Happy Valley

Appsmith vs Backenly

Appsmith and Backenly are both developer tools tools. Appsmith is aimed at developers, while Backenly is aimed at developers and small businesses. Appsmith costs less, from $15/mo versus $25/mo for Backenly. Both have a free plan.

Appsmith

Open-source internal tool builder

Backenly

Open-source Postgres backend that coding agents build and maintain

PricingOpen source · $15Open source · $25
Starting price$15/mo$25/mo
Free planYesYes
Free trial15 days—
Built forDevelopersDevelopers, Small businesses, Freelancers
Platformswebweb
CountryIN · 2019—
Rating——

Choose Appsmith if

Teams wanting open-source internal tools.

  • Open source and self-hostable
  • Lower cost than Retool
  • Git integration

Look elsewhere if: Teams prioritizing polish and component breadth (Retool).

Choose Backenly if

Developers building apps with AI coding agents who want a Postgres backend the agent can create and the platform can maintain safely.

  • Open source and self-hostable, including the autonomy engine
  • Standard Postgres with pg_dump exports on every plan
  • Self-healing and API requests are not billed on any plan

Look elsewhere if: Teams that need a mature ecosystem, long track record or a NoSQL model (Supabase, Firebase).

Appsmith vs Backenly pricing

Appsmith

  • Free$0Up to 5 cloud users, 5 workspaces, 3 Git repos; open-source edition
  • Business$15/user/moUp to 99 users, custom roles, audit logs, Git, 15-day trial
  • Enterprise$2,500/mo100 users included; SAML/OIDC SSO, SCIM, SLAs

Backenly

  • Self-hosted$0Apache-2.0; your servers and Postgres
  • Free$0/mo1 project, 512 MB Postgres, 1 GB storage, 2 seats
  • Pro$25/moUnlimited projects, 8 GB Postgres; $240/yr billed annually
  • EnterpriseCustomSSO (OIDC), custom limits, 12-hour support SLA

Appsmith · Key features

  • Widget-based UI builder
  • Connectors to databases and APIs
  • JavaScript logic everywhere
  • Git version control
  • Workflows
  • Self-hosting

Cons

  • Fewer components than Retool
  • UI less polished
  • Self-hosting maintenance

Backenly · Key features

  • MCP tools that let coding agents build Postgres, auth, storage and functions
  • Self-healing loop that checks the backend every minute, with snapshots and undo
  • Human approval for destructive or auth-related changes
  • PostgREST REST APIs with OpenAPI docs for every table
  • Realtime inserts, updates, presence and broadcast over SSE
  • Row-level security policies written from plain descriptions

Cons

  • Very new platform with a small community
  • Free cloud tier lacks triggers, webhooks and custom domains
  • Pro caps (100,000 MAU, 8 GB Postgres) are hard unless you buy overages

Appsmith vs Backenly: FAQ

Which is cheaper, Appsmith or Backenly?

Appsmith starts at $15/mo and Backenly at $25/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.

Do Appsmith and Backenly have a free plan?

Yes, both Appsmith and Backenly have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.

Which is better for small businesses, Appsmith or Backenly?

Backenly lists small businesses as a core audience, while Appsmith is aimed more at developers.

Not sure yet?