5 Best SmartSuite Alternatives in 2026

Many folks have started using SmartSuite and are amazed by how it can help organize internal data and manage business processes. Unfortunately, others are disappointed by its lack of flexibility.

If you're searching for a SmartSuite alternative but can't seem to nail down the right one for you, then you've come to the right place. Since 2014, I've paired freelancers, entrepreneurs, and businesses with app-building platforms that meet their needs the best.

In this article, I'll go over my 5 favorite SmartSuite alternatives, starting with Adalo—an AI-powered app builder that addresses many of SmartSuite's core limitations.

Independent research from App Builder Guides' State of App Building report (February 2026) analyzed 190 Reddit threads and 150+ platform citations across 345 data points with zero platform sponsorships. Adalo ranked first among visual builders for non-developers.

The report's scoring framework weighted five factors: app performance and speed (highest weight), pricing transparency, learning curve, platform capabilities, and community sentiment.

Why Choose a SmartSuite Alternative?

While SmartSuite is an excellent workflow management and data organization tool, it doesn't provide the full range of features that many businesses need for smooth operations. Over the years, I've heard the following reasons for finding a SmartSuite alternative:

Very Little Customization

While you can create new data fields and enter several data types, SmartSuite limits how you can view your data on its user interface. If you want to view your data on a specialized map or through a unique filter, you'll be hard-pressed to do so with SmartSuite.

SmartSuite also allows you to change up the text and color schemes of your user interface and add widgets like charts and graphs to it, but you can't customize certain features. For instance, you can't divvy up different pieces of your project management tool into different screens for organization.

Solution: Get an app-building platform like Adalo, Glide, or Noloco that provides the design freedom to customize each part of your app to your needs and tastes, plus the ability to visualize your data the way you want to see it.

Can't Create Client-Facing Applications

SmartSuite is a tool that's made for business process and operations management. Unfortunately, you can't create apps that your clients can access from the internet, or download via the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

If you want to create an app where your clients can track their orders or see how close their product is to completion, you'll have to look beyond SmartSuite.

Solution: Choose an app building platform, like Adalo, that lets your clients download your app directly from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, on the web as a private user from a sign in, or as a public anonymous user.

Can Get Expensive

Each of SmartSuite's pricing tiers are billed per user. For instance, if you go for SmartSuite's cheapest version, at $12/month (billed monthly), but have a team of 6, you'll actually pay $72 monthly. These pricing tiers can add up, possibly impacting your bottom line.

Solution: Pick an app-building platform or business software solution, like Adalo or Trello, that offers competitive pricing and doesn't charge a per-user rate.

The Top 5 SmartSuite Alternatives

• Adalo, the best overall SmartSuite alternative
• Airtable, the best SmartSuite alternative for building a database
• Glide, the best SmartSuite alternative for gorgeous apps
• Trello, the easiest SmartSuite alternative
• Noloco, the best SmartSuite alternative for internal tools

#1 The Best Overall SmartSuite Alternative

Adalo

What is it?

Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms. AI-assisted building and streamlined publishing enable launch to the Apple App Store and Google Play in days rather than months. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can build any kind of app exactly to how you envision it.

Ada, Adalo's AI builder, lets you describe what you want and generates your app. Magic Start creates complete app foundations from a description. Magic Add adds features through natural language. X-Ray identifies performance issues before they affect users.

The platform's Magic Start feature generates complete app foundations from simple descriptions. Tell it you need a client portal for tracking orders, and it creates your database structure, screens, and user flows automatically—what used to take days of planning happens in minutes. Magic Add then lets you expand functionality by describing what you want in plain language.

What does it do better than SmartSuite?

Because Adalo is a visual app builder with AI assistance, it offers much more in terms of customization, flexibility, and design freedom. You'll be able to create an app that your clients can log into and see the status of their purchases.

Then, on the same app, you can build out a project management feature that combines all the data from each client, making it accessible to only you and your team. This dual functionality eliminates the need for separate tools.

But Adalo isn't just a solid app-building platform for those wanting to build internal apps. There's no limitation to the kind of apps you can build with Adalo: Create a social network, delivery app, property-management app, and much, much more. Over 3 million apps have been created on the platform, with the visual builder described as "easy as PowerPoint."

Following the Adalo 3.0 infrastructure overhaul in late 2025, the platform now runs 3-4x faster than before. Paid plans include unlimited database records with no caps, and all usage-based charges have been removed—meaning no surprise bills as your app grows. The modular infrastructure scales to serve apps with millions of monthly active users, with no upper ceiling.

Who is it best for?

I've recommended Adalo to freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small and medium businesses more than any other app builder or SaaS platform. This is because Adalo is insanely powerful and super easy to use: You can start making your app right after signing up, without spending hours studying tutorials.

