Glide vs Softr vs Airtable vs Custom Build: Internal Tools

Updated September 2026

For an internal tool built from an Excel workbook, Glide is the fastest phone-first list app over a sheet. Softr is the best portal layer on top of Airtable. Airtable is the right database and interface layer if your team will live inside Airtable every day. A custom build wins when the tool runs a real process with rules and five or more users, and you want to own the result. As of September 2026, an AI-built custom app costs less than three years of seats on any of the three.

I build the software behind LlamaPress and I created Leonardo, our AI coding agent. Leonardo has converted more than 400 spreadsheets into working apps. Before that, I spent years pricing the same choice for small teams. The three no-code tools in this comparison are good products. I recommend each of them in the right situation below. I also say plainly where a custom build is the better deal, and where the custom build has its own limits.

What are Glide, Softr and Airtable, and what is a custom build?

The four options differ most in what they read as input. Glide reads a sheet, or its own hosted tables, and renders an app over it. Softr sits on top of Airtable, Google Sheets, or its own Softr Databases, and renders pages and portals. Airtable is the database itself, with an Interfaces layer for screens on top. A custom build is application code running on a real database, with the workbook as the blueprint.

Glide's current product is called GlideOS. Glide's pricing page describes GlideOS as a platform for building internal business apps from a spreadsheet, a prompt, or a file. Glide's Excel documentation states that workbooks can be uploaded directly or connected from OneDrive and SharePoint, and that Excel import works on any plan. Live sync with Excel needs a higher plan. Glide's documentation also caps spreadsheet data sources at 25,000 rows across all tables in an app.

Softr's documentation lists Airtable, Google Sheets, HubSpot, Notion, SQL databases and its own Softr Databases as data sources. Softr does not read an Excel workbook on your desktop. You import the workbook into one of those sources first. Airtable is the same. Airtable imports your workbook into a base, and the base becomes the live copy. From that point the workbook is history.

A custom build treats the workbook as a specification. The tabs become tables. The columns become fields. The formulas become rules in code. The result is a web app with logins that anyone can open in a browser. At LlamaPress, the output is a standard Ruby on Rails app on a PostgreSQL database, and the code lives in your own GitHub repository. Our page on the internal app builder that starts from your spreadsheet covers that approach in more depth.

How do Glide, Softr, Airtable and a custom build compare for an internal tool?

The table below is the short version. All prices are USD list prices as of this writing, September 2026, taken from each vendor's pricing page. Row limits and role tiers come from the vendors' own documentation.

Sources for the table: Glide's pricing page, Softr's pricing page and Airtable's pricing page, all read on 2 September 2026. Airtable's pricing page states that you are charged for every user with edit permission on at least one base, and that read-only collaborators cost nothing. That one rule decides most of the Airtable math below.

What does a 12-user order tracker cost over three years on each?

Take a common case. A six-tab order tracker in Excel: Orders, Customers, Products, Shipments, Status Log, and a Dashboard tab. Twelve people use it. Five sales reps enter orders. Four warehouse staff update statuses from the floor. Two people in accounting check invoicing. The owner reads the dashboard. Eleven of the twelve edit rows. The tracker holds about 4,000 orders a year, so 12,000 rows over three years.

The arithmetic below uses the September 2026 list prices from the table. Every line shows its inputs. Two of the four figures are floors, and I say which.

The gap with Airtable is the one that surprises people. Twelve editors on Airtable Team cost more over three years than a custom app you own outright. Softr comes closest on price, and Softr is a fair choice if the tracker is a portal with light rules. The difference between $3,636 and $2,791.64 is small. The difference in what you hold at the end is large. One route leaves you with a subscription. The other leaves you with code in your GitHub account and a database you can export. Our pricing page has the current hosted plans, and the spreadsheet replacement cost guide works through three more examples.

Which tool wins in which situation?

Each of the four has a home ground. The verdicts below are the ones I give people who email us with a workbook attached.

Glide wins for a phone-first list app over one sheet

Pick Glide when one tab is the whole tool and people need it on a phone today. A crew roster, a job list, an asset register with photos. Glide renders a list and a detail screen over that tab in an afternoon. Glide's Basic plan is $25 a month as of this writing. The limits arrive when the workbook has several related tabs and rules that cross them. Glide's spreadsheet sources also cap at 25,000 rows across all tables. Our page on the Glide alternative for apps that need a real database covers what happens after that cap.

Softr wins for a portal on top of Airtable

Pick Softr when the data already lives in Airtable and the missing piece is a clean front door. A client portal where each customer sees only their own orders. A staff directory. A resource library with logins. Softr's Pro plan adds custom role-based permissions at $99 a month and includes 10 team users and 50 client users. Softr's limits are the ones a portal rarely hits and a process often does. Multi-step rules, cross-table validations, and heavy workflow volume push against the monthly action meter. Softr also cannot export your app, so the portal lives on Softr for as long as you run it.

