Mathesar vs Teable vs SeaTable: Best Self-Hosted No-Code Database 2026

Why Self-Host a No-Code Database

Spreadsheets are great for quick data entry, but they buckle under the weight of relational data, concurrent users, and access control. Airtable popularized the middle ground — a spreadsheet-like interface backed by a real database. The problem? Airtable locks your data behind a SaaS subscription with per-seat pricing that scales painfully.

Self-hosted no-code databases give you the same intuitive interface without the vendor lock-in. You control the data, the access policies, and the infrastructure. Whether you’re managing inventory, tracking projects, or building internal tools, an open-source alternative lets you scale without exponential cost increases.

Three projects lead this space in 2026: Mathesar, Teable, and SeaTable. Each takes a different architectural approach. This guide compares them side by side with real Docker Compose configurations so you can deploy your own instance in minutes.

Overview Comparison

Mathesar: PostgreSQL-Native Spreadsheet Interface

Mathesar is built on a simple premise: give everyone direct access to a PostgreSQL database through a friendly spreadsheet-like UI. Unlike other no-code platforms that abstract away the database layer, Mathesar preserves native PostgreSQL semantics — foreign keys, views, constraints, and access control all work exactly as you’d expect.

The architecture uses Django as the backend web service with a Svelte frontend. Every table, column, and record maps directly to PostgreSQL objects. This means existing database tools (psql, pgAdmin, DBeaver) connect to the same data.

Key strengths:

• Native PostgreSQL access — no proprietary data format; your data lives in standard Postgres tables
• Row-level security — leverage PostgreSQL’s built-in RLS for fine-grained permissions
• Data explorer — filter, sort, and group data with a UI that feels like a spreadsheet
• Schema management — create and modify tables, columns, and relationships through the UI
• Import/export — CSV, TSV, JSON, and Excel support
• API — RESTful API automatically generated from your schema

Mathesar Docker Compose Configuration

The official docker-compose.yml on the develop branch provides a production-ready setup:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

x-config: &config
  DOMAIN_NAME: ${DOMAIN_NAME:-http://localhost}
  POSTGRES_DB: ${POSTGRES_DB:-mathesar_django}
  POSTGRES_USER: ${POSTGRES_USER:-mathesar}
  POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-mathesar}
  POSTGRES_HOST: ${POSTGRES_HOST:-mathesar_db}
  POSTGRES_PORT: ${POSTGRES_PORT:-5432}

services:
  db:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: *mathesar_django
      POSTGRES_USER: *mathesar
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: *mathesar
    volumes:
      - pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD-SHELL", "pg_isready -U mathesar"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 5s
      retries: 5

  mathesar:
    image: mathesar/mathesar:latest
    <<: *config
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
    depends_on:
      db:
        condition: service_healthy
    volumes:
      - media:/var/lib/mathesar/media

  worker:
    image: mathesar/mathesar:latest
    <<: *config
    command: celery -A mathesar worker -l info
    depends_on:
      - db
    volumes:
      - media:/var/lib/mathesar/media

volumes:
  pgdata:
  media:

Deploy with:

1
2

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mathesar-foundation/mathesar/develop/docker-compose.yml
docker compose up -d

Access Mathesar at http://localhost:8080. The first login creates the admin account.

Teable: Next-Generation Airtable Alternative

Teable positions itself as the next-generation Airtable alternative with a focus on performance and a modern technology stack. Built with TypeScript and Next.js, it runs on PostgreSQL and uses Prisma as the ORM layer.

Teable’s standout feature is its modular Docker architecture. The dockers/examples/standalone/ directory provides separate compose files for database, caching, and storage, making it easy to scale individual components independently.

Key strengths:

• Airtable-familiar interface — grid, kanban, gallery, calendar, and form views
• Plugin marketplace — extend functionality with community and custom plugins
• High performance — handles large datasets with server-side pagination and indexing
• Multi-workspace — separate workspaces for different teams or projects
• API-first — comprehensive REST API with token-based authentication
• Real-time collaboration — multiple users can edit simultaneously with live cursors
• Automation — trigger-based workflows for data pipelines

