DEV Community: Budibase

Budibase Hackathon Update - Over $5K in prizes 🎉

Budibase — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 08:30:22 +0000

The Budibase hackathon kicked off on the 1st of October. Since its commencement, the reception from the developer community has been incredible.

So far, hackers have contributed:

A Spotify component
Google BigQuery integration
QR code scanner component And more.

You can find more contributions within our plugin repository:
https://github.com/Budibase/plugins

In total, there's $5,000 in prizes to be won at the Budibase hackathon. If you are interested, you can find out more using the link below:
https://lu.ma/budibase-virtual-hackathon

Happy hacking!

Announcing the Budibase Hackathon - Over $5K in prizes 🎉

Budibase — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 12:50:50 +0000

Announcing the Budibase Hackathon - Over $5K in prizes 🎉
There's a new opportunity to level up your software development skills and contribute to open-source while educating others and earning incredible prizes.

From October 1 until October 25, Budibase is offering developers an unmissable opportunity to build and contribute integrations and components to benefit open source in exchange for prizes. Read on for more details about Budibase and how you can join the hackathon.

❓ What is Budibase?

Budibase is an open-source low-code platform that helps developers build internal apps in minutes. With over 1 million downloads and 15,000 Github stars, Budibase is one of the leading open source platforms in the world. Recently, we launched Budibase 2.0, which allows users to build their own custom components and integrations 🚀.

💁🏽 Why Participate?

It's Hacktoberfest! We also wanted to emphasize that Budibase integrations and components are a perfect open source access point. We also think the prizes on offer make for a pretty compelling case to participate in the Budibase Hackathon 2022 😉.

We're encouraging participants to build Budibase integrations and components for this year's hackathon. We hope you'll walk away with a greater understanding of Budibase and the importance of low-code and extensibility for you and the open source community.

We're excited to see how you approach this challenge.

🏆 Key facts and prizes

You have 24 days to submit your contributions.

Starting - 10:00 am UTC Saturday, October 1, 2022
Ending - 10:00 am UTC Tuesday, October 25, 2022

There are four competitions and eight prizes to be won.

Best integration contributed

Winner: $1000 + Budibase Swag + $250 Budibase credit
Runner-up: $250 + Budibase Swag + $250 Budibase credit

Most integrations contributed

Winner: $1000 + Budibase Swag + $250 Budibase credit
Runner-up: $250 + Budibase Swag + $250 Budibase credit

Best component contributed

Winner: $1000 + Budibase Swag + $250 Budibase credit
Runner-up: $250 + Budibase Swag + $250 Budibase credit

Most components contributed

Winner: $1000 + Budibase Swag + $250 Budibase credit
Runner-up: $250 + Budibase Swag + $250 Budibase credit

The submission quality is critical, and poor submissions will not count towards the competition.

💻 How to Participate

We've created this quick guide to help you contribute an integration or component and participate in the Budibase Hackathon.

📩 How To Submit

Create a repository for your contribution on Github

Add your contribution to the repository

Add a description and instructions for your integration to the README - this is important as it will help users adopt your integration.

Submit your hackathon contribution using this form.

📜 Rules

The contest entry period ends October 25, 2022, at 10:00 am UTC. You must submit before the deadline (no late entries).

Budibase has the right to reject submissions they deem unfit.
You must create your submission during the event.
All entries must be Open Source (link to source code required in submission)
Any intellectual property developed during the hackathon will belong to the individual/team that created it.

👾 Community Support

The Budibase team will be available to help anyone who runs into issues or has questions related to Budibase or the hackathon in general. You can reach the Budibase team by leaving a comment on our:

- Discord Channel
- Community Forum

🗓 Important Dates

October 1, 2022: Hackathon Begins!
October 25, 2022: Hackathon Submission Due at 10:00 am UTC
October 28, 2022: Hackathon Winners Announced

ℹ️ Additional info

- Payment may take up to 30 days after your submission.
- By submitting, you grant Budibase permission to use screenshots or links to your project or content of your README on our Twitter, blog, website, email updates, and on the Budibase Discord server. Budibase does not make any claims over your IP.

