Internal operations apps
Small teams replacing spreadsheets and email chains with role-aware forms, tables, lists, kanban views, dashboards, and workflow actions.
Independent tool overview
Frontly at a glance
Frontly is a hosted no-code builder for internal tools, customer portals, dashboards, lightweight CRMs, and operational apps. Its AI Copilot can draft pages from a prompt or screenshot, while the visual editor connects the interface to Frontly Database, Google Sheets, Supabase, Airtable, APIs, and workflows. It is best for relatively structured business apps, not a code-export platform or a general consumer SaaS stack.
Visit the official Frontly site ↗
- Product type
- Hosted AI-assisted no-code web app builder
- Current builder
- Frontly V2
- Best suited to
- Internal tools, portals, dashboards, and lightweight CRMs
- Data options
- Frontly DB, Supabase, Google Sheets, Airtable, and APIs
- Hosting
- Frontly-hosted; no self-hosting
- Code export
- Not offered
- Reviewed
- August 31, 2026
Overview
What Frontly is
Frontly turns a plain-language app brief into a first-pass interface, then lets a builder refine pages, blocks, permissions, actions, data connections, styling, and navigation visually. Typical examples include client portals, expense trackers, listings, project tools, dashboards, and small internal systems.
The current product is Frontly V2, a separate builder introduced in 2025. V1 remains supported for existing production apps, but V1 apps do not automatically become V2 apps and some older blocks or workflows have no direct equivalent. Help articles are labeled when they describe V1, yet search results can still surface those legacy instructions.
Every current public plan permits unlimited apps and end users. The commercial boundary is instead set by monthly database operations, AI credits, support, API access, and the number of apps that can remove Frontly branding and use a custom domain. Frontly's own database also has documented row limits, while external sources such as Supabase or Google Sheets behave differently.
Frontly is fully hosted and does not offer self-hosting or source-code export. That reduces infrastructure work but creates platform dependence. Frontly's FAQ also says it cannot yet confirm full GDPR or HIPAA compliance, so regulated, sensitive, or high-risk workflows require a security and legal review before any real data is connected.
Use cases
Who Frontly is best for
The strongest fit depends on the job you need the product to complete, not the size of its feature list.
Client and partner portals
Agencies and service businesses that need authenticated, branded access to a controlled subset of records on a custom domain.
Fast business prototypes
Operators who can validate a structured workflow with AI-generated pages before paying for custom engineering or a more extensible application stack.
Capabilities
Core Frontly features
AI Copilot
Creates and reconfigures app pages from natural-language instructions and can use an uploaded screenshot as visual context. Credit use depends on the selected model, prompt, page context, and iteration size.
Visual page editor
Provides nested layers, reusable blocks, styles, actions, page settings, responsive layout controls, navigation, and visibility conditions without writing application code.
Data-driven blocks
Displays and edits records through lists, tables, forms, kanban boards, calendars, charts, details, and custom blocks connected to supported data sources.
Permissions and personalization
Uses login state, roles, groups, hidden filters, display conditions, user fields, and dynamic variables to show each user the appropriate records and interface.
Actions and automation
Supports record changes, navigation, email, webhooks, custom actions, sessions, and external automation services for multi-step workflows.
Hosted publishing
Publishes apps to a Frontly subdomain on the free plan or a custom domain and custom branding for the paid plan's allowed number of branded apps.
Process
How the Frontly workflow works
Step 1
Model the data first
Define records, relationships, roles, permissions, validation rules, retention, and the system of record before asking AI to generate screens.
Step 2
Generate a narrow first app
Describe one real workflow and let Copilot draft the pages, then replace sample fields and AI assumptions with the actual schema and user journey.
Step 3
Connect a safe test source
Use synthetic data in Frontly DB, Google Sheets, or a development Supabase project; confirm caching, credentials, row-level access, and error behavior before production data.
Step 4
Configure permissions explicitly
Test every role, hidden filter, direct URL, create/edit/delete action, API call, and logged-out state with separate accounts. A hidden interface is not a database authorization boundary.
Step 5
Load-test and release
Measure operations per common session, accessibility, mobile behavior, data-source latency, backup and export paths, and failure recovery before inviting users or buying a higher tier.
Cost
Frontly pricing and free plan
Frontly's current homepage lists straightforward monthly V2 plans. All include unlimited apps and users, but operations, AI credits, branded apps, support, and API access differ. Historical lifetime deals and pre-2025 subscriptions are grandfathered arrangements, not the current public offer.
Starter
Free
Unlimited unbranded apps and users for learning or a small prototype.
- 1,000 monthly operations
- 250 AI credits
- Community support
- Frontly branding and Frontly subdomain
- Frontly DB free tier documented at 1,000 stored records
Basic
$30/month
Entry paid plan for one customer-facing or internal app that needs its own branding.
- Unlimited apps and users
- 10,000 monthly operations
- 1,000 AI credits
- Team support
- One custom branded app
Professional
$100/month
Higher-capacity plan for several branded apps and programmatic integration.
- Unlimited apps and users
- 50,000 monthly operations
- 5,000 AI credits
- Priority support
- Three custom branded apps
- API access
Enterprise
Custom
Negotiated limits and onboarding for larger deployments.
