17 ms·

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

208 points by codechoir 6y ago

I'm currently looking for a solution to provide (non-technical) team members with a way to interact with a SQL database (MySQL at the moment; PostgreSQL in the future). Basically, I want/need to build several very simple web-based CRUD-forms. Does anyone remember MS Access... While my initial thought was to build a simple Django application, I'd prefer something non-developers could also work with. -> Low-/No-Code Solution While I'm generally willing to pay, I'd really prefer an open and self-hosted solution.

heycesr 6y ago
Not open source nor self-hosted AFAIK, but it sounds like you're looking for something like Retool (https://retool.com https://retool.com)
- IngoK 6y ago
  I've never worked with it myself, but Appsmith (appsmith.com) seems like a promising alternative to Retool.
ngauje 6y ago
I've tested Appsmith: https://www.appsmith.com/ 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.
- pickle-wizard 6y ago
  Hey thanks for mentioning this. I have been looking for something like Cisco Prime Service Catalog, but cheaper and easier to use. This looks to fit the bill. I just set it up this morning in my homelab, and it was very simple to set up.
patrr 6y ago
Xataface (https://github.com/shannah/xataface https://github.com/shannah/xataface) Open source, currently MySQL only, very easy to use
bram2w 6y ago
You might want to take a look at Baserow (https://baserow.io 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 https://gitlab.com/bramw/baserow. It is build in Django and Vue.js.
znpy 6y ago
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.
xupybd 6y ago
I'm keen to find out as well. I asked a similar question a while back. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22091012 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22091012
glutamate 6y ago
I'm working on an open source solution: Saltcorn (https://saltcorn.com 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.
- glimmung 6y ago
  Thanks for mentioning this - new to me, and looks very, very promising. There goes my weekend... ;-)
- glimmung 5y ago
  I've been very impressed by Saltcorn. It's a very well thought out and elegantly implemented tool, well worth a proper look - I'm looking forward to using it in earnest.
dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago
Laravel Voyager: https://voyager.devdojo.com/ https://voyager.devdojo.com/
bizzleDawg 6y ago
Someone mentioned https://directus.io/ 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.
- cfontes 6y ago
  This looks great, I need to build a customer request management system for our construction company, it's basically a CRUD and this looks like a perfect fit. Thanks for sharing.
  - Lunrtick 6y ago
    I'm interested to hear how you find it - I looked at it to manage some parts of an already existing system (postgres + sqlalchemy) and there are some quirks. It doesn't automatically detect foreign keys and make the fields for them correctly. Furthermore, it seems like they don't even use foreign keys for the models created through their UI - I checked the github issues, it seems like all of this is planned but work on it seems to have just started.
  - sethjgore 6y ago
    I would not reccomend directus. Ive used it for a project and it always is buggy and SLOOOOWWWWW. It looks like a candy of a database manager but it’s not. Plenty of features missing.
    - bizzleDawg 6y ago
      Interesting! was that before or after the rewrite in nodejs? Looks like they released the rewrite in November '20.
      - sethjgore 5y ago
        Before.
arey_abhishek 6y ago
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 https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith
- karlhughes 6y ago
  I was just going to mention Appsmith. Great tool!
- Dwolb 6y ago
  Appsmith looks incredible thank you for sharing.
- codechoir 6y ago
  I've just looked into Appsmith and it seems like a fantastic solution! Thanks! :)
- tluyben2 6y ago
  We also like appsmith quite a bit: it is simple and just works.
- algo_trader 6y ago
  It looks great. So impressive. I am going through the "Create Standup Application" tutorial. Did u use a specific library to add the hints/popups or is it all manually patched in?
  - arey_abhishek 6y ago
    Thanks! We built it custom because we needed some specific interactions. You can find the code here: https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/tree/release/app/client/src/components/editorComponents/Onboarding https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/tree/release/app/cli...
  - akash_cm 6y ago
Nilef 6y ago
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://nocode.tech/category/internal-tools https://www.nocode.tech/category/app-builders https://www.nocode.tech/category/app-builders Lists include both SaaS and self-hosted options
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- pdimitar 6y ago
  Useful collections, thank you.
bierjunge 6y ago
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.
- ruslan_talpa 6y ago
  And you can have the postgrest api up and running with https://subzero.cloud/ https://subzero.cloud/ you just bring your own db that you control
  - ruslan_talpa 6y ago
    And even the frontend is probably already written for the use-case that you have https://github.com/priyank-purohit/PostGUI https://github.com/priyank-purohit/PostGUI “ A React web application to query and share any PostgreSQL database”
balu 6y ago
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 https://ninox.com/de
yodon 6y ago
PowerApps [0] is a surprisingly powerful and flexible low code app builder (that can connect to MySQL, etc.) [0] https://powerapps.microsoft.com/ https://powerapps.microsoft.com/
- nice__two 6y ago
  I second PowerApps. There’s a to user-friendly tutorials out there and their programming model is based on concepts similar to Excel. It should be fairly easy to pick up for end users. But only if you don’t use denormalized tables. If your DB is in 2/3NF you’ll run into issues, e.g. the ever so useful DataTable cannot update data across table. Also, there’s a pretty significant hard limit on 500 rows. PowerApps is a great tool, but be aware of its limitations and see if that works for you.
