Baserow Challenges Airtable With an Open Source No-Code Database Platform

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The burgeoning low-code and no-code movement is showing little sign of waning, with numerous startups continuing to raise sizable sums to help the less-technical workforce develop and deploy software with ease. Arguably one of the most notable examples of this trend is Airtable, a 10-year-old business that recently attained a whopping $11 billion valuation for a no-code platform used by firms such as Netflix and Shopify to create relational databases. In tandem, we're also seeing a rise in "open source alternatives" to some of the big-name technology incumbents, from Google's backend-as-a-service platform Firebase to open source scheduling infrastructure that seeks to supplant the mighty Calendly. A young Dutch company called Baserow sits at the intersection of both these trends, pitching itself as an open source Airbase alternative that helps people build databases with minimal technical prowess. Today, Baserow announced that it has raised $5.2 million in seed funding to launch a suite of new premium and enterprise products in the coming months, transforming the platform from its current database-focused foundation into a "complete, open source no-code toolchain," co-founder and CEO Bram Wiepjes told TechCrunch. So what, exactly, does Baserow do in its current guise? Well, anyone with even the most rudimentary spreadsheet skills can use Baserow for use-cases spanning content marketing, such as managing brand assets collaboratively across teams; managing and organizing events; helping HR teams or startups manage and track applicants for a new role; and countless more, which Baserow provides pre-built templates for. [...] Baserow's open source credentials are arguably its core selling point, with the promise of greater extensibility and customizations (users can create their own plug-ins to enhance its functionality, similar to how WordPress works) -- this is a particularly alluring proposition for businesses with very specific or niche use cases that aren't well supported from an off-the-shelf SaaS solution. On top of that, some sectors require full control of their data and technology stack for security or compliance purposes. This is where open source really comes into its own, given that businesses can host the product themselves and circumvent vendor lock-in. With a fresh 5 million euros in the bank, Baserow is planning to double down on its commercial efforts, starting with a premium incarnation that's officially launching out of an early access program later this month. This offering will be available as a SaaS and self-hosted product and will include various features such as the ability to export in different formats; user management tools for admin; Kanban view; and more. An additional "advanced" product will also be made available purely for SaaS customers and will include a higher data storage limit and service level agreements (SLAs). Although Baserow has operated under the radar somewhat since its official foundation in Amsterdam last year, it claims to have 10,000 active users, 100 sponsors who donate to the project via GitHub and 800 users already on the waiting list for its premium version. Later this year, Baserow plans to introduce a paid enterprise version for self-hosting customers, with support for specific requirements such as audit logs, single sign-on (SSO), role-based access control and more.

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