🚀 How to sign up

Sign up to the hackathon using the link below:

https://lu.ma/budibase-virtual-hackathon

Introducing Budibase 2.0 🍱

Budibase — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 09:00:10 +0000

Today we’re launching Budibase 2.0 - and yes, you can build your own custom components! Budibase is a no-code/low-code platform for building internal tools, and 2.0 brings it all together: extensibility, scalability, education, and community. We think you’ll love it!

Features & Improvements

🎨 Custom plugins (components and datasources)
By far our most requested feature - users can now add custom datasources and components, aka plugins, to Budibase. Plugins are stored at the global level allowing you to use them across your different apps.

Visit the docs

🔌 Plugins repository
We’ve created a plugin repository to store plugins created by the community. We plan to put time and effort into growing this plugin ecosystem over the next few months - including our first hackathon.

Visit the plugin repository

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 User groups
User groups are critical when you want to scale your Budibase deployment. User groups are a collection of users who perform a similar task. For example, a group of marketing representatives might be put in a Marketing user group. When you add a user to a group, they are assigned the default permissions of that group.

🖇️ Binding groups
We’ve revamped the bindings drawer and nested all the user bindings under sections. This makes it much easier to navigate and find the values you are looking for.

🎓 Budibase university
A curriculum of video tutorials to help you get started with Budibase.

👾 Discord channel
Interact with other community members in the Budibase Discord.

🧮 Pricing
The new pricing allows users to upgrade from free and open-source plans to new paid plans that come with additional features, functionality, and limits.

🐞 Bug Fixes

Formula from a relation causes API error when a relation is removed

And so many more; where do we start…. 🙈

Check it out the launch, new features and try Budibase 2.0:
Budibase website

30+ free CRUD app templates to help speed up development

Budibase — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 11:10:49 +0000

Hi Dev.to 👋

Since January, the team at Budibase has worked night and day to develop over 30 CRUD app templates.

These templates are completely free and fully customizable.

To checkout the templates, click the following link:
Link to free CRUD app templates

I've also included 3 of my favourite templates below:

1. Application tracking system 💼

Advertise jobs, receive applications, and track candidates.

Link to template

2. IT ticketing system 🖥️

Keep on top of support tickets and preventing them from falling through the cracks.

Link to template

3. A multi-step form and admin panel 🎯

Capture leads with this multi-step lead form, and analyse results with a private admin panel.

Link to template

For those who don't know, Budibase is an open source low-code platform designed to make it easier, faster, and more fun to build internal apps.
Link to Budibase Github Repo

You can use these templates with Budibase for free - hosting included! You can also host these apps on your own infrastructure using Docker, K8s, Digital Ocean.

If these templates save 1 developer a couple of hours, then this effort has been a success!

Have a wonderful weekend,
Budibase

We're looking for freelance technical content writers - $400 per article

Budibase — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 11:22:04 +0000

Hello dev.to, and writers!

Budibase is an open-source low-platform that helps IT professionals build internal apps in minutes.

We're one of the fastest growing open-source repos, and we're hoping to continue our growth by paying technical writers to help us produce content that sparks joy in developers.

We're happy to pay up to $400 per article. All articles are targeted at developers.

If you are interested, or know anyone, please feel free reach out using the following form:
https://bb.budibase.app/app_bb_f832f44413ec455cb4cc25c9df3d1ee5

Cheers
Joe

We're looking for freelance technical content writers - $400 per article

Budibase — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 16:19:57 +0000

Budibase is live on Product Hunt and out of beta

Budibase — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 08:02:46 +0000

Budibase is an open source low code platform for creating beautiful business apps in minutes.

Here is a link to the Product Hunt post if you are interested in checking out our new promo video, graphics, and comments. Feedback/support appreciated. Visit Budibase on Product Hunt

Also, Budibase is now out of beta. You can get started with Budibase in just a few seconds. Visit website

4 no code code tools I actually use and love as a developer

Budibase — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 08:20:14 +0000

No code and low code platforms will not replace developers. And I vehemently disagree with the following article/statement:

'80% of tech could be built outside IT by 2024, thanks to low-code tools'
Venture Beat

The tools that promote this balderdash are misdirected, and generally out-of-touch with the development ecosystem.