oneplane 6y ago
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.
- benjaminjosephw 6y ago
  > if you truly want a 'low-code/no-code' thing, you're stuck with no-logic no-interaction software I think this used to be the case but the landscape is changing quickly. Deepnote[0], for example, looks like a really interesting programming interface that's not quite traditional programming and lowers the barrier to entry significantly and is (arguably) in the low-code space. Low-code products for data engineering show that we're not too far away from these sorts of solutions in a more generalized offering. Spreadsheets aren't the only answer. [0] - https://deepnote.com/ https://deepnote.com/
  - sidlls 6y ago
    The landing page does not show a low/no code solution. It shows what is effectively a (possibly) more sophisticated IDE wrapping a Jupyter notebook. One might try to argue it's low code, but if their landing page is showing something that isn't low code, I have doubts. I think better examples might be Databricks, Tecton, H20.ai, or Domino Data Lab. These aim to provide "drag-n-drop"/no-code implementations for the "boring" infrastructure related work in most typical data engineering/analytics applications, while offering a set of tools for more sophisticated uses (e.g. the ability to supply one's own python functions for ayptical or custom data engineering). Even these fall short, in my view: they're more like platforms on which to build a data science/ML infrastructure--which requires a substantial amount of engineering effort.
  - 5y ago
sixhobbits 6y ago
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
peytoncasper 6y ago
I’ve tried Retool in the past. Really enjoyed it. https://retool.com https://retool.com
- bored_hacker 6y ago
  +1 on retool, my company uses retool extensively to build out admin tools for our operations and CX teams. It's incredibly straightforward and easy to hook it up directly to DB's for reading, as well as other query/requests. Coming from building admin tools in ruby on rails previously, this is incredibly easy and straightforward. If I have the money to pay for retool I don't think I would choose another tool in the future It's even possible to host it yourself which allows highly regulated industries to use it.
  - chenster 6y ago
    For those who already familiar with the SQL, Retool is pretty cool.
- JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago
  Is Retool usable enough for non-technical people? "It's easy, just wire it up to your REST service" may be scary for non-technical people. Maybe the persona isn't well-defined enough. They're somewhat technical, but don't code. Spending over a decade programming makes it extremely difficult to reason about the the precise level of "okay, I can do this" from a semi-technical perspective.
  - peytoncasper 6y ago
    I think that is a fair concern. I would say that it does take some learning/training. If you're going to hook it up to a SQL DB or a REST interface then you have to know what a GET request is or the connection credentials. However, once the data is wired up, getting it wired to the various components was pretty straight forward.
davnicwil 6y ago
You should check out Stacker: https://stackerhq.com 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.
- biztos 6y ago
  Wasn’t the asker’s goal a front-end to Postgres? Your product looks interesting but I don’t see how it fits the requirements here.
  - davnicwil 6y ago
    Thanks, yeah you're totally right, but worth mentioning if OP had never considered backing an app with a spreadsheet. It's a really powerful option for non developers to manage data without having to use SQL / a PG client etc.
    - codechoir 6y ago
      Unfortunately, for the current project(s) I have to work with existing DBs. That said, your product looks great for the use case!
shireboy 6y ago
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.
- devoutsalsa 6y ago
  I’ve had a similar experience trying to fix up the code of someone who learned enough to code up some CRUD pages. They got some basic Rails working, and wanted me to take over. I spent a week fixing shit HTML so I could possibly take a stab at fixing the CSS. After about a week I couldn’t take it anymore.
- Closi 6y ago
  The interface between Microsoft PowerApps and Microsoft Dynamics for example seems to make sense to me - that these low-code solutions can be used to augment an existing (cloud-based) ERP with new forms/capability that wouldn't otherwise be practical. It seems to be a case of 'right-tool-right-job' rather than a blanket rule that no-code is good/bad. I actually think no-code is incredibly powerful when applied by the right person to the correct problem, and will run circles around a custom-developed app in terms of cost, time and flexibility. If you apply it to the wrong problem then of course you aren't going to get the same outcome, like with any technology. I think the mistake people often make is thinking that no-code aims to eliminate all-code, but like any development tool it just fits a certain niche well.
  - patentatt 6y ago
    I use no-code and low-code tools daily to spin up simple things that are long-term maintainable. I can write real code, but the speed of cranking out these low/no-code sites is unmatchable. Is it frustrating at times? Sure. But like you say, when it’s the right tool for the right job it can be a good idea. We don’t have any truly ‘non-technical’ folks touch any of it though, at worst it’s someone who is basically a self-taught programmer who has a good conceptual understanding of things but may not be able to wrangle the syntax of a traditional programming environment.
ReDeiPirati 6y ago
> 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 https://github.com/metabase/metabase
- hakanensari 6y ago
  Metabase is great for querying and visualising your data but won’t help you collect input like Google Forms, which sounds like what the OP is after.
  - codechoir 6y ago
    Thanks for pointing Metabase out. Unfortunately, while great for analytics, I'm really more focused on data input.
  - ReDeiPirati 6y ago
