Google Sheets

Google Sheets isn't a database in the technical sense, but it's free and accessible, making it the path of least resistance for bootstrapped projects. Zapier, Glide, and other integration tools treat Sheets as a data source, letting you build lightweight automations.

It works well for small datasets and internal tools where speed matters more than sophisticated querying. Scale beyond a few thousand rows and you'll feel the limits, but for early-stage no-code work it's hard to beat the price.