On the other hand, the following 4 no code and low code tools are major productivity boosts and help me, as a developer, produce more in less amount of time. In some cases, the quality of my output has increased too. These tools, from using their products, reading their materials and engaging with their communities, are developer-led with an ambition of facilitating, accelerating and improving the developer experience.

It's not about replacing the dev experience, it's about augmenting it.

Moving on, let me present to you the 4 no-code / low-code tools I actually use and love as a developer:

Budibase

Budibase is an open source low code platform for building internal tools / CRUD apps in minutes. Since its release into beta ~6 months ago, it's amassed 3.8k Github stars, and 50,000 downloads.

Budibase differs from other low code platforms in a number of ways:

It has a built-in database
It offers a simple, streamlined SQL experience
Users can create apps with multiple screens
It has an automations section allowing users to automate tedious, manual tasks
Components are accessible
It outputs real SPAs and the apps are 10x more performant than other platforms
It outputs responsive apps
It's open source and free
The UI is slick and comes with dark mode 🌚

Check out the Budibase

n8n

My life would reach max CPU levels if weren't for n8n. From Discord notifications to weather updates, n8n keeps me informed and automates a plethora of manual tasks.

It's license fair code and pretty straight forward to get started with. Previous to n8n, I used Integromat which is also a wonderful tool. I made the move to n8n because I found the community more helpful and the product more extensible. The user experience is very developer focused, and in my opinion, n8n is very much in the low-code category rather than no-code.

Check out n8n

Voiceflow

I love Voiceflow. As a smart speaker fanatic, I love creating games, quizzes, and other voice apps. Voiceflow is my tool of choice and allows me to design, prototype, and build all my voice apps without messing about with code.

Voiceflow has a very generous free plan, which includes unlimited projects, all the core features, and community support.

Check out Voiceflow

Stripe payment links

I have created many, many side projects over the years as a developer. I loved building side projects, I didn't mind marketing them, but I downright detested creating contracts and payment workflows.

But, thankfully, the other week, this changed. My girlfriend's sister sells these cool teddy bears online, and asked me to setup a quick way to accept payments outside of Etsy (I'm the "IT person" in my family). I was a little lacklustre about the whole affair, until I experienced Stripe Payment Links. Wow. It is incredible! The whole end to end project took a few mins and the UX was, as expected, seamless. If you need to sell something online, in a rush, Stripe payment links is perfecto!

Check out Stripe Payment links

I hope you find this post, and the above tools helpful. I wish you the best of luck on your development journey.

Thank-you ❤️

Top 10 open source development tools (tried and tested)

Budibase — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 09:30:11 +0000

Software is eating the world, and there are not enough developers to fulfil demand.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment for software developers, which includes software engineers, will grow 22%, substantially faster than the 4% average for all careers.

As developers and IT professionals, this demand results in pressure. We are often given impossible deadlines, velocity goals and expected to deliver at breakneck speeds, with zero bugs. This is exactly why we need the support and acceleration of good development tools.

What makes for a good development tool?

Although the term "developer tool" is very general and can apply to a wide range of services, there are a few key features that your top developer tools should have.

It saves you time
Good documentation
It integrates well with other tooling
Good community
Regular releases and updates

Top 10 open source development tools

Below we'll cover the top open-source development tools you should be using in 2021. Without these tools, the work we do, the deadlines we hit, the bugs we find and squash before release would be impossible.

VS Code

Visual Studio Code is a lightweight but powerful source code editor which runs on your desktop and is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It comes with built-in support for JavaScript, TypeScript, and Node.js and has a rich ecosystem of extensions for other languages (such as C++, C#, Java, Python, PHP, Go).