    yeah, you are totally right, I somehow skipped the CRUD-form requirement.
    - vram22 6y ago
      CRUD is basic to low-code / no-code solutions. It is almost the point of their existence. Because for more complex / custom stuff, coded solutions anyway exist and are more powerful and flexible, though at cost of more time and money.
ignoramous 6y ago
hasura.io was built at 34 Cross to solve some very similar issues you've outlined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasura#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasura#History That aside, here are some lesser known low-code data-frontends: https://www.basedash.com/ https://www.basedash.com/ (mysql) https://www.stackerhq.com/ https://www.stackerhq.com/ (airtable) https://www.glideapps.com/ https://www.glideapps.com/ (sheets)
redis_mlc 6y ago
For perl programmers, you want CGI::FormBuilder: https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder
adamhp 6y ago
Have you looked at Retool? Pretty sure this is the exact use case they built it for.
rajandatta 6y ago
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.
- klabetron 6y ago
  They’re no longer owned by Intuit and as a daily user of Quick Base I can emphatically say: avoid it. They’ve focused on cosmetic improvements over the last few years rather than any structural UX changes (or bug fixes). 5 years ago? Yea, give them a try. But no more.
jeffasinger 6y ago
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.
- Closi 6y ago
  This is definitely the correct approach! This will take a few minutes to implement and be significantly more stable and full-featured than any low/no-code solution.
  - cpach 6y ago
    Interesting! It would be awesome if anyone would want to expand on this advice (^_^) How does one get started with Django Admin? Would this tutorial be a good start? https://first-django-admin.readthedocs.io/ https://first-django-admin.readthedocs.io/
    - StavrosK 6y ago
      That seems reasonable, though it looks like it's a few years old by now. You can use my project template, it comes with the admin enabled out of the box: https://github.com/skorokithakis/django-project-template https://github.com/skorokithakis/django-project-template You just install that, add the TODOs that it says, and then run it with "./manage.py migrate; ./manage.py createsuperuser; ./manage.py runserver", and that's about it.
      - cpach 6y ago
        I took a quick look at the README and this looks like a great resource. Docker-readiness is a nice touch. I should definitely find some time for trying this out. Thank you for the advice, Stavros!
        StavrosK 6y ago
square_usual 6y ago
If you're not married to your database, you can use Google Sheets + Google Forms. Easy CRUD for non-technical people.
- xnx 6y ago
  That combination is good for a lot of things but can it do anything more than create?
austincheney 6y ago
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.
Tabular-Iceberg 6y ago
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.
gervwyk 6y ago
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 https://lowdefy.com
- gervwyk 6y ago
  Since you are creating all apps in readable YAML format, it is easy to version control or review changes which others has made. This is really helpful when you want less technical members of the team to contribute. Also it seamlessly integrate with existing CI tools and you can use your favourite text editor to create apps, develop templates. Since the Lowdefy apps is purely defined as JSON, or YAML, you can easily write scripts to mange and maintain multiple or larger applications. For example this is how we generate the Lowdefy docs form json-schema definitions.
- codechoir 6y ago
  I love Lowdefy (I've seen it a couple week back here on HN) but I have dismissed it given that there's no SQL connector right now. It's great to hear that you're working on that!
  - gervwyk 6y ago
    Thanks! Glad you love it :) SQL support and inline JS is next on the roadmap, and actually mostly implemented, we're busy documenting and doing more testing. So we are really excited to ship it soon! We also implemented OpenID Connect support so you can "bring your own" auth service. Will be making a post again when these new features ship in the very near future. Hope you give it a shot! And let us know if we can help!
cbm-vic-20 6y ago
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://oracle.com/cloud/free/ https://apex.oracle.com https://apex.oracle.com
- larodi 6y ago
  funny... as nothing is ever really free with Oracle. APEX was created to replace Forms, which really proved itself as stable technology with some apps having a 30 years lifespan now (code quality and performance aside). but APEX has not even neared Forms in terms of speed of dev. fortunately or not - Forms is so-90-ies and quite discontinued. ...should you mention APEX, then perhaps you should also note MS Access as is pretty much the same.
hypermachine 6y ago
We are currently working on a VBA for the web. Stay tuned. https://hypermachine.substack.com https://hypermachine.substack.com
cultyyy123 6y ago
Outsystems
datatrucker 6y ago
Here is a product https://www.datatrucker.io/ https://www.datatrucker.io/ which is free and opensource
- datatrucker 6y ago
  This is a code free api builder and operationalization product
  - datatrucker 6y ago
    and it is completely disconnected from the internet localized to the vm its deployed in .and on your hosted linux box
mritchie712 6y ago
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 https://doc.seekwell.io/forms 1 - https://doc.seekwell.io/syncsheet https://doc.seekwell.io/syncsheet
hardwaresofton 6y ago
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 https://github.com/strapi/strapi) - Directus (https://github.com/directus/directus https://github.com/directus/directus) - React Admin (https://github.com/marmelab/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 https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms)
tootie 6y ago
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.
intrasight 6y ago
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.
jarym 6y ago
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).
epberry 6y ago
