Budibase pricing guide details
Pricing Overview
Budibase uses a freemium pricing model with four paid tiers plus a fully free self-hosted option. The platform is open-source under GPLv3, meaning teams can self-host Budibase with unlimited users at zero cost using Docker or Kubernetes. Paid cloud plans start at $19/month (billed yearly) for the Pro tier and scale up to $299/month for Business, with Enterprise pricing available on request. Additional end users cost $5/user/month across all paid tiers, while extra creators on the Business plan cost $50/creator/month. Monthly billing runs 15-20% higher than annual pricing across all tiers. Budibase distinguishes between two seat types: creators (who build apps and automations) and end users (who interact with published apps). This split-seat model means the sticker price only tells part of the story -- actual costs depend heavily on team composition.
Plan Comparison
Budibase offers cloud Pro, Premium, Business, and Enterprise plans, plus open-source and Enterprise self-hosted options. The cloud plans include actions, AI credits, creator allowances, workspace limits, and log retention that vary by tier.
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| Feature | Pro | Premium | Business | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listed price | $19/month | $49/month | $299/month | Custom |
| Creators included | 1 | 1 | 3 | Custom |
| End users included | 0 | 0 | 0 | Custom |
| Budibase AI credits | 2,000 | 10,000 | 50,000 | Custom actions |
| Actions | 5,000 | 20,000 | 250,000 | Custom actions |
| Workspaces | 1 | 10 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Log retention | 1 day | 7 days | 30 days | 365 days |
| Backups & restore | — | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom branding | — | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Environment variables | — | — | Yes | Yes |
| Enforced SSO | — | — | Yes | Yes |
| User groups | — | — | Yes | Yes |
| Active Directory/SCIM | — | — | — | Yes |
| Audit logs | — | — | — | Yes |
| Support | Community | Community | Priority support/SLAs |
Pro, Premium, and Business offer end users as an add-on for $5/user/month. Premium and Business also allow additional creators for $50/creator/month. Budibase's free open-source option is self-hosted/on-premise and includes unlimited actions, apps, automations, agents, and users, with one workspace and community support.
Hidden Costs and Considerations
Budibase's base tier prices are deceptive if you only look at the headline number. The real cost depends on how many end users access your apps. Additional creators on Business cost $50/creator/month, which adds up fast for larger dev teams. Monthly billing costs 20% more than annual -- choosing month-to-month on the Business plan means paying 20% more than the $299 annual rate.
The free self-hosted option lacks paid-tier features like backups, SSO, custom branding, and extended log retention, so teams with compliance or disaster recovery requirements will need at least the Premium or Business tier. Budibase AI credits are consumed by AI-powered features like the JavaScript bindings helper and table schema generation; teams using these features heavily may find the 2,000 credits on Pro insufficient and need to upgrade to Premium or Business for 10,000-50,000 credits.
Cost Estimates by Team Size
These estimates use annual billing prices and assume one creator unless noted.
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| Team Size | Recommended Plan | Monthly Cost (Annual Billing) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 creator, 2 end users | Pro | $19/mo |
| 1 creator, 10 end users | Premium | $49/mo |
| 3 creators, 30 end users | Business | $299/mo | | 3 creators, 50 end users | Business | $399/mo ($299 + 20 extra users at $5) | | 5 creators, 100 end users | Business | $899/mo ($299 + 2 extra creators at $50 + 100 end users at $5, billed yearly) |
How Budibase Pricing Compares
Budibase competes directly with Retool and Appsmith in the low-code internal tools space. Its open-source self-hosted option is a significant differentiator for cost-sensitive teams.
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| Platform | Free Tier | Paid Starting Price | Self-Hosted Free | Pricing Model |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Budibase | Yes (self-hosted) | $19/mo | Yes (unlimited users, GPLv3) | Per-creator + per-end-user |
| Retool | Yes | $75/mo | No (Enterprise only) | Per-user |
| Appsmith | Yes | $15/mo | Yes (Community Edition) | Per-user |
Budibase's $19/month Pro plan undercuts Retool's $75/month entry point by a wide margin. Appsmith starts lower at $15/month but jumps to $2,500/month for its Business tier, while Budibase's Business plan sits at $299/month. The critical advantage for Budibase is self-hosting: unlimited users on the free tier with no licensing fee, which neither Retool nor Appsmith match at equivalent capability.
For teams that need data sovereignty or operate under strict compliance requirements (HIPAA, government security, financial regulations), Budibase's self-hosted deployment eliminates per-seat costs entirely. Retool only offers self-hosting on its Enterprise plan at custom pricing, making Budibase the clear winner for budget-conscious teams that require on-premises deployment. Appsmith offers a free Community Edition for self-hosting but with fewer built-in automation capabilities and no equivalent to Budibase's AI agent framework. When factoring in the total cost of ownership for a 30-person team, Budibase's Business plan at $299/month delivers SSO, user groups, and 250,000 automation actions -- a combination that would require Enterprise-tier pricing on competing platforms.