Why VS Code is in our top 10

Personally, it's been my go-to editor for over three years. I moved from Sublime to Atom to VS Code, and I'd never looked back. Feature-wise, UX-wise, and extensions-wise, it's the best. In addition, the team behind VS Code releases new features and functionality through monthly updates. It's been exciting to watch the editor grow from strength to strength, and I'd like to thank the team and community behind the product for their effort. These are the reasons why VS Code is the best editor and worth a try if you've never developed with it before.

Time-saving: 8/10
Documentation: 9/10
Integrations: 10/10
Community: 8/10
Release/Updates: 10/10

Visit Github Repo

Budibase

Budibase is an open source low-code platform, bringing together everything required to build internal tools and custom business apps, such as; dashboards, admin panels, approval apps, customer portals, and everything in between. Within minutes, transform data and processes into powerful internal tools.

Why Budibase is in our top 10

Budibase is the leading open source low code platform. Low code platforms are trending at the moment and for sound reasoning. As previously mentioned, the demand for software development is proliferating, with no sign of stopping. Low code platforms, such as Budibase, allow IT professionals and developers to deliver internal tools and CRUD apps in a fraction of the time. They also remove a lot of the repetition and grunt work experienced when developing such tools, leading to a more satisfying dev process in some cases.

Budibase outshines its competition for several reasons:

users can self-host their apps on their own infrastructure
users can create internal and external tools
Budibase has an automation layer, allowing users to automate tasks such as email notifications, triggering webhooks, sending a report
Budibase exports real single-page applications providing end-users with a better, more performant experience.

If you've not tried Budibase, give it a try - it's simple to get started.

Time-saving: 10/10
Documentation: 6/10
Integrations: 8/10
Community: 7/10
Release/Updates: 10/10

Visit Github Repo

Posthog

PostHog is a product analytics platform built for the enterprise, with the differentiators of being open source and having a broader view of the tools needed to make a product successful.

Why Posthog is in our top 10

PostHog can be deployed on your infrastructure and provides a large set of tools to help improve your product, such as session recording, heatmaps, and feature flags, that are unique to PostHog in the product analytics space. Posthog is a young product, like Budibase, but its community and team are responsive and helpful.

Time-saving: 6/10
Documentation: 7/10
Integrations: 6/10
Community: 8/10
Release/Updates: 7/10

View Github Repo

Snyk

Snyk is a developer-first platform for building cloud-native applications securely. In addition, it helps and encourages developers to remediate open source vulnerabilities during the development process.

Why Snyk is in our top 10

Software composition analysis is a pain. Not many developers like doing it. Or at least, in my experience, I didn't like doing it until Snyk came along.

Snyk offers direct integration into your software development life cycle, supporting all the major IDEs, auto-remediation of security vulnerabilities, and visualization of dependencies. Snyk also provides custom patching.

Time-saving: 7/10
Documentation: 9/10
Integrations: 9/10
Community: 8/10
Release/Updates: 7/10

View Github Repo

Prisma

Prisma is an open source next-generation ORM. It consists of the following parts:

Prisma Client: Auto-generated and type-safe query builder for Node.js & TypeScript
Prisma Migrate: Migration system
Prisma Studio: GUI to view and edit data in your database

You can use the Prisma Client in any Node.js or TypeScript backend application.

In other words, it's an ORM that turns your database into a REST/GraphQL API, which is fantastic!

Why Prisma is in our top 10

I love how Prisma provides a type-safe API that users can use across the frontend and backend. It also takes an SDL-first approach which is easier to understand and great for building things quickly.

Time-saving: 6/10
Documentation: 8/10
Integrations: 8/10
Community: 9/10
Release/Updates: 8/10

Visit Github Repo

Storybook

Storybook is a tool for UI development. It makes development faster and easier by isolating components, allowing developers to work on one component at a time. As a result, you can develop entire UIs without needing to start up a complex dev stack, force specific data into your database, or navigate around your application.

Why Storybook is in our top 10

Storybook integrates with all popular frontend frameworks, including React, Vue, and Svelte. It's also got a great library of add-ons, and the community is extensive and helpful. But, most importantly, the tool is excellent and allows me to present components in an isolated environment. With Storybook, I've found developers are also more aware of the components at their disposal, leading to less duplication and repetition.

