What is Openblocks used for?

Openblocks is an AGPL-licensed, open-source internal tools builder positioned as an alternative to Retool, with a visual UI builder and native database connections. It is a good fit for building internal admin tools and dashboards, and teams replacing Retool with a self-hosted option.

Is Openblocks open source?

Yes. Openblocks is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at openblocks-dev/openblocks and is written mainly in TypeScript.

Yes. Openblocks is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host Openblocks?

Yes. Openblocks can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Openblocks an alternative to?

Openblocks is an open-source alternative to Retool, Superblocks, UI Bakery and Microsoft Power Apps. Other open-source alternatives to Retool include ToolJet, Appsmith and Budibase.

Is Openblocks actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Openblocks was on 19 October 2023, and the latest release is v1.1.8, published on 23 March 2023. The project has 6.2k stars on GitHub.

Openblocks: open-source alternative to Retool, Superblocks

About Openblocks

Openblocks is an open-source platform for building internal and customer-facing applications, positioned as an alternative to Retool. It targets teams that need to connect to data sources and assemble working apps quickly without designing a custom interface and wiring together multiple languages and frameworks from scratch.

It provides a visual UI builder with more than 50 components, a module and query library for reusable pieces, and native connections to PostgreSQL, MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, REST APIs and SMTP, with JavaScript usable throughout for transforming data and controlling components. Custom components can be shared through React and the Openblocks SDK, or whole Openblocks pages can be embedded as a React component. Team features include role-based access control, autosaved and restorable version history, DIY app theming, and audit logs for compliance tracking.

Openblocks is written in TypeScript and React and is released under the AGPL-3.0 license, so it can be self-hosted. A cloud-hosted version is also available at cloud.openblocks.dev. The README includes direct feature comparisons against other low-code tools in its space.

Key features

Visual UI builder with 50-plus components
Native connections to Postgres, MongoDB, MySQL and more
Reusable module and query library
Role-based access control
Version history with autosave
Audit logs for compliance

Good fit for

→Building internal admin tools and dashboards
→Teams replacing Retool with a self-hosted option

Built with: TypeScript; ClickHouse; MongoDB; PostgreSQL; React
Tags: low-code; internal-tools; retool-alternative; app-builder; self-hosted; react; admin-dashboard; crm

Openblocks: questions and answers

What is Openblocks used for?: Openblocks is an AGPL-licensed, open-source internal tools builder positioned as an alternative to Retool, with a visual UI builder and native database connections. It is a good fit for building internal admin tools and dashboards, and teams replacing Retool with a self-hosted option.
Is Openblocks open source?: Yes. Openblocks is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at openblocks-dev/openblocks and is written mainly in TypeScript.
Is Openblocks free?: Yes. Openblocks is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host Openblocks?: Yes. Openblocks can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Openblocks an alternative to?: Openblocks is an open-source alternative to Retool, Superblocks, UI Bakery and Microsoft Power Apps. Other open-source alternatives to Retool include ToolJet, Appsmith and Budibase.
Is Openblocks actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Openblocks was on 19 October 2023, and the latest release is v1.1.8, published on 23 March 2023. The project has 6.2k stars on GitHub.