The platform's X-Ray feature identifies performance issues before they affect users, making it particularly valuable for businesses planning to scale. Whether you're building an MVP or a production app serving thousands of users, the same platform handles both.

Pricing

Start using Adalo for only $36/month with unlimited usage and app store publishing. Unlike competitors that charge per user or add usage-based fees, Adalo's pricing stays predictable as you grow.

Final Verdict

With the ability to publish on the web and app stores from a single codebase, the flexibility and power to build any app imaginable, AI-assisted building features, and a learning curve that anyone can overcome, Adalo is the best overall SmartSuite alternative.

#2 The Best SmartSuite Alternative for Creating a Database

Airtable

What is it?

Airtable is a database builder that lets you custom-create your own databases like you would a spreadsheet, with more powerful relational capabilities than traditional spreadsheet tools.

What does it do better than SmartSuite?

If you want to build a database quickly and without much of a learning curve, Airtable is your go-to. While Airtable's viewing is limited to data in charts, graphs, and Kanban boards, you can easily integrate your Airtable database with Adalo to make it into a proper app with a polished front end.

Airtable also provides a solid number of templates. You'll have more power to customize and configure these than you would with SmartSuite. Airtable lets you structure your database and schema to just how you need it, going further than SmartSuite, which is more geared toward accomplishing business processes.

The combination of Airtable's database flexibility with Adalo's app-building capabilities creates a powerful workflow: design your data structure in Airtable, then build a native mobile app interface in Adalo that your clients can download from the App Store.

Who is it best for?

Any professional who needs a high degree of freedom to customize and structure data should consider Airtable. It's also one of those rare platforms that both non-techies and techies will find useful. Teams already comfortable with spreadsheets will find the transition particularly smooth.

Pricing

Learn how to use Airtable with its generous free version, allowing for an unlimited number of bases (tables), up to 1,000 records per base (rows of data in a spreadsheet), and 5 editors. For $24/month (billed monthly), you'll get 50,000 records per base and 20GB of attachments per base.

Final Verdict

Packing tons of customization for tailoring your database the way you want it, and the ability to integrate with Adalo to build out a sleek front end that publishes to app stores, Airtable is the best SmartSuite alternative for building a database.

#3 The Best SmartSuite Alternative for Gorgeous Apps

Glide

What is it?

Glide is a web app builder that lets you create aesthetically pleasing web apps right out of the box, with a focus on template-based design and spreadsheet data sources.

What does it do better than SmartSuite?

While Glide provides the tools and building interface to make sleek and professional looking apps, it also lets you build out your database with ease. Every one of Glide's enormous premade templates comes packed with a ready-to-go database.

You'll also find that Glide has several premade templates specifically designed for optimizing business processes and operations. When you build with Glide, you can create unique, customized apps that execute your operational tasks quickly.

However, it's worth noting that Glide is heavily format-focused and restricted to set templates. This makes it fast to build and publish with, but creates generic, simplistic apps with limited creative freedom compared to more flexible platforms. Glide excels at spreadsheet-based apps, though Adalo's SheetBridge feature offers similar convenience—turning a Google Sheet into an actual database for easy control without database-related learning curves.

Who is it best for?

While you can build any type of web app (apps that users access with their phones' browsers), Glide specializes in creating internal tools for businesses of all sizes because of its special template selection and operational-specific functionality. Teams that prioritize speed over customization will appreciate Glide's approach.

Pricing

Glide has a free version that lets you try out its templates and app-building interface. For $60/month, you get the ability to build an app with a custom domain, though it's still limited by app updates and data record rows, which attract additional charges.

Important limitation: Glide does not support Apple App Store or Google Play Store publishing. If you need native mobile apps that users can download, you'll need to consider alternatives like Adalo that compile to true native iOS and Android apps.

Final Verdict

With a large stable of operational-specific templates and an app-building interface that lets you make your app look polished quickly, Glide is the SmartSuite alternative for creating gorgeous web apps—though its template restrictions and lack of app store publishing may limit some use cases.

#4 The Easiest SmartSuite Alternative

Trello

What is it?

Trello is a customizable, easy-to-use project management program that lets you organize your tasks with visual boards and cards.

What does it do better than SmartSuite?

Because it has an easy learning curve, you can begin building your project management board soon after signing up for Trello. You won't need to spend hours upon hours reading guides to figure out how to get set up.

Trello's user interface is much more simple to understand than SmartSuite's. It lets you organize all your operational projects as "Boards." When you select a Board, you can add cards to it that denote parts of the project that need to be finished. View each board as a timeline or a calendar for different perspectives on your work.

The Kanban-style approach works particularly well for teams that think visually and want to see work progress through stages at a glance.

Who is it best for?

Trello is great for small- and medium-sized teams that need a tool to organize their project management and operations without the complexity of full-featured project management suites. It's not an app builder—it's purely a project management tool—so teams needing client-facing applications should look elsewhere.

