Softr Review (2025): Is This No-Code App Builder A Winner? 🌟

Softr is a powerful tool many businesses can use to transform their databases into useful applications. 

Read on to learn about:

• An overview of the Softr platform and its purpose

• How Softr works, and its main functionalities

• Key features, pros, and cons

• Intended audience and how to determine if Softr is right for you

• Adalo, an excellent and robust Softr alternative

Let’s review Softr by first looking at the platform and its key functionalities.

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What is Softr?

Softr is a no-code app builder that lets you create both web and progressive web apps (PWAs). Users can access your web app via a web browser like Chrome or Safari. PWAs are downloaded to user devices via a link and can be accessed through device drivers and other hardware, offering more power than basic web apps.

Because Softr is no-code, you won’t need any technical skills or programming expertise to create your app, meaning it’s a super easy platform. In some cases, you can develop simple apps in just a few minutes.

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Softr’s Purpose

Softr is mainly billed as a platform for creating internal business apps like client portals, CRM tools, and project management apps. One major feature (or drawback) of Softr for businesses is connecting a premade database to your Softr account and creating an app from it. But if you don’t already have a premade database, you’ll need to make one or go with a platform that provides its own database builder.

Luckily, Softr integrates with several popular database builders, including Xano, PostgreSQL, Supabase, Airtable, and many more. Connect your database to Softr with a few clicks, and you’re ready to build your app.

And here’s one point we can’t drive home enough: Because Softr is no-code, anyone (with a database) can use it — you won’t need any SQL knowledge or Python experience to build a professional-looking, highly-functional app.

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How Softr Works

Softr is a powerful app builder, and one primary source of that power is the Softr building interface. Here’s a brief walkthrough.

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Softr’s Building Interface 

Kick off your app-building by first connecting your database. Don’t worry — you’ll be prompted to do this immediately after signing up for Softr. 

Once your database is connected, you can select a template from Softr’s extensive library. The library contains many templates designed explicitly for creating internal business applications for optimizing processes, such as employee training, customer feedback, SaaS portals, etc. 

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Softr’s Building-Block System 

Now that you have a template, you can use Softr’s intuitive building block system to create your app. This makes creating an app remarkably simple, as you’ll drag premade blocks over from the right side of your screen to your app’s building canvas. 

You can link information directly from your database to the blocks you select, which transfers info into your app. For instance, if you are building an app for your inventory, you’ll link your product data, pictures, prices, and more from your database to its appropriate block so your app’s users will see that information. 

Linking your database to your app and distributing the data to blocks comes with a learning curve, so it's a good idea to study a few tutorial videos and read some guides. 

Here’s a pro tip: The Softr Academy is a very rich source of info — hitting the books here will pay off in the long run. 

Once you figure out how the blocks work, you’ll find that the block-based interface does have some limitations. You can only adjust the placement of a picture or text box to a few predetermined positions on your app screen. Unlike other mobile app builders, there’s no room for free-form adjustments. 

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Softr AI

Don’t you want to spend the time shuffling through dozens of templates and get your app built ASAP? Softr’s convenient AI builder has your back. After connecting your database, just type in a 200-word prompt, and Softr will generate a template to your liking. 

And yes, you must have your database connected to build an app with Softr AI. 

You can go through the AI-made app, add more blocks and functionalities, and delete those you dislike. Ultimately, Softr AI does all the heavy lifting, leaving the simple polishing up to you.

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Softr’s Integrations

As we mentioned earlier, Softr integrates with some of the most popular database providers, making connecting your third-party database a stupidly simple task. Yet, Softr’s integrations don’t stop at database providers. You’ll find several powerful integrations, including the following: 

• Zapier: It allows Softr to connect with thousands of external third-party apps to transfer data and automate workflows.

• Make (formerly Integromat): Make creates sophisticated workflows with conditional logic, enabling connections within your own database and other data sources. Use this to pour rocket fuel into your backend.

• Stripe: If you need to take payments, Softr’s Stripe integrations have got you covered. Your clients can pay you directly through your app for your services, simplifying your receivables operations. 

• MailChimp and SendGrid: Launch, manage, and maintain your email marketing campaigns right from your Softr app. This lets you streamline entire marketing campaigns, so you don’t need to shuffle between different platforms.

To make the platform appealing to techies and folks with programming experience, Softr also lets you input your own JavaScript code or CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) commands. This capability means you can create custom frontend functionalities and widgets found nowhere else. 

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Softr’s Key Features

Here are some features that Softr offers that make it stand out from other no-code app builders: 

• Specialized templates and quick building: No matter what kind of internal business tool you aim to create, you can most likely do so with Softr’s templates. And Softr’s block-building system nearly ensures that your app-building process is quick.

• Database integrations: While it doesn’t have an internal database builder, Softr connects to some of the most powerful and popular database builders on the market — up to 14, depending on which Softr pricing plan you purchase. 

• SEO functionalities: Softr comes equipped with a powerful SEO tool to help you attract more users for your web app. It will automatically index your app to Google, write a meta description for search engines, and ensure that keywords are properly placed. This can play a key role in increasing your app's web traffic. 

• AI tools: Not only does Softr provide an excellent AI tool for creating your app, but you’ll also get a few other AI functions. For instance, Softr’s AI can generate both text and images for your app, which can significantly accelerate building your app.

Bubble is a solid Softr alternative. Check out the full comparison next. 

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Pros and Cons of Using Softr 

Softr is an app builder with a limited audience. Like pretty much everything else in life (except for owning a dog — 100% pure joy), it has pros and cons:

Softr’s Pros

• Softr’s block-based building and AI app generation make it one of the fastest app builders on the market.

• If you’re looking for anonymous web-based users who will find your app on Google, you can ensure it is optimized for SEO with Softr’s cutting-edge tools to reach them. 

• Softr comes with a generous free version that lets you leverage AI features, add data-displaying blocks, and publish an app to the web. 

Softr’s Cons

• The Softr platform doesn’t allow direct publishing to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, so your app will not be available to many app-store users who want to download it now.  

• You absolutely need to bring an external database — you just simply can’t build your app with one.

• While it’s great for creating internal business tools, it’s not the best for building external, client-facing apps like those for social media, ordering, personal fitness, and more.

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Who Is Softr Suited for?

If you’re a small business with a database and need to build business tools for internal operations, Softr is made for you. You’ll most likely be able to plug your database into Softr so you can start building your tools right out of the box.

Folks who want to build simple apps for their business on the fly will also appreciate the simplicity that Softr’s AI tools and block-building style bring. The platform has serious potential to create and release apps in less than an hour — depending on your app’s complexity. 

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Is Softr Right for You?

Softr is ideal for building apps for internal business use, such as data analysis and project management tools, CRM systems, and more. 

If you need a lot of design freedom, there are better fits than Softr. Ultimately, the Softr platform prioritizes rapid development and usage capabilities rather than aesthetics and design freedom. And remember that you can’t create native mobile apps for the Apple App Store and Google Play Store with Softr — only PWAs and web apps. 

How does Softr compare with Glide? Read the head-to-head review. 

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Softr Alternatives: What Other Tools Should You Try?

Need a flexible app builder that doesn’t require you to bring a database to start building? All signs point to Adalo. 

Adalo is a powerful no-code app builder that, unlike Softr, lets you create your frontend, backend, and database all in the same platform. 

You’ll also be able to customize your frontend exactly how you wish — the Adalo building interface offers magnitudes more design freedom than Softr’s. Adalo lets you publish your app not only on the web but also on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store — two highly frequented markets that Softr can’t reach.

Build and publish your app for free with Adalo.