# NocoBase review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Open-source platform for building business systems with AI agents Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. NocoBase is an open-source platform for building and running internal business systems. NocoBase Core supplies building blocks such as permissions, workflows, files and notifications, and Studio manages teams of coding agents. Core is free to self-host, and paid editions are sold as one-time perpetual licenses rather than subscriptions. - **Category:** Spreadsheets & Databases - **Made by:** NocoBase - **Website:** https://www.nocobase.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want a hosted service, as the listing offers self-hosting only. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, NocoBase has a free plan, and paid plans start at $8,000 one-time. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Community edition: free, open source and self-hosted, with Core building blocks, Solution apps and community support; free for production and client delivery. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Community | $0 | Open-source Core and every Solution app, which you host yourself, with docs and community support. | | Professional | $8,000 one-time, perpetual license with 1 year of upgrades and support | Adds Studio, advanced approvals, enterprise SSO and one deployment done by the NocoBase team. | | Enterprise | Custom | Adds clustering, multi-tenant and multi-app setups, audit logs, air-gapped delivery and priority support; also a one-time license. | Read from https://www.nocobase.com/pricing/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with NocoBase before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **One-time perpetual license** (Lifetime license): Professional is $8,000 once, with a perpetual license and 1 year of upgrades and support; Enterprise is a custom-quoted one-time license. Source: https://www.nocobase.com/pricing/ ## Key features - **Core building blocks:** Core provides over 20 ready blocks, including permissions, workflows, files and notifications, so builders write only business-specific logic. - **Databases and external sources:** Core runs on SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server or Oracle and can connect existing databases as external data sources. - **Permissions and SSO:** Role-based access covers pages, actions and data, with the same rules applied to people and agents. SAML and LDAP SSO is a paid feature. - **Studio for agent teams:** Studio connects Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode as an agent team with checks, review and human sign-off before every merge. - **Solution apps:** Ready apps such as NocoCRM, NocoITAM and NocoReach are built on Core, are free and open source, and run on your own servers. - **Own your data and models:** Code and data stay in your repositories and on your servers, and you pay your chosen model and agent providers directly. ## Good for - Developer teams building internal tools on their own servers - Organizations that prefer a one-time license to subscriptions - Teams that want to put coding agents under one governed workflow ## Worth knowing - Self-hosted only: you run the servers, models and agents, and pay those providers yourself. - An older NocoBase 2 pricing page still lists a $800 Standard edition, which the current pricing page does not show. - Studio, advanced approvals and enterprise SSO need the $8,000 Professional edition. - Upgrades and support are included for 1 year with each paid license; the page does not state what a renewal costs. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. NocoBase is an open-source platform for building business systems, with its own building blocks and ready-made solution apps. The core is free, but you run it yourself, and Studio, advanced approvals and enterprise sign-in need the $8,000 Professional licence. - **Value for money: C.** The software is free but only if you host it yourself, which needs a server. The paid Professional licence is $8,000 once, with a year of upgrades and support. - **Free plan and trial: B.** The Community edition is free, open source and allowed for production and client work. You pay your own server and model providers. - **Features: C.** Building blocks, external databases, permissions and solution apps. Studio, advanced approvals and enterprise SSO sit on the $8,000 tier. - **Ease of use: D.** Self-hosted only: you install it, run the servers and look after upgrades. No store rating is on record. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web with a real list of connections: PostgreSQL, MySQL, S3, Claude Code, Codex, Feishu and DingTalk. No desktop or phone app is listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from NocoBase's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among spreadsheet and database tools - NocoBase's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 17 of the 63 other spreadsheet and database tools we grade, and level with 10. - It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 31 of 63) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/spreadsheets ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace NocoBase you would be making a builder that other people can use without writing code. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 36 of the 63 other spreadsheet and database tools grade higher. It costs $8,000, paid once. NocoBase is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself. - You could not: A builder that other people can use without writing code. - You could not: A tool that builds and hosts other apps. - You could not: An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. - You could not: Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. - You could not: Databases with views, filters and links between them. - You could not: What a company asks for before it lets staff use something: single sign-on and roles and permissions. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, PostgreSQL, MySQL, S3, Feishu, DingTalk **Tags:** Open source, Self-hostable, Databases, No-code, App builder, AI agents, Workflow automation ## Alternatives - [NocoDB](https://toolgpa.com/tools/nocodb): No-code database with a spreadsheet interface, cloud or self-hosted. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/nocobase-vs-nocodb) - [Baserow](https://toolgpa.com/tools/baserow): Open-source no-code database and application builder. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/baserow-vs-nocobase) - [Teable](https://toolgpa.com/tools/teable): AI spreadsheet-database with app builder and automations. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/nocobase-vs-teable) - [Grist](https://toolgpa.com/tools/grist): Open-source relational spreadsheet with Python formulas. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/grist-vs-nocobase) - [Rowy](https://toolgpa.com/tools/rowy): Spreadsheet-style UI and low-code backend for Firebase. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/nocobase-vs-rowy) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.nocobase.com - https://www.nocobase.com/pricing/ - https://nocode.nocobase.com/en/commercial Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/nocobase Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).