Tryout https://arctype.com 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.
ecesena 6y ago
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.
- ducharmdev 6y ago
  That's kinda where my mind went - even though it's not as exciting to a developer, that'd be a lot more accessible for non-technical people. Worst-case scenario, if you need a more fully-fledged app down the road, you could write a small script to import the .csv into a database.
  - codechoir 6y ago
    I'd love to go that route - unfortunately the DB is already set in stone (long before I ever thought about it).
xet7 6y ago
https://www.nubuilder.com/ https://www.nubuilder.com/
chenster 6y ago
You should check out ZenBase https://getzenbase.com 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.
- mritchie712 6y ago
  Founder of SeekWell here, thanks for the mention. We 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 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 https://doc.seekwell.io/forms 1 - https://doc.seekwell.io/syncsheet https://doc.seekwell.io/syncsheet
hemmert 6y ago
Noodl! https://www.noodl.net/ https://www.noodl.net/ Highly visual, great for people who have difficulties finding curly braces and the semicolon on their keyboards ;)
- hemmert 6y ago
  (It also has DB integration!)
rattray 6y ago
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 https://bubble.io
- rattray 6y ago
  Also surprised nobody's mentioned Google AppSheet: https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app Haven't used it myself either, but have also heard good things.
shivam-dev 6y ago
You can give https://frappeframework.com 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 https://frappecloud.com Full Disclosure: I worked at Frappe for the last 2 years
- anaganisk 6y ago
  Frappe feels too heavy to get started. Ive tried it out few times over years. The flow seems very confusing for me to get started.
_nhh 6y ago
CouchDB + PouchDB
nafey 6y ago
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/ 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.
maxmusing 6y ago
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 https://www.basedash.com
peterthehacker 6y ago
Have you looked at TablePlus? https://tableplus.com/ 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.
skadamat 6y ago
I'm a committer to the Apache Superset project (http://superset.apache.org/ http://superset.apache.org/), which can talk to any SQL speaking database through SQLAlchemy: https://superset.apache.org/docs/databases/installing-database-drivers 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/ https://preset.io/blog/2021-01-18-superset-1-0/)
edsancha 6y ago
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Forest Admin (https://www.forestadmin.com/ https://www.forestadmin.com/). They have a free tier that would work on simple scenarios.
clouduserX 6y ago
nubuilder.com - it's free, open source and actively developed.
codechoir 6y ago
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 http://superset.apache.org https://adsharma.github.io/flattools-programs/ https://adsharma.github.io/flattools-programs/ https://adsharma.github.io/fquery/ https://adsharma.github.io/fquery/ https://apex.oracle.com https://apex.oracle.com https://app.spanrr.com https://app.spanrr.com https://arctype.com https://arctype.com https://baserow.io https://baserow.io https://bubble.io https://bubble.io https://deepnote.com https://deepnote.com https://directus.io https://directus.io https://django-sql-explorer.readthedocs.io https://django-sql-explorer.readthedocs.io https://doc.seekwell.io https://doc.seekwell.io https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/intro/tutorial02 https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/intro/tutorial02 https://first-django-admin.readthedocs.io/ https://first-django-admin.readthedocs.io/ https://frappeframework.com https://frappeframework.com https://getzenbase.com https://getzenbase.com https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith https://github.com/directus/directus https://github.com/directus/directus https://github.com/marmelab/react-admin https://github.com/marmelab/react-admin https://github.com/metabase/metabase https://github.com/metabase/metabase https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms https://github.com/oxan/djangorestframework-dataclasses https://github.com/oxan/djangorestframework-dataclasses https://github.com/priyank-purohit/PostGUI https://github.com/priyank-purohit/PostGUI https://github.com/shannah/xataface https://github.com/shannah/xataface https://github.com/skorokithakis/django-project-template https://github.com/skorokithakis/django-project-template https://github.com/strapi/strapi https://github.com/strapi/strapi https://hypermachine.substack.com https://hypermachine.substack.com https://lowdefy.com https://lowdefy.com https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder https://ninox.com/de https://ninox.com/de https://powerapps.microsoft.com https://powerapps.microsoft.com https://retool.com https://retool.com https://saltcorn.com https://saltcorn.com https://seekwell.io https://seekwell.io https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app https://stackerhq.com https://stackerhq.com https://subzero.cloud/ https://subzero.cloud/ https://tableplus.com/ https://tableplus.com/ https://voyager.devdojo.com/ https://voyager.devdojo.com/ https://www.appsmith.com/ https://www.appsmith.com/ https://www.basedash.com https://www.basedash.com https://www.datatrucker.io/ https://www.datatrucker.io/ https://www.forestadmin.com https://www.forestadmin.com https://www.glideapps.com/ https://www.glideapps.com/ https://www.noodl.net/ https://www.noodl.net/ https://www.nubuilder.com/ https://www.nubuilder.com/ https://www.stackerhq.com/ https://www.stackerhq.com/ https://nocode.tech https://nocode.tech
obviouslynotme 6y ago
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.
bunkertor 6y ago
https://nifi.apache.org/ https://nifi.apache.org/
Folasade21 6y ago
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.
d--b 5y ago
My tool (https://www.jigdev.com https://www.jigdev.com) doesn’t support MySql yet, but I am working on it. Looking for feedback.

