Baserow vs SeaTable

At a Glance

When a European team goes looking for an Airtable replacement that keeps data inside the EU, two names dominate the shortlist: Baserow and SeaTable. Both wrap a genuine relational database in a familiar spreadsheet interface, both can be self-hosted, and both treat GDPR compliance as a founding principle rather than a bolt-on. They even share a launch year (2020) and an almost identical headline pitch. The differences are quieter but decisive: licensing model, free-tier shape, feature depth, and where each company puts its engineering effort. For most teams the choice comes down to whether you value an open-source codebase or a slightly richer feature set out of the box, and the short answer is that Baserow's MIT licence and free unlimited self-hosting make it the stronger default, while SeaTable wins on out-of-the-box field types and the more generous free tier.

Features and Field Types

Both products give you the same conceptual model — typed columns, linked records, formulas, lookups, and rollups — but they emphasise slightly different things. SeaTable advertises 20+ column types, including some that operational teams genuinely miss elsewhere: geolocation, ratings, and a digital signature column type relevant to contracts and logistics sign-off. Its view library is broad too, adding a map view alongside grid, kanban, gallery, calendar, and timeline. Our ratings reflect this with SeaTable scoring 8.0 on feature depth versus Baserow's 7.5.

Baserow covers the same core ground — grid, form, gallery, kanban, calendar, and timeline views, plus formula and lookup fields — and adds a built-in AI assistant that generates tables and views from a natural-language prompt. The gap is real but narrow.

Edge: SeaTable for breadth of field types and views out of the box.

Self-Hosting and Open Source

This is the cleanest dividing line between the two. Baserow's self-hosted edition is genuinely open source under the MIT licence, free with no row, storage, or user limits — you pay only for your own hardware. The codebase is published and auditable, telemetry does not phone home, and in self-hosted mode Baserow B.V. has literally zero access to your data. For regulated industries and teams that want to inspect or extend the platform, that openness is hard to match.

SeaTable also self-hosts via Docker and runs the full Enterprise feature set on your own servers, but the product is proprietary and the self-hosted deployment requires an annual licence priced by user count. You get complete data control, but not an open codebase you can fork or audit.

Edge: Baserow for true open-source licensing and free, unlimited self-hosting.

Pricing and Value

The two are remarkably close on value — both score 9.0 for value-for-money — but they structure their plans differently. Baserow's cloud tiers run Free (3,000 rows, 2 GB), Premium at EUR 5 per user per month (50,000 rows, 20 GB, AI assistant), and Advanced at EUR 20 per user per month (250,000 rows, 100 GB, RBAC). SeaTable runs Free (10,000 rows, 2 GB, up to 25 users) and Plus at EUR 7 per user per month (50,000 rows per base, automations, API access), with custom-quoted Enterprise tiers on either side.

SeaTable's free tier is the more generous entry point, allowing more rows and up to 25 users. Baserow's paid Premium tier is cheaper per seat and bundles the AI assistant. Both undercut Airtable substantially at every level.

Edge: SeaTable for the free tier, Baserow for the cheapest first paid step.

EU Compliance and Data Residency

Neither product disappoints here, which is the whole point of the category. Both score 9.5 on EU compliance. Baserow is a Dutch B.V. storing cloud data specifically in Amsterdam, and it carries triple certification — GDPR (with DPA), HIPAA, and SOC 2 Type II — across all tiers rather than reserving it for enterprise. That HIPAA and SOC 2 coverage is the differentiator for healthcare, finance, and audited environments.

SeaTable is a bootstrapped German GmbH in Mainz, hosting all cloud data on German servers with no data transfer outside the EU and a DPA available. Its independent, non-EU-parent-free ownership means no Schrems II or CLOUD Act exposure. Both offer self-hosting as the ultimate sovereignty option.

Edge: Baserow for formal certifications (HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II); SeaTable matches it on residency.

When to Choose Baserow

Choose Baserow if open source is a requirement rather than a preference. The MIT-licensed, free, unlimited self-hosted edition is the strongest argument any no-code database can make to a technical team that wants to inspect, extend, and run the platform with zero vendor data access. It is also the better pick for regulated industries: the triple compliance stack of GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 Type II across every tier is a hard-requirement match for healthcare, finance, and public-sector workloads.

Baserow's built-in application builder and AI assistant add genuine reach beyond the database itself, and its EUR 5 Premium tier is the cheapest credible first paid step. Pick Baserow when data sovereignty and an auditable codebase are non-negotiable.

When to Choose SeaTable

Choose SeaTable if you want the richest feature set out of the box without thinking about hosting. Its 20+ column types, map view, and signature column give operational, logistics, and process teams more to work with from day one, reflected in its higher feature-depth score. The free tier is the most generous starting point of the two — 10,000 rows and up to 25 collaborators — which makes it easy to trial a real workflow before committing.

SeaTable's German hosting and bootstrapped, independent ownership give it a clean GDPR story that legal and IT teams can document quickly. Pick SeaTable when you want a feature-complete EU database with a forgiving free tier and you do not need an open-source licence.

The Verdict

Baserow and SeaTable are both excellent, and the no-code database category is better for having two serious European competitors that keep data in the EU. The honest answer is that most teams will be well served by either — the gap between them is narrow.

For most European teams, Baserow is the stronger default. Its genuinely open-source MIT licence, free and unlimited self-hosting, and triple compliance certification (GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II across all tiers) create a data-sovereignty story that SeaTable's proprietary, licence-gated self-hosting cannot fully match. Its EUR 5 Premium tier is also the cheapest paid entry point. The trade-off is a slightly thinner feature set and a smaller integration ecosystem.

Choose SeaTable instead when out-of-the-box feature depth matters more than open-source licensing: more column types, a map view, a signature field, and the more generous free tier (10,000 rows, 25 users). For operational and logistics teams that want a feature-complete tool and a forgiving trial, SeaTable is the better fit.