Introduction to Glide | Part 1: Getting Started
Published by GlideWatch on YouTube
Updated Oct 5, 2026
No-Code App Builders
Glide
No-code and AI builder for internal apps on spreadsheet data
From $19/mofree trial
Glide at a glance
from our research
Builds internal business apps from spreadsheets and other data, as Glide Classic or the newer GlideOS
Classic meters updates (data changes, syncs, API calls) and app users; GlideOS meters AI credits
Apps are web apps installed from the browser; Glide doesn't publish to the App Store or Google Play
Classic Business: $249 a month, or $199 a month billed yearly, with 30 users and 5,000 updates included
Overview
What is Glide?
Glide, from Type Fast, Inc., a US company founded in 2018, builds internal business apps and now sells two separate products for the job. Glide Classic is the original no-code builder: data sits in Glide Tables, Big Tables or a connected source such as Google Sheets, Airtable, Excel or SQL Server, screens are built from components in the Layout Editor, and relation columns link rows across tables. GlideOS, the newer product, is what Glide calls an AI software development platform. You describe a process in chat, attach a spreadsheet or file, review a mockup filled with sample data and then tell it to build.
Apps are private by default, and in Classic, roles and row owners decide which rows each user gets. Classic workflows run on user actions or schedules, with conditions and loops, while GlideOS apps live in projects that share one database, workflows and integrations. Glide's use-case pages cover inventory, procurement, warehouse and vendor management, dashboards, CRM, work orders and field sales. Apps run as progressive web apps that people install from the browser, hosted on Google Cloud in Iowa. Glide doesn't publish to the App Store or Google Play.
The two products bill differently. Classic plans have flat monthly or yearly prices with allowances of app users and updates, which count data changes, syncs from Sheets or Airtable, integration runs and Glide API calls. GlideOS plans are monthly for now and metered in credits, which standardize the AI tokens Glide's agent spends while building, alongside limits on team members, published apps and enabled workflows.
Our verdict on Glide
Updated Oct 5, 2026Pricing checked Oct 5, 2026
Glide Classic fits an operations team that runs on spreadsheets and wants a staff app for inventory, work orders or field sales without writing code. Data stays in Google Sheets, Airtable, Excel or Glide's own tables, workflows run on actions or schedules, and roles and row owners keep each user to their own rows. GlideOS takes a different route, generating an internal app from a chat prompt and a spreadsheet, and Glide's pricing page now leads with it. The two products don't share data, and Glide has no tool for moving a Classic app to GlideOS, so choose one before building.
Neither publishes to the app stores. Classic's bill turns on two meters. Updates count data changes, syncs, integration runs and API calls: 250 a month on Explorer, 500 on Maker and 5,000 on Business. When a team runs out and hasn't switched on unlimited updates, Glide stops running them, so workflows stop, syncing pauses and Glide AI returns no response. With it switched on, each extra update costs $0.02. Users are the second meter. Maker allows unlimited users, but only with personal or education email addresses, so a company app used on work email needs Business.
That makes Classic Business the plan to budget for with staff apps: $249 a month, or $199 a month billed yearly, with 30 users on any email domain, 10 editors and 5,000 updates. Each extra user costs $6 a month, or $5 on yearly billing. GlideOS is billed monthly only for now. Basic costs $25 a month for 100 credits, and Pro starts at $125 a month for five team members and 500 credits, rising with team size. A first Classic payment can be refunded in full within 14 days.
Choose Glide Classic for internal tools on spreadsheet data, where a known group of staff uses the app and the update count is predictable. If the app is a portal for clients at many companies, Softr's Pro plan charges $1 a month for each client user beyond the 50 it includes. If the app has to be in the stores, Adalo publishes native iOS and Android builds from its $45-a-month Starter plan.
Written by Lokesh Kapoor
Pros & cons
Glide pros and cons
What it does well
- Classic builds on Google Sheets, Airtable, Excel or SQL Server data, depending on the plan
- Roles and row owners restrict which rows each app user can see
- Classic workflows run on user actions or schedules, with conditions and loops
- Glide states SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and AES-256 encryption at rest and in transit
Where it falls short
- Out of updates without unlimited usage on, workflows stop and data syncing pauses
- Classic Maker users need personal or education emails; work-email users need Business
- Classic apps can't be moved to GlideOS, and the two products don't share data
Editor's assessment from vendor documentation and published pricing
Pricing
Glide pricing
Glide's paid plans start at $19/month, below the $29 median across the 5 tools in our No-Code App Builders ranking. A free plan is available, and you can test it on a 14-day free trial.
