Connect to External Databases
Easily connect to external APIs and use them in tandem with your Adalo collections.
Benefits of Adalo Apps With External Databases
Multiple Databases
Use external databases together with Adalo collections
Content Management
Easily manage content, formulas, and relationships outside of Adalo
External Users with Xano
Use Xano as your database and host all data - including Users there!
Hosting Data Outside Adalo
We connect to a bunch of APIs to give you ultimate flexibility with connecting an external database.
External Data in Magic Text
After connecting your API, you’ll be able to use external data in magic text the same you would for an Adalo collection. Huzzah!
Connect to Free & Public Information Hubs
Health & Wellness
News & Weather Apps
Food & Beverage
Finance & Crypto Apps
Education
Entertainment & Game Apps
Professional Services
Photography Apps
Need help with APIs? Hire an Expert
Adalo Experts are ready to help take your app to the next level.
Looking for more help connecting to APIs?
FAQs
Definitely check out our help docs or if you really get stuck, ask a question in the forum or reach out to an Adalo Expert!
We support almost all JSON REST APIs via HTTP as long as it returns an array of results, records, items, etc. The array can even be nested under another key. We do not currently support GraphQL, XML, RSS, or other API structures.
Yes. External Database features are available on Professional and up.
Yes, you can! Airtable has a free version that gives you unlimited bases with up to five editors with 2 GB of attachments per base. Learn more about Airtable Pricing.
There are plenty of great database tools for you to choose from! Adalo has its own back-end database too. You may be choosing between Xano, Firebase, or Airtable – here’s a quick intro to external collections to help you decide.
We’ve done some troubleshooting for you already in this video! Additionally, here are some great resources to help you build an app without code — that includes expert tutorials, follow-along videos, and more. You could also contact an Adalo Expert to help you along the way.
Explore more resources:
Google Sheets is usually used as a spreadsheet program, however, using Google Sheets as a database is also a possibility. You’ll need to keep in mind the security considerations and database size.
Although Google Sheets has limitations for the numbers of cells you can use (up to 10 million cells) and API calls you can make per minute, it’s still a good option that you can get for free. You may be choosing between Xano, Firebase, or Airtable – here’s a quick intro to external collections to help you decide.
We’ve done some troubleshooting for you already in this video! Additionally, here are some great resources to help you build an app without code — that includes expert tutorials, follow-along videos, and more. You could also contact an Adalo Expert to help you along the way.
Explore more resources:
Firebase is Google’s mobile app back-end platform that can be used to host databases for mobile applications. Its advantages include an end-to-end development environment, faster time to market to create apps, and scalable infrastructure.