Time-saving: 4/10
Documentation: 8/10
Integrations: 9/10
Community: 9/10
Release/Updates: 7/10

Visit Github Repo

Vercel

Vercel is a deployment and collaboration platform for frontend developers. Vercel puts the frontend developer first, giving them comprehensive tools to build high-performance websites and applications.

Vercel enables developers to host websites and web services that deploy instantly and scale automatically – all without any configuration.

Why Vercel is in our top 10

Vercel is a joy to use. They truly accel at developer experience, performance, and UI design. Their community is one of the largest and fastest-growing on Github, and their forums are active and welcoming. They're also the creators of Next.js, which, in my opinion, is the second-best static site generator after Hugo.

Time-saving: 7/10
Documentation: 8/10
Integrations: 8/10
Community: 10/10
Release/Updates: 10/10

Visit Github Repo

Oh My Zsh

Oh My Zsh is an open source, community-driven framework for managing your Zsh configuration. It's great if you use the command line often.

Why Oh My Zsh is in our top 10

It, in my opinion, makes the command line more exciting. It also comes bundled with over 275 plugins that's make your life as a software developer easier. It also comes with themes contributed by the community.

Time-saving: 1/10
Documentation: 6/10
Integrations: 10/10
Community: 10/10
Release/Updates: 9/10

Visit Github Repo

Gitlab

GitLab is a single application that spans the entire software development lifecycle. If you're not using GitLab, your DevOps lifecycle is likely spread across any number of applications. These silos take overhead to integrate, manage, configure, and maintain, slowing down your team and your deployments. Moving to a single application will speed up your workflow and help you deliver better software faster.

Why Gitlab is in our top 10

I prefer Github for version control. But, as the post suggests, this list comprises of open source development tools only. Gitlab is a close second and one I have used for 5+ years. Gitlab has additional features that Github does not, including; Code analytics, Service Desk, Design Management, Secrets management, and time tracking. In addition, it focuses more on the entire DevOps lifecycle, which is helpful if you prefer to only interact with one platform for a vast number of functions.

Gitlab is particularly strong when it comes to package management. GitLab enables teams to package their dependencies, manage containers, and build artifacts with relative simplicity. The private, container, and package registry are built-in and preconfigured out-of-the-box to work seamlessly with GitLab source code management and CI/CD pipelines. Once again, Gitlab shines when you use all its tooling together - but this makes it hard to switch workflow due to lock-in. Gitlab is a behemoth in the open-source developer world, and if you have not tried it, I recommend you give it a go.

Time-saving: 9/10
Documentation: 10/10
Integrations: 9/10
Community: 9/10
Release/Updates: 8/10

Supabase

Supabase is an open source Firebase alternative. Rather than one platform, Supabase is a 'suite of open source tools, stitched together to build a seamless developer experience.'

Why Supabase is in our top 10

Supabase is packed full of features, including authentification, storage, and soon-to-be-released functions. Another reason I prefer Supabase is that its closed source competitor Firebase charges for API calls, leading to a few uneasy bills at the end of the month.

Time-saving: 5/10
Documentation: 6/10
Integrations: 6/10
Community: 10/10
Release/Updates: 9/10

Visit Github Repo

Open source development tools come in many shapes and sizes, and it's often a complex process when selecting the right tool for a new project. I hope my list helps you on your development journey.

I would also like to share my thanks to the creators and communities of the platforms above. They all make the internet and the development process better - and that's truly wonderful, in my opinion.

The 5 best open-source form builders to add to your tech stack in 2021

Budibase — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 11:04:31 +0000

My name is Joe, and I have been building online forms for the last 10 years of my life. I have developed forms in several different ways; with html5 form builders, with Javascript form builders, to niche React form builders and more. From my experience, I can conclude that the best open-source form builders make it quick and easy to create beautiful, functional, and accessible forms.