GlideOS Free
$0
Free plan
Up to 2 users
- Limited credits
- 2 team members
- 10 projects
- Integrations
- Build AI features in your apps
Usage: GlideOS is a separate product from Glide Classic. The Free plan has no published apps and no enabled workflows; extra credits are sold on paid plans only.
GlideOS Basic
$25/mo
per month
Up to 2 users
- 100 credits a month
- 2 team members
- 2 published apps
- 1 enabled workflow
- Publish personal and team apps
Usage: Credits meter the AI building work: 100 are included, and one credit top-up can be bought each month at a price the page doesn't state. Annual plans are listed as coming soon.
GlideOS Plus
$50/mo
per month, from 250 credits
Up to 3 users
- 250 credits a month and up to 10,000
- 3 team members
- 5 published apps
- 20 projects and 5 enabled workflows
- Publish public apps
Usage: The credit pack sets the price: $50 for 250 credits, $75 for 500, $125 for 1,000, $275 for 2,500, $525 for 5,000, $775 for 7,500 and $1,025 for 10,000 a month. Up to two credit top-ups a month can be bought on top.
GlideOS Pro
$125/mo
per month for 5 members, plus $10 per extra member
Sold in seat bundles of 5, 10, 20, 30…
- From 5 team members, 50 credits each
- Unlimited published apps and workflows
- 100 projects
- Org-level roles and permissions
- Build with your own agent (MCP)
Usage: Sold by team size: $125 for 5 members (500 credits), $175 for 10, $275 for 20, then $100 more for each further 10 members, up to $1,075 for 100 (5,250 credits). Credit top-ups are unlimited.
GlideOS Enterprise
Custom
Tailored pricing for larger teams
- Custom team size
- Single sign-on
- Enterprise integrations
- Choice of the organization's LLM provider
- 30-day data backups
Usage: Priced through Glide's sales team.
Classic Free
$0
Free plan
Up to 10 users
- Unlimited drafts
- 1 editor
- Up to 25k rows
- 40+ components
- Community support
Usage: Up to 10 personal users, 1 editor and 25,000 rows on Glide Tables and Big Tables; the plan includes no updates, and Glide Table updates don't count.
Classic Explorer
$19/mo
per month, up to 100 users
or $25/mo billed monthly
Up to 100 users
- 1 published app
- 100 personal users included
- 250 updates a month
- Workflows and integrations
- Glide AI
Usage: 250 updates a month, 2 editors and up to 25,000 rows; users can't be added beyond 100. Updates beyond the allowance cost $0.02 each once unlimited updates is turned on in billing; until then Glide stops running updates, so syncing, workflows and Glide AI stop.
Classic Maker
$49/mo
per month
or $60/mo billed monthly
- 3 published apps
- Unlimited personal users
- 500 updates a month
- Custom domains and custom branding
- Up to 50k rows on high-scale sources
Usage: 500 updates a month and 2 editors; app users must sign in with personal or education email addresses. Updates beyond the allowance cost $0.02 each once unlimited updates is turned on in billing; until then Glide stops running updates, so syncing, workflows and Glide AI stop.
Classic Business
$199/mo
per month, 30 users included
or $249/mo billed monthly
- Unlimited published apps
- 30 users included, any email domain
- 5,000 updates a month
- 10 editors
- Workflows, Call API and Glide API
Usage: Includes 30 users and 5,000 updates; extra users cost $5 a month each on yearly billing ($6 monthly) and extra updates $0.02 each, both billed only when unlimited usage is turned on. The page lists the price as starting at $199.
Classic Enterprise
Custom
Tailored pricing for larger teams
- Unlimited apps and custom limits
- Single sign-on
- Data backups
- Enterprise integrations
- Account manager and priority support
Usage: Custom users, updates and rows (up to 10 million rows per app, per Glide's help center); priced through Glide's sales team.
Checked against Glide (Type Fast, Inc.)'s pricing page on October 5, 2026 · see the full breakdown
Capabilities
Glide features
Checked against the same feature list as every other tool in its category.
