HN Explorer

Ask HN: FOSS low-code/no-code platforms?

10 points by sandwichbop ↗ HN
I know visual scripting is an old idea, but I've noticed an uptick in people adopting low-code/no-code solutions, allowing them to build entire websites, apps, and startups like never before. Quick Examples: Bubble.io[1], OutSystems[2], Microsoft Power Apps[3] that targets this sort of niche, but there's plenty of more. They're far from perfect, but they don't feel like a fad this time.

Most of these low-code/no-code platforms are proprietary and often expensive; I want to contribute to alternatives. What FOSS low-code/no-code platforms exist, and which have the most potential?

[1] https://bubble.io [2] https://www.outsystems.com/p/modern-development/ [3] https://powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/

15 comments

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solmag
ray-traced code /when/, the world demands 4 dimensional code
sandwichbop
Why the snark? I see value in no-code/low-code platforms for many people—integrating with "traditional" code to fill in the lack of domain-specific features and building a strong FOSS alternative early on is critical. I just started reading and found these two projects that seem to be trying to accomplish just that [1][2] though they seem very early. I'd love to see what other project HN might know, since I personally don't know better.

[1] https://github.com/saltcorn/saltcorn [2] https://github.com/Rintagi/Low-Code-Development-Platform

solmag
I was absolutely not snarking. I think it was Terry Davis that had in his code editor for TempleOS 2d rendering.
Irongirl1
https://www.budibase.com
budibase
Thank you for the mention. For anyone interested, here's our GitHub repo: https://github.com/Budibase/budibase
foxbee
Co-founder of Budibase here.

You've hit the nail on the head.

As developers, we were burnt out building the same internal tools time and time again. So, we went looking for a low code platform and what we found, were closed source, expensive, low code platforms that were clunky and not very extensible.

We thought we could build a better low code platform that was enjoyable to use. And our first and easiest decision was making it open source.

It's written in nodejs and Svelte, and uses CouchDB. Happy to provide more technical info.

sandwichbop
This looks incredible, thank you for helping create Budibase, gonna try it out when I can. Glad to see Svelte being used, really like how performant it is.
kinj28
You may want to look at appsmith - they are FOSS - will enable building frontend apps

Incase you happen to explore low code SaaS platforms then check out DronaHQ - front end app dev platform - built in DB - automation - BPM

Disclaimer- I am a part of DronaHQ

sandwichbop
Appsmith looks really cool, going to read up on it. I looked up DronaHQ but they don't seem to be very FOSS like at all, doesn't seem to have the majority of code available, no self hosting and the cheapest tier is $100 a month after your trial ends.
rnavi
NocoDB is a free & open source Airtable alternative & has received 2 Million+ times within 15 weeks.

Github: https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb

It simply works by transforming any existing databases into smart spreadsheet.

We support Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server & SQLite.

You can create business workflows by connecting to Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Twilio, Whatsapp, Email & any 3rd party APIs too. Plus NocoDB provides programmatic access via REST/GQL APIs so that you can build integrations with Zapier / Integromat and custom applications too.

Full disclaimer : Founder here