208 points by codechoir 6y ago

heycesr 6y ago

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

IngoK 6y ago
I've never worked with it myself, but Appsmith (appsmith.com) seems like a promising alternative to Retool.

ngauje 6y ago

I've tested Appsmith: https://www.appsmith.com/ 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.

pickle-wizard 6y ago
Hey thanks for mentioning this. I have been looking for something like Cisco Prime Service Catalog, but cheaper and easier to use. This looks to fit the bill. I just set it up this morning in my homelab, and it was very simple to set up.

patrr 6y ago

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

bram2w 6y ago

You might want to take a look at Baserow (https://baserow.io 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 https://gitlab.com/bramw/baserow. It is build in Django and Vue.js.

znpy 6y ago

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.

xupybd 6y ago

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

glutamate 6y ago

I'm working on an open source solution: Saltcorn (https://saltcorn.com 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.

glimmung 6y ago
Thanks for mentioning this - new to me, and looks very, very promising. There goes my weekend... ;-)
glimmung 5y ago
I've been very impressed by Saltcorn. It's a very well thought out and elegantly implemented tool, well worth a proper look - I'm looking forward to using it in earnest.

dvfjsdhgfv 6y ago

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

bizzleDawg 6y ago

Someone mentioned https://directus.io/ 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.

cfontes 6y ago
This looks great, I need to build a customer request management system for our construction company, it's basically a CRUD and this looks like a perfect fit. Thanks for sharing.
- Lunrtick 6y ago
  I'm interested to hear how you find it - I looked at it to manage some parts of an already existing system (postgres + sqlalchemy) and there are some quirks. It doesn't automatically detect foreign keys and make the fields for them correctly. Furthermore, it seems like they don't even use foreign keys for the models created through their UI - I checked the github issues, it seems like all of this is planned but work on it seems to have just started.
- sethjgore 6y ago
  I would not reccomend directus. Ive used it for a project and it always is buggy and SLOOOOWWWWW. It looks like a candy of a database manager but it’s not. Plenty of features missing.
  - bizzleDawg 6y ago
    Interesting! was that before or after the rewrite in nodejs? Looks like they released the rewrite in November '20.
    - sethjgore 5y ago
      Before.

arey_abhishek 6y ago

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 https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith

karlhughes 6y ago
I was just going to mention Appsmith. Great tool!
Dwolb 6y ago
Appsmith looks incredible thank you for sharing.
codechoir 6y ago
I've just looked into Appsmith and it seems like a fantastic solution! Thanks! :)
tluyben2 6y ago
We also like appsmith quite a bit: it is simple and just works.
algo_trader 6y ago
It looks great. So impressive. I am going through the "Create Standup Application" tutorial. Did u use a specific library to add the hints/popups or is it all manually patched in?
- arey_abhishek 6y ago
  Thanks! We built it custom because we needed some specific interactions. You can find the code here: https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/tree/release/app/client/src/components/editorComponents/Onboarding https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/tree/release/app/cli...
- akash_cm 6y ago

Nilef 6y ago

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://nocode.tech/category/internal-tools https://www.nocode.tech/category/app-builders https://www.nocode.tech/category/app-builders Lists include both SaaS and self-hosted options

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
pdimitar 6y ago
Useful collections, thank you.

bierjunge 6y ago

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.

ruslan_talpa 6y ago
And you can have the postgrest api up and running with https://subzero.cloud/ https://subzero.cloud/ you just bring your own db that you control
- ruslan_talpa 6y ago
  And even the frontend is probably already written for the use-case that you have https://github.com/priyank-purohit/PostGUI https://github.com/priyank-purohit/PostGUI “ A React web application to query and share any PostgreSQL database”

balu 6y ago

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 https://ninox.com/de

yodon 6y ago

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

nice__two 6y ago
I second PowerApps. There’s a to user-friendly tutorials out there and their programming model is based on concepts similar to Excel. It should be fairly easy to pick up for end users. But only if you don’t use denormalized tables. If your DB is in 2/3NF you’ll run into issues, e.g. the ever so useful DataTable cannot update data across table. Also, there’s a pretty significant hard limit on 500 rows. PowerApps is a great tool, but be aware of its limitations and see if that works for you.

