SHSelfHostIndex

Budibase vs Rowy

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
BU Budibase Low-code platform to build internal tools and automations VS RO Rowy Spreadsheet-like UI for Firestore databases
FeatureBudibaseRowy
CategoryAutomation & WorkflowsOffice Suites
LicenseGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM2,048 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, helmdocker, source
GitHub stars★ 28,190★ 6,832
First released20192021
ReplacesMicrosoft Power Apps, Retool, AirtableAirtable

Why pick each one

Choose Budibase if…

  • Fast internal tool building
  • Good automation features
Budibase details

Choose Rowy if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 6.8k GitHub stars
  • Written in TypeScript
Rowy details

Frequently asked questions

Is Budibase or Rowy better?

Neither is universally better. Budibase has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Budibase and Rowy free and open-source?

Yes. Budibase is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Rowy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Budibase and Rowy with Docker?

Budibase: yes. Rowy: yes.

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