Appsmith

Name: Appsmith
Rating: 76 (1 reviews)

Open-source internal tool builder with free self-hosting

Open-source low-code platform for building internal tools. Community Edition is free with no user limits for self-hosted deployments. Cloud Business plan at $15/user/month. Enterprise from $2,500/month for 100 users. Appsmith's open-source model and self-hosting option is its key differentiator over Retool's closed-source, cloud-first approach.

Our take

Appsmith's open-source, self-hosted Community Edition is the cost story — unlimited users, full feature set, zero license cost, just your hosting bill. For teams with DevOps capacity and compliance requirements that prohibit cloud tools handling internal data, Appsmith self-hosted is genuinely compelling. The trade-off is operational overhead and a slightly less polished experience than Retool. Cloud Business at $15/user is a meaningful discount vs Retool Team at $10/standard + $5/end user, especially for single-role teams.

Product roadmap

Appsmith is expanding AI capabilities (Appsmith AI for natural language queries, GPT-connected widgets) and improving the self-hosted update experience. The open-source community contributes new integrations and widgets at a pace no proprietary tool matches.

Who is Appsmith for?

Solo(1 person)

Great fit

Self-hosted Community Edition: free, unlimited users, full features. Best option for developers who can run Docker.

Small team(2–20 people)

Great fit

Cloud Business at $15/user (no standard/end-user split) is simpler pricing than Retool for teams where everyone is both builder and user.

Mid-size(21–200 people)

Good fit

Self-hosted deployment with SSO and compliance controls at lower total cost than Retool Business. Requires DevOps capacity for maintenance.

Large org(201–1,000+)

Good fit

Enterprise self-hosted with air-gap deployment for regulated industries. The open-source foundation allows deep customization that proprietary tools can't match.