Best low-/no-code solution for simple web-based database frontends

I'm a founder of Appsmith that has already been mentioned here. It's an open source project to help you build CRUD UI on top on any database(MySQL, Postgres included) or API. We give UI components to create forms, charts, tables, etc.

GitHub link: https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith

I’ve explored lots of these and implemented a few with customers who wanted their “business analysts” to be able to build apps. My experience has been the “non technical” people can’t do these either and wind up getting developers to try, who are then frustrated with lock-in to a relatively unknown tool or expensive BPM suite. To a developer, these are often “death by a thousand clicks”. Even Visual Studio for the most part has abandoned the “Visual”.

I keep hoping that there’s ways to make low-code work without those drawbacks, and plan to try some new ones I see in this thread. In my mind it has to be a designer that a “non technical” uses to output quality code that a dev can then tweak, but not break the designer.

> I'm currently looking for a solution to provide (non-technical) team members with a way to interact with a SQL database ... While I'm generally willing to pay, I'd really prefer an open and self-hosted solution.

You should definitively check Metabase [0] then: it's open source, very easy to self-host, and democratize data access inside your team. We started using it for the same reason 3 years ago, I cannot recommend it more.

[0] https://github.com/metabase/metabase

Why not start out by using the Django Admin features?

That allows you to start with next to no code, but you can easily add a little business logic anywhere you need it eventually, and it provides a way to long term transition to a true application if the need arises.

I keep a list of the best of the best for these tools, aimed at the absolute non-tech end of the market

https://nocode.tech/category/internal-tools https://www.nocode.tech/category/app-builders

Lists include both SaaS and self-hosted options

I've tested Appsmith: https://www.appsmith.com/ and it's great! It's open source and self hostable on k8s. It's really easy to use, there is included tutorials. I mainly use it to build frontends to make APIs calls, but it supports DB backends like MySQL or PostgreSQL. Devs are available and willing to answer questions.

I’ve tried Retool in the past. Really enjoyed it.

https://retool.com

I'm working on an open source solution: Saltcorn (https://saltcorn.com). Works against PostgreSQL and sqlite, with a drag and drop view builder and extensions for Kanban boards, maps, statistics, stripe subscriptions etc.

PowerApps [0] is a surprisingly powerful and flexible low code app builder (that can connect to MySQL, etc.)

[0] https://powerapps.microsoft.com/

You might want to take a look at Baserow (https://baserow.io), which is an open source self hosted no-code database tool and Airtable alternative. It is not possible to interact with an existing database, but the databases and tables created are stored in a PostgreSQL database. It might be possible for you to migrate your existing MySQL data to Baserow. The repository: https://gitlab.com/bramw/baserow. It is build in Django and Vue.js.

Hi, We've built Lowdefy [0] for exactly this reason. It it is open-source, low-code and self hosted. On our team we have data analysts and implementation engineers (non-developers) creating apps in Lowdefy. For Lowdefy I would say that the minimum tech expertise required is someone who can learn to write data queries.

We are currently working on SQL support and should have the first SQL connectors out next week. Please give me a shout if we can be of any assistance! gvw [at] lowdefy.com

[0] - https://lowdefy.com

hasura.io was built at 34 Cross to solve some very similar issues you've outlined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasura#History

That aside, here are some lesser known low-code data-frontends:

https://www.basedash.com/ (mysql)

https://www.stackerhq.com/ (airtable)

https://www.glideapps.com/ (sheets)

If there is no logic to be needed, wouldn't any of the RDBMS web-management things work out? (think: phpmyadmin etc.)

Alternatively, FileMaker still exists, including a direct web interface option.

I often find that if you truly want a 'low-code/no-code' thing, you're stuck with no-logic no-interaction software. As soon as you start adding logic, you're essentially migrating from programming in a somewhat re-usable language into 'programming' in the form of pictures and application-specific interfaces, which essentially requires the same effort but is much less reusable.

Unless the 'thing' is really a 'table' with some CRUD operations you're gonna en up in a messy situation where some undocumented macro-filled spreadsheet becomes a lynchpin.

I know everyone hates Oracle, but they do have an "always free" tier of Oracle APEX, which is pretty much designed to be a low/no-code environment for CRUD apps.

https://oracle.com/cloud/free/ https://apex.oracle.com

I'm a founder of BaseDash, I started building it as a spiritual successor to Django Admin. Big focus on UX and usability for non-technical users. I like to think of it as "Airtable for your SQL database".

