Glide Apps Alternatives: Top 3 alternative nocode platforms

Introduction

If you are evaluating Glide Apps, let’s talk about some Glide Apps alternatives to build your internal business apps.

For most small businesses, most of their data resides in data sources like Google Sheets or Airtable.
The most popular nocode platforms for building internal apps on top of these data sources are: Glide Apps, Noloco, and Stacker.

Recently, Softr entered the same space to focus on the same audience, to get their audience to start building internal business apps too.

I have always loved Softr to build websites, landing pages, and directories for my side projects and even for my friends too.
But given their shift, if you would like to build an SEO-friendly directory, you can build one using SpreadSimple or YCode or WeWeb.
There is nothing stopping you from building one in Softr today, but before investing your time, you should check if you are their ideal target audience.

So, in this article I will compare Noloco, Stacker, and Softr with Glide Apps to help you select the right platform to build functional internal business apps.

If you’re looking for help to help you build an internal app for your business, check out my Glide Apps development service.

Glide Apps Alternatives: Objective Comparison between Glide Apps, Stacker, Noloco, and Softr

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) by people looking for Glide Apps Alternatives

What’s a worthy alternative to Glide Apps?

All things considered, Noloco is the only worthy alternative to Glide Apps.

If you want to try any other platform to build your idea, you should explore the examples linked in the table above to understand what each platform has to offer. Before committing to any platform, build a small app to understand how easy, hard, or even impossible it is to build something in any of the platforms.

Based on my experience of building 100s of apps with Glide, I would say it is far easier to build something in Glide.

Are Glide Apps mobile responsive?

Glide Apps helps you build the most responsive web apps, thanks to the new platform (earlier referred to as Pages) that is web-first, but is mobile-responsive at the same time. So yes, all Glide apps are mobile responsive and they are getting better every day.

Which platform allows building SEO-friendly web apps?

If you’re looking to build portals or web apps, you don’t necessarily want to build SEO-friendly web apps since most of the content is going to be behind a login screen or a paywall.

Nonetheless, of all the choices presented here, only Softr allows you to build SEO-friendly websites and directories.
However, Softr has shifted focus to internal apps too. So they do not want to cater to people wanting to build directory/listings types of websites.

A few other choices for building SEO-friendly websites and directories are YCode, Webflow and Framer.

If you want the best of both worlds, you could explore WeWeb, FlutterFlow, or Bubble.

What’s the best nocode platform to build on top of Google Sheets?

Glide Apps is the best platform to build on top of Google Sheets. Google Sheets is the first data source that Glide Apps supported and therefore offers the best support for building internal apps when your data is in Google Sheets.
Here are multiple examples of apps that can be built with Glide Apps.

What’s the best nocode platform to build on top of Airtable?

Stacker and Noloco are excellent choices to build on top of Airtable.
Before you do that, you should also explore building on top of Airtable using Airtable Interfaces without having to rely on 3rd party platforms like Stacker and Noloco.

What’s the best platform for third-party integrations?

Glide Apps is the best platform if you’re looking to integrate with 3rd party apps.
Glide supports 35+ providers like Salesforce, Hubspot, OpenAI, Google Maps, GIPHY, Asana, Clearbit, Discord, DocsAutomator, DocuSign, Zendesk, etc.

Stacker too allows 2-way sync with a number of data platforms and SaaS applications.
Noloco provides integration via its API capabilities.

A brief note on evaluating Glide Apps Alternatives

There are a number of subjective things you should consider before even considering Pricing when finding Glide Apps alternatives.

Capabilities of the nocode platform

The first thing you should focus on is the capabilities of the nocode platform.
What good is a pricing advantage if a platform cannot implement the simplest features expected from an internal app and/or a portal?
So on this front, Glide and Noloco far outshine any other platforms in this space.

Usability of the apps

The experience of your end users when using a web app is paramount to the success of your project.
If your apps are clunky, or if the building blocks are rigid, or if the UI is not intuitive, your users are not going to enjoy using the system designed for them.
In this regard, Glide and Noloco again stand out as compared to other options.
The end product in Stacker looks good too, but I can’t say the same about Softr.

You can browse through this list of apps built with all these platforms and experience first-hand the products built with these platforms.

Management and development of the apps

A platform that makes you jump through hoops to get a simple task done is not a great platform.
If they can’t make doing something easily in their platform, they should make it easier to integrate with 3rd party tools.
Besides, other aspects of managing your work in the platform should be easier:
– managing and organizing the apps
– dealing with version controls
– inviting users to apps
– deleting user data
– managing collaborators to the workspace

Glide again shines the brightest in this regard.

What do I know about Glide Apps and Glide Apps alternatives?

I am a Certified Expert in all the 4 platforms being compared in this article: Glide Apps, Noloco, Stacker, Softr.

Wait.. a small correction.

As of 2 weeks ago, I am no longer a Softr Certified Expert.

My content is based on my own personal experience of building apps with nocode platforms. But I was told to write ‘favorable’ reviews of Softr and its capabilities on my website, my blog, and in my contributions to communities and on social media. In fact, I received a 6-page Google Docs document with a list of all the corrections on all my blog posts.

I was confronted by one of Softr’s founders about my know-how and my expertise with the platform.
Softr threatened to remove me from their Expert program as well as their affiliate program if I didn’t update my content to swing it in Softr’s favor.

I had recently tried building a simple CRM for a client using Softr. After building the complete CRM, the client found that the end product was not good enough to justify $59/month and went back to using their CRM in Google Sheets. The client partly paid for my work but didn’t use the product they paid for. This experience was not a good one for me.

Maybe they’re right about me not knowing what Softr is really capable of, even after building ~20 projects with Softr.

So I chose to voluntarily leave their Expert program.

But, I asked the reason for being removed from the affiliate program.
I am continuing to drive sign-ups for Softr, by showcasing the right applications that can be built using the platform, based on my experience.
I still think it is a great platform to build simple websites and directories and I will continue to push it to people looking for these kinds of applications.
If Softr doesn’t want to pay for brining in new users to them, so be it.

I am honest to my readers.

I hope brands are honest about who they are too.