TechLatest

Posted on Jun 5 • Originally published at Medium on May 17

Deploy NocoDB on GCP in Minutes Using TechLatest VM

#nocodb #gcp #cloud #deployment

Cloud-native no-code platforms are transforming the way teams build internal tools, manage workflows, and collaborate on data. However, many popular solutions come with expensive subscription pricing, vendor lock-in, and limited control over infrastructure and databases.

That’s where NocoDB stands out.

NocoDB is a powerful open-source, self-hostable alternative to Airtable that converts traditional SQL databases into collaborative smart spreadsheets. It enables developers, startups, and enterprises to build internal tools, automate workflows, create REST APIs, and manage data visually — all while maintaining full ownership of their infrastructure.

In this guide, we will walk through the complete deployment process of the TechLatest NocoDB virtual machine available on the Google Cloud Marketplace. You’ll learn how to reserve and attach a Static IP, deploy the VM on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), configure networking and firewall settings, connect using SSH and RDP, and access the NocoDB web interface for the first time.

By the end of this tutorial, you will have a fully operational NocoDB environment running on Google Cloud, ready for no-code development, database management, team collaboration, and API-driven applications.

Product Link: https://techlatest.net/support/nocodb_support/

Deployment Options: AWS, GCP, & Azure

Step-by-Step Guide

Open NocoDB: Open-source, license-free alternative to Airtable listing on GCP Marketplace.

The VM needs a Static IP to function correctly. Before deploying the instance, ensure that you’ve created a Static IP and attached it during the VM setup, as explained in the steps below.

To create a Static IP, follow these steps:

a. Open your GCP console and select the project where you plan to deploy the NocoDB instance. In the top search bar, search for IP address and select the IP addresses from the search results.

b. On the IP addresses page, click on the RESERVE EXTERNAL STATIC IP ADDRESS link at the top.

c. On the reserve static IP page, provide the name and description. Provide the Network service tier and keep the IP version as IPv4.

d. On the same page, select the same region in which you want to deploy the NocoDB instance so that your Static IP and your NocoDB instance will be in the same region. Keep Attached to option to None. We will attach this static IP during VM deployment as explained below. Once done, click on Reserve. Now your Static IP is ready.

Go back to the GCP marketplace page as shown in step 1 of this guide. Click the Get Started/Launch button.

It will ask you to enable the APIs if they are not already enabled for your account. Please click on enable as shown in the screenshot.

It will take you to the agreement page. On this page, you can change the project from the project selector on the top navigator bar, as shown in the screenshot below.
Accept the Terms and agreements by ticking the checkbox and clicking on the AGREE button.

It will show you the successfully agreed popup page. Click on Deploy.

On the deployment page, give a name to your deployment.
In the deployment service account section, click on the existing radio button and choose a service account from the Select a service Account dropdown.

If you don’t see any service account in the dropdown, then change the radio button to New Account and create the new service account here.

If, after selecting the New Account option, you get the below permission error message, then please reach out to your GCP admin to create a service account by following the step-by-step guide to create a GCP Service Account and then refresh this deployment page. Once the service account is created, it should be available in the dropdown.

Select a zone where you want to launch the VM(such as us-east1-a). Make sure to keep this zone the same as the zone you created the Static IP address in step 2 above.
Optionally change the number of cores and amount of memory. ( This defaults to 1 vCPU and 3.75 GB RAM)
Optionally change the boot disk type and size. (This defaults to ‘Standard Persistent Disk’ and 20 GB, respectively)

Expand the Networking option and select the static IP you created in step 2, under the External IP dropdown. Be sure to expose ports 22 (for SSH), 3389 (for RDP), and 80 (for HTTP).

Click Deploy when you are done.
NocoDB: Open-source license-free alternative to Airtable will begin deploying.

A summary page displays when the compute engine is successfully deployed. Click on the Instance link to go to the instance page.
On the instance page, click on the “SSH” button, select “Open in browser window”.

This will open an SSH window in a browser. Switch to the Ubuntu user and navigate to the Ubuntu home directory.

sudo su ubuntu

cd /home/ubuntu/

Change the password for the Ubuntu user using the command below

sudo passwd ubuntu

Now that the password for the Ubuntu user is set, you can connect to the VM’s desktop environment from any local Windows machine using RDP or a Linux machine using Remmina.
To connect using RDP via a Windows machine, first note the external IP of the VM from the VM details page, as highlighted below.

Then, from your local Windows machine, go to the “Start” menu, in the search box type and select “Remote Desktop Connection.”
In the “Remote Desktop Connection” wizard, paste the external IP and click Connect.

This will connect you to the VM’s desktop environment. Provide “ubuntu” as the username and the password set in the above step to authenticate. Click OK.

Now you are connected to out-of-the-box NocoDB: Open-source, license-free alternative to Airtable VM’s desktop environment via Windows machines.

To connect using RDP via a Linux machine, first note the external IP of the VM from the VM details page, then from your local Linux machine, go to the menu, in the search box type and select “Remmina”.

Note: If you don’t have Remmina installed on your Linux machine, first install Remmina as per your Linux distribution.

In the “Remmina Remote Desktop Client” wizard, select the RDP option from the dropdown and paste the external IP, and click Enter.

This will connect you to the VM’s desktop environment. Provide “ubuntu” as the username and the password set in the above step to authenticate. Click OK.

Now you are connected to out-of-the-box NocoDB: Open-source, license-free alternative to Airtable VM’s desktop environment via a Linux machine.

To connect to NocoDB UI, copy the Public IP of the VM from the VM’s overview page and paste it in the browser in the format http://public_ip/. Make sure to use HTTP and not HTTPS.

Provide your email ID and password to sign up. This will create the first user with Super Admin access.

You can also restrict the signup to only using the invite URL. To do so, go to Teams and Settings option from the left pane of the home page, select Settings under User Management. Tick the checkbox to enable signup only using the invite link.

For more information on how to use NocoDB, please visit NocoDB Official Documentation

Conclusion

Deploying NocoDB on Google Cloud using the TechLatest Marketplace VM provides a fast, reliable, and production-ready way to launch a fully self-hosted no-code database platform.

With support for collaborative spreadsheet views, REST APIs, automation workflows, SQL database integrations, role-based access control, and multiple project management views, NocoDB offers a powerful open-source alternative to proprietary no-code platforms like Airtable.

Using this GCP deployment method, users can quickly provision a cloud-ready environment with:

Full infrastructure ownership
No expensive SaaS licensing
Flexible cloud scalability
Easy RDP and SSH access
Rapid no-code application development
Support for existing SQL databases

Whether you are building internal business tools, managing customer data, creating automation workflows, or developing API-driven applications, NocoDB provides a scalable and developer-friendly solution that combines the flexibility of databases with the simplicity of spreadsheets.

As organizations increasingly move toward open-source and self-hosted infrastructure, NocoDB continues to emerge as one of the best Airtable alternatives available for modern cloud deployments.