TLDR; AppSmith and Budibase are quite different platforms, but with significant overlap.
Budibase is meant to be used by IT Professionals (sysadmins, dbas, IT managers, PMs, developers). AppSmith is more targeted at developers. Because of this, Budibase has much less of a reliance on code - we like to say “code optional”.
Also, you will see us talk more about “Business apps”, rather than “Internal Tools”. A Budibase app is a real, single-page application - which you would happily give out to external users and folks in other departments who do not need to know your team’s internal processes. The apps are also responsive by default.
Another differentiator is that Budibase comes packaged with a database (runs on CouchDB). This makes creating new applications easy - without having to spin up another DB. We also offer 1st class support for SQL Databases - Budibase will automatically fetch your tables and automate the basic INSERT, UPDATE, SELECT and DELETE statements (like an ORM).
If you want to place us in the overall low-code landscape, we are more like an open-source Powerapps/Mendix/OutSystems. I sometimes say (half-jokingly) that Budibase is what would happen if Retool and Stacker had an open-source baby.
hey there, here is Rob, co-founder at Chartmat. Congrats on your Launch. this looks amazing. Also super interesting thread on HN.
At Chartmat we also provide internal apps, forms & dashboards (we are at an early stage though). however, we are targeting non-technical users (no-code niche), since we found it hard with our previous low-code iteration to get enough users.
I wish you guys all the best on your way & I'm always happy to exchange experiences. Keep the good work up!
Appsmith founder here. Congratulations on launching Budibase! I think it's a beautiful product.
Like MJshanks mentioned, there's some overlap in the usecases but there are significant differences in the platform direction. Budibase is more no-code, while Appsmith is geared towards developers aiming to build complex applications.
Appsmith is a more popular and mature tool with high quality documentation, video tutorials and stellar community support. The GitHub stars, issue list, and size of Discord community reflect this. [0]
1. According to users who've tried both, Appsmith's UX is simpler and enables building information dense UI. Appsmith has drag and drop to build absolute UI vs. relative positioning in Budibase. This does make Budibase apps more mobile responsive than Appsmith ones. Links to comments by other HN users [1] [2]
2. Appsmith is a more powerful platform with a high ceiling and low floor for entry. You can build simple apps quickly by auto-generating them. In Appsmith, you can write full-fledged JavaScript anywhere on the platform. This ensures all your business logic is always expressed correctly. You can map over data, merge data from different data sources, trigger conditional workflows, and conditionally control widget properties all with a few snippets of code.
Few more feature differences:
1. Appsmith has more UI components and support for 100+ charts
2. Built in git sync for version control
3. Real-time commenting and real-time editing(WIP) to enable collaboration between users
4. Appsmith has organizations/workspaces to help freelancers manage multiple projects
5. Error logger and linter to debug issues
Honestly at a more fundamental level, it's just great to see all the different products that have come out over the years that are trying to tackle the same problem space. When we started out initially, we didn't find any open-source alternatives (Budibase wasn't open source then), and so we embarked on building it. And now it's great to see so many different products, which gives users more choice and power over finding the platform that fits their needs best.
mjashanks|4 years ago
Budibase is meant to be used by IT Professionals (sysadmins, dbas, IT managers, PMs, developers). AppSmith is more targeted at developers. Because of this, Budibase has much less of a reliance on code - we like to say “code optional”.
Also, you will see us talk more about “Business apps”, rather than “Internal Tools”. A Budibase app is a real, single-page application - which you would happily give out to external users and folks in other departments who do not need to know your team’s internal processes. The apps are also responsive by default.
Another differentiator is that Budibase comes packaged with a database (runs on CouchDB). This makes creating new applications easy - without having to spin up another DB. We also offer 1st class support for SQL Databases - Budibase will automatically fetch your tables and automate the basic INSERT, UPDATE, SELECT and DELETE statements (like an ORM).
If you want to place us in the overall low-code landscape, we are more like an open-source Powerapps/Mendix/OutSystems. I sometimes say (half-jokingly) that Budibase is what would happen if Retool and Stacker had an open-source baby.
robjeiter|4 years ago
At Chartmat we also provide internal apps, forms & dashboards (we are at an early stage though). however, we are targeting non-technical users (no-code niche), since we found it hard with our previous low-code iteration to get enough users.
I wish you guys all the best on your way & I'm always happy to exchange experiences. Keep the good work up!
unknown|4 years ago
[deleted]
arey_abhishek|4 years ago
Like MJshanks mentioned, there's some overlap in the usecases but there are significant differences in the platform direction. Budibase is more no-code, while Appsmith is geared towards developers aiming to build complex applications.
Appsmith is a more popular and mature tool with high quality documentation, video tutorials and stellar community support. The GitHub stars, issue list, and size of Discord community reflect this. [0]
1. According to users who've tried both, Appsmith's UX is simpler and enables building information dense UI. Appsmith has drag and drop to build absolute UI vs. relative positioning in Budibase. This does make Budibase apps more mobile responsive than Appsmith ones. Links to comments by other HN users [1] [2]
2. Appsmith is a more powerful platform with a high ceiling and low floor for entry. You can build simple apps quickly by auto-generating them. In Appsmith, you can write full-fledged JavaScript anywhere on the platform. This ensures all your business logic is always expressed correctly. You can map over data, merge data from different data sources, trigger conditional workflows, and conditionally control widget properties all with a few snippets of code.
Few more feature differences:
1. Appsmith has more UI components and support for 100+ charts
2. Built in git sync for version control
3. Real-time commenting and real-time editing(WIP) to enable collaboration between users
4. Appsmith has organizations/workspaces to help freelancers manage multiple projects
5. Error logger and linter to debug issues
Honestly at a more fundamental level, it's just great to see all the different products that have come out over the years that are trying to tackle the same problem space. When we started out initially, we didn't find any open-source alternatives (Budibase wasn't open source then), and so we embarked on building it. And now it's great to see so many different products, which gives users more choice and power over finding the platform that fits their needs best.
[0] https://github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28991242
[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28304152