Compare with Softr
A Softr alternative for client portals that keep their own records
Softr builds portals and internal tools on Softr Databases or on a source you connect, such as Airtable or HubSpot. See what you can download from Softr, what stays behind, and when an Exepad portal fits.
Softr
Where Softr fits.
Softr calls itself the AI app builder for business operations: secure portals and internal tools with a database, workflow automation and granular permissions built in. By Softr's own account, client portals are the usual starting point. Each app reads its records from Softr Databases or from a source you connect, and user groups shape what every signed-in person sees.[1][2][3]
Its own database or yours
Softr Databases is a relational database built into Softr, and existing data comes in through a CSV or Airtable import. Softr also connects to more than 20 outside sources, such as Google Sheets, HubSpot and SQL databases, reading and writing them directly instead of storing the data.[4][5]
Exepad
Where Exepad fits.
Exepad is Your App Cloud. You describe the portal in Studio, review it and publish a web app that opens in a browser, including on phones. The portal keeps client records in its own database, signs each client in and sends them email.
Records that belong to the portal
Upload a CSV downloaded from a Softr Table block, or one taken from the source the portal reads. The app keeps those rows in its own database. The upload is a snapshot, so choose where edits happen next: in the app, by a deliberate re-import or through a supported integration.
Client access you can test
Where Softr combines user groups with data restrictions, you describe the access for each collection, such as clients seeing only their own requests. Sign in as two test clients and try to open each other's records before you share the link.[6]
Files, email and an agent for each request
A request can carry the documents a client uploads, and the app can email the client when its status changes. An agent can summarize open requests or draft replies when asked or on a schedule you set. Someone reviews what the agent prepares, and model usage is metered separately.
Compare the work you need to do.
| Consider | Softr | Exepad |
|---|---|---|
| Where the portal's records live | Records live in Softr Databases or in a connected source such as Airtable, Google Sheets, HubSpot or a SQL database. Softr reads and writes outside sources directly, with 24-hour caching.[4][5] | In the app's own database. Describe collections such as Clients and Requests, upload the rows, and compare a sample with the Softr table they came from. |
| Starting from Airtable | Build the app on top of the Airtable base, or import the whole base into a new Softr database. The import copies records, linked records and attachments and leaves the base untouched.[1][10] | Upload a CSV of each table the portal needs. Say which columns link to another table, then open a few linked records in both places to check them. |
| Sign-in | Email with a password or a one-time code, Google sign-in, and magic links. Sign-up can be off, open to anyone with the link, or restricted to chosen email domains.[11] | Authentication gives every client and staff member a sign-in to the app itself. Decide who should have an account, then try signing in from an address you haven't used before. |
| Who sees which records | User groups set page, block and button visibility. Global data restrictions limit which records a group can view, create, edit or delete, and Softr's docs put create, edit and delete rules on Business and above.[3][6] | The access you describe for each collection, such as staff seeing every request and clients only their own. Check it by opening another client's record from a test account. |
| Email to clients | Invite, sign-in code and password reset emails come from templates you edit. Workflows send email through Gmail, Outlook or Postmark, and agents can use Softr's built-in email service.[12][13][9] | The app can send email, such as a note when a request changes status. Send each one to yourself first, and check it before clients rely on it. |
| Automation | Workflows start from an app button, a new user, a created, updated or deleted database record, a webhook or a schedule. Each plan sets how many workflow actions can run per month.[13][14] | Rebuild the workflows you still need as app actions, emails or scheduled tasks. Test each with a sample record, and keep a person reviewing results that lead to decisions. |
| AI inside the app | Ask AI answers questions about a block's records within each user's permissions. Database AI Agents fill fields when run by hand or when a record is created or updated. Both draw on monthly AI credits.[8][15] | Language models and agents run inside an app, with the records and actions you allow. Check answers against the records they used; model usage is metered separately. |
| Getting data out | A Table block downloads the records it shows as a CSV or Excel file. The Users menu downloads the user list as a CSV, and the Softr Database API returns every record in a table.[16][17][18][19] | You can export your app's data and code. Run an export once the portal is rebuilt, and open it to see what it holds before you count on it. |
| How plans are counted | Softr says it charges by app user. Each plan includes set numbers of builders and app users, and one email counts once across your published apps. App users are Team or Client users, and Pro and above can add more up to a limit, billed monthly.[1][14] | Free puts one one-page site live; an app with saved data, sign-in or email needs a paid plan to go live. See Pricing for the current plans. A portal with sign-in, records and email is an app, and the models and services it uses are metered separately. |
Choose Softr when
Staff keep working in Airtable, HubSpot or a SQL database.