oneplane 6y ago

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.

benjaminjosephw 6y ago
> if you truly want a 'low-code/no-code' thing, you're stuck with no-logic no-interaction software I think this used to be the case but the landscape is changing quickly. Deepnote[0], for example, looks like a really interesting programming interface that's not quite traditional programming and lowers the barrier to entry significantly and is (arguably) in the low-code space. Low-code products for data engineering show that we're not too far away from these sorts of solutions in a more generalized offering. Spreadsheets aren't the only answer. [0] - https://deepnote.com/ https://deepnote.com/
- sidlls 6y ago
  The landing page does not show a low/no code solution. It shows what is effectively a (possibly) more sophisticated IDE wrapping a Jupyter notebook. One might try to argue it's low code, but if their landing page is showing something that isn't low code, I have doubts. I think better examples might be Databricks, Tecton, H20.ai, or Domino Data Lab. These aim to provide "drag-n-drop"/no-code implementations for the "boring" infrastructure related work in most typical data engineering/analytics applications, while offering a set of tools for more sophisticated uses (e.g. the ability to supply one's own python functions for ayptical or custom data engineering). Even these fall short, in my view: they're more like platforms on which to build a data science/ML infrastructure--which requires a substantial amount of engineering effort.
- 5y ago

sixhobbits 6y ago

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

peytoncasper 6y ago

I’ve tried Retool in the past. Really enjoyed it. https://retool.com https://retool.com

bored_hacker 6y ago
+1 on retool, my company uses retool extensively to build out admin tools for our operations and CX teams. It's incredibly straightforward and easy to hook it up directly to DB's for reading, as well as other query/requests. Coming from building admin tools in ruby on rails previously, this is incredibly easy and straightforward. If I have the money to pay for retool I don't think I would choose another tool in the future It's even possible to host it yourself which allows highly regulated industries to use it.
- chenster 6y ago
  For those who already familiar with the SQL, Retool is pretty cool.
JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago
Is Retool usable enough for non-technical people? "It's easy, just wire it up to your REST service" may be scary for non-technical people. Maybe the persona isn't well-defined enough. They're somewhat technical, but don't code. Spending over a decade programming makes it extremely difficult to reason about the the precise level of "okay, I can do this" from a semi-technical perspective.
- peytoncasper 6y ago
  I think that is a fair concern. I would say that it does take some learning/training. If you're going to hook it up to a SQL DB or a REST interface then you have to know what a GET request is or the connection credentials. However, once the data is wired up, getting it wired to the various components was pretty straight forward.

davnicwil 6y ago

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

biztos 6y ago
Wasn’t the asker’s goal a front-end to Postgres? Your product looks interesting but I don’t see how it fits the requirements here.
- davnicwil 6y ago
  Thanks, yeah you're totally right, but worth mentioning if OP had never considered backing an app with a spreadsheet. It's a really powerful option for non developers to manage data without having to use SQL / a PG client etc.
  - codechoir 6y ago
    Unfortunately, for the current project(s) I have to work with existing DBs. That said, your product looks great for the use case!

shireboy 6y ago

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.

devoutsalsa 6y ago
I’ve had a similar experience trying to fix up the code of someone who learned enough to code up some CRUD pages. They got some basic Rails working, and wanted me to take over. I spent a week fixing shit HTML so I could possibly take a stab at fixing the CSS. After about a week I couldn’t take it anymore.
Closi 6y ago
The interface between Microsoft PowerApps and Microsoft Dynamics for example seems to make sense to me - that these low-code solutions can be used to augment an existing (cloud-based) ERP with new forms/capability that wouldn't otherwise be practical. It seems to be a case of 'right-tool-right-job' rather than a blanket rule that no-code is good/bad. I actually think no-code is incredibly powerful when applied by the right person to the correct problem, and will run circles around a custom-developed app in terms of cost, time and flexibility. If you apply it to the wrong problem then of course you aren't going to get the same outcome, like with any technology. I think the mistake people often make is thinking that no-code aims to eliminate all-code, but like any development tool it just fits a certain niche well.
- patentatt 6y ago
  I use no-code and low-code tools daily to spin up simple things that are long-term maintainable. I can write real code, but the speed of cranking out these low/no-code sites is unmatchable. Is it frustrating at times? Sure. But like you say, when it’s the right tool for the right job it can be a good idea. We don’t have any truly ‘non-technical’ folks touch any of it though, at worst it’s someone who is basically a self-taught programmer who has a good conceptual understanding of things but may not be able to wrangle the syntax of a traditional programming environment.

