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  3. NocoDB

Managed NocoDB hosting

Workflow and dataOn-prem or your region

A spreadsheet interface over a real database, so a department can build the tool it needs without anyone provisioning a new system. Pilae runs it on your own servers, or in Zurich, Switzerland, and eleven other Pilae Cloud regions.

Talk to us about NocoDB

Licence
Sustainable Use
Runs on
Your own hardware, or any of 10+ Pilae regions — six of them in Switzerland and the EU
Upgrades
Pinned, tested against your configuration, applied in your window
Upstream
nocodb.com

Running NocoDB in production: what it takes

  1. Pin and deploy

    A version we have run, with Postgres for its metadata and attachments in object storage rather than in the database.

  2. Connect it to a database, not just itself

    NocoDB is at its most useful pointed at a Postgres schema your systems already write to, which turns it into a view over live data rather than a second copy of it.

  3. Put it behind your identity provider

    OIDC sign-on and per-base permissions, so access follows the directory instead of an invitation list.

  4. Back up and restore on a schedule

    We take the database and the attachment bucket offsite nightly. Once a month we restore the pair into a scratch environment and open a record with a file on it.

  5. Upgrade in your window

    The project releases often. We hold your version, run the next one against a copy of your bases in staging, and apply it in the window you agreed.

What NocoDB is, and who runs it

NocoDB puts a spreadsheet interface over a relational database. A team makes tables, links them, builds grid, kanban and calendar views, and shares them — the working experience of Airtable, with Postgres underneath instead of a vendor’s storage.

Its value is almost always the same story. A department has a process living in a shared spreadsheet that has become load-bearing: it has grown formulas, several people edit it, and nobody can say who changed the number that is now wrong. The options are to keep going, or to ask for a real application and wait two quarters. NocoDB is the third answer — the team gets structure, permissions and history now, and IT gets a database it can see rather than a file it cannot.

The structural difference from the SaaS it replaces is that the data is not inside the tool. Your tables are Postgres tables. A reporting tool can read them, a backup covers them like everything else, and removing NocoDB tomorrow leaves the data exactly where it was. Pointed at a schema your existing systems already write to, it stops being a copy of your data and becomes a view of it.

What needs operating is unremarkable and easy to get wrong. Attachments in the database rather than object storage make the backup enormous and the restore slow. No sign-on means bases get shared by link to accounts nobody governs. And a department tool that has become the register of who works where is holding personal data, which is worth noticing before a regulator does rather than after.

NocoDB left AGPL-3.0 in January 2026 for the Sustainable Use Licence. It is source-available and free for your own internal business use; offering it to third parties as a service is restricted. Pilae operating your deployment is internal use, and we hold that in writing with NocoDB rather than assuming it.

NocoDB system requirements

Before anything is deployed, this is what has to exist. We size it with you in the first session, and we say so when your own hardware is already enough.

CPU and memory
2 vCPU · 4 GBEnough for a department. Views over large tables are the part that wants headroom.
Database
PostgreSQLFor NocoDB itself and, ideally, as the database it presents. That is the whole point: the data stays somewhere you can query.
Object storage
S3-compatible bucketFile attachments, kept out of the database so backups stay a sensible size.
Identity provider
OIDCA paid NocoDB licence tier on self-hosted deployments. So bases are not shared by sending links to accounts nobody governs.
Mail
SMTP relayFor invitations and notifications.

Migrating from Airtable to NocoDB

Airtable bases import, and the tables come across cleanly. What does not come across is everything built on top: automations, interface pages, and the formula fields that use a function NocoDB spells differently or does not have. We import the data first, list the formulas that did not survive, and rebuild those deliberately — which is also a good moment to notice how many of them nobody has looked at since the base was made. Anything holding personal data gets checked on the way in, because a base that has become a staff register needs a different sign-off from a project tracker.

  1. Import the bases

    Tables, views and links come across through the importer. This part usually works on the first attempt and is not where the time goes.

  2. List what did not survive

    Formula fields, automations and interface pages, written down rather than discovered later by whoever depended on one.

  3. Rebuild deliberately

    The formulas and automations that are actually in use, rewritten against NocoDB.

