Adalo

Overview

Adalo is a visual, no-code builder for database-driven apps, with AI assistance and web and native mobile publishing in one project. It suits founders and small teams that want to build an app without maintaining separate versions for each platform. Its breadth is appealing, but the free plan is for building and testing, and paid plans are billed annually.

Key features

Adalo combines a built-in Postgres database with external data connections, including Airtable, Google Sheets, Xano and REST APIs. That flexibility can make it a practical choice for apps that need to use existing data rather than start from scratch. Integrations such as Stripe, Google Maps, Zapier and Make extend those connections; custom integrations are reserved for Professional.

One project can produce responsive web apps and native iOS and Android builds. Adalo says its native output is IPA and APK builds, rather than web wrappers, which matters to teams targeting app-store distribution. Web apps can use custom domains. Ada, the natural-language builder and editor, is included across plans as a beta assistant, so it is an additional way to shape an app, not a reason to assume every build will be production-ready without review.

Feature Templates supply prepared screens, actions and database structures for common app patterns such as chat, purchasing and appointment booking. Custom Actions and REST, Collections and Notifications APIs provide ways to extend an app or connect services. These are useful building blocks, though the plan determines which publishing, collaboration and advanced tools are available.

Adalo reports more than one million apps created and one million makers, along with 99% average uptime, over two million unique end users and more than 20 million average daily data requests. Those company-reported figures describe platform scale, not a guarantee of uptime or capacity for a particular app. Adalo also says its infrastructure is designed for five million users and beyond; that should not be read as a promise that every app will scale without additional work.

Pricing

The Free plan costs nothing and has no time limit or credit-card requirement. It allows one editor, 500 records per app, unlimited screens and unlimited test apps. That is a useful, low-friction way to explore the builder or validate an idea, but the plan is explicitly for building and testing rather than publishing a production app.

Starter costs $36 a month (billed annually). It includes one published app, unlimited app actions, one editor, a custom domain, web publishing, automated app-store publishing and removal of Adalo branding. It is the straightforward paid option for an individual founder ready to publish one app, but the single-editor seat makes it a poor fit for collaborative teams.

Professional costs $52 a month (billed annually) and raises the allowance to two published apps and five editors. It adds custom integrations, design versions, geolocation, custom app actions, analytics, formulas and push notifications. Small and medium businesses with several collaborators or a need for those tools have a clear reason to move up; a solo maker publishing one app may not.

Team costs $160 a month (billed annually), with five published apps and ten editors. It adds priority support, Xano integration, App and Collections APIs, version history and white labeling. That makes it more relevant to agencies and freelancers managing multiple client projects than to a single-app business. The annual billing term matters at every paid tier: the monthly figures do not mean month-to-month billing.

Platforms

Adalo supports web, iOS and Android. Its responsive web output adapts to the viewing device, while native builds target Apple and Android app distribution. Building from one project avoids maintaining a wholly separate app for each destination, although teams should still choose a plan with the publishing and app allowances their release requires.

Who it's for

Adalo is best suited to founders, small businesses and independent makers building data-driven apps who value a visual workflow and want web and native mobile options together. Agencies or teams with multiple editors and published projects should look at Professional or Team rather than expect the free tier to cover collaboration and launch needs.

It is not the right choice for healthcare apps that require HIPAA compliance: Adalo says it does not provide that compliance because a Business Associate Agreement is required. Its privacy policy describes reasonable safeguards and says data from apps built with Adalo is used for app functionality and product improvement, not tracking or advertising, and is not rented, sold or given to advertisers. It also cautions that absolute security cannot be guaranteed.

Pros and cons

• Pro: One project supports responsive web and native iOS and Android output, reducing the need to build separate platform versions.
• Pro: A permanent free tier with no card requirement, unlimited screens and test apps lets makers evaluate the builder without a deadline.
• Pro: Built-in Postgres, external data sources, integrations and APIs give database-driven projects multiple ways to connect data and services.
• Con: The free plan's 500-record cap and lack of published-app allowances limit it to testing and small prototypes.
• Con: Paid plans are billed annually, and Starter's one-editor limit excludes teams that need shared editing.
• Con: Adalo does not provide HIPAA compliance, ruling it out for projects that require it.

Alternatives

FlutterFlow is worth considering if its free allowance of up to two projects, 10 Lite credits, five lifetime AI requests and two API endpoints suits your early build; its listed Basic plan costs $39 a month, compared with Adalo's lower Starter price but annual billing. Bubble is another freemium option for web and mobile, with a free plan that includes one editor, 50K workload units per month and six hours of server logs; choose it if those stated limits better fit your starting point. Replit offers a free Starter plan with daily usage, one live project and one background task at a time, making it an alternative when that project-based free allowance is the better fit. For broader discovery, see No-Code AI App Builders, No-Code Development Platforms, AI App Builders and No-code app builders.

Verdict

Choose Adalo if you want a visual way to build a data-driven app once and publish it to web, iOS and Android, with a free tier for testing and paid plans that expand publishing and team capacity. Look elsewhere if HIPAA compliance is essential, or if annual billing and the editor and app limits do not fit your project.