Baserow gives your team an open-source, easy to use database. pylo gives your whole team a backend: typed GraphQL API, row-level permissions, flows, admin UI, forms and analytics, with unlimited users.

TL;DR

Baserow is an open-source no-code database from the Netherlands with a spreadsheet interface, views like kanban and calendar, forms, an application builder, automations, dashboards and an AI assistant. Its cloud stores data in Europe and you can self-host it for free; for the paid version, it is priced per user, and rows are capped per workspace. pylo is a hosted backend from Germany where data model, typed GraphQL API, permissions, flows, admin UI, forms, events and AI access are one system, with unlimited users. Baserow and pylo are both European, so the choice isn't about hosting. If your team wants an easy table that feels like Spreadsheets, Baserow is a strong choice. If developers, customers and other software build on the same data, pylo is the better fit.

What is pylo?

pylo is a Backend-as-a-Service platform from Germany that you can use to build the operating system for your company. You model entities, fields and relations in the admin panel or through the API, and pylo generates a typed GraphQL API instantly. The same permission model governs that API, the admin UI, forms, flows and the MCP server. pylo flows run business processes and automations on top of your own data model and connect to the tools you already use. With pylo you build apps, automations and products on one coherent data base across your whole team.

What is Baserow?

Baserow is an open-source no-code database built on Django, Vue and PostgreSQL, made by Baserow B.V. in the Netherlands. You organize data in workspaces, databases and tables, with field types like links between tables, lookups, rollups, formulas and AI prompts, and look at it in grid, gallery, form, kanban, calendar and timeline views. Baserow 2 added an application builder, an automations builder, dashboards and the AI assistant Kuma. The core is MIT-licensed and you can self-host it with Docker or Helm; Baserow's cloud keeps data in Europe.

At a glance

A database for people, or a backend for products

Baserow is at its best as a shared database for a team: you click a table together, add a formula, switch to a kanban view and collaborate live. For that it is ahead of pylo. It gets harder when a product is built on the data. The API is REST with field names generated from the UI, a page holds up to 200 rows, and Baserow's cloud allows 10 concurrent requests.

pylo is built as a backend first. You add an entity, a field or a relation and the typed GraphQL API updates at once. Your frontend asks for exactly the fields and nested relations it needs in one query, with filters across relations, pagination and aggregations, and the generated SDK fails the build when a field it uses is renamed. Field types include relations, enums, JSON, public or private files, rich text, dates, booleans and number/text formatters, with validation built in.

Permissions that follow the data everywhere

On Baserow's Free and Premium plans there are only admins and members, and members see everything in the workspace. The Advanced plan adds roles per workspace, database and table, teams, edit restrictions on fields and restricted views. Restricted views limit which rows and fields a user sees in a specific view. Per-record rules on the data itself, like "a customer only sees their own orders" in every view, the API and the MCP server, aren't documented.

pylo separates tenants at the row level. Inside a tenant, any entity can act as the requester (ARO) and any entity as the requested object (ACO), with hierarchies and field-level rules, on every plan. That is what lets you give customers, partners or field staff their own access to exactly their records. Every path into the data is GraphQL, so the same rules apply to the API, the admin panel, forms, flows and MCP.

pylo flows compared to Baserow automations

Baserow's automations builder allows you to model workflows start on row changes, schedules, webhooks, emails or manually, and run actions like row updates, HTTP requests, emails, Slack messages, AI prompts and JavaScript code. Routers and loops make branching possible, and runs use automation credits per plan.

In pylo you build automations in a visual workflow engine called pylo flows. Any event in pylo can start a flow, and so can cron schedules and incoming webhooks. Flows include retries, custom rate limiting, error handling and full event logs, and everything is statically typed. pylo ships integrations for email sending and a growing set of third-party systems, and you write your own flow actions in TypeScript. They slot into the builder like the built-in ones, on every plan.

Admin UI and forms

Baserow's interface is its strongest part: many view types, real-time co-editing and an app builder for internal tools with custom domains. at least up to 500 external users outside of the Enterprise plan. The form builder is good, with conditional fields, URL prefill and editing of existing rows.

pylo's admin UI is built for operations work on business records: you compose list and detail views from predefined components, decide who sees what and show or hide fields depending on a record's state. The form builder maps forms directly to your entities, including relations, with public or authenticated access, hidden fields, conditional rendering and submission limits per form or per user. Customer portals use the same permissions as everything else, with no cap on users.

Events and dashboards built in with pylo analytics

Baserow has dashboards with charts across tables: row history is kept 14 days on Free, 90 on Premium and 180 on Advanced, and the audit log for creates, deletes and settings changes needs the Advanced plan.

In pylo, every create, update and delete emits an event with the full before and after state, which you can enrich with your own event data through the API. You build dashboards on events and regular pylo data next to your workflows; the event data and the change history of your entities are kept for as long as your account exists, on every plan.

