Admin panels, back-office apps and CRUD interfaces on data you already own.
DronaHQ charges for activity, not headcount — unlimited users on every plan, metered at $0.002 a task. That inverts the internal-tools norm, and it makes the entry price misleading in both directions.
Appsmith is genuinely open source and free to self-host, and reviewers rate it highly. The commercial detail that decides your bill is that anyone added to a workspace counts as a billable user.
ToolJet's free self-hosted option is real, and its cloud free tier covers two builders. Above that, per-builder rates climb from $23 to $199 — an 8.6× escalation worth understanding.
Budibase Pro is $19 a month — until you add end users at $5 each and creators at $50 each. The free self-hosted open-source version is the honest bargain here.
UI Bakery's free plan gives unlimited developer seats. Its paid plans charge per developer. That inversion is the most important thing to understand before you upgrade.
Superblocks bundles 15 builders into a $100 plan — cheap per seat against Retool. The catches are one included hosted app at $10 for each extra, and a monthly GAU cap that sits oddly beside "unlimited end users."
Zite gives unlimited users and apps on every plan, including free — genuinely generous. The constraints are records and workflow runs. Note: Zite competes with Jet Admin, and we say so.
How to create a CRM on an existing database, API or spreadsheet: workflows, data model, backend logic, screens, permissions and testing, in build order.
Per-seat CRM pricing multiplies with headcount. Build a custom CRM instead: copy a template, migrate your Salesforce or HubSpot data, and pay nothing per user.
Three ways to turn a spreadsheet into an app, the six tools that do it, and what breaks in the move. With a straight answer on which fits which team.