Replace Airtable with a self-hosted spreadsheet-database that your team fully controls and can extend.
Build an interactive dashboard where clicking a row in one table automatically filters linked charts and cards beside it.
Create a public data collection form that writes directly into a structured spreadsheet your team can query with Python formulas.
Store and manage data in a SQLite file format so any standard database tool can open and read it directly.
Self-hosting requires Docker or Node.js, no setup needed if using the hosted service at getgrist.com.
Grist is a spreadsheet application that works more like a database than a traditional spreadsheet. In a regular spreadsheet, each cell can hold whatever you put in it. In Grist, columns are named and hold one type of data, and formulas update automatically when referenced data changes, much like how formulas behave in Excel but with the structure of a database table. If you have used Airtable, the model will feel familiar. The open source grist-core repository is the Community edition, which you can run on your own server to host spreadsheets for yourself or your team. The same codebase also powers a hosted service at getgrist.com. There are two companion repositories: grist-desktop is a standalone app for Linux, macOS, and Windows that stores spreadsheets locally, and grist-static lets you embed a read-only Grist spreadsheet in any static website without a server. Formulas in Grist are written in Python, with access to the full Python standard library and many Excel functions. An AI assistant is built in for generating formulas, and it works with multiple AI providers. Files are stored in SQLite, which is a widely supported database format, so you can open a Grist file with any SQLite-compatible tool and read the data directly. The feature set for building views and dashboards is substantial. You can lay out charts, card views, calendars, and tables side by side and link them so that clicking a row in one view filters data in another. You can create forms that write directly to your spreadsheet. Incremental imports let you bring in new rows from a CSV without duplicating records you already have. The REST API, webhooks, and Zapier integration connect Grist to other tools. There are also access control options for sharing specific views or data with specific people. The project is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, developed by Grist Labs with significant contributions from French government agencies. The full README is longer than what was shown.
← gristlabs on gitmyhub — every repo by this author, as a profile.
Verify against the repo before relying on details.