricing page shows SOC 2 Type II and GDPR badges, its site names customers including Netflix, Google, Stripe and UPS, and Softr says more than a million builders use it.
Our own evidence is narrower, and probably more useful if you are deciding. Client portals we have built on Softr, for Casa Blui and GYB Media among others, are listed on our Softr partner profile.
What companies use Softr?
Softr’s own site names large companies such as Netflix, Google, Stripe and UPS. In our experience, though, the more typical Softr customer is a small or mid-sized business that needs clients or staff to log in and see their own information.
From our own work, both listed on our Softr partner profile: a retail business that gave its customers a portal for everything after the purchase, and a creative agency that uses one to collect client feedback and track projects.
We collected more of these in Softr examples.
Before you build
Not sure whether your portal belongs on Softr, on Airtable, or on both?
Bring a rough list of who needs to log in and what each of them should see. The first call is free, thirty minutes, and you will leave knowing which setup fits, even if we never work together.
Book the free first callWhen Softr is the wrong choice
Softr is at its best when the job is showing the right data to the right people and letting them act on it.
The app needs complex logic across many steps and tables. Softr offers custom code from the Pro plan, but when most of an app is edge cases, the custom code starts doing the real work.
You are building a product to sell to the public, rather than a portal for your own clients and team.
You need an app in the App Store. Softr offers installable web apps and push notifications on the Business plan, which covers most portal use, but those are web apps rather than native ones.
Single sign-on is a requirement. On Softr that means the Enterprise plan.
When a client reaches those limits, we usually look at a custom build next, rather than another no-code tool.
Frequently asked questions
Is Softr a no-code tool?
Yes. Softr apps are built from blocks and settings without writing code. Custom code is available from the Pro plan for the cases that need it, and in our experience most portals and internal tools never use it.
Does Softr require Airtable?
No. Softr has its own database and connects to other data sources as well. Airtable is one option, and a common one when a team already works in Airtable.
Can clients log in to a Softr app?
Yes. Softr has built-in user accounts, and you control what each group of users can see, down to the individual record. Basic includes 5 client users, Pro includes 50 and Business includes 100.
Can a Softr app work on a phone?
Softr apps work in a phone’s browser on every plan. Installable mobile apps and push notifications come with the Business plan.
Softr puts a controlled app in front of your data, for the people who should not be working in the data directly. Whether that data lives in Softr or in Airtable is the decision that shapes the rest of the build.
For the cost side, what Softr costs by team shape has the arithmetic. And if you want a portal built, Softr development is what that work looks like from our side.