# 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.

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Question | What is the best open source alternative to Excel and Access? |
| Picks | 5 |
| Top pick | Teable (21,858 stars) |
| Data as of | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Canonical URL | https://appsgit.com/best/spreadsheet-and-database-apps |

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.

## Spreadsheet databases (Airtable and Access style)

- [Teable](https://appsgit.com/apps/teable) (21,858 stars, AGPL-3.0, TypeScript, Docker): 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.
- [Grist](https://appsgit.com/apps/grist) (11,902 stars, Apache-2.0, TypeScript, Docker): 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.
- [NocoDB](https://appsgit.com/apps/nocodb) (65,197 stars, SUL-1.0, source-available, TypeScript, Docker): 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.

## Office suites with spreadsheets

- [ONLYOFFICE](https://appsgit.com/apps/onlyoffice) (6,970 stars, AGPL-3.0, Shell, Docker): 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.

## Build apps on your data

- [Budibase](https://appsgit.com/apps/budibase) (28,328 stars, GPL-3.0, TypeScript, Docker): 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.

## How this list was made

- Apps were picked by hand from the appsgit catalog for each job, then checked against the snapshot: unknown or archived projects and projects with no commit in two years are dropped automatically.
- Inside each section the curated order is kept, most broadly useful first; an app appears only once on the page.
- Stars, license, Docker and activity facts come from the GitHub API as of October 2026.
- Source-available apps are labelled; they are not open source, so read their licenses before commercial use.

## FAQ

### 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.

## Related questions

- [What is the best open source database tool?](https://appsgit.com/best/open-source-database-tools)
- [What is the best open source OCR software?](https://appsgit.com/best/ocr-tools)
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## See also

- [All database management apps](https://appsgit.com/categories/database-management)
- [All office suites apps](https://appsgit.com/categories/office-suites)
- [All low-code & backend apps](https://appsgit.com/categories/low-code)
- [Open-source alternatives to Airtable](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/airtable)
- [Open-source alternatives to Microsoft Access](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/microsoft-access)
- [Open-source alternatives to Microsoft Excel](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/microsoft-excel)
- [Open-source alternatives to Smartsheet](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/smartsheet)
- [Open-source alternatives to Supabase](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/supabase)
- [Open-source alternatives to Google Forms](https://appsgit.com/alternatives/google-forms)
- [NocoDB vs Teable](https://appsgit.com/compare/nocodb-vs-teable)

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Canonical page: https://appsgit.com/best/spreadsheet-and-database-apps
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