What is Budibase?

Budibase: who are they?

Budibase was founded in 2019 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The company raised $9.2M in seed funding in 2022 and remains relatively small, with ~25 employees.

Their mission is to empower business users to automate and optimize internal processes without relying entirely on engineering teams. The platform has drawn comparisons to OutSystems, though Budibase leans more heavily into open source and a modern, lightweight interface.

Image placement: Company profile sectionImage suggestion: Budibase logo or team photo.

Budibase’s key features and limitations

Low‑code development environment

Budibase organizes development into three tabs: Data, Design, and Automate. The IDE is highly visual, with dropdowns, forms, and drag‑and‑drop components. This makes it easy for non‑technical users to build CRUD apps quickly.

For developers, however, the environment feels rigid. Customization is limited, and the proprietary “plain English” abstractions can be unintuitive compared to writing code directly.

No‑code data layer

Budibase includes its own hosted data layer, built on CouchDB. Users can create records, filter data, and export datasets as CSV or JSON. This is convenient for non‑technical users, but developers often prefer connecting to Postgres or another SQL database.

Application Designer

Budibase apps are organized into screens, each representing a page. Components can be dragged in, styled, and configured. However, horizontal placement is clunky — margins must be manually defined instead of true drag‑and‑drop.

Event handlers are limited, and adding custom code requires using “Bindings” (Handlebars syntax). This scatters logic across components, making debugging harder.

Automation tab

Budibase includes a Zapier‑style automation builder. Users can create CRON jobs, loops, and conditions without code. Automations are tied to applications, meaning they only run once the app is published.

This is fine for small workflows, but not scalable for enterprise‑grade automation. Developers are pushed toward the GUI rather than code‑first approaches.

Permissioning

Budibase supports user groups (Basic, Development, Administration) and custom roles. Permissions work at the screen level, but lack fine‑grained control at the component or field level.

This makes Budibase unsuitable for apps handling sensitive data (e.g., healthcare or finance).

Source control

Budibase has very limited source control. You can publish and revert changes, but there’s no Git integration, version comparison, or deployment best practices.

For developers used to Git workflows, this is a major drawback compared to Retool or Appsmith.

Image placement: Source control sectionImage suggestion: Screenshot of Budibase backup/restore panel.

Who is Budibase good for?

Budibase is best suited for:

• Citizen developers who want to build CRUD apps or dashboards without code.
• SMEs and startups that need quick prototypes or MVPs.
• Teams replacing spreadsheets with more structured, compliant workflows.

It’s less suited for:

• Enterprise deployments with mission‑critical workflows
• Complex portals or external‑facing apps
• Teams of developers who need flexibility and scalability

Budibase Pricing

Budibase pricing recently shifted from a day‑pass model to standard per‑user pricing. It’s competitive compared to Retool, Appsmith, and Superblocks, and offers one of the most generous free tiers for on‑prem deployments.

What use cases is Budibase good for?

• Basic CRUD operations: Simple apps for creating, reading, updating, and deleting records.
• Admin dashboards: Quick charts and data views for internal teams.
• Replacing spreadsheets: More compliant workflows than Google Sheets.

What use cases is Budibase not so good for?

• Enterprise deployments: Limited permissioning and source control make it risky for sensitive data.
• Complex portals: Permissioning and deployment options aren’t robust enough.
• Developer teams: Engineers will find the IDE restrictive and hard to scale.

Frequently Asked Questions about Budibase

Is Budibase open source?

Yes — Budibase is open source. Teams can self‑host, extend, and fork the platform. This is a major differentiator compared to many proprietary low‑code tools.

Image placement: FAQ sectionImage suggestion: Screenshot of Budibase GitHub repository.

How does Budibase pricing work?

Budibase pricing is user‑based, with a generous free tier (including on‑prem). Paid plans unlock advanced permissioning, automations, and enterprise features.

What are the limitations of Budibase?

Budibase is limited in customization, source control, and permissioning. It’s best for simple apps, not mission‑critical enterprise workflows.

Who should use Budibase?

Budibase is ideal for SMEs, startups, and non‑technical teams that want to build simple internal tools quickly.

How does Budibase compare to Retool?

Budibase is open source and great for simple CRUDs, but Retool offers a broader suite: web apps, mobile apps, workflows, databases, and enterprise‑grade scalability.

Image placement: Comparison sectionImage suggestion: Side‑by‑side graphic — Budibase vs Retool features.

Conclusion

Budibase is a solid open‑source, low‑code platform for building simple internal tools. It shines when empowering non‑technical users to replace spreadsheets, spin up CRUD apps, or test MVPs. Its open‑source model and generous free tier are real advantages.

But Budibase’s limitations — rigid IDE, limited source control, and basic permissioning — make it less suitable for enterprises or developer‑heavy teams. For organizations that need scalability, compliance, and a full suite of internal tool capabilities, Retool remains the stronger choice.

At Retoolers, we see Budibase as a useful entry point into the world of internal tools. But when your team is ready to scale beyond MVPs and simple dashboards, Retool is the platform designed to take you further.

Stop wasting hours on scattered tools. Let Retoolers build your custom dashboard and streamline your operations today. Book a call with us!