If I use the self hosted software now, how to keep it up to date? Also if they start charging, how will it be different than AirTable? I get the privacy aspect of self hosted solutions but there is a huge overhead cost of maintaining it and updating it. I am not even sure self hosted is safer than SaaS.
Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
21–30 of 229 posts
Re: Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
#22Gorgeous landing page. Is it a template or did you handroll that? Kudos either way.
Thanks! It is not a template, I designed it from scratch.
Re: Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
#23What is the market for that? What can it do that good ol excel cannot (or, if so really desired, ms access)
Well, among the many answers you might get to this question, the one that sticks out the most to me is Excel spreadsheets do not have a built in REST API and Websocket service out of the box.
Sure you can pay up for Access or Sharepoint, or whatever offerings Microsoft has that do give REST APIs (I’m honestly not familiar with them). But this is free and open source, and anyone can put it on a web server and start jamming :)
Re: Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
#24If I use the self hosted software now, how to keep it up to date? Also if they start charging, how will it be different than AirTable? I get the privacy aspect of self hosted solutions but there is a huge overhead cost of maintaining it and updating it. I am not even sure self hosted is safer than SaaS.
It depends a little bit on how you are going self host it. There are updating instructions at the bottom of https://baserow.io/docs/guides/installation/install-on-ubunt... and https://baserow.io/docs/guides/installation/install-on-cloud... We are going to make it much easier to self host and update in the future.
Re: Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
#25If I use the self hosted software now, how to keep it up to date? Also if they start charging, how will it be different than AirTable? I get the privacy aspect of self hosted solutions but there is a huge overhead cost of maintaining it and updating it. I am not even sure self hosted is safer than SaaS.
You know (probably) that the binary you download and self host will always run. You can avoid updates, and avoid future paid requirements too.
It’s more work, but if you host something on LAN you eschew many security concerns. You can more easily track what it’s pinging and who it talks to. If it’s open source, you can audit and adjust the code too.
It’s all about priorities.
Re: Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
#26If I use the self hosted software now, how to keep it up to date? Also if they start charging, how will it be different than AirTable? I get the privacy aspect of self hosted solutions but there is a huge overhead cost of maintaining it and updating it. I am not even sure self hosted is safer than SaaS.
You update the software. If they start charging, you don't care, because you can keep your free copy. I don't know about the "huge overhead cost" of running an update now and then.
...but, the data is yours, the software is yours, the solution built on it is yours. Noone can raise the prices, noone can give unrealistic/stupid limits (eg. how many queries can you do per month in your paid/free package,...), and noone can take your data away.
Re: Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
#27A few years ago there were many Airtables articles on HN and it seemed to me it was promoted as a table/database management of some sort for non-technical people.
But now I see Airtable is used a lot in marketing departments and I caught a glimpse of a screen the other day and my marketing colleague's Airtable dashboard looked like a mix between Trello and messaging.
Can someone explain to me how Airtable is being used by non-technical people ?
And can Baserow fill that role too or is it a database thingy first and foremost ?
edit: does it have anything to do with templates ?
Re: Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
#28nice project.. Will add it to my open-source alternatives list gourav.io/clone-wars
ps: any particular reason for not choosing GitHub?
Re: Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
#29If I use the self hosted software now, how to keep it up to date? Also if they start charging, how will it be different than AirTable? I get the privacy aspect of self hosted solutions but there is a huge overhead cost of maintaining it and updating it. I am not even sure self hosted is safer than SaaS.
You update the software. If they start charging, you don't care, because you can keep your free copy. I don't know about the "huge overhead cost" of running an update now and then. ...but, the data is yours, the software is yours, the solution built on it is yours. Noone can raise the prices, noone can give unrealistic/stupid limits (eg. how many queries can you do per month in your paid/free package,...), and noone…
"I don't know about the "huge overhead cost" of running an update now and then."
Clearly you've never had to go to hours and hours of change management meetings for a minor release.
Re: Baserow.io – Self-hosted Airtable alternative
#30How good is it at recreating the DabbleDB demo?