Teable Docker Compose Configuration

Teable’s standalone setup includes three services — the main app, a PostgreSQL database, and a database migration runner:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55

services:
  teable:
    image: ghcr.io/teableio/teable:latest
    restart: always
    ports:
      - '3000:3000'
    volumes:
      - teable-data:/app/.assets
    env_file:
      - .env
    environment:
      - TZ=${TIMEZONE}
      - NEXT_ENV_IMAGES_ALL_REMOTE=true
    networks:
      - teable-standalone
    depends_on:
      teable-db-migrate:
        condition: service_completed_successfully

  teable-db:
    image: postgres:15.4
    restart: always
    ports:
      - '42345:5432'
    volumes:
      - teable-db:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_DB=${POSTGRES_DB}
      - POSTGRES_USER=${POSTGRES_USER}
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}
    networks:
      - teable-standalone
    healthcheck:
      test: ['CMD-SHELL', "sh -c 'pg_isready -U ${POSTGRES_USER} -d ${POSTGRES_DB}'"]
      interval: 10s
      timeout: 3s
      retries: 3

  teable-db-migrate:
    image: ghcr.io/teableio/teable-db-migrate:latest
    environment:
      - PRISMA_DATABASE_URL=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@teable-db:5432/${POSTGRES_DB}
    networks:
      - teable-standalone
    depends_on:
      teable-db:
        condition: service_healthy

networks:
  teable-standalone:
    driver: bridge

volumes:
  teable-data: {}
  teable-db: {}

Create a .env file with your configuration:

1
2
3
4

TIMEZONE=UTC
POSTGRES_DB=teable
POSTGRES_USER=teable
POSTGRES_PASSWORD=your-secure-password

Deploy with:

1
2
3

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/teableio/teable/main/dockers/examples/standalone/docker-compose.yaml
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/teableio/teable/main/dockers/examples/standalone/.env
docker compose -f docker-compose.yaml up -d

Access Teable at http://localhost:3000.

SeaTable: Spreadsheet Meets Database

SeaTable comes from the Seafile team, best known for their self-hosted file sync platform. SeaTable takes the “spreadsheet with superpowers” approach — it looks like a spreadsheet but supports relational links, formulas, attachments, and multiple view types (grid, gallery, kanban, calendar, map).

SeaTable runs on MariaDB with Memcached for performance, following the same architectural pattern as Seafile Server. This gives it stability and a mature deployment model, though it uses a different database engine than the other two tools.

Key strengths:

• Rich column types — text, number, date, single/multi-select, link, long text, URL, email, file, image, checkbox, creator, last modifier
• Form views — create data collection forms and share via link
• Scripting — write Python and JavaScript scripts that run server-side against your data
• Plugin system — calendar, timeline, map, gallery, and deduplication plugins
• API — Python SDK for programmatic data access and automation
• Snapshot & history — full change tracking and row-level undo
• Team collaboration — workspace sharing, role-based permissions, and activity logs

SeaTable Docker Compose Configuration

SeaTable uses a four-service architecture with MariaDB, Memcached, Redis, and the SeaTable server itself:

 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57

services:
  db:
    image: mariadb:10.11
    container_name: seatable-mysql
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=your-mysql-root-password
      - MYSQL_DATABASE=seatable
      - MYSQL_USER=seatable
      - MYSQL_PASSWORD=seatable-password
    volumes:
      - /opt/seatable-mysql/db:/var/lib/mysql
    networks:
      - seatable-net

  memcached:
    image: memcached:1.6
    container_name: seatable-memcached
    restart: unless-stopped
    entrypoint: memcached -m 256
    networks:
      - seatable-net

  redis:
    image: redis:7
    container_name: seatable-redis
    restart: unless-stopped
    networks:
      - seatable-net

  seatable:
    image: seatable/seatable-server:latest
    container_name: seatable
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - /opt/seatable-server-data/shared:/shared
    environment:
      - SEATABLE_SERVER_LETSENCRYPT=True
      - SEATABLE_SERVER_HOSTNAME=your-domain.com
      - DB_HOST=db
      - DB_PORT=3306
      - DB_ROOT_PASSWD=your-mysql-root-password
      - SEATABLE_ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@example.com
      - SEATABLE_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin-password
    depends_on:
      - db
      - memcached
      - redis
    networks:
      - seatable-net

networks:
  seatable-net:
    driver: bridge

Deploy with:

1
2

mkdir -p /opt/seatable-server-data/shared /opt/seatable-mysql/db
docker compose up -d

After the first deployment, create the admin account:

1

docker exec -it seatable /shared/seatable/scripts/seatable.sh superuser

Access SeaTable at http://localhost:8080.

Detailed Feature Comparison

Performance and Scalability

Mathesar leverages PostgreSQL’s mature query optimizer directly. Since every operation maps to SQL queries, performance scales with your Postgres instance. Large datasets benefit from standard database optimizations — indexing, partitioning, connection pooling. The tradeoff is that the UI doesn’t include built-in caching for complex aggregations.