Some features that are especially important if you're giving access to non-technical team members:

- Edit history of all changes made through the tool

- Permission system to limit access to certain databases/tables

- Views that let you pre-filter tables and hide columns

- Request edit system so that all edits have to be approved (WIP)

We support both MySQL and PostgreSQL, planning to add support for NoSQL databases in the future.

It's paid for teams but free for 2 users.

Website link: https://www.basedash.com

The OpenOffice/LibreOffice Access alternative (called Base iirc) can use mysql/postgresql as database backend.

if that's what you want you might want to look into that.

Someone mentioned https://directus.io/ to me for this use case the other day. I've not used it, but it looks good. Open source and self hostable or SaaS.

You can give https://frappeframework.com a try, it is MIT licensed, really powerful and comprehensive, excellent for making CRUD apps. Also has a PaaS offering on https://frappecloud.com

Full Disclosure: I worked at Frappe for the last 2 years

Xataface (https://github.com/shannah/xataface) Open source, currently MySQL only, very easy to use

Not open source nor self-hosted AFAIK, but it sounds like you're looking for something like Retool (https://retool.com)

Have you looked at Retool? Pretty sure this is the exact use case they built it for.

Have you looked at TablePlus?

https://tableplus.com/

It gives you a spreadsheet UI on top of your tables that can be edited directly. All edits are baked into a transaction so when you hit save the transaction is committed. We’ve had a lot of success using it with developers and non-technical product managers designers.

Laravel Voyager: https://voyager.devdojo.com/

If you're not married to your database, you can use Google Sheets + Google Forms. Easy CRUD for non-technical people.

You should check out ZenBase https://getzenbase.com. It's a completely web-based database application builder with built-in user role management, CRUD UI, and data audit trail. It's a mix between Retool and SeekWell.

Here are a few that are in the ball park, but mostly lacking the form bit (you have to make your own though most of these offer a way to have a append-only user for the form to act as):

- Strapi (https://github.com/strapi/strapi)

- Directus (https://github.com/directus/directus)

- React Admin (https://github.com/marmelab/react-admin)

- Netlify CMS - a bit off the mark but maybe worth considering (https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms)

I'm a committer to the Apache Superset project (http://superset.apache.org/), which can talk to any SQL speaking database through SQLAlchemy: https://superset.apache.org/docs/databases/installing-databa...

Majority of Superset users use the no-code Explore UI in Superset to create charts.

We recently wrote about the big 1.0 release here (https://preset.io/blog/2021-01-18-superset-1-0/)

Tryout https://arctype.com it’s a free SQL editor for devs. Closed source but it has a fast interface and good aesthetics. i started using it at my previous company with a team of 4.

Not open source, but Ninox is really great once you get used to their UI paradigm that is a little bit different from what everybody else is doing. https://ninox.com/de

We (seekwell.io) have a feature called Forms[0] which is pretty spot on for what OP mentioned. Happy to show you (or anyone else) around the product. I'm one mike@seekwell.io

Also worth noting we have a simple way to two way sync data between Google Sheets and a SQL database[1]. This turns Sheets into a UI for your database. Works really well for teams that are already using Sheets and turn

0 - https://doc.seekwell.io/forms 1 - https://doc.seekwell.io/syncsheet

Metabase is amazing at doing basic things in the UI and dropping down to SQL easily if you need. More for reading and analysing though so might not work if you need a lot of the other CRUD stuff

Incidentally we are building a web based alternative of MS Access with support for building simple CRUD forms. It is in early access phase. You can register here: https://app.spanrr.com/. We also expose the underlying MySQL Database for running any queries you need.

Would love to get in touch if this works for you.

There's a pretty vibrant community of CRUD RAD tooling for .Net and SQL Server. A few years back I had evaluated several for a customer. The only one that I remember off the top of my head is CodeOnTime (I've no affiliation and am not currently a customer).

My general rule of thumb for such tools is that the easy things should be easy and the hard things should be possible.

https://www.nubuilder.com/

Thank you all for the many great answers! Definitely a lot to look at! Currently Appsmith (and/or) Lowdefy seem to fit best for me.

