Internal tools platform · Ranked 18 of 37 in the index
Softr Review (2026)
Builds client portals, directories and internal tools on top of Airtable, Google Sheets or its own tables, with permissions and gated pages set up in an afternoon.
3.7 / 5Last verified: · Next scheduled check: The quick answer
Assessed for 2026Excellent at one job and honest about it. If your data is already in Airtable and you need a gated portal your clients can log into, Softr gets you there faster than anything else in the index, with permissions that behave. It is a front end, not a platform: the record limits and page-load behaviour bite as data grows, there is no code export, and the AI assistant is cosmetic. Rent it for a portal. Do not build a product on it.
- Best for
- Client portals, membership directories and internal views over data that already lives in Airtable
- Not for
- Products with their own data model, or anything that has to scale past a few thousand active users
- Price from
- 49 EUR
- Free tier
- Yes
The ten axes
Every builder in the index is scored on the same ten axes with the same published weights. This is how Softr performed on our test briefs.
- Reliability16%
- 4.1
- Integrations16%
- 4.2
- SEO and GEO13%
- 3.3
- Design quality12%
- 3.9
- Agent performance10%
- 3.2
- Speed9%
- 3.7
- Value9%
- 3.6
- Scalability7%
- 3.1
- API and MCP access5%
- 3.4
- Code ownership3%
- 2.1
Every axis is scored from 0 to 5 stars. The percentage is that axis's published weight in the overall 3.7 rating.
The verdict
Excellent at one job and honest about it. If your data is already in Airtable and you need a gated portal your clients can log into, Softr gets you there faster than anything else in the index, with permissions that behave. It is a front end, not a platform: the record limits and page-load behaviour bite as data grows, there is no code export, and the AI assistant is cosmetic. Rent it for a portal. Do not build a product on it.
Builds client portals, directories and internal tools on top of Airtable, Google Sheets or its own tables, with permissions and gated pages set up in an afternoon.
The dissenting view
One panellist argued the value score is too low given how much consulting work a Softr portal displaces. The majority held the mark because the entry paid plan is one of the highest here at 49 EUR.
One member of the panel disagreed with the consensus. We publish the disagreement rather than average it away.
What it looks like
Pricing
Free tier with app limits, paid plans from about 49 EUR per month
| Plan | Price | Billing | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | monthly | One published app, Softr subdomain, small record limits |
| Basic | 49 EUR | monthly | Custom domain, user groups, more records |
| Professional | 139 EUR | monthly | More apps and users, charts, API integrations |
Feature by feature
The same eleven checks, run on every builder in the index.
| Capability | Status |
|---|---|
| Full-stack backend | No, front end over a data source |
| Database included | Yes, or connect Airtable and Sheets |
| Auth included | Yes, with user groups and gated pages |
| Code export | No |
| GitHub sync | No |
| One-click deploy | Yes |
| Custom domain | Yes, paid plans |
| Mobile or native output | Responsive web and PWA |
| Team collaboration | Yes |
| Public API or MCP server | Limited, integrations and webhooks |
| Self-hosting the output | No |
What works / What does not
What works
- Fastest route from an existing Airtable base to a logged-in client portal
- User groups and gated pages work correctly without configuration archaeology
- Good-looking blocks that need almost no design input
What does not
- No code export and total platform dependence
- Record and user limits shape the product more than your requirements do
- Entry paid plan at 49 EUR is expensive for a front end
User reviews
71 ratings for Softr, editor panel first. Community ratings accumulate on top of our seeded launch score.
Community rating
- 5 ★45%
- 4 ★28%
- 3 ★13%
- 2 ★8%
- 1 ★6%
Sign in to rate Softr. Reading needs no account.
Write a review of Softr
You need an account to post, because one rating per person is the only way the averages mean anything. Reading never needs one.
- Editor panel
Our grant reporting portal, built by someone non-technical
Laila Benali@lailabenali
Programme coordinator at a non-profit. Every tool I choose has to survive a grant audit.
I am not an engineer and I built the whole thing. Partners log in, see only their own projects and upload documents. Passed our funder audit without a comment. The price is a real consideration for a non-profit budget, and I wish the free tier allowed one gated page.
- Pros
- Achievable without any technical background. Audit-friendly access control.
- Cons
- Expensive relative to a non-profit budget.
3 readers found this helpful0 replies
No replies yet.
Sign in to reply.
- Editor panel
The record limits designed our product for us
Ingrid Halvorsen@ingridhalvorsen
Data analyst who ended up owning three internal dashboards and a lot of opinions.
We grew past the tier limits twice in six months and both times the upgrade was driven by row counts rather than anything we wanted. Performance also softened noticeably as the base grew. It is a good tool for a portal that stays a portal. Ours did not, and that was our misjudgement more than theirs.
- Pros
- Very quick to build and easy to hand to a colleague.
- Cons
- Row and user limits drive cost more than features do.
2 readers found this helpful0 replies
No replies yet.
Sign in to reply.
- Editor panel
Client portal live in a day, and the permissions were right
Aoife Brennan@aoifebrennan
Independent consultant. I have built the same client portal on four different platforms.
The data was already in Airtable. I had a branded portal with per-client access working before lunch on day two, and the user groups behaved exactly as documented, which is not something I say often. For consultancy work where the portal is a deliverable rather than the product, this is the fastest honest answer.
- Pros
- Extremely fast from existing Airtable data. Permissions behave.
- Cons
- Entry price is high for what is essentially a front end.
0 readers found this helpful0 replies
No replies yet.
Sign in to reply.
Frequently asked
- Does Softr need Airtable?
- Not any more, it has its own tables, but the Airtable path is still where it is strongest and where most of the integration work has gone.
- Can Softr replace a real application?
- For a portal or directory, yes. For a product with its own data model and growth curve, no. Scalability scores 3.1.
- Softr or Glide?
- Softr for web portals and client-facing directories. Glide for internal, mobile-shaped tools your staff use on a phone.
Sources
- Softr product site · 14 August 2026
- Softr pricing page · 14 August 2026