ReDeiPirati 6y ago

> 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 https://github.com/metabase/metabase

hakanensari 6y ago
Metabase is great for querying and visualising your data but won’t help you collect input like Google Forms, which sounds like what the OP is after.
- codechoir 6y ago
  Thanks for pointing Metabase out. Unfortunately, while great for analytics, I'm really more focused on data input.
- ReDeiPirati 6y ago
  yeah, you are totally right, I somehow skipped the CRUD-form requirement.
  - vram22 6y ago
    CRUD is basic to low-code / no-code solutions. It is almost the point of their existence. Because for more complex / custom stuff, coded solutions anyway exist and are more powerful and flexible, though at cost of more time and money.

ignoramous 6y ago

hasura.io was built at 34 Cross to solve some very similar issues you've outlined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasura#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasura#History That aside, here are some lesser known low-code data-frontends: https://www.basedash.com/ https://www.basedash.com/ (mysql) https://www.stackerhq.com/ https://www.stackerhq.com/ (airtable) https://www.glideapps.com/ https://www.glideapps.com/ (sheets)

redis_mlc 6y ago

For perl programmers, you want CGI::FormBuilder: https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder

adamhp 6y ago

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

rajandatta 6y ago

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.

klabetron 6y ago
They’re no longer owned by Intuit and as a daily user of Quick Base I can emphatically say: avoid it. They’ve focused on cosmetic improvements over the last few years rather than any structural UX changes (or bug fixes). 5 years ago? Yea, give them a try. But no more.

jeffasinger 6y ago

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.

Closi 6y ago
This is definitely the correct approach! This will take a few minutes to implement and be significantly more stable and full-featured than any low/no-code solution.
- cpach 6y ago
  Interesting! It would be awesome if anyone would want to expand on this advice (^_^) How does one get started with Django Admin? Would this tutorial be a good start? https://first-django-admin.readthedocs.io/ https://first-django-admin.readthedocs.io/
  - StavrosK 6y ago
    That seems reasonable, though it looks like it's a few years old by now. You can use my project template, it comes with the admin enabled out of the box: https://github.com/skorokithakis/django-project-template https://github.com/skorokithakis/django-project-template You just install that, add the TODOs that it says, and then run it with "./manage.py migrate; ./manage.py createsuperuser; ./manage.py runserver", and that's about it.
    - cpach 6y ago
      I took a quick look at the README and this looks like a great resource. Docker-readiness is a nice touch. I should definitely find some time for trying this out. Thank you for the advice, Stavros!
      - StavrosK 6y ago

square_usual 6y ago

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

xnx 6y ago
That combination is good for a lot of things but can it do anything more than create?

austincheney 6y ago

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.

Tabular-Iceberg 6y ago

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.

gervwyk 6y ago

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 https://lowdefy.com

gervwyk 6y ago
Since you are creating all apps in readable YAML format, it is easy to version control or review changes which others has made. This is really helpful when you want less technical members of the team to contribute. Also it seamlessly integrate with existing CI tools and you can use your favourite text editor to create apps, develop templates. Since the Lowdefy apps is purely defined as JSON, or YAML, you can easily write scripts to mange and maintain multiple or larger applications. For example this is how we generate the Lowdefy docs form json-schema definitions.
codechoir 6y ago
I love Lowdefy (I've seen it a couple week back here on HN) but I have dismissed it given that there's no SQL connector right now. It's great to hear that you're working on that!
- gervwyk 6y ago
  Thanks! Glad you love it :) SQL support and inline JS is next on the roadmap, and actually mostly implemented, we're busy documenting and doing more testing. So we are really excited to ship it soon! We also implemented OpenID Connect support so you can "bring your own" auth service. Will be making a post again when these new features ship in the very near future. Hope you give it a shot! And let us know if we can help!

cbm-vic-20 6y ago

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

larodi 6y ago
funny... as nothing is ever really free with Oracle. APEX was created to replace Forms, which really proved itself as stable technology with some apps having a 30 years lifespan now (code quality and performance aside). but APEX has not even neared Forms in terms of speed of dev. fortunately or not - Forms is so-90-ies and quite discontinued. ...should you mention APEX, then perhaps you should also note MS Access as is pretty much the same.

hypermachine 6y ago

We are currently working on a VBA for the web. Stay tuned. https://hypermachine.substack.com https://hypermachine.substack.com

cultyyy123 6y ago

Outsystems

datatrucker 6y ago

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

datatrucker 6y ago
This is a code free api builder and operationalization product
- datatrucker 6y ago
  and it is completely disconnected from the internet localized to the vm its deployed in .and on your hosted linux box

mritchie712 6y ago

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

hardwaresofton 6y ago

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 https://github.com/strapi/strapi) - Directus (https://github.com/directus/directus https://github.com/directus/directus) - React Admin (https://github.com/marmelab/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 https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms)

tootie 6y ago

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.

intrasight 6y ago

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.

jarym 6y ago

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).

epberry 6y ago

Tryout https://arctype.com 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.

ecesena 6y ago

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.

