Access let one person build a working business database with forms and reports. pylo gives that database a home on the web: data model, API, permissions, forms, admin UI, flows and analytics in one system, hosted in Germany.

TL;DR

Microsoft Access is a desktop database for Windows. One person can design tables, relations, queries, forms and reports in an afternoon, which is why so many companies still run inventory, customer lists or job tracking on an .accdb file. Its limits are the file itself: it lives on one PC or a network share, it tops out at 2 GB, it struggles when several people write at once, there is no web or mobile version and no API. pylo is a backend platform: you model the same tables and relations in an admin panel and get a typed GraphQL API, permissions down to the record, web forms, configurable admin views, document templates for reports, flows and analytics, hosted in Germany. If a single person needs a local database with printed reports, Access still does the job. If the database has become something the whole company depends on, pylo is the better home for it.

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 immediately. The same permission model governs data, the admin UI, forms, flows, dashboards and the MCP server. With pylo flows you build automations on top of your own data model and connect the tools you already use. The admin UI, forms and document templates mean people without a developer background can work with the data from day one.

What is Microsoft Access?

Microsoft Access is a relational database and application builder for Windows that has been part of Office since 1992. A database is a single file, .accdb, that holds tables, relations, queries, forms, reports, macros and VBA code. Access comes with Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Business Premium and Apps for business on Windows, and as a standalone licence. There is no Mac or web version: Microsoft shut down Access web apps in April 2018 and points people to Power Apps instead. Larger setups split the file into a front end per user and a back end on a share, or move the tables to SQL Server and keep Access as the interface.

At a glance

A database on the web instead of a file on a share

Access is at its best when one person designs and uses the database on one machine. The trouble starts when the file moves to a network share and three colleagues open it at the same time: writes queue up, a dropped Wi-Fi connection can corrupt the file, and the 2 GB limit arrives sooner than expected once attachments and history pile up. Microsoft's own answer is to split the database and move the tables to SQL Server, which means a server, a database administrator and still no way to use the application outside the office or on a phone.

In pylo you add an entity, a field or a relation in the admin panel and the typed GraphQL API updates at once, without migrations or redeployments. Field types include relations, enums, JSON, public or private files, rich text, dates, booleans and number and text formatters, with validation built in. Relations work across your whole workspace, you filter across them and group aggregations by any field, and API requests are unlimited on every plan. Everyone works in the same hosted backend from a browser, at the office, at home or in the warehouse.

Permissions that follow the data everywhere

Access has no real user model of its own. Whoever can open the file sees every table in it, and the only way to hide records from some people is to leave them out of a form, or to move the data to SQL Server and manage permissions there. 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. Every path into the data is GraphQL, so the same rules apply to the API, the admin panel, forms, flows, dashboards and MCP. A sales rep sees their customers, a warehouse worker sees stock movements, and the purchase price stays hidden from both.

pylo flows instead of macros and VBA

Automation in Access means macros and VBA, and both run only while someone has the file open on a PC. A reminder that should go out at 8:00 on Monday needs a machine that is switched on and logged in. In pylo you build automations in a visual workflow engine called pylo flows. Any event on your data can start a flow, and so can a cron schedule or an incoming webhook. Flows include retries, custom rate limiting, error handling and full event logs, everything is statically typed, and pylo ships integrations for email sending and a range of third-party systems. For anything else you write a flow action in TypeScript. A reorder alert, a confirmation email or a nightly export runs on the server, whether anyone is at their desk or not.

Forms, admin views and reports without a Windows PC

The form and report designers are the reason Access survived this long, and we will not pretend otherwise: a bound form with subforms and a printable report are quick to build. They just stay on Windows. pylo's admin UI is there from the moment you create an entity. You compose list and detail views from predefined components, decide who sees what and show or hide fields depending on a record's state. pylo forms are public or authenticated web forms with hidden fields, conditional rendering, validation rules and direct mapping to your entities, including relations, so a supplier, a customer or a colleague on a phone can fill one in without a licence. Document templates render invoices, delivery notes, lists and reports from your records as PDF, with your layout.