- Custom usage limits
- Personalized onboarding
- Priority support
- Confirm security, compliance, support, recovery, and data-processing terms in writing
Legacy V1 and lifetime customers
Grandfathered
Earlier purchases were migrated to equivalent V2 entitlements under special rules.
- Not a current public purchase option
- V1 app migration is not guaranteed to be one-to-one
- Some external data-source operations may retain legacy exemptions
- Frontly DB usage limits still apply
- Contact support if an old entitlement was not copied
Pricing checked . Check current pricing at the source ↗
Assessment
Frontly strengths and limitations
Where it stands out
- AI gets a structured business app to an editable first draft faster than building every page and block manually.
- The visual editor remains useful after generation, so the product is not limited to one-shot prompt output.
- Unlimited apps and end users simplify early experimentation; usage is metered mainly through operations, credits, and branding.
- Supabase, Google Sheets, Airtable, Frontly DB, APIs, webhooks, and automation tools cover many small-business data workflows.
- Roles, groups, dynamic variables, hidden filters, and conditional display support practical portals and internal tools.
What to consider
- Frontly is hosted only and does not provide self-hosting or source-code export, creating migration and vendor-lock-in risk.
- It is positioned for internal tools, dashboards, portals, and CRMs—not complex consumer SaaS, marketplaces, or ecommerce. The FAQ says native payment processing is not currently built in.
- The operation limit counts database reads, creates, updates, and deletes; a modest number of active users can consume the allowance faster than the unlimited-user language suggests.
- Frontly Database has separate row and operation limits, and older help documentation describes beta limitations that must be retested before relying on advanced validation or analytics.
- V2 is separate from V1. Existing apps may need to be rebuilt, and search results can surface deprecated V1 features and screenshots.
- Frontly's own FAQ says it cannot yet confirm full GDPR or HIPAA compliance. Do not place protected health information or regulated personal data in an app without an appropriate contract and independent review.
- The privacy policy says AI features can send included request data to third-party model providers. Keep secrets and unnecessary personal records out of Copilot and AI actions.
- Interface filters and visibility rules require careful testing and do not replace source-level controls such as Supabase row-level security.
Compare
Frontly alternatives
The right alternative depends on the specific output, workflow, controls and budget your project requires.
Business Operations
Softr
Choose Softr when polished portals and internal apps over established data sources are the priority and its permissions, templates, and deployment model fit better.
Explore Softr →Coding
Retool
Choose Retool for engineering-supported internal software, deeper database and API integrations, more complex logic, and stronger enterprise governance options.
Explore Retool →Coding
Bubble
Choose Bubble when the goal is a more general customer-facing web application with a larger plugin ecosystem, deeper workflow logic, and greater visual flexibility.
Explore Bubble →Questions
Frontly FAQs
What can Frontly build?
Frontly is designed for hosted web apps such as internal tools, customer portals, dashboards, project systems, directories, expense trackers, listings, and lightweight CRMs. Its own FAQ says it is not intended as a general consumer marketplace or ecommerce platform.
Is Frontly free?
Yes. The Starter plan includes unlimited apps and users, 1,000 monthly operations, 250 AI credits, community support, and Frontly branding. A custom-branded app begins with the $30-per-month Basic plan.
Does Frontly still offer a lifetime deal?
Not on the current public pricing page. Earlier lifetime and subscription buyers have grandfathered migration terms for V2. Those historical entitlements should not be described as an offer available to a new customer today.
What counts as a Frontly operation?
A database interaction counts: reading or displaying a record, creating a record, updating it, or deleting it. The monthly allowance is organization-wide, so estimate page loads and common user sessions rather than comparing plans only by app or user count.
Can Frontly apps use a custom domain?
Paid plans include custom branded apps, and Frontly's FAQ says a paid app can connect a custom domain. The current homepage lists one branded app on Basic and three on Professional; extra or enterprise capacity should be confirmed in the billing screen.
Can Frontly be self-hosted or exported as code?
No. Frontly describes itself as a fully hosted service similar to Shopify or Squarespace and says self-hosting is not offered. The product is a visual app platform, not a source-code generator.
Is Frontly HIPAA or GDPR compliant?
Frontly's current FAQ says it cannot yet confirm full GDPR or HIPAA compliance. Treat that as a hard procurement warning for regulated data and require a data-processing agreement, security evidence, data-flow review, and legal approval before use.
Does Frontly send data to AI providers?
Yes, when AI features are used. Its privacy policy lists several third-party model providers and says data sent is limited to what is included in a request. AI can also help infer field types and configure blocks, so use synthetic data while building and avoid exposing secrets or unnecessary personal information.
Bottom line
Our Frontly verdict
Frontly is a practical option for a nontechnical team that needs a hosted portal or internal workflow quickly and can live within a platform-defined UI, operations budget, and data model. The free tier is useful for a real prototype, while Basic and Professional make branding and capacity easy to understand. Before production, verify every permission at the data source, estimate operations with realistic traffic, distinguish V2 from legacy documentation, and keep regulated or highly sensitive data out unless Frontly can contractually satisfy the required controls.
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