Is Softr worth the price?
6/10
Softr pricing jumps sharply between tiers: Free ($0) to Basic ($49/month) to Professional ($139/month) to Business ($269/month).
The free tier is genuinely usable for MVPs (5,000 database records, 10 users, 1 custom domain) but the Basic plan at $49/month feels expensive for what you get — just 20 users and 50K records with no custom user groups. The real value starts at Professional ($139/month) where you get 100 users, 500K records, and advanced visibility settings.
For teams building internal tools or client portals, the user-count limits are the primary constraint. Extra users on Professional cost $10/month per 10 users — manageable but adds up.
The annual billing discount saves roughly 2 months, making it effectively $41/month on Basic.
Pricing Plans
Free
Free
- 1 published app
- 10 users
- 7 data sources
- Testing & MVPs
Basic
$59/month
- 3 apps
- 20 users
- Custom domain
- No Softr branding
Professional
$167/month
- 10 apps
- 50 users
- External API calls
- Advanced features
Business
$323/month
- Unlimited apps
- 500 users
- Enterprise features
- Priority support
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
User limits are the primary cost driver. Basic allows only 20 users — a small community or client portal outgrows this quickly. Professional allows 100 users with $10/month per 10 extra (up to 250). A 200-user app on Professional: $139 + $100 overage = $239/month
AI credits are limited per plan (5 on Free, 10 on Basic, 50 on Professional, 100 on Business) and additional credits cost $10-500 for 100-5,000 credits. If you rely on AI features for content generation or data processing, credit costs compound
Each additional custom domain costs $13/month. A multi-brand agency with 5 client domains: $52/month extra on top of the plan fee
Softr Workflow actions are capped
500 on Free, 2,500 on Basic, 10,000 on Professional, 25,000 on Business. Automation-heavy apps burn through these quickly — each form submission, email trigger, or data update counts as an action
Database record limits are hard caps
5,000 (Free), 50,000 (Basic), 500,000 (Professional), 1,000,000 (Business). Exceeding the limit requires upgrading to the next tier — there is no per-record overage option
Only default user groups on Free and Basic plans. Custom user groups (essential for role-based access in client portals) require Professional at $139/month — a steep jump from Basic at $49/month just for user group functionality
No SSO/SAML on any self-serve plan. SAML and OpenID require Enterprise (custom pricing). Compliance-sensitive organizations must negotiate Enterprise terms
The 30% nonprofit/education discount is generous but requires application and verification
Which Plan Do You Need?
Non-technical teams building client portals, membership sites, and internal tools from Airtable/Google Sheets data
Agencies creating white-labeled apps for clients with custom domains
Small businesses that need user authentication and role-based access without coding
MVPs and prototypes that need to go from spreadsheet to app in hours
Our Recommendation
startup
Professional ($139/month) is the realistic starting tier for most production apps. The 100-user limit and custom user groups cover early-stage client portals. Budget $1,400-2,000/year depending on user growth.
enterprise
Enterprise is required for SSO/SAML and SOC2. Negotiate based on user count and record volume. Compare total cost against Retool Business ($50/user/month) or custom-built solutions for apps exceeding 500 users.
freelancer
The free tier (10 users, 5K records) is enough to build and demo MVPs for clients. Upgrade to Basic ($49/month) when a client needs their own custom domain and no branding.
small Business
Business ($269/month) at 500 users handles mid-sized organizations. Watch workflow action limits (25,000/month) — automation-heavy apps may need Enterprise. Annual billing saves ~$540/year.
Team Cost Scenario
Team of 1, 12 months: Small business building a client portal with 80 users and 1 custom domain. Needs custom user groups (Professional required).
| ai Credits | ~$0 (50 included credits sufficient for light AI use) |
| extra Users | 0 (80 users within Professional 100-user limit) |
| extra Domains | 0 (1 domain included) |
| professional Plan | $139/month x 12 = $1,668 (or $1,390 annual) |
| Annual Total | $1,390 (annual billing) |
Overage & Usage Pricing
extra Users
$10/month per 10 users on Professional (up to 250 total)
ai Credits100
$10
ai Credits200
$20
ai Credits500
$50
extra Domains
$13/month per additional custom domain
ai Credits1000
$100
ai Credits2000
$200
ai Credits5000
$500
nonprofit Discount
30% off for nonprofits and educational institutions
Recent Pricing Changes
2025-2026
Softr introduced AI credits across all plans and added Softr Database as a native data source (previously Airtable/Google Sheets only). Workflow actions introduced with per-plan caps.
Pricing tiers restructured with explicit user, record, and action limits. Annual billing discount now saves roughly 2 months.
How Softr Compares to Competitors
Glide (Maker $25/month, Team $99/month, Business $249/month) targets a similar no-code market but with a more app-like mobile experience. Glide Team ($99/month) includes 20 users and unlimited apps — cheaper than Softr Professional ($139/month) for comparable user counts but with fewer records (Glide does not publish explicit record limits). Glide better for mobile-first apps; Softr better for web portals and membership sites.
Bubble (Free, Starter $29/month, Growth $119/month, Team $349/month) is a full no-code platform that can build far more complex applications. Bubble Growth ($119/month) offers more flexibility than Softr Professional ($139/month) but with a steeper learning curve and workload-unit billing that makes costs harder to predict. Bubble is better for complex custom apps; Softr is better for spreadsheet-to-portal conversions.
Retool (Free for 5 users, Team $10/user/month, Business $50/user/month) focuses on internal tools rather than customer-facing apps. For a 5-person team building internal dashboards: Retool Team costs $50/month vs Softr Basic at $49/month. Retool is more powerful for data-heavy internal tools with SQL/API integrations; Softr is better for external-facing portals built on Airtable or Google Sheets.