Events and dashboards built in with pylo analytics

Access keeps no history, so if a stock level is wrong, nobody can tell who changed it and when. Every create, update and delete in pylo emits an event with the full before and after state, stored on every plan, which you can combine with external events you bring in through the API. You build dashboards on records and events together, with the same permissions as the rest of pylo.

AI and MCP with guardrails

There is no way to connect an AI assistant to an Access file beyond copying data out of it aside from letting your agent write VBA code or have Claude Desktop or Codex control your Dekstop. pylo's MCP server is ready to connect, for developers who use agentic coding and for team members who want to ask questions about their records. The AI gets exactly the connected 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

Attachments in Access count against the 2 GB file limit, which is why most databases store a path to a folder instead. pylo stores files in EU-hosted object storage with public or private links, no file size limit and any file type, as fields on your entities with the same permissions as the rest of the record.

Agencies and multi-tenant work

If you build Access databases for clients, every client gets a file you cannot update remotely. With pylo, agencies run many client workspaces from one user account, where each workspace is its own tenant with its own permissions and one login switches between them. The database separates tenants with row-level security, and client staff get access without paying per seat.

Pricing

Access looks free because it comes with a Microsoft 365 plan many companies already pay for. The real cost shows up later: the Windows PC it needs, the person who knows the VBA, the SQL Server once the file is split, and the hours lost when the file locks or corrupts. pylo bills per workspace with unlimited users, and every plan includes the backend, flows, the admin UI, forms, document templates, analytics and personal onboarding. Plans differ only in included usage.

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.

An Access database is as safe as the PC or file server it sits on. Backups, access control and encryption are your job, and a single corrupted file can take the whole application with it. Microsoft still supports Access as part of Microsoft 365, with the perpetual Access 2021 licence reaching end of support in October 2026.

Where Microsoft Access is the better choice

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

• One person, one Windows PC, no internet dependency or not even internet access. Access works offline and needs no server.

• The form and report designers are fast for someone who knows them, with subforms, printed layouts and VBA for anything else.

• It is already paid for if your company has Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Premium.

• Thousands of consultants and decades of examples exist for almost any problem.

• A quick throwaway analysis of an excle sheet next to it is faster in Access than in any hosted tool.

If your database is a personal tool on one machine, keep it. pylo is for the moment it becomes something the company runs on.

Where pylo is a great Microsoft Access alternative

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

• On the web, on any device. Everyone works in a browser, from the office, home or the shop floor, with no file to share and no Windows requirement.

• Built for many people at once. Unlimited users, concurrent writes by design and no file that locks or corrupts.

• No 2 GB wall. Unlimited rows, billed per 10,000, with files in object storage instead of inside the database.

• A real API. Typed GraphQL on every plan, so your shop, your accounting tool or a script can read and write the same data.

• Permissions down to the record and field. Without SQL Server and without hiding data by leaving it off a form.

• Automation that runs on the server. Flows with event, cron and webhook triggers run whether anyone is logged in or not.

• Forms and reports people can reach. Web forms for customers and suppliers, admin views for your team and document templates for the PDFs you used to print from Access.

• Change history for free. Every change is an event with before and after state.

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

• German hosting from a German company. pylo hosts user data in Germany on every plan and the DPA is part of the terms. You get a 99.5% SLA from the first paid plan, hourly backups with 30-day retention and personal support from the people who build the product.

FAQs - Questions and answers about pylo

• Can I move my Access database to pylo? Yes, export each table as CSV and import it with pylo's import profiles, which map columns to fields, use any field as the matching key and restore relations between tables. Queries become views and aggregations, reports become document templates, macros and VBA become flows. We walk through the migration with you.

• Is pylo a desktop program? No, pylo is a hosted backend that you use in your browser, and you can build your own apps on its API with the Next.js, React, Node or Expo SDKs.

• Does pylo work offline? No, pylo needs an internet connection, which is the price for having the same data everywhere in any modern cloud application.

• 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.

• 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. Request access and we will set up your first entities with you on a call and onboard you personally for your first project.