Appsmith alternatives
At a 10-person team (2 builders, 8 app users), Appsmith costs $150 a month. 1 internal tool builder costs less, from $80 (Retool). The closest match, Budibase, covers 94% of what Appsmith does. Each one shows how much of it it covers, capability by capability, next to the price.
What Appsmith does
Core: Internal app builder, Live SQL database connections, Self-hosting, Open-source edition.
Important: API and SaaS connectors (partly), Custom code and components (partly), Granular permissions.
Also has: Built-in database (partly), Auto-generated admin panel (partly), Backend workflows and jobs (partly), Forms and approval processes (partly), AI agents and LLM actions, Git and environments (partly), External portals on data (partly), SSO, audit logs and compliance (partly).
Alternatives to Appsmith at a 10-person team (2 builders, 8 app users), best match first
- Budibase: $166.80/mo Monthly billing = annual rate +20% (computed) (Premium (cloud, 20K-action tier) with one extra creator and eight end-user add-ons.). It covers 94% of Appsmith; missing or partial: Granular permissions (partly), AI agents and LLM actions (partly). Free plan: Open Source edition is free to self-host with unlimited actions and no time limit; there is no free cloud plan, and the 14-day trial does not count.. Last price hike: Jun 2026.
- Retool: $80/mo Assumes query runs are unmetered (no cap shown) (Team plan, monthly billing: 2 builders at $12 and 8 internal users at $7 per user per month.). It covers 83% of Appsmith; missing or partial: Self-hosting (partly), Open-source edition. Free plan: Up to 5 users, unlimited web and mobile apps, 500 workflow runs and 250 AI credits a month, 5GB database.. Last price hike: Jul 2026.
Other kinds of products that cover part of Appsmith
- Lovable (AI app builders): covers 60% of Appsmith; missing or partial: Internal app builder (partly), Live SQL database connections (partly), Self-hosting, Open-source edition, Granular permissions (partly)
Prices at every size
- Appsmith: a 10-person team (2 builders, 8 app users) $150/mo, 1 builder $15/mo, a 50-person team (5 builders, 45 app users) $750/mo (Free caps at 5 cloud users; currency assumed USD)
- Budibase: a 10-person team (2 builders, 8 app users) $166.80/mo, 1 builder $22.80/mo, a 50-person team (5 builders, 45 app users) $604.80/mo (Monthly billing = annual rate +20% (computed))
- Retool: a 10-person team (2 builders, 8 app users) $80/mo, 1 builder $12/mo, a 50-person team (5 builders, 45 app users) $375/mo (Assumes query runs are unmetered (no cap shown))
Prices are total USD per month on monthly billing (annual-only plans divided by 12) for the vendor's hosted plan: a team where 2 people build apps and 8 use them (or 5 and 45), or one builder on the cheapest paid plan. A free plan counts as $0 only if it connects your PostgreSQL or MySQL database and shares apps privately with every user; free self-hosted open-source editions are not priced.
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Everything about Appsmith's own prices and price hikes: Appsmith.