Airtable wins if the team will live inside Airtable

Pick Airtable when the people who run the process are happy to open Airtable all day. Airtable is a strong database with an Interfaces layer, and the Team plan holds 50,000 records per base. Airtable's Interface Designer is available on every plan. The catch is the seat model. Every person who edits pays $20 a month on annual billing, and an internal tool where nobody edits is rare. Airtable also has no per-row logic in code. Rules live in automations, which are metered by runs. Our page on the Airtable alternative for teams that need real software goes deeper on those walls.

A custom build wins when the workbook runs a process

Pick a custom build when the workbook holds a process with rules, and five or more people run it. The signs are easy to spot. An order cannot move to Shipped without a tracking number. Warehouse staff may change status and nothing else. Accounting needs every status change logged with a name and a time. The dashboard tab pulls from four other tabs with SUMIFS and lookups. Each of those is a rule, and rules are what code does well. In 2026 an AI coding agent can build that app from the workbook in days, with a human engineer reviewing every build. The steel contractor RSB had its estimating workbook rebuilt as a custom app in six weeks from kickoff to deployment. Estimates came out 62 percent faster, at 40 percent lower cost per estimate.

A custom build has its own limits, and you should hear them from the builder. The process needs to be stable. If the columns change every month, keep the workbook until they settle. A custom build also carries vendor risk. Ask any builder, including us, where the code lives and what happens if you stop paying. The right answer is a repository in your own GitHub account from day one and a database you can export on demand. A build is also slower than Glide for a one-tab list. If a list is all you need, use Glide.

Is your workbook the database or the process?

Ask one question before choosing any of the four. Is the workbook the database, or is the workbook the process? A database workbook is a flat list. One tab, one row per thing, a few lookup columns. Glide, Softr and Airtable all handle a database workbook well, and each is cheaper to set up than a custom build. A process workbook has status columns with rules and tabs that feed other tabs. The color codes mean "waiting on approval", and one person knows which cells never to touch. A process workbook is a specification for software, and software is the cheaper answer once several people run the process every day.

The count of users decides the rest. At two or three users, seat prices stay small and any of the three no-code tools is fine. At five users, the seats on Airtable already cost $1,200 a year. At twelve users, three years of seats cost more than a build you own. The roundup of Excel to web app converters covers the wider field, including AppSheet, Power Apps and Budibase.

How the workbook becomes the app

The build starts when you upload your workbook at /excel-to-app. Leonardo reads every tab, column, formula and validation rule. The Orders tab becomes an orders table with a status field and a rule that blocks Shipped without a tracking number. The Customers and Products tabs become their own tables, linked to orders. The SUMIFS on the Dashboard tab become a query. The color codes become named statuses with a log of who changed them and when.

You get a working web app with logins and roles, on a PostgreSQL database, in your own GitHub repository. A human engineer reviews every build. The upload is free, with no credit card. The step-by-step guide to converting an Excel spreadsheet to a web application walks through each stage, including what Leonardo asks when a formula is unclear.

Frequently Asked Questions

Glide vs Softr vs Airtable vs a custom build: which is best for an internal tool from Excel?

Glide is best for a phone-first list app over one sheet. Softr is best for a portal on top of Airtable data. Airtable is best when the team will work inside Airtable every day and accepts a per-editor price. A custom build is best when the workbook runs a process with rules and five or more users. In 2026 an AI-built app costs less than three years of seats.

Is Glide or Softr better for an internal tool?

Glide is better for a simple internal list that staff use on their phones, and Glide is faster to set up. Softr is better when the internal tool is a portal with logins, role-based pages, and data that already lives in Airtable. Neither Glide nor Softr lets you export the app, so both are rentals. For a process with rules, a custom build beats both.

Can Softr work without Airtable?

Yes. Softr's documentation lists its own Softr Databases, Google Sheets, HubSpot, Notion and SQL databases as data sources. Softr Databases hold 50,000 records on the Basic plan and 500,000 on Pro as of September 2026. Softr still does not read an Excel workbook directly, so you import the workbook into one of those sources first.

Does Glide work with Excel files?

Yes. Glide's documentation states that Excel workbooks can be uploaded directly or connected from OneDrive and SharePoint, and that Excel import works on any plan. Live sync with Excel requires a higher plan. Glide caps spreadsheet data sources at 25,000 rows across all tables in an app, so a large workbook needs Glide Big Tables instead.

How much do Glide, Softr and Airtable cost for 12 users?

As of September 2026, Airtable Team costs $20 per editor per month on annual billing. Twelve editors cost $240 a month, or $8,640 over three years. Softr Pro costs $99 a month for 10 team users, plus $1 a month per extra team user. Twelve users cost $101 a month, or $3,636 over three years. Glide prices GlideOS by team members plus credits and shows no per-user price. The Glide Pro plan with org-level roles starts at $125 a month, or $4,500 over three years as a floor.

When is a custom build cheaper than no-code?

A custom build is cheaper than no-code when the seat count and the years add up to more than the build. For 12 users over three years, Airtable Team seats cost $8,640. A LlamaPress build sprint plus Pro hosting starts at $2,791.64, with no seat fees. The crossover comes sooner when the tool needs roles and rules, because those features sit on the higher no-code tiers. The custom build also leaves you owning the code.