Softr

What Softr is

Softr is an AI app builder for business operations. Its own wording is that you can "build secure internal tools and portals with databases, workflow automation, and integrations included," and the site says no code is required at any point. It is aimed at operations teams, founders and small businesses that want a working client portal, CRM, intranet or internal tool without hiring developers, and at IT teams that need that work governed.

The About page gives 2020 as the year founded and describes a remote-first team of 60 people from 22 nationalities, with FirstMark Capital named as Series A investor and Atlantic as seed investor; Mariam Hakobyan is named as co-founder and CEO. The home page FAQ claims more than 1 million builders and 7,000 organizations build on Softr. One practical point worth knowing up front: Softr is one product with several faces. The same workspace produces portals, CRMs, intranets, dashboards and standalone forms, and a reader who arrives from the forms page, the portals page or the CRM page lands on the same platform with the same database and workflow layer underneath.

What you build and how

The home page FAQ names three ways to start: describe the app to the AI Co-Builder, open a template, or build it manually. The AI Co-Builder creates the database, pages, user roles and business logic from a description, and anything it creates stays editable through the same visual controls, so the AI speeds up the work without becoming a dependency. The pricing FAQ adds that you can keep building after your AI credits run out, because the no-code editor works without them.

The product menu names the building blocks. Databases store and manage your data inside Softr. Workflows automate manual processes; per the FAQ, a workflow can trigger from a button click, a form submission, a schedule or a record change, and with Softr Databases a record change triggers it instantly rather than on a polling delay. Forms collect data and trigger flows. Mobile Apps turn your apps into mobile apps, in the site's words, "fast," and the Business plan lists an installable mobile app (PWA) and push notifications. Ask AI offers built-in AI agents that run on autopilot, and the integrations list names OpenAI, Anthropic and Google Gemini models for AI agents in databases and workflows.

For custom interface work there is a Vibe Coding block. The FAQ describes it as one isolated component that inherits the app's theme, data connections and permission rules; the security page adds that Softr parses the generated code and pulls its data actions into a visual panel where you apply user group permissions. Softr does not hand you a codebase: the home page says apps run on tested platform components rather than generated code, so there is nothing for IT to host or patch. An MCP route lets you connect an AI assistant such as Claude, and the home page says it "inherits the same permissions the app already uses."

The use cases show the range. Portals are for clients, vendors and partners: "Build secure portals for clients, vendors & more. No code required." A CRM page says "Build a custom CRM that fits your exact workflows." Other use cases cover inventory management, a company intranet, dashboards and reporting, a knowledge base, an ERP and project management. The FAQ calls client portals the most common starting point and says one app can serve dozens to thousands of users. Templates include Client Portal, Sales CRM, Knowledge Base, Inventory Management, Company Intranet, Event Planning, Partner Portal, Project Tracker, Recruitment Portal, Employee Directory and Vendor Onboarding.

Data does not have to live in Softr. The FAQ says Softr connects to 21+ external data sources: Airtable, Notion, Google Sheets, Coda, SmartSuite, Xano, Zoho CRM and a REST API connector on every plan, including Free; Pro adds monday.com, Supabase and ClickUp; Business adds HubSpot, BigQuery, Microsoft Excel and SQL databases including MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server and MariaDB; Enterprise adds Salesforce and Snowflake. Workflows can call any external API over HTTP, and the integrations list also names Make, Zapier, DocuSign, Xero, Gmail, Slack and Google Calendar. A Softr API and MCP access are listed on every plan.

Forms are a product in their own right, billed on the forms page as "Free forever." They can be multi-step with conditional logic that shows or hides steps based on answers. Responses are stored in Softr databases or pushed to 15+ native data sources, or to other tools via Zapier, Make or n8n. You can copy an embed code from the publish modal into any website, share by link, or publish on a custom domain. The Styles tab sets colors, fonts and layout, a split-screen background image and a custom confirmation message.

Access control runs at three levels, per the security FAQ: user groups decide which pages, blocks and action buttons a person reaches, global data restrictions apply at record level, and action permissions can carry conditional rules. Custom user groups are available on Pro (up to 3) and Business (up to 10). A preview runs the app as any user you pick before publishing.

Plans, pricing and claims on the site

Softr has four self-serve plans plus custom Enterprise pricing. The home page says that on annual billing the monthly rates are Free at $0, Basic at $19, Pro at $99 and Business at $329; the pricing toggle advertises "2 months off" for yearly billing. Every plan, including Free, includes unlimited apps, databases, workflows, forms and every building block. The pricing page meters builders, app users, database records, workflow actions, AI credits and integrations:

• Free: up to 3 builders, 5 app users, 5K database records, 500 workflow actions a month, 5 AI credits a month, 42 integration apps.
• Basic ($19/month): 1 builder included, additional builders $5/mo, 5 Team plus 5 Client users, 50K records, 2.5K workflow actions a month, 10 AI credits, custom domain, conditional form logic.
• Pro ($99/month): 2 builders included, additional $10/mo, 10 Team plus 50 Client users, 500K records, 10K workflow actions, 50 AI credits, Softr branding removed, custom code and API connectors.
• Business ($329/month): 3 builders included, additional $20/mo, 30 Team plus 100 Client users, 1M records, 25K workflow actions, 100 AI credits, 2FA, domain-restricted signup, priority support and onboarding.
• Enterprise: custom limits, SSO (SAML, OpenID), SCIM, audit logs, custom agreements and SLAs, a customer success manager.

Team users share the business email domain of a builder in your workspace; everyone else, including any Gmail address, is a Client user. Users are counted once by email across all published apps, deactivated users do not count, and builders can be added as app users for free. When the monthly workflow limit is hit, workflows pause until it renews. Extra custom domains cost $15/month, or $13/month billed annually. The FAQ says everyone gets a free trial with no credit card required, and the Free plan is "free forever." The refund policy is a full refund within 14 days of the first payment on monthly billing and within 30 days on yearly billing. Nonprofits and education get 50% off. Prices exclude tax.

On security, the security page says Softr is SOC 2 Type II compliant, with the report available on request through its Trust Center, and GDPR compliant. It offers EU (Germany) or US data residency, 256-bit TLS in transit and encryption at rest, 99.9% uptime on AWS with 24/7 monitoring, automated backups, IP restrictions and an invite-only bug bounty. Database connections run server-side, so credentials and API keys never reach the browser.

The home page cites customer outcomes: Minerva Network increased athlete registrations by 50% with a custom CRM and portal, Celonis built a knowledge base for 1,500+ team members, and Urban's Group increased productivity by 25% with a custom ERP. One founder testimonial on the pricing page reads: "We’ve been able to create multiple client and employee portals with Softr and it works like magic." (Jesuena Estoque Reimer, Founder, Mindflows). The integrations page closes with "Start building today. It's free!" and "Build and launch your first app in under 30 minutes."

Who it suits and who it does not

Softr suits a small operations team that wants a client or vendor portal on top of data it already keeps in Airtable, Google Sheets or a SQL database, a founder who needs a CRM or an internal tracker shaped to a specific workflow, and a department that wants an intranet or knowledge base without an IT project. Pricing by app user rather than by seat, with a split between Team and Client users, suits the portal case where many outside people log in and only a few people build. IT teams get SOC 2 Type II, EU hosting and SSO with SCIM on Enterprise.

The caveats are about volume and ownership. Several connectors (HubSpot, SQL databases, Salesforce) sit on higher plans, and a portal with many Client users will climb tiers quickly, so read the counting rules before choosing. Developers who want to own and host the generated code will not get it here: Softr is a managed platform whose code option is a scoped Vibe Coding component and custom code on Pro and above.