Pricing

Get Trello's Standard Version at $6/month (billed monthly), which gives you unlimited storage (of files up to 250MB) and boards. If you want to view your tasks on a calendar and get unlimited file storage, upgrade to the Premium Version at $12.50/month (billed monthly).

Final Verdict

Trello is the easiest SmartSuite alternative if you want to create a simple project management board to better organize your business processes and operations. For teams that need to build actual applications, however, you'll need to pair Trello with an app builder like Adalo.

#5 The Best SmartSuite Alternative for Internal Tools

Noloco

What is it?

Noloco is an app-building platform that lets businesses create apps for executing their internal processes from existing databases.

What does it do better than SmartSuite?

If you already have a database and don't want to take the time to learn how to use your database with SmartSuite, Noloco might be the tool for you. It's specifically crafted to transform your data into an app. Edit and customize your app's features as you like.

Need to build several different apps—like a CRM, Sales, Project Management, and Accounting app—all from one set of data? Noloco lets you do so. When you choose Noloco, you can build an unlimited number of apps, which can help you cover an unlimited number of use cases from your existing data infrastructure.

The platform connects directly to databases like Airtable, PostgreSQL, and MySQL, making it ideal for teams that have already invested in their data architecture and want to build interfaces on top of it.

Who is it best for?

Noloco appeals to all businesses that need more than a database and must express their data with apps. It's particularly valuable for teams with existing database infrastructure who want to quickly build internal tools without migrating their data.

However, like Glide, Noloco focuses on web apps and internal tools—it doesn't support publishing to the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Teams needing native mobile apps for clients should consider Adalo instead.

Pricing

Unfortunately, Noloco doesn't offer a free version. For $49/month (billed monthly), get Noloco's Starter Version, allowing up to 10 users and 5,000 rows of data per app. If you need more power, check out their Pro Version for $149/month (billed monthly), allowing up to 50 users and 50,000 rows of data per app.

Final Verdict

Because it's built to create apps directly from your database and allows you to build an unlimited number of apps, Noloco is the best SmartSuite alternative for building internal business tools—though its higher price point and lack of native mobile app support may push some teams toward more versatile alternatives.

Comparison Summary

FAQ

Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The platform handles the complex submission process, so you can focus on building rather than wrestling with certificates and store guidelines.

What's the fastest way to build and publish an app to the App Store?

Adalo's drag-and-drop interface combined with AI-assisted building features like Magic Start lets you go from idea to published app in days rather than months. Magic Start generates complete app foundations from descriptions, and the platform handles App Store submission automatically—the hardest part of launching an app handled for you.

What are the main limitations of SmartSuite that make people look for alternatives?

The main limitations include very little customization for viewing and organizing data, the inability to create client-facing applications that customers can download or access online, and per-user pricing that can get expensive for larger teams. Many businesses need more flexibility to build apps their clients can interact with directly.

Can I create both internal tools and client-facing apps with a SmartSuite alternative?

Yes, with Adalo you can build both internal project management features accessible only to your team and client-facing applications where customers can track orders or view product status. This dual functionality in one platform eliminates the need for multiple separate tools and keeps all your data connected.

Which is more affordable, Adalo or Glide?

Adalo starts at $36/month with unlimited usage and app store publishing. Glide starts at $60/month for custom domain capability but still has limitations on app updates and data records that can incur additional charges. Adalo also offers native mobile app publishing, which Glide doesn't support.

Which is better for mobile apps, Adalo or Noloco?

Adalo is significantly better for mobile apps because it compiles to true native iOS and Android code and publishes directly to app stores. Noloco focuses on web-based internal tools and doesn't support App Store or Play Store publishing. If you need downloadable mobile apps, Adalo is the clear choice.

How does Adalo's pricing compare to SmartSuite?

Unlike SmartSuite which charges per user (potentially costing $72/month for a team of 6 on the cheapest plan), Adalo offers competitive pricing starting at $36/month without per-user charges. This makes Adalo more cost-effective for growing teams looking to manage their bottom line.

Do I need technical skills to build apps with these SmartSuite alternatives?

No technical skills are required for Adalo. The platform features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that allows you to start building immediately after signing up. AI features like Magic Start and Magic Add let you describe what you want in plain language, making app creation accessible to anyone.

Can I integrate Airtable with Adalo?

Yes, Airtable integrates with Adalo, allowing you to use Airtable's powerful database capabilities while building a polished app interface in Adalo. This combination lets you leverage Airtable's data structuring with Adalo's native mobile app publishing to app stores.

Which SmartSuite alternative is easiest for beginners?

For pure project management, Trello is the easiest to learn. For building actual applications, Adalo offers the gentlest learning curve—its visual builder has been described as "easy as PowerPoint," and AI-assisted features handle much of the complexity automatically.