Grist

Grist combines three things that no competitor bundles together: Python formulas inside cells (Airtable only supports a custom DSL), column- and row-level access rules without an enterprise plan (Airtable charges Business tier for this), and a true MIT/Apache-style open-source server you can self-host. Baserow is also open-source but lacks Python formulas and the granular ACL system. Grist's card and detail views are less polished than Airtable's interface designer, but the data model is closer to a real relational database.

Yes — Grist's source is open under the Apache 2.0 license and self-hosting is free with a 5-minute Docker setup. The hosted SaaS at getgrist.com offers a Free Personal plan (5MB documents, unlimited public documents), a Pro plan around $8-$17 per user per month for teams, and a Team plan for organizations needing SSO and SOC 2. The self-hosted Community Edition has no seat caps and no feature paywall, which is unusual in the no-code database space.

NocoDB sits on top of an existing SQL database (Postgres, MySQL, SQLite) and exposes it as a spreadsheet, so it shines when you already have a schema. Grist owns its storage (SQLite per document) and is built spreadsheet-first with Python formulas baked in. NocoDB has stronger REST and webhook APIs out of the box; Grist has stronger formulas, more granular ACLs, and a friendlier formula UX. Teams importing legacy SQL pick NocoDB; teams building new operational tools tend to pick Grist.

Grist installs as a Progressive Web App and caches the shell for fast loads, but it is not local-first: document edits require the Grist server to be reachable. For offline work, you can run a Grist server on your laptop via the official Docker image or the desktop Electron build, which gives you full read/write capability with no network. Edits sync back when you reconnect to a shared instance. Pure browser offline editing against a remote document is not supported.

Grist's largest deployment is inside the French government (DINUM, anct.gouv.fr) where it replaced Excel and Airtable across dozens of ministries and territorial agencies, hosting tens of thousands of documents under sovereign infrastructure. Outside of public-sector France, Grist is adopted by nonprofits, research labs, and small product teams who need relational structure plus row-level ACLs without paying Airtable Business prices. Several universities use it for grants tracking and student data where FERPA or GDPR forbid cloud storage.