Forms are a critical construct of the digital age. They're used across the internet, including social media, email, and internal tools. There are many reasons to use an online form. Whether you're collecting user feedback, setting up a contact form, or surveying staff.

On the face of it, forms seem like a simple construction of labels and inputs. But as you dive deeper, things begin to grow in complexity.

Online forms come in two formats:

the standard vertical design, and
the stepped/wizard format.

My advice is to use a standard form for under 5 inputs. Anything over 5 inputs, use the stepped format.

From a design perspective, it is safe to say forms have progressed a lot. A decade ago, online forms primarily consisted of grey, square blocks with Times New Roman labels. Thankfully this has changed... a lot. And, I believe form builders play a considerable role in this transformation.

Before diving into the 5 best open source form builders, let's understand what exactly a form builder is.

A form builder is a software-based tool that helps users build online forms with little to no code.

Most of the open-source form builders within this post accommodate both types of formats. Out of the box, an excellent open-source form builder should provide you with features such as:

accessible components
built-in validation
design flexibility
linked database
GUI

When selecting an open-source form builder, I suggest you think long and hard about your use case. Some form builders will come with additional features you simply do not need. Always pick the right tool for the job.

To help you pick the right tool, we tested over 20 open-source form builders to identify those critical differences and help you choose the right one. We've reviewed and scored each of the open-source form builders using the following 3 categories; ease of use, functionality, and design.

Here are the 5 best open-source form builder apps:

Budibase
Kinto form builder
form.io
Alpaca
Ohmyform

1. Budibase

Best all-in-one open source form builder

Budibase is a form builder and more. It's an open-source low code platform that gives you a database, automation workflows, authentification, and many more features out of the box. It can also connect to external data sources such as MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Airtable, and more. You can also connect to a Rest API.

The compilation of functionality makes it the go-to tool for building data-centric internal tools and forms. You can also create public and private forms (authentification). This is essential if you are building apps such as CRMs, approval apps, inventory lists.

What's unique about Budibase, is how you build the form using a GUI. The GUI strikes a good balance of being opinionated and flexible, allowing you to build beautiful-looking forms with ease. For example, each input comes with built-in validation, accessible styling, and theming.

Ease of use - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Getting started with Budibase involves you downloading the builder. This provides you with a desktop application that allows you to focus on the task at hand. Some people might find downloading the platform a slight pain, but the reward is worth it.

Functionality - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

With Budibase, you can either build forms from scratch or auto-generate them from a data schema. Budibase is opinionated compared to other form builders on the list. Out of the box, you get form validation, a resize prop, lightest, light, dark and darkest themes, accessible inputs, a database, and responsiveness.

Design - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The design of the builder is superior to other builders on this list. It's not even close. The outputted forms come with themes and built-in validation. The components are modern, and users can change fonts, sizes, spacing, add text/images/tables to the forms.

Pros

Design
Accessibility
Flexibility
Simplest of all form builders to get started and use
Power to generate forms from a schema
Database attached

Cons

You have to download the builder

Conclusion

If you are building a web app/internal tool, Budibase is the best option hands-down. It comes with a database and plugs into other databases, making it a complete form builder. Budibase is a powerful/flexible builder, precisely why it is not the best option if you have a pre-existing codebase to which you would like to add a form.

Budibase Github link

2. Kinto form builder

Best open source form builder - React.

Kinto Form builder is an open-source form builder built with React on top of Kinto.

Kinto is a unique project, and the form builder is very flexible in nature. I felt it deserved a place in my top 5 because of its flexibility. This flexibility comes at a cost - it is the hardest of all the form builders to get started and use.

Ease of use - ⭐⭐

The Kinto form builder requires you to set up a Kinto instance. It also involves you knowing how to code. I expect this to be a blocker for many readers. They offer a sandbox that highlights the power of the builder.

Functionality - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kinto offers a tonne of functionality out of the box, and if you are in the React ecosystem, it could be a precious asset. The builder was performant and felt snappy, which was nice.

Design - ⭐⭐⭐

The design is not very opinionated but functional. The forms outputted from Kinto are a notch above basic, which will suffice for many users. The design of the form generated within the sandbox has a Material design feel to it.