In case you're interested, these are all the products/resources given so far:

http://superset.apache.org

https://adsharma.github.io/flattools-programs/

https://adsharma.github.io/fquery/

https://apex.oracle.com

https://app.spanrr.com

https://arctype.com

https://baserow.io

https://bubble.io

https://deepnote.com

https://directus.io

https://django-sql-explorer.readthedocs.io

https://doc.seekwell.io

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/intro/tutorial02

https://first-django-admin.readthedocs.io/

https://frappeframework.com

https://getzenbase.com

https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith

https://github.com/directus/directus

https://github.com/marmelab/react-admin

https://github.com/metabase/metabase

https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms

https://github.com/oxan/djangorestframework-dataclasses

https://github.com/priyank-purohit/PostGUI

https://github.com/shannah/xataface

https://github.com/skorokithakis/django-project-template

https://github.com/strapi/strapi

https://hypermachine.substack.com

https://lowdefy.com

https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder

https://ninox.com/de

https://powerapps.microsoft.com

https://retool.com

https://saltcorn.com

https://seekwell.io

https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app

https://stackerhq.com

https://subzero.cloud/

https://tableplus.com/

https://voyager.devdojo.com/

https://www.appsmith.com/

https://www.basedash.com

https://www.datatrucker.io/

https://www.forestadmin.com

https://www.glideapps.com/

https://www.noodl.net/

https://www.nubuilder.com/

https://www.stackerhq.com/

https://nocode.tech

If they're on Macs, Postico might be an option. It's way easier to use than PgAdmin, and while you can't make your own CRUD screens, thoughtful setup of roles and constraints should be able to keep your users out of trouble.

Our team loves using SandyLane.io - it’s a marketplace to hire freelance low code devs. Should fit your need since most of their users are non-developer teams who want to use the end product directly rather than having to loop in devs.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Forest Admin (https://www.forestadmin.com/). They have a free tier that would work on simple scenarios.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Bubble. It's probably the low/no-code platform I've heard the best things about. It's not self-hosted though.

https://bubble.io

I'm keen to find out as well. I asked a similar question a while back. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22091012

If you switch to PostgreSQL, then PostgREST would be a nice solution. It turns your DB into a webserver with REST API for data interaction. Add a simple frontend like you mentioned and it's done.

Noodl!

https://www.noodl.net/

Highly visual, great for people who have difficulties finding curly braces and the semicolon on their keyboards ;)

My tool (https://www.jigdev.com) doesn’t support MySql yet, but I am working on it. Looking for feedback.

Wagtail is a more user friendly Django Admin built up to a full CMS. Building models is about the same process but you get a nicer UI with more user management, templates, etc.

I've been working with Reify (www.reify.com) - not as well heard of in the HN community but comes from a company with decent background (www.smartclient.com).

Here is a product https://www.datatrucker.io/ which is free and opensource

How big is the db? I've used a Google Spreadsheet as a backend for hasgluten.com, so non-tech people can just edit the content without my involvement.

You should check out Stacker: https://stackerhq.com

Your data is hosted in an Airtable or Google Sheet that you control, not in a SQL database, though I'd say this is actually a huge advantage for your goal of a no-code CRUD web app that non-developers can work with easily. It is paid.

Disclosure: I work at Stacker, and we're a YC company. Email in my profile if you have any questions.

https://nifi.apache.org/

If you are looking for a super simple CRUD site, then Ruby on Rails is best in class.

1. Up and running immediately.

2. Generate 99% of the code if you don't care about styling.

3. The small portion of your site where you need something more complex is simple Ruby code instead of spending months reading No-Code documentation.

Sharepoint. I built a trouble ticket application this past summer in Sharepoint using a no code approach in about 30 minutes. I used that ticket system for the next two weeks while I wrote the JavaScript for a more intelligent application.

Quickbase from Intuit is probably the most mature, easiest longest serving paid, hosted solution. Key is do you want to manage the tool or do you want a turn key approach. MS Power Platform, AirTable are other notables.

nubuilder.com - it's free, open source and actively developed.

CouchDB + PouchDB

For perl programmers, you want CGI::FormBuilder:

https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder

Outsystems

We are currently working on a VBA for the web. Stay tuned.

https://hypermachine.substack.com