Softr Review: Build a Sales CRM With No Code

Why No-Code Deserves a Second Look

Most of us fall into one of two camps when picking business tools: team open source (own the stack, modify the code) or team SaaS (whatever's trending, good enough for everyone else). Both are valid approaches, but there's a third option that's easy to dismiss — no-code app builders.

If you're like me, you hear "no-code" and immediately picture a confusing grid of bubbles connected by lines, some kind of convoluted mind-mapping exercise that seems like more trouble than just hiring a developer. That was my bias for a long time. But think about how website building evolved: we went from hand-coding HTML in Notepad to Dreamweaver to CMSs to page builders like Squarespace. Real developers use page builders now and nobody bats an eye.

So what if no-code app building worked the same way — more like dragging and dropping in a page builder than wrestling with a visual programming language? That's the premise behind Softr, and after spending time with it, I think they've actually pulled it off.

Softr's Template Library

Softr doesn't drop you onto a blank canvas. Instead, you start with a massive library of pre-built templates — and these aren't simple landing pages. They're fully functional applications: client portals, help desks, property management tools, employee directories, analytics dashboards, SaaS subscriber trackers, community forums, and online course platforms.

Each template comes with a live interactive preview. You can actually click through the app, log in as a test user, fill out forms, and navigate between screens before you commit to using it. Once you pick a template, it becomes your starting point — you get page-builder-style tools to customize everything from the layout to the data fields.

What makes this exciting from a business perspective is the potential for a "Softr agency" model. Just like there are WordPress agencies and Webflow agencies, you could specialize in building custom apps with Softr and upsell clients on dashboards, portals, and internal tools — all within the same platform.

Building a Sales CRM Step by Step

For this walkthrough, I chose the Sales CRM template — a practical tool that most agency owners struggle to get right. The setup process is remarkably straightforward. You pick the template, connect a data source (Airtable or Google Sheets, with HubSpot and SmartSuite support coming for newer templates), and Softr copies a pre-structured database into your Airtable account.

The template database comes pre-loaded with tables for employees (your salespeople), deals, contacts (clients), interactions (calls and emails), and accounts (companies). All of this data is just sitting in a regular Airtable spreadsheet, but Softr transforms it into a proper application with multiple screens, navigation, and user authentication.

Once connected, Softr immediately generates a working app. You don't need to configure anything — it reads your Airtable structure and builds out pages for each data category. The deals page features a Kanban board for your sales pipeline. The contacts page displays client information in clean, visual cards. The accounts page lists your business relationships with filtering options. It's all there from minute one.

Previewing and Using the App

One of Softr's smartest design decisions is the clear separation between builder mode and user mode. Other tools try to cram building and using into the same interface, which means a non-technical team member could accidentally break the whole setup. Softr keeps these modes completely distinct.

In preview mode, you can test the app as different user roles. Each employee in your Airtable gets their own login with specific permissions, so an account executive sees different screens and data than a manager might. The Kanban board on the deals page is fully interactive — you can drag deals between pipeline stages, click into individual cards to update priority levels, and see changes reflected in real time.

The app works on mobile too. While Softr doesn't publish to app stores, you can save any app as a progressive web app (PWA) on your phone's home screen. On desktop, browsers like Chrome and Safari let you save it as a standalone app that lives in your dock — no browser chrome, just the app. For internal tools like a CRM, this is exactly what you want.

Customizing Contacts and Data Fields

Customizing the app is where Softr really shines compared to off-the-shelf SaaS products. Take the contact profile page: by default, the template includes fields like name, phone, email, and LinkedIn. But if your business doesn't use LinkedIn and you'd rather track client websites, you can swap that out in minutes.

The process works in both directions. In Softr's builder, you click on the field you want to change and rename it. Then you hop over to Airtable, add a new column (or rename an existing one) to match. Softr detects the change automatically and offers a quick refresh — after which the new field appears in your app, ready to be populated.

An important distinction: you don't need to edit data in Airtable once the app is finished. Softr supports action buttons that let users add and update records directly from the app interface. Editing Airtable directly during setup just helps you understand how the data connection works under the hood. When everything's deployed, your team interacts exclusively through the Softr app.

The Softr Builder Experience

The builder itself works exactly like a modern page builder. You click a plus button anywhere on a page to insert a new block, or use the sidebar to browse available options. Blocks come in two flavors: dynamic blocks that pull data from your connected source (Airtable, Google Sheets, etc.) and static blocks like hero sections, images, and text.

Dragging blocks around is intuitive — a simple "move up" and "move down" system positions elements where you want them. Each block's settings panel lets you customize content, toggle elements on and off (like removing a button from a hero section), and swap out images. Softr even includes a built-in stock photo library powered by Pexels, so you can search and insert images without leaving the builder.

The real power comes from mixing static and dynamic blocks on the same page. You might have a static hero banner at the top of a contact profile, followed by dynamic cards pulling in that person's deal history and interaction log — all from Airtable. This hybrid approach gives you the design flexibility of a website builder with the data-driven functionality of a custom application.

