Skip to content
appsgit

3 jobs · 5 apps

Best open source spreadsheet and database apps (Excel and Access alternatives)

For spreadsheets and simple databases, the best self-hosted picks are Teable for spreadsheet databases, ONLYOFFICE for classic spreadsheets and Budibase for forms and internal apps. Each pick was chosen by hand for its job from apps whose own description or topics match it, and is shown with GitHub data from October 2026.

Spreadsheet-style databases (the Airtable and Access kind) and office suites with spreadsheets, all self-hostable. NocoDB is source-available; the others are open source.

Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed nightly

Top picks

  1. Rank 1:

    Teable

    teableio/teable

    Next-gen Airtable alternative with a Postgres-backed spreadsheet UI.

    Database ManagementTypeScriptDocker

    Teable has 21,858 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,156 commits in the last year; it replaces Airtable and Microsoft Access.

  2. Rank 2:

    Grist

    gristlabs/grist-core

    Next-generation spreadsheet with relational structure, formula-based access control, and a portable, self-contained format (alternative to Airtable).

    Office SuitesTypeScriptDocker

    Grist has 11,902 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,101 commits in the last year; it replaces Airtable and Microsoft Access.

  3. Rank 3:

    NocoDB

    nocodb/nocodb

    No-code platform that turns any database into a smart spreadsheet (alternative to Airtable and Smartsheet).

    Source-availableDatabase ManagementTypeScriptDocker

    NocoDB has 65,197 GitHub stars, is source-available under the Sustainable Use License 1.0 (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 6,636 commits in the last year; it replaces Supabase and Airtable.

1 of 3 · 3 picks

Spreadsheet databases (Airtable and Access style)

  1. 1

    Teable

    Next-gen Airtable alternative with a Postgres-backed spreadsheet UI.

    Teable has 21,858 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,156 commits in the last year; it replaces Airtable and Microsoft Access.

  2. 2

    Grist

    Next-generation spreadsheet with relational structure, formula-based access control, and a portable, self-contained format (alternative to Airtable).

    Grist has 11,902 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,101 commits in the last year; it replaces Airtable and Microsoft Access.

  3. 3

    NocoDB

    No-code platform that turns any database into a smart spreadsheet (alternative to Airtable and Smartsheet).

    NocoDB has 65,197 GitHub stars, is source-available under the Sustainable Use License 1.0 (not an open-source license), ships a Docker image and had 6,636 commits in the last year; it replaces Supabase and Airtable.

2 of 3 · 1 pick

Office suites with spreadsheets

  1. 1

    ONLYOFFICE

    Office suite that enables you to manage documents, projects, team and customer relations in one place.

    ONLYOFFICE has 6,970 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 21 commits in the last year; it replaces Google Docs and Google Workspace.

3 of 3 · 1 pick

Build apps on your data

  1. 1

    Budibase

    Build and automate internal tools, admin panels, dashboards, CRUD apps, and more, in minutes (alternative to Outsystems, Retool, Mendix, Appian).

    Budibase has 28,328 GitHub stars, uses the GPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 12,674 commits in the last year; it replaces Airtable and Retool.

FAQ

Questions and answers

Still curious? Email info@appsgit.com.

What is the best open source alternative to Excel and Access?

For spreadsheets and simple databases, the best self-hosted picks are Teable for spreadsheet databases, ONLYOFFICE for classic spreadsheets and Budibase for forms and internal apps. Each pick was chosen by hand for its job from apps whose own description or topics match it, and is shown with GitHub data from October 2026.

Is there an open source Excel alternative?

ONLYOFFICE is a self-hostable office suite whose topics include spreadsheets and Excel, and Grist is a spreadsheet with relational structure and formula-based access control.

Is there an open source Microsoft Access alternative?

Teable, Grist and NocoDB (source-available) turn a database into a spreadsheet-like interface, and Budibase builds internal tools and CRUD apps on top of your data.

Is Teable free?

Yes. Teable is open-source software released under the AGPL-3.0 license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.

Can I run this stack with Docker?

All 5 apps here publish Docker images, including Teable, Grist and NocoDB, so most of the stack can run side by side with Docker Compose on one server. Size the server for the heaviest app and add off-site backups.

The weekly digest

New self-hosted apps, every week

Fresh releases, rising projects and one deploy guide a week. Join home labbers and engineers who self-host.

One email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.