Pros

Sandbox
Performance

Cons

Lack of database out of the box
Getting started proved to be a pain
React focused

Conclusion

If you know how to code and React is a part of your tech stack, this is a great option. If you do not know how to code and you would like a more comfortable/quicker option, the others on this list are better.

Kinto Github Link

3. form.io

The form builder for enterprise

Form.io is an enterprise-class combined form and API data management platform for developers building their own complex form-based business process applications.

Form.io was easy to set up and get started. From the first few minutes of using Form.io, it was easy to identify who this platform is for - enterprise. It has a wealth of functionality with very little design.

Ease of use - ⭐⭐⭐

I personally loved how Form.io comes with many input types out of the box. These are available to users within their drag and drop interface. The drag and drop flow is quick and user-friendly, but it led to some confusion around responsiveness. One of the advantages Budibase has over form.io is how it can generate forms automatically from a database schema. I didn't realize how much I loved that feature until I used Form.io.

Functionality - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Form.io provides a wealth of functionality out of the box. I liked how easy it was to add conditions and logic to inputs/forms without coding. I enjoyed how the created forms could be linked to a React / Angular application, but this might not be a positive for all readers. Its multi-tenant functionality is excellent if you have multiple forms for various environments/customers.

Design - ⭐⭐

The platform's overall design is a little dated, and the inputs and forms available are also not visually appealing. The outputted form was the least attractive of all 5 of the mentioned open-source form builders, but I feel I could have made the inputs prettier with more time.

Pros

Flexibility
Functionality
Conditional and logic functionality out of the box
Multi-tenancy

Cons

Design of the platform
Design of the form components
Enterprise feel

Conclusion

If you are a developer, short of time, working in an enterprise org, I would definitely check out form.io. Its functionality range is arguably the best in this list, but if you are concerned about user experience/design, it's possibly not the best choice.

Formio Github link

4. Alpaca

The HTML5 open source form builder

Alpaca provides the easiest way to generate interactive HTML5 forms for web and mobile applications. It uses JSON Schema and simple Handlebars templates to create great-looking, dynamic user interfaces on top of Twitter Bootstrap, jQuery UI, jQuery Mobile, and HTML5.

Alpaca has been around for several years and offers a bare-bones framework for building forms. It is not as opinionated as the other platforms but has extensive functionality for those willing to put the effort in.

Ease of use - ⭐⭐

It involves coding, but the documentation is fantastic. I admit Alpaca is on the more difficult side compared to some of the builders on this list. It takes longer to set up and is dramatically less opinionated, leading to more work but more flexibility on the user side.

Functionality - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Its functionality, from a frontend perspective, is extensive, but it comes without a database.

Design - ⭐

The components which come out of the box are basic HTML5 components with zero styling. You can hook up CSS frameworks to help with the styling.

Pros

Flexibility
Documentation
Lightweight

Cons

Design
You need to know how to code
Lack of database

Conclusion

Alpaca is a great option if you want to create a no-nonsense form. But, critically, it does not have a database. Alpaca is fun, and if you have time, I am sure you can design a great-looking form - but this would take more time and effort than the other platforms on this list.

Alpaca Github link

5. Ohmyform

One for the future

OhMyForm describes itself as the free, open-source form builder similar to Google Forms or TypeForm.

This is not the first time OhMyForm creators have developed a form builder. Before OhMyForm, there was Tellform. That project has since been deprecated.

Ease of use - ⭐⭐⭐

For me, OhMyForm is more akin to Typeform. It comes with a stepped approach which is really lovely, and the UI/UX is better than several others on this list. What I didn't like about OhMyForm, was the lack of sandbox/trial to simply try out the tool. The documentation is minimal.

Functionality - ⭐

OhMyForm is a young project, so the functionality is limited, but the direction is right. The stepped-form approach is admirable and feels premium.

Design - ⭐⭐⭐

The early design signs are good. With a little polish, the team could be on to a real winning. The UI and UX are not as good as Budibase, but it does offer a quick (after installation) way to build well-designed forms.

