Monday 15 April 2024

Softr review

In today’s digital era, whether you’re a thriving business or an individual looking to stand out, you can’t get round of having a website. Your online presence is your virtual storefront, and in a world where first impressions matter, a well-crafted website is your key to making a lasting impact.

A website serves as your 24/7 representative, accessible to anyone, anywhere. It’s not just a trend; it’s a necessity in our interconnected world. It’s the place where your story unfolds, your products dazzle, and your ideas resonate. Think of your website as the digital handshake that introduces you to the world. It’s where potential customers, clients, or collaborators get a glimpse of what you have to offer.

Recognising this need, new website builders are popping up. Good website builders make it easy for anyone to create their own website from scratch. But good means different things to different people.

What, if you don’t just need a static business card on the web but something that can do much more, like you need a marketplace, a client portal, or a project management tool?

Softr wants to solve this conundrum for you. It’s a code-free website builder that uses your Airtable, Google Sheets or SmartSuite to create your custom web application.

Softr was launched in 2021 by Mariam Hakobyan. Even though it’s a fresh service it has garnered more than 35’000 customers in the meantime.

Pros and cons of Softr

With Softr, you can create custom web applications based on data from Airtable, Google Sheets or SmartSuite. Custom apps means you can create websites such as community hubs, productivity tools and online stores without any programming skills.

Similar to traditional website builders, Softr is a cloud-based service so you don’t have to worry about installing and maintaining software.

Pros

  • Simple and intuitive interface
  • Responsive support team

Cons

  • Buggy at times
  • One of Softr’s strengths also holds it back. Since it relies on Airtable and other services as the database it can be difficult to build a scalable and complex website

Who is Softr for?

Softr.io is designed for individuals, businesses or entrepreneurs who want to create custom web applications without extensive coding skills. In short, it turns your data into a website, app, CRM or dashboard. In fact, you can use Airtable, Google Sheets, SmartSuite and other data sources.

It’s a good place to start if you’re a beginner or not tech-savvy. Small businesses and entrepreneurs who need a cost-effective way to build an online presence or create web applications will find it a valuable tool.

It’s a great tool for data-driven projects as Softr can pull data from Airtable, Google Sheets or SmartSuite and display it in an attractive dashboard. If you need to validate your idea quickly, Softr will help you build a prototype quickly.

How easy is it to use Softr?

In a very conventional way, you start your application by choosing a template. The next step is to tell Softr where you want to store your new app’s data.

It’s easy to customise your website

Because Softr uses Airtable, Google Sheets or SmartSuite, it’s easy to create dynamic apps without writing any code. Combined with the intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can quickly create and customise your website.

Softr design and templates

Softr’s has grouped its templates into 7 main categories. The categories give you an idea of the types of applications you can build with Softr’s. Note that not all templates can be used with the main data sources Airtable, Google Sheets and SmartSuite.

Softr templates

Softr has also designed and built blocks to make it easy for you to create a website. The blocks are the elements that make up your page and you can arrange them however you like.

How do I manage my e-commerce store in Softr?

For online shops and marketplaces, Softr relies on Airtable, you’ll also use these services to manage your online shop.

Use Airtable to manage your online store

Softr integrations

Thanks to Softr’s large collection of integrations, you can build more complex applications. Note that if you don’t subscribe to a paid account, you may not get all the integrations you need.

Softr has a large collection of integrations

AI app generator

If you can describe your app, you can build your app. Thanks to Softr’s AI App Generator, it only takes a few minutes to type what you need into the prompt and Softr will build it for you.

Softr customer support

Softr offers self-help in the form of video tutorials and a well-organised help centre. You can ask for help through the chat and the team will respond within minutes. You can also ask the Softr community for help.

Softr pricing

Softr’s doesn’t limit traffic to your applications. Instead, its plans are based on its features. In other words, you need to upgrade if you need more or a specific feature.

Softr pricing

Is Softr the right tool for you?

With Softr, anyone can build a dynamic website in days, not weeks or months. It’s a great tool if you want to build something like an internal productivity app, a customer or partner portal – in short, something you’ll find in the template gallery.

If you want something more complex, something that requires more advanced data management and storage capabilities, or more flexibility, you may find Dorik or Ycode more interesting.



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