Settings, SEO, and Accessibility

Softr takes SEO and accessibility seriously, which is especially important if you're building public-facing apps or websites. Every image block includes alt text fields for screen readers and search engines. The settings panel offers Google site verification, customizable site headings for crawler readability, a built-in robots.txt editor, and URL redirect management.

You can connect a custom domain even on the free plan (one domain included, with additional domains on paid plans). The subdomain and favicon are configurable from the general settings tab. If you're using Softr to build client-facing portals or marketing sites, these SEO tools mean you won't need a separate platform just to handle discoverability.

Styles and Customization

The styling system trades granular CSS control for simplicity and speed. From the styles tab, you can adjust padding, background colors, and spacing on individual blocks. A color picker lets you dial in exact shades, and changes preview in real time.

The theme panel controls global design settings: heading and body fonts, brand colors, and overall sizing presets (small, medium, or large). There's even a roundness slider if you want softer corners throughout the app. Your logo goes into the header block, which is editable just like any other element — click it, upload your asset, and you're done.

While you won't get the pixel-perfect control of writing custom CSS, the styling tools are more than adequate for professional-looking internal tools and client portals. The constraints actually work in your favor — they keep the design consistent and prevent the kind of visual chaos that happens when everyone on a team has access to full CSS.

Users, Roles, and Permissions

User management in Softr ties directly back to your data source. In the CRM example, the users tab syncs with the employees table in Airtable. Adding a new employee to the spreadsheet automatically makes them available as a user in the app after a quick sync.

Each user can be assigned a role, and roles determine what screens and data they can access. This means an account executive might see their own deals and contacts, while a sales manager sees everything across the team. The permissions system is granular enough for real business use without being overwhelming to configure.

For apps that need external user registration (rather than admin-provisioned accounts), Softr includes signup form blocks that you can drop onto any page. New signups flow directly into your data source, and you can assign default roles automatically.

Signups, Payments, and Integrations

If you're building a product you want to charge for, Softr has Stripe integration baked in. Adding a checkout form is as simple as dropping in a payment block and connecting your Stripe API keys in the settings panel. After payment, users can be automatically added to specific user groups with the appropriate permissions — so your entire signup-to-access flow is handled without writing a single line of code.

The integrations list goes well beyond Stripe. Common tools are represented, and notably, there's an OpenAI integration that lets you connect your API key and build AI-powered features directly inside your Softr app. For agencies and entrepreneurs experimenting with AI products, this lowers the barrier to shipping something functional dramatically.

Between the data source connections (Airtable, Google Sheets, HubSpot, SmartSuite), payment processing, user authentication, and third-party integrations, Softr covers most of what you'd need to build and monetize a custom application.

Publishing Your App

Publishing is a one-click process. You configure your custom domain (or use the default softr.app subdomain), click publish, and the app is live. Domain setup follows the standard CNAME/DNS process — Softr provides the records, you add them to your domain registrar, and you're done.

On the free plan, there's some gentle Softr branding at the bottom of the app. It's not intrusive, and for internal tools or MVPs, it's a perfectly acceptable trade-off for a zero-dollar deployment. Paid plans remove the branding entirely.

Softr Pricing: What It Actually Costs

Softr's free plan is genuinely generous: unlimited app visitors, up to 5 internal users, and up to 100 external client signups. For a small agency, this is enough to run a functional CRM, portal, or internal tool without spending a dime.

The catch is that certain blocks — like Kanban boards and calendars — require the Professional plan at $139/month (billed annually). That sounds steep until you compare it to per-user CRM pricing. Tools like HubSpot or Salesforce often charge $40-50 per user per month. Softr's Pro plan includes 50 internal users, so a team of 10-25 people could save significantly while getting an app that's built exactly for their workflow.

The real value proposition isn't just cost savings — it's customization without compromise. No extra features you don't need, no upsell banners inside the tool, no add-on pricing for basic functionality. You build exactly what your business requires and nothing more.

Final Verdict

Softr has genuinely changed my perspective on no-code builders. This isn't the confusing bubble-and-line visual programming I'd written off in the past — it's closer to using Squarespace or Elementor, but for full applications instead of websites. The template library gets you to a working app in minutes, the Airtable/Google Sheets integration means you're working with tools you already know, and the builder itself is intuitive enough that non-technical team members can make changes without breaking anything.

For agency owners, the use case is clear: build a CRM, client portal, or internal dashboard that fits your exact workflow instead of bending your process around someone else's software. For entrepreneurs, Softr opens up the possibility of shipping SaaS-style products without a development team. And if you're a developer, there's a real agency opportunity in building and customizing Softr apps for clients who want custom tools but don't want to learn the platform themselves.

The 30-day free trial gives you access to all features, so you can properly evaluate whether the Pro plan's capabilities justify the investment before committing. For anyone who's been frustrated by the limitations of off-the-shelf tools but doesn't have the budget for custom development, Softr is worth a serious look.

Watch the Full Video

Prefer watching to reading? Check out the full video on YouTube for a complete walkthrough with live demos and commentary.