  4. Point sign-on at your directory

    Accounts from your identity provider, with per-base permissions, so a leaver loses access to the data alongside everything else.

What NocoDB connects to, and what stays yours

PostgreSQL (existing schema)Read and write, liveYour database. NocoDB stores no copy.
PostgreSQL (new base)Read and write, liveYour database. Queryable with SQL.
MySQL, MariaDB, SQL ServerRead and write, liveYour database.
CSV or Airtable importOne-time loadYour database, after import.
File attachmentsS3 bucketYour bucket, not the database.
NocoDB is an interface over a database, not a place your data goes. Pointed at a schema your systems already write to, it is a view of live data rather than a second copy that drifts.

What Pilae is responsible for

A pinned version

A version we have run, not whatever latest resolves to that day.

A runbook

What it depends on, how it fails, what to do about it. In your repository.

A restore drill

Backups restored on a schedule. A backup nobody has restored is a file.

A patch window

Security updates in a window you agreed, with a rollback ready.

Someone watching

Every endpoint probed on the minute. An alert reaches a person, not a dashboard nobody opens.

Where it runs
zur1, fra1, fal1, gra1, ams1, hel1, lon1, ash1, hil1, sin1, tok1, syd1, on-premZurich, Frankfurt, Falkenstein, Gravelines, Amsterdam, Helsinki, London, Ashburn, Hillsboro, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, Your own hardware
Who holds the credentials
You do. Ours are separate, named, logged and revocable with one command. We ask before anything changes outside an agreed window.
If you leave
The machine, the data, the compose files and the runbook are already yours. Nothing stops when our access does.

What running NocoDB costs

On Starter, NocoDB runs in Pilae Cloud for CHF 449EUR 479USD 559 a month, hosting and onboarding included. On Business, it is one of up to three apps for CHF 1,590EUR 1,690USD 1,990 a month, on your own servers or in Pilae Cloud. Enterprise is quoted. The plans set what each includes; these are the inputs that move the price around them.

Instance size
The CPU, memory and, where a model runs, the GPUs the app needs for your users and your data.
High availability
One machine with tested restores, or a replicated setup that keeps serving when a node fails.
Storage and backups
How much data it holds, how long backups are kept, and point-in-time recovery for its database.
Plan and support
Starter, Business or Enterprise: support hours, response times in the contract and how often we review the service with you.
Region
Your own hardware, where the infrastructure is already yours, or a Pilae Cloud region, where machines are priced per month. On Starter, Pilae chooses the site.
Sign-on and integrations
Single sign-on, directory sync, mail relays and the other systems the app has to reach.

NocoDB: common questions

Is our data locked inside NocoDB?

No, and this is the structural difference from Airtable. NocoDB is an interface over Postgres. Your tables are Postgres tables — you can query them with SQL, point a reporting tool at them, or back them up with the same tooling as everything else. Removing NocoDB leaves the data where it is.

Can it sit on top of a database we already have?

Yes, and that is where it is most useful. Pointed at an existing schema it becomes a view over live data rather than a second copy that drifts, which is usually the thing a department actually wanted.

Are there row limits?

Not commercial ones. The limits are whatever your Postgres and your hardware do, which for departmental use is a much larger number than the tier you were on.

What about attachments?

They go to an S3-compatible bucket, not into the database. That keeps the backup a sensible size and means the restore drill finishes in minutes rather than hours.

Is NocoDB open source?

Not since January 2026. It moved from AGPL-3.0 to the Sustainable Use Licence: source-available, free for your own internal business use, restricted for offering it to third parties as a service. For a department building its own tools that changes nothing. We hold the position that us operating it for you is internal use in writing with NocoDB, rather than assuming it.

Also in workflow and data

n8n

Workflow automation your own team writes, running next to the systems it talks to instead of reaching them across the internet.

Replaces Zapier, Make

Directus

A data platform and headless CMS over your own SQL database. Editors get an admin app, and every table gets an API.

Replaces Contentful, Airtable

Windmill

Scripts, workflows and internal tools in Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash or SQL, run by workers on your own machines and operated by Pilae.

Replaces Retool Workflows

Back to apps

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