AI and MCP with guardrails

Baserow goes far on AI. The AI field generates values per row, the assistant Kuma builds tables, formulas, automations and even apps, and you can bring models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral or a local Ollama. Each workspace gets an MCP server whose URL acts as the credential, and it can create, update and delete rows directly.

pylo's MCP server connects as a specific user, so the AI gets exactly that user's read permissions, nothing else. pylo never applies an AI's writes directly: they arrive as proposals that a human accepts or declines inside pylo, whatever AI client someone uses.

File handling

Baserow stores files in file fields, with local or S3-compatible storage on self-hosted instances and storage limits per plan in the cloud.

pylo stores any file type in EU-hosted object storage with public or private links, a file library and no file size limit.

Agencies and multi-tenant work

Baserow has no dedicated agency features. Each client workspace is its own subscription, billed per collaborator, and Enterprise adds co-branding.

With pylo, agencies run many client workspaces from one user account. Each workspace is its own tenant separated by RLS, and one login switches between them, with unlimited users on every plan, so you can invite the whole client team without counting seats.

Pricing

For a small team that wants a shared database, Baserow is cheap, and free if you host it yourself, but for the managed version, costs grow with every collaborator, and the row limits per workspace are low for a production app: a team of five on Premium pays about $50 a month for 50,000 rows.

pylo's price already includes hosting, flows, the admin UI, forms, analytics and personal onboarding and every plan has every feature and unlimited users. Plans differ only in included usage for records, flow actions and file storage.

Hosting, compliance and reliability

All pylo content data, data models and databases live in data centres in Germany. Our subprocessor list is public and names every non-EU parent company openly. A GDPR data processing agreement is part of the terms, and we never use customer data to train AI models. Paid plans come with a 99.5% availability SLA, hourly encrypted backups kept for 30 days at a separate German location, and support from the team that builds the product.

Baserow is a Dutch company. It stores cloud data in Germany and lists SOC 2, GDPR and HIPAA in its trust center, but it doesn't publish an SLA. If you self-host, hosting, backups and compliance are all in your hands.

Where Baserow is the better choice

We would rather tell you than have you find out later:

• Baserow is open source and free to self-host with unlimited rows. pylo can't be self-hosted.

• Its spreadsheet interface is very easy to use and feature-rich, with grid, gallery, kanban, calendar and timeline views and real-time co-editing.

• It has a no-code application builder for internal tools with custom domains.

• For a small team that only needs a managed, shared database, it is cheaper.

If your team wants an open-source database it can host itself, Baserow is excellent. pylo is for teams that build apps, portals and automations on their data and need a real backend underneath.

Where pylo is a great Baserow alternative

We think these are the main reasons to pick pylo over Baserow:

• A real API for your products. The typed GraphQL API comes from your data model, with nested relations, filters and aggregations, plus typed SDKs that fail the build when a field is renamed.

• Row-level permissions. Customers, partners and staff see exactly their records, with hierarchies and field-level rules, and the same rules apply on every path into the data.

• No per-user pricing. Unlimited users and API requests and all features on every plan. Only three meters are billed: flow actions, records, and file storage/traffic.

• Room to grow. 100k records on Starter and 2M on Business, with overages instead of hard caps.

• Flows built for production. Retries, rate limiting, error handling, typed actions and full logs, and custom actions in plain TypeScript.

• Analytics and history included. Every change is recorded as an event with before and after state, kept as long as your account exists.

• AI access that's safe for production. MCP runs with the connected user's exact read permissions, and every write goes through human approval in pylo.

• Built for agencies. Many client workspaces with separate tenants, one login, and no seats to count when you invite a client's team.

• Personal support and an SLA. A 99.5% SLA from the first paid plan, hourly backups with 30-day retention, and support from the people who build the product.

FAQs - Questions and answers about pylo

• Does pylo have a spreadsheet view like Baserow? pylo has list and detail views you configure per entity, with filters and state-based fields. It also has a Kanban and Timeline view, aside from the standard Spreadsheet-like view , but it has currently no real-time co-editing.

• Can I import my Baserow tables? Yes, simply eport each table as CSV and load it with pylo's import profiles, which map columns to fields and keep links between tables.

• Is pylo open source? No, but you can export all data at any time as CSV or JSON or through the API. The data models, flow definitions and generated SDK code are yours to keep, even after you leave.

• Can I self-host pylo? No, but if you need specific hosting options, we can discuss them as part of the Enterprise plan.

• Does pylo scale? Yes, production workspaces of our customers already run with millions of records today.

• Where exactly is my data? Content data is in data centres in Germany and backups are kept at a different German location.

• Can I get access now? pylo is currently in private beta, so just equest access and we will set up your first entities with you on a call and onboard you personally for your first project.