shouldiuse.io

Comparison

Appsmith vs Budibase

Appsmith and Budibase both land on Depends.

Appsmith versus Budibase
CompareAppsmithBudibase
VerdictDependsDepends
Best forDeveloper teams building internal toolsInternal admin panels and CRUD apps
Who it's not forNon-technical users wanting true no-codeSecurity-sensitive apps exposed to untrusted traffic
PrivacyActive CVE history . multiple critical flaws including actively exploited ones; self-hosters must patch promptly and harden installs.⁴ISO 27001 certified, but 2026 brought a cluster of critical CVEs . unauthenticated RCE, auth bypass, SSRF.
Support qualityNo usable support evidence foundOpen-source users get community-first support
Public sentimentDevelopers praise its drag-and-drop speed for internal tools, but reviewers flag difficult self-hosted setup and overly broad backend permissions.¹Users like the ease of use and self-hosting on SQL, but community sentiment soured over user limits, the ending free tier, and shifting open-source terms.11
Biggest gotchaMisconfigured default install enabled unauthenticated RCE (CVE-2024-55963); harden Postgres before exposing⁵Cloud free tier is ending; budget for paid plans before you build14

Pick Appsmith when

  • Developer teams building internal tools
  • Admin panels on existing databases
  • Orgs wanting self-hosted open source
  • Rapid internal dashboards

When Appsmith is not a fit

  • Non-technical users wanting true no-code
  • Security-sensitive orgs without patch discipline
  • Teams needing polished customer-facing apps
  • Self-hosters with no DevOps capacity

Pick Budibase when

  • Internal admin panels and CRUD apps
  • Ops teams automating workflows
  • Self-hosters on SQL databases

When Budibase is not a fit

  • Security-sensitive apps exposed to untrusted traffic
  • Teams counting on the free Cloud tier
  • Non-technical teams with no database comfort
  • Buyers needing pricing stability long-term

Sources

  1. Review: Appsmith shines for low-code development (InfoWorld)infoworld.com
    review
  2. Self-hosted Appsmith Review: Things to Know Before Usinglevelup.gitconnected.com
    review
  3. Appsmith ratings detail (Capterra 4.6/5, 365+)erp-information.com
    review
  4. CVE-2026-5418: Appsmith Dashboard SSRF Vulnerability (SentinelOne)sentinelone.com
    security
  5. CVE-2024-55963: Unauthenticated RCE in Default Install (Rhino Security Labs)rhinosecuritylabs.com
    security
  6. Actively exploited critical Appsmith vulnerability (SC World)scworld.com
    security
  7. Appsmith: Free Open-source Low-Code App Builder (elest.io)blog.elest.io
    review
  8. Appsmith used by Twilio, Dropbox, HeyJobs (Softpedia-style rankings)softrankings.com
    review
  9. Appsmith pricing: quote for 100+ member teamspwill.eu
    official
  10. 10 Best Alternatives to Appsmith (Subframe)subframe.com
    review
  11. Budibase Reviews . G2g2.com
    review
  12. Budibase Review 2026: I Built an App in 10 Minutesemergent.sh
    review
  13. Budibase Will Soon Limit Users on OSS Self Hosted Version . Redditreddit.com
    review
  14. Budibase Cloud free tier is ending . GitHub discussiongithub.com
    news
  15. Opensource bait and switch? . GitHub discussiongithub.com
    news
  16. Budibase pricing: plans, limits, and how costs really scalejetadmin.io
    review