Teable was designed with performance as a primary goal. The server-side rendering approach, combined with Prisma’s query optimization and Redis caching (in clustered mode), handles large tables efficiently. The modular Docker architecture lets you scale the database, app server, and storage independently. At 21,000+ GitHub stars, it has the largest community of the three.

SeaTable follows the Seafile architecture pattern, which has proven reliable for deployments with thousands of users. The MariaDB backend handles structured data, Memcached caches frequently accessed metadata, and Redis manages session and real-time synchronization data. Performance is solid for typical business workloads but may require tuning for very large datasets.

When to Choose Each Platform

Choose Mathesar If:

• You already use PostgreSQL and want to expose data to non-technical team members
• You need native PostgreSQL access — your data must remain accessible through standard SQL tools
• Row-level security and database-native permissions are critical
• You prefer a tool that does one thing well: spreadsheet-like access to Postgres tables
• You want the simplest possible deployment (three Docker containers)

Choose Teable If:

• You want the most Airtable-like experience with grid, kanban, gallery, calendar, and form views
• Your team needs real-time collaboration with live cursors
• You plan to use plugins to extend functionality
• You need high performance with large datasets and server-side pagination
• You want the most actively developed project (updated daily, 21k+ stars)

Choose SeaTable If:

• You need scripting capabilities (Python/JS) for data processing pipelines
• You want a mature, stable platform from a team with self-hosting experience (Seafile)
• You value the plugin ecosystem (calendar, map, timeline, deduplication)
• You need snapshot and history features for compliance
• Your team is already familiar with spreadsheet-style interfaces

For a broader look at open-source data platforms, our NocoDB vs Baserow vs Directus comparison covers another set of no-code database alternatives, and the Grist self-hosted guide explores a spreadsheet-database hybrid approach.

FAQ

Can I migrate my data from Airtable to any of these tools?

Yes, but the process varies. Teable and SeaTable both support CSV/Excel import, which means you can export your Airtable base as CSV and import it. Mathesar also supports CSV and JSON import. None offer a one-click Airtable migration, but the data transfer is straightforward for most use cases.

Which tool is best for teams with non-technical users?

Teable provides the most polished user experience with its Airtable-style interface, multiple view types, and real-time collaboration. SeaTable is a close second with its familiar spreadsheet look and form views for data entry. Mathesar’s interface is clean but more utilitarian, making it better suited for users who are comfortable with basic database concepts.

Can I use these tools with an existing database?

Mathesar is designed specifically for this — it connects to any existing PostgreSQL database and provides a spreadsheet UI on top. Teable requires its own PostgreSQL instance but can import data from external sources. SeaTable uses its own MariaDB schema and does not directly connect to external databases.

Are these tools free for commercial use?

Mathesar uses the GPL-3.0 license, which allows commercial use as long as you share modifications. Teable and SeaTable both use AGPL-3.0, which is more restrictive — if you modify the source code and offer it as a service, you must share your changes. For unmodified self-hosted deployments, all three are free for commercial use.

How do I back up my data?

For Mathesar and Teable, use standard PostgreSQL backup tools: pg_dump for logical backups or filesystem-level snapshots of the data volume for physical backups. For SeaTable, back up the MariaDB data volume (/opt/seatable-mysql/db) and the shared volume (/opt/seatable-server-data/shared). All three support automated backup scripts via cron.

Can I run these behind a reverse proxy?

Yes, all three support reverse proxy deployment. Mathesar and Teable expose HTTP on their internal ports, which you can proxy through Nginx, Traefik, or Caddy. SeaTable includes built-in Let’s Encrypt support via the SEATABLE_SERVER_LETSENCRYPT=True environment variable. See our Traefik reverse proxy guide for deployment patterns.

Conclusion

All three platforms solve the same fundamental problem — bringing database power to spreadsheet users — but with different architectural choices. Mathesar’s PostgreSQL-native approach appeals to database administrators who want to preserve SQL semantics. Teable’s modern TypeScript stack and Airtable-like interface make it the most user-friendly option for teams migrating from Airtable. SeaTable’s scripting engine and plugin ecosystem give it the most extensibility for custom workflows.

If you’re starting fresh and want the most complete feature set, Teable is the strongest choice. If you need native PostgreSQL integration, Mathesar is unmatched. If your workflow depends on custom scripts and a mature plugin system, SeaTable delivers.