Noloco vs Glide: Which Is Better?
No-code app builders for client portals compared.
Tom Bradley
2026-02-27
Noloco and Glide are both no-code platforms that let you build apps on top of your data, but they target meaningfully different problems — Noloco is built specifically for agencies managing clients, while Glide is a more general-purpose app builder aimed at any business operation.
Quick Comparison
| Noloco | Glide | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Agencies and professional services | General business app building |
| Starting price | Free; $49/mo (monthly) | $199/mo (billed annually) |
| Client seat pricing | Separate client seats ($0.50–$1/extra) | All users same price ($5/extra) |
| Row limit (paid entry) | 10,000 rows | 100,000 rows |
| AI features | Nola AI assistant + AI columns | App generation + AI agents |
| White-label | Pro plan and above | Business plan |
| SOC 2 | Not listed | Yes (Type 2) |
| Free plan | Yes (2,000 rows, 10 seats) | Yes (limited) |
Noloco
Noloco positions itself as an "agency operating system" — a single platform where teams can run internal operations and deliver client-facing portals without stitching together separate tools. The pitch is coherent: instead of managing projects in one tool, a CRM in another, and client communications in a third, Noloco handles all of it from a shared database layer.
The platform's standout design choice is its split between team seats and client seats. On the Pro plan ($119/month billed annually, $149/month billed monthly), you get 10 team members and 50 client logins — with clients billed at a much lower $1/extra versus $6/extra for team members. This matters enormously for agencies with dozens of active clients but small internal teams. Competitor platforms often charge the same rate for everyone, making client portals expensive to scale.
Feature-wise, Noloco covers substantial ground: a built-in CRM, project tracking, Kanban boards, forms, dashboards, an intranet/knowledge base, and HR tooling. Permissions are particularly well-thought-out — you can restrict access at the record level and field level (both available on Pro), not just page-level visibility. For multi-client environments where Client A should never see Client B's data, this is essential.
Data sources include native Noloco Tables plus live syncs with Airtable and SmartSuite, sync with Google Sheets, Stripe, Postgres, MySQL, Xano, and HubSpot. The Starter plan ($49/month) caps synced rows at 5,000; Pro bumps this to 25,000.
Noloco's AI assistant, Nola, can auto-generate tables, pages, and workflows. There are also AI columns that can summarize or classify data — both are in open beta across all plans. The automation system uses a workflow model with triggers, conditions, loops, and actions including webhooks and email. Workflow run limits are meaningful to watch: 1,000/month on Starter, 3,000 on Pro, 10,000 on Business.
Limitations: Row limits are relatively low compared to Glide — the Business plan at $319/month (or $255/month annually) caps at 200,000 rows before you're paying $75 per additional 25,000. The feature page returned a 404 during research, which isn't a great sign. Noloco is also primarily optimized for the agency use case; if you're building something like a field operations app or a logistics tracker, it's less clearly the right fit.
Glide
Glide is a broader no-code platform aimed at any business that needs custom internal tools — inventory management, field operations, customer portals, CRMs, dashboards. It launched as a Google Sheets-to-app tool and has evolved into a full-featured builder with its own database (Glide Tables), SQL connectivity, and enterprise security.
Where Glide differentiates is in scale and enterprise readiness. Its Big Tables support up to 10 million rows per project, making it viable for data-heavy operations that would choke a typical no-code tool. SOC 2 Type 2 certification is included, along with SSO on the Enterprise plan — neither of which Noloco explicitly advertises. For companies with IT compliance requirements, this matters.
Glide's pricing model is structured differently from Noloco's. The Business plan starts at $199/month billed annually (monthly pricing isn't listed), includes 30 users, then charges $5 per additional user. Critically, Glide bills on updates rather than rows — the Business plan includes 5,000 updates per month with overages at 2¢ per update. This can be economical for read-heavy apps but gets expensive if your workflows write to the database frequently.
The AI story at Glide is strong. Beyond app generation assistance, Glide supports AI agents that can draft emails, extract data from documents, and transcribe audio — practical automation for field and operations teams. The layout editor produces polished, mobile-responsive apps with pre-built component libraries including forms, calendars, and charts.
Integrations include Google Sheets, Airtable, Excel, HubSpot, Stripe, QuickBooks, Intercom, PostgreSQL, and 100+ more via connectors. The Workflow Editor handles triggers from emails, webhooks, and schedules with conditional routing and nested logic.
Limitations: Glide's pricing floor is significantly higher — there's no meaningful entry tier between free and $199/month. There's no equivalent to Noloco's client seat model; every portal user costs the same $5/month extra, which adds up quickly for agencies with large client rosters. The platform's breadth is also a weakness for agency-specific workflows — you get a general app builder, not a pre-configured agency system.
When to Choose Noloco
- You run an agency or professional services firm and need a dedicated client portal with multiple client logins
- Your team size is small but your client count is large — Noloco's split pricing model will save you significantly
- You want an opinionated platform with built-in CRM, project management, and HR tooling that works out of the box
- You need field- and record-level permissions to keep client data isolated
- Your data volumes are moderate (under 200,000 rows) and you're syncing from Airtable, Google Sheets, or similar sources
When to Choose Glide
- You're building operational apps for field teams, logistics, inventory, or warehouse management
- Your dataset exceeds 200,000 rows or you anticipate scaling to millions of records
- You need enterprise security certifications (SOC 2 Type 2) or SSO for compliance
- You want AI agents that can take actions, not just assist with building
- You're a larger organization with a single user base (not a multi-client agency) where uniform user pricing is fine
Bottom Line
These tools serve different masters. Noloco wins for agencies — its client seat pricing, built-in agency workflows, and permission model are purpose-built for firms that need to serve multiple clients from a single platform without paying per-client rates. At $49–$149/month, it's also considerably cheaper to get started.
Glide wins for scale and enterprise — if you're building apps for 200+ internal users, working with large datasets, or need compliance certifications, Glide's infrastructure is the better foundation. The $199/month entry point is steep, but the update-based pricing and Big Tables support make it the more scalable choice for data-intensive operations.
For most small and mid-sized agencies evaluating both, Noloco's free plan makes it easy to trial. For operations teams at larger companies needing custom internal tooling, Glide's enterprise track is worth the premium.