ducharmdev 6y ago
That's kinda where my mind went - even though it's not as exciting to a developer, that'd be a lot more accessible for non-technical people. Worst-case scenario, if you need a more fully-fledged app down the road, you could write a small script to import the .csv into a database.
- codechoir 6y ago
  I'd love to go that route - unfortunately the DB is already set in stone (long before I ever thought about it).

xet7 6y ago

https://www.nubuilder.com/ https://www.nubuilder.com/

chenster 6y ago

You should check out ZenBase https://getzenbase.com 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.

mritchie712 6y ago
Founder of SeekWell here, thanks for the mention. We 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 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 https://doc.seekwell.io/forms 1 - https://doc.seekwell.io/syncsheet https://doc.seekwell.io/syncsheet

hemmert 6y ago

Noodl! https://www.noodl.net/ https://www.noodl.net/ Highly visual, great for people who have difficulties finding curly braces and the semicolon on their keyboards ;)

hemmert 6y ago
(It also has DB integration!)

rattray 6y ago

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 https://bubble.io

rattray 6y ago
Also surprised nobody's mentioned Google AppSheet: https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app Haven't used it myself either, but have also heard good things.

shivam-dev 6y ago

You can give https://frappeframework.com 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 https://frappecloud.com Full Disclosure: I worked at Frappe for the last 2 years

anaganisk 6y ago
Frappe feels too heavy to get started. Ive tried it out few times over years. The flow seems very confusing for me to get started.

_nhh 6y ago

CouchDB + PouchDB

nafey 6y ago

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/ 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.

maxmusing 6y ago

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 https://www.basedash.com

peterthehacker 6y ago

Have you looked at TablePlus? https://tableplus.com/ 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.

skadamat 6y ago

I'm a committer to the Apache Superset project (http://superset.apache.org/ http://superset.apache.org/), which can talk to any SQL speaking database through SQLAlchemy: https://superset.apache.org/docs/databases/installing-database-drivers 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/ https://preset.io/blog/2021-01-18-superset-1-0/)

edsancha 6y ago

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

clouduserX 6y ago

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

codechoir 6y ago

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 http://superset.apache.org https://adsharma.github.io/flattools-programs/ https://adsharma.github.io/flattools-programs/ https://adsharma.github.io/fquery/ https://adsharma.github.io/fquery/ https://apex.oracle.com https://apex.oracle.com https://app.spanrr.com https://app.spanrr.com https://arctype.com https://arctype.com https://baserow.io https://baserow.io https://bubble.io https://bubble.io https://deepnote.com https://deepnote.com https://directus.io https://directus.io https://django-sql-explorer.readthedocs.io https://django-sql-explorer.readthedocs.io https://doc.seekwell.io https://doc.seekwell.io https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/intro/tutorial02 https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/intro/tutorial02 https://first-django-admin.readthedocs.io/ https://first-django-admin.readthedocs.io/ https://frappeframework.com https://frappeframework.com https://getzenbase.com https://getzenbase.com https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith https://github.com/directus/directus https://github.com/directus/directus https://github.com/marmelab/react-admin https://github.com/marmelab/react-admin https://github.com/metabase/metabase https://github.com/metabase/metabase https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms https://github.com/netlify/netlify-cms https://github.com/oxan/djangorestframework-dataclasses https://github.com/oxan/djangorestframework-dataclasses https://github.com/priyank-purohit/PostGUI https://github.com/priyank-purohit/PostGUI https://github.com/shannah/xataface https://github.com/shannah/xataface https://github.com/skorokithakis/django-project-template https://github.com/skorokithakis/django-project-template https://github.com/strapi/strapi https://github.com/strapi/strapi https://hypermachine.substack.com https://hypermachine.substack.com https://lowdefy.com https://lowdefy.com https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder https://metacpan.org/pod/CGI::FormBuilder https://ninox.com/de https://ninox.com/de https://powerapps.microsoft.com https://powerapps.microsoft.com https://retool.com https://retool.com https://saltcorn.com https://saltcorn.com https://seekwell.io https://seekwell.io https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app https://solutions.appsheet.com/how-to-create-an-app https://stackerhq.com https://stackerhq.com https://subzero.cloud/ https://subzero.cloud/ https://tableplus.com/ https://tableplus.com/ https://voyager.devdojo.com/ https://voyager.devdojo.com/ https://www.appsmith.com/ https://www.appsmith.com/ https://www.basedash.com https://www.basedash.com https://www.datatrucker.io/ https://www.datatrucker.io/ https://www.forestadmin.com https://www.forestadmin.com https://www.glideapps.com/ https://www.glideapps.com/ https://www.noodl.net/ https://www.noodl.net/ https://www.nubuilder.com/ https://www.nubuilder.com/ https://www.stackerhq.com/ https://www.stackerhq.com/ https://nocode.tech https://nocode.tech

obviouslynotme 6y ago

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.

bunkertor 6y ago

https://nifi.apache.org/ https://nifi.apache.org/

Folasade21 6y ago

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.

d--b 5y ago

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