Pros

Design
Stepped approach

Cons

Project is young
Lack of documentation
No sandbox
Lack of functionality

Conclusion

It's too early to tell for OhMyForm, but the future is bright if they can deliver on what is already a good foundation. This project is one to watch rather than one to use right now.

Ohmyform Github link

Conclusion

Forms are a critical component of the internet. As our need and demand for software increases, so does our need for great forms. Each of the open-source form builders above offers something unique. If you are building a form/web app / internal tool from scratch - use Budibase. If you have a pre-existing React codebase, use Kinto. If you are in an enterprise org with a pre-existing Angular codebase, use Form.io. If you need a lightweight html5 form builder, have coding experience, Alpaca is brilliant. If you are interested in what is the next up-and-coming open-source form builder, check out OhMyForm.

Thanks for reading, and good luck on your form-building journey.

You can now build internal tools on your own infrastructure in minutes ⚡⚡⚡

Budibase — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 20:24:54 +0000

We are excited to announce the release of Budibase self-hosting. This is a huge release representing hundreds of hours of work by many people in the Budibase community, including invaluable feedback from beta testers who have helped shape the design every step of the way.

What is Budibase

Budibase is a low code platform - like Retool and Outsystems - but with an important difference; Budibase is open-source and fully focused on the developer.

Budibase helps you build modern internal tools on your own infrastructure, in minutes not months. With Budibase you can add data/connect to a data source, design and build your UI, automate workflows, and deploy your app to your own infrastructure.

The release

Introducing: The Budibase Pre-launch Release

In this version:

Self-hosting with Docker and DigitalOcean
Connect to external data sources: airtable , MongoDB, PostgreSQL ,dynamodb, MySQL, CouchDB, Elasticsearch
Handlebarsjs templating

Self-hosting

You can now self-host your Budibase apps using Docker and Digital Ocean. This is a critical feature for organizations who prefer to host their apps within the security of their own infrastructure.

Docs around self-hosting can be found here

External Data Sources

Orgs are collecting more data than ever before. Where they store this data is often inconsistent leading to data-fragmentation.

It's our goal to support all the data sources our users need. Today, we are happy to announce we support:
Mongodb, mySQL, postgreSQL, Airtable, Couchdb, DynamoDB, Elasticsearch, S3, CSV.

And you can continue to build apps from scratch using Budibase's built-in database.

Handlebarjs

Previously, we used Moustache for data binding. We quickly realized this was not going to suffice for our users' needs. So, we've moved to Handlebarjs. Out of the box, this makes Budibase more dynamic, allowing you to enrich your data, add logic, and benefit from its many helpers.

Querying UI

We've created a query UI that will help you query your external data, edit its schema, and preview it before completion. The main query interface can be accessed from the data UI, but you can also access a mini-version in the design UI too.

We use Codemirror for the query interface and we think you'll love it.

Drawer

Containing so much functionality within an interface without making it look and feel busy is a tricky task. To help us, and make life easier for you, we've added a drawer component. The drawer component is used for: adding actions, binding, and querying. It will soon be used for adding custom CSS too.

Thank -you

We would like to thank the Budibase community for all their hard work and contributions. Beta has been a long and full-filling journey, with over 3,000 users create over 2,000 apps. And this is just the beginning. We're excited to announce, this will be our last release before ... the official launch of Budibase.

Sign-up

Sign-up to Budibase here: Budibase or check out the Budibase Github Repo

Budibase 0.4.2 has been released 🎉

Budibase — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 16:23:19 +0000

Budibase 0.4.2 has been released 🎉

Budibase is an open-source low code platform, helping developers and IT professionals build web apps 50x faster.

Title: Back to the future ⏲️

🥳 Apps created with Budibase are now backward compatible 🥳

In this version:

Role-based access control
Users are stored within a table allowing you to reference them within your app
Perf improvements & screen transitions
Stat Card Component
Rich Text Component

Seriously, check it out, or visit our Github repo.