NocoDB's free plan counts records, not responses

NocoDB scores 56, the lowest of the tools covered on this page, and the pillar responsible is feature depth at 35. That is our judgement of NocoDB as a form builder against other form builders, which is the only fair frame for a page asking about its free plan. Its form views have no conversational layout, no payments and no e-signatures, all of which forms.app, Tally and Fillout include free.

Generosity at 65 and freedom at 70 carry the more useful half of the story: self-hosted, it is uncapped and the data is yours. Sentiment sits at exactly 50 because we hold no G2, Trustpilot or Capterra score for NocoDB at all, and saying so beats borrowing a number. If you want submissions landing as structured records with a proper form builder in front of them, Fillout's free plan is the honest comparison.

The cloud free plan's caps interact in a way that catches people out, so take them together rather than one at a time.

• 1,000 records, counted as a running total across the account and never reset monthly (as of July 2026).
• 3 editor seats, 1 GB of storage, 100 automation runs a month.
• Unlimited bases, which sounds like room and is not, because the record count is what binds first.

A form collecting 40 submissions a week fills the free tier in roughly six months and then stops being useful until you delete history or pay. Set that against a hosted form builder metering monthly responses, where the counter forgives you every 30 days. This one does not forgive anything.

Self-hosting removes all of it: unlimited records, storage and seats. What it adds is Docker, a database you are responsible for, and enough comfort with both to keep them running. One more thing to know before building on it: NocoDB is source-available under the Sustainable Use License, not an OSI-approved open source license, and that license restricts running it as a service you resell.

Every paid NocoDB plan is priced per seat, and that is the detail to hold onto, because it is not how most form builders in this category charge. Plus is $12 per seat a month billed annually ($15 monthly), Business $24 ($30 monthly), and Scale $45 ($54 monthly) with a three-seat minimum. A five-person team on Plus is $60 a month, not $12.

The upgrade people make is for records rather than features. The free tier's 1,000-record total is the wall, and paying is how you move it, which makes this cloud ladder a storage decision dressed as a software decision.

Which is why self-hosting is the genuine alternative to the first paid step here, not a niche option for enthusiasts. The Community Edition removes the record cap, the seat count and the storage limit at once, for the price of a server and the attention it needs. If the choice is $60 a month for seats, a small VPS and an afternoon of setup is a serious competitor.

Free with limits, and the limits land in two different places. On the cloud, 1,000 records as a lifetime total is a real ceiling any active form will reach. Self-hosted, there is no ceiling at all, and the only constraint left is the product itself, because the forms are basic.

Who this is free enough for: an internal ops team collecting structured requests, a self-hoster who wants submissions arriving as relatable records rather than spreadsheet rows, anyone building an internal tool where the form is the smallest part of the job. Who should look elsewhere: anyone whose form is public-facing and needs payments, signatures, or a design that persuades strangers to finish it.

For that second group, free NocoDB alternatives covers the tools built for the job and the best free form builders ranks them. NocoDB earns its place on this site for what happens after the submit button, not before it.