Building & Data
- Included:External data sourcesBuilds on Airtable, Google Sheets, Postgres or an existing database.
- Included:Relational data modelTables that relate to each other properly rather than flat lists.
- Included:Responsive layoutsOne build that adapts properly across desktop, tablet and mobile.
- Included:Visual drag-and-drop builderAssemble interfaces by dragging components rather than writing markup.
Logic & Integration
- Included:API connectionsCall external APIs and use the responses inside the app.Call API on Classic Business and up
- Included:Custom code extensionDrop into JavaScript or Dart when the visual builder runs out.
- Included:Payments & subscriptionsTake one-off or recurring payments inside the application.Via Stripe invoices sent from the app
- Included:User accounts & permissionsSign-up, login and role-based access to data and screens.
- Included:Workflows & business logicMulti-step conditional actions triggered by events in the app.
Deployment
- Included:Custom domain hostingRuns the app on your own domain with SSL.
- Not included:Native iOS & Android appsPublishes real native apps to the App Store and Play Store.
- Not included:Source code exportTake the generated source and host or extend it independently.
- Not included:Versioning & stagingDevelopment and live environments with a deploy step between them.Classic can hold back layout changes
- Included:White-label & client appsRemove platform branding and hand an app to a client.
Ecosystem
Glide integrations
Videos
Watch Glide in action
Product walkthroughs from Glide's own YouTube channel.
Turn Excel Spreadsheets into Apps with Glide [Glide Classic]
Published by GlideWatch on YouTube
Alternatives
Top Glide alternatives
Tools that do the same job, from the same category.
Fit check
Will Glide fit your team?
Support
- Email support
- Knowledge base
- Community forum
Training
- Webinars
- Documentation
- Video tutorials
Deployment
- Web
- iOS
- Android
Typical users
- Small businesses
- Mid-size companies
- Enterprises
FAQs
Glide FAQs
Written by our editorial team.
Is Glide free?
Yes. Glide Classic's Free plan allows unlimited drafts, one editor, up to 10 personal users and 25,000 rows, but it includes no updates, though edits to Glide Tables don't count as updates. GlideOS also has a Free plan with limited credits, two team members and 10 projects, but it can't publish apps or enable workflows. Paid plans start at $25 a month on both: Classic Explorer, which is $19 a month billed yearly, and GlideOS Basic. Classic Business has a 14-day free trial. See Glide pricing.
What is the difference between Glide Classic and GlideOS?
They're separate products with separate accounts and subscriptions. Glide Classic is the original no-code builder, where you lay out screens from components on top of Glide Tables, Google Sheets, Airtable or SQL data. GlideOS builds internal apps with an AI agent from a prompt, a spreadsheet or a file, and its plans are metered in AI credits. Glide says existing Classic apps keep working, but the two can't share data and there's no tool to migrate a Classic app to GlideOS.
What counts as an update in Glide?
In Glide Classic, updates are the data changes, syncs from Google Sheets or Airtable, integration runs and Glide API calls an app makes. Explorer includes 250 a month, Maker 500 and Business 5,000. When a team runs out without unlimited updates switched on, Glide stops running them: workflows stop, third-party actions fail, syncing pauses and Glide AI returns no response. With unlimited updates on, each extra update costs $0.02.
Can Glide apps go on the App Store or Google Play?
No. Glide builds progressive web apps, which people install from the browser, and its help center says it doesn't support publishing to the App Store or Google Play. Apps are private by default and can be served from your own custom domain on Classic Maker and above. If a store listing matters, look at builders that produce native apps; see Glide alternatives.
What security certifications does Glide have?
Glide states that it's SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and aligned with GDPR and CCPA, and that it encrypts data with AES-256 at rest and in transit. Apps are hosted on Google Cloud Platform, with servers in Iowa, and are private by default. On GlideOS, Pro keeps data backups for 24 hours and Enterprise for 30 days, and Enterprise adds single sign-on and a choice of the organization's LLM provider.
Sources & methodology
Product details come from Glide (Type Fast, Inc.)'s public website and documentation (United States). Every plan and price was checked against the vendor's pricing page on October 5, 2026. We haven't tested this product hands-on; the verdict is a desk assessment. How we research and rank tools
- Founded 2018
- 1 language supported
- glideapps.com
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