If you've outgrown Airtable's per-seat pricing or you just don't want your team's operational data living on someone else's servers, two open-source tools keep coming up: NocoDB and Teable. Both give you a familiar spreadsheet grid on top of a real database, with forms, kanban boards, and instant APIs. Both are free to self-host. But they're built around different ideas of what "no-code database" should mean, and each even lists the other as a direct alternative. Here's how they actually differ.
The short version
| NocoDB | Teable | |
|---|---|---|
| Core idea | Spreadsheet UI layered on your existing Postgres/MySQL | Spreadsheet that builds the database/app for you, including via natural language |
| Self-hosted price | Free (Sustainable Use License) | Free, fully open source |
| Cloud pricing | Paid plans, not detailed publicly | Free tier, then $10/seat/mo (Pro), $20/seat/mo (Business) |
| Row limits (cloud) | Not specified | 1,000 rows free → 250,000 (Pro) → 1M (Business) |
| License | Source-available (not OSI-approved) | Open source, ISO 9001 / ISO 27001 certified |
| Best for | Teams with an existing database who want a UI on top, without per-seat cost | Teams starting fresh who want AI-assisted setup and generous free-tier limits |
NocoDB: the UI layer for a database you already have
NocoDB's pitch is direct: point it at your existing Postgres or MySQL database and it generates a full spreadsheet interface, instant REST APIs, forms, kanban views and role-based access control on top — you don't migrate your data into a new system, you wrap your existing one. That matters if you already run production data in Postgres and just want ops teams or non-technical collaborators to work with it safely.
Pricing: self-hosted is free under NocoDB's Sustainable Use License; cloud-hosted plans exist but pricing isn't published in detail.
Strengths: works directly on infrastructure you already run, no per-seat cost when self-hosted, and APIs are generated instantly without extra setup.
Limits: the interface is honestly less polished than Airtable's, and the license is source-available rather than a standard OSI-approved open-source license — worth checking if that matters for your organization's policies.
Teable: describe it in plain English, get a working database
Teable starts from a different angle: instead of wrapping a database you already have, you describe in plain English what you want to track or automate, and it builds the base, app, or workflow for you. Under the hood it's still open-source and fully self-hostable for free, but the natural-language layer is the headline feature, aimed at teams juggling scattered spreadsheets who want a real no-code database without hiring a developer to model it.
Pricing: free tier includes 200 AI credits, 1,000 rows and 1GB storage; Pro is $10/seat/month (billed annually) for 1,000 credits and 250,000 rows; Business is $20/seat/month for 2,000 credits and 1M rows — notably more generous row limits than Airtable at comparable price points.
Strengths: natural-language base and automation generation, free self-hosting with no artificial limits, much higher row ceilings than Airtable per dollar, and ISO 9001 / ISO 27001 certification if compliance matters to your buyers.
Limits: the AI features run on a credit system that depletes quickly under heavy use, AI-generated structures need a human check before you trust them in production, and teams already deep in Airtable will still face real migration cost switching over.
Which one should you actually pick?
Pick NocoDB if you already have a Postgres or MySQL database in production and just want a safe, no-per-seat-cost UI and API layer on top of it for ops or non-technical teammates.
Pick Teable if you're starting from scratch, want AI to help design the base instead of modeling it yourself, and value generous free-tier row limits plus formal compliance certifications.
Both explicitly name each other (and Airtable) as alternatives, so if one doesn't fit, the other is worth a direct trial before you commit — both are free to self-host, so the real cost of testing both is just your time.