Glide

This Glide review covers what Glide is used for, its key features, Glide pricing for both Glide Classic and the new GlideOS, the app store question, where it shines and falls short, and how it compares with other tools. Glide connects to a data source such as Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable or its own Glide Tables, and turns it into a working app with screens, forms and actions. You edit the layout in a visual builder, add logic with computed columns and workflows, and share the app with a link. Glide says millions of users have turned spreadsheets into apps across more than 100,000 businesses. In August 2026 it launched GlideOS, an AI-first platform with its own plans, next to the original product, now called Glide Classic.

What is Glide used for?

Glide is mostly used for internal business apps: inventory trackers, field service and inspection apps, CRMs, employee directories, order and job tracking, and dashboards for an operations manager. Because the app reads and writes the same data as the spreadsheet behind it, a team can replace a shared sheet with a mobile friendly app in a few hours. Glide is also used for customer portals, client directories and simple customer facing apps where users sign in and see only their own records.

Most users are small and mid-sized teams without developers who already keep their business data in Google Sheets or Excel. Glide offers them a no code way to build apps on that data without learning app development. Agencies build data driven apps with Glide for clients because a first working app is fast to deliver and easy for the client to maintain. It is a weaker fit for consumer apps meant for the app stores, for marketplaces with payments between users, or for products that need custom code.

Key features

• Data sources: Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable databases, Glide Tables and Big Tables for larger data, plus SQL data warehouses on higher plans. The data editor shows the same data the app uses.
• Computed columns: formulas, lookups, relations, rollups and templates that add complex business logic without code.
• Visual builder: screens built from components such as lists, cards, forms, charts, maps and buttons, with layouts that adapt to phone and desktop.
• Actions and workflows: buttons and triggers that add rows, send email, call APIs or run scheduled workflows; third party integrations include Stripe for payment processing, Zapier and Make.
• AI features: AI columns that extract, summarize or classify data, and in GlideOS an agent that builds apps from a description.
• Users and access: sign-in by email, role based access and row owners, so private apps show each user only their own data, while public apps need no sign-in.
• App templates: a template library to start from instead of building from scratch.

How Glide works: from Google Sheets to a working app

App development in Glide starts with your business data. Pick a data source, such as Google Sheets, an Excel file, Airtable databases or a new Glide Table, and Glide reads the columns and builds a first functional app with list and detail app screens and a form. The data lives where it already is: with the Google Sheets integration, edits in the app write back to the sheet and changes in the sheet sync to the app. You then add computed columns, actions and AI features, preview the mobile app on any device, and publish it. Changing the data source later is possible, but moving from Google Sheets to Glide Tables or SQL is easier early on. Users open it from a link or a QR code, sign in, and see the data their role allows.

Glide pricing

Glide now sells two products with separate plans. The figures below come from Glide's pricing pages as of September 2026.

Glide Classic (plans as of November 1, 2025), per month, annual billing first:

• Free: $0, 1 editor, up to 10 personal users, up to 25,000 rows, Glide branding.
• Explorer: $19 ($25 monthly), 1 published app, 100 personal users, 250 updates a month.
• Maker: $49 ($60 monthly), up to 3 published apps, unlimited users on personal accounts, 500 updates, 50,000 rows per app, custom domain and custom branding.
• Business: $199 ($249 monthly), unlimited apps, 10 editors, 30 business users included plus $5 per additional user, 5,000 updates, 100,000 rows per app.
• Enterprise: custom pricing, up to 10 million rows per app.

The usage metric is the update: a data change that Glide tracks, such as editing a row in an external source, syncing Google Sheets or Airtable, or calling an integration or the Glide API. Changes to Glide Tables do not count. Extra updates cost $0.02 each.

GlideOS (GlideOS pricing) is billed in credits: Free with limited credits, Basic at $25 a month for 100 credits, Plus at $50 for 250 credits and public apps, Pro from $125 for 5 team members with unlimited published apps, premium integrations and human support, and Enterprise with custom pricing, single sign-on and priority support.

The cost surprise to check is usage, not the list price. The free tier is fine for testing, but on paid plans every Google Sheets sync and integration call uses updates, so an app on a busy Google Sheet can pass its allowance and pay overages. On the Business plan, every signed-in company user beyond 30 is billed, so the user count matters as much as the app count. The Maker plan suits one team with a few apps. On GlideOS, credit use varies per action and is visible only in the usage dashboard.

GlideOS vs Glide Classic

GlideOS launched on August 3, 2026 as Glide's second platform (Glide Blog). It brings apps, data, 1,000+ integrations, workflows and AI agents into one environment, and you build by describing what you need to an agent. GlideOS is a separate product with its own subscription. Glide Classic keeps working for existing apps, with the update-based plans above. New teams that want AI-driven building should try GlideOS; teams with a working Classic app gain little from moving yet.

Can Glide publish Android and iOS apps to the app store?

No. Glide apps are progressive web apps: users open them in a browser and add them to the home screen, where they behave much like a native app. According to Glide's help center, publishing to the Apple App Store or Google Play is not supported, and Glide does not endorse third-party wrappers (Glide Help Center). Glide does not compile native code, so there are no native Android apps or iOS apps to submit to Google Play. Push notifications work only as far as the browser allows. If you need native mobile apps with store push notifications, look at Adalo or FlutterFlow instead; for an internal mobile app, the web version is usually enough.

Where Glide shines — and where it falls short

Strengths:

• The fastest way to turn a spreadsheet into a working app.
• Easy to learn, with a short learning curve for non-developers.
• A generous free tier for testing, and apps that work on any device.
• Strong for internal tools and client portals on the same data your team already uses.

Trade-offs:

• No native mobile app publishing to the App Store or Google Play.
• Update and user-based pricing can grow quickly with busy apps.
• Design and layout are limited to Glide's components.
• No code export; the app stays on Glide.

How Glide compares

• AppSheet: Google's builder for internal apps on Google Workspace, with offline use and branded native apps.
• Softr: client portals and internal tools on Airtable, Google Sheets or databases.
• Microsoft Power Apps: the Microsoft 365 option for internal business apps.
• Adalo: native mobile apps published to the App Store and Google Play.
• FlutterFlow: native apps with code export for developers.
• Bubble: full web apps and SaaS products with more control over logic.
• Retool: internal tools on databases and APIs for developers.
• Airtable: a relational database with interfaces, often the data source behind Glide apps.

Is Glide worth it?

Glide is worth it for teams that run on spreadsheets and want working internal apps or client portals fast, without developers. The free plan is enough to test an idea, and paid plans such as the Maker plan or the Business plan cover most small teams. It is less of a fit for native mobile apps in the app stores, for consumer products with thousands of users, or for apps with heavy data syncing where updates add up. If you want help building or scaling an app on Glide, the Glide agencies on LowCodeDevs can take it on.

Sources

• Glide pricing plans as of November 1, 2025: Glide Classic plans, users, rows and updates.
• GlideOS pricing: GlideOS plans and credits.
• GlideOS launch recap: the GlideOS platform and launch date.
• Is Glide able to push to the App Store?: progressive web apps and app store publishing.
• Glide Review 2026, Adalo: strengths and the missing app store path (written by a competitor).
• Glide review, TechRadar: hands-on review of data driven apps.