Softr reads and writes a connected source directly, and edits made in the portal go back to it. If the office must keep updating the base or the CRM while clients use the portal, that live link matters. An Exepad upload is a snapshot and would not follow those edits.
Workflows already tie the portal to your other tools.
A custom workflow button in the app can post to Slack, email a manager or call an API, and record changes can start workflows too. Moving means rebuilding every one of them, so list each with its trigger and weigh that work first.
A ready-made template already fits your clients.
Softr offers nearly 100 templates, from client portals to CRMs, and choosing one copies both the app and its Softr Database into your workspace. If a template matches how your clients work, configure it and keep the portal where it is.
Choose Exepad when
Clients upload files and expect replies by email.
Each request carries the client's documents, a status and an answer. One app stores the files, keeps the request records and emails the client, so staff work from a single list. Test the messages before anyone relies on them.
An agent should prepare the work and a person should approve it.
For example, when staff ask or on a schedule you set, an agent lists which clients still owe documents and drafts a reminder for each one. Someone approves every draft before it is sent, and model usage is metered separately.
You would rather replace the base and the portal together.
For a portal on Airtable, Softr's guide imports the base, then switches the portal's blocks to the new database one at a time. If you are rebuilding anyway, an Exepad app can hold the records, sign-in and email in one place. Rebuild one table and one page first, then compare.
What changes when you move from Softr.
Softr's help docs describe several ways to take records out, and the right one depends on where the records live. Access rules, workflows and AI fields are set up inside Softr, so write them down before you cancel anything.
What an export brings
- Rows from a Table block. Add a Download button to a Table block to save its data as a CSV or Excel file. The block exports the records visible to you, so check its filters first.[16][17]
- The user list. The Users menu downloads your app's users as a CSV file. Use it to plan who needs an account in the new portal.[18]
- Records in a connected source. Softr doesn't store data from a source such as Airtable or Google Sheets; it reads and writes that source directly. Export those records from the source itself.[5]
- A whole Softr Database table. A developer with a Softr API token can read every record in a table through the Softr Database API, which returns JSON.[19]
What stays behind
- Global data restrictions. Softr's Airtable migration guide says these are tied to a specific table in a specific data source, so they don't carry over automatically when an app moves to Softr Databases. Note each rule and the user groups it applies to.[10][6]
- Workflows. Workflows are native to Softr and respond to in-app actions and database changes. Write down each trigger, its actions and the accounts it connects to.[13]
- AI fields and agents. Database AI Agents live in fields of a Softr database, each with a prompt and a rule for when it runs. Agents keep their own instructions, tools and knowledge. Copy these out so you can rebuild them.[15][9]
Rebuild it in Exepad
Start with the table the portal is built around
Upload its CSV in Studio. Say what each row is, which column holds the client's email, and which columns point to another table.
Turn user groups into access rules
From your notes on groups and restrictions, describe what staff, clients and admins may open and change in each collection.
Rebuild the workflows people rely on
Recreate each one as an app action, an email or a scheduled task, and drop the ones nobody uses. Try each with a sample record.
Recreate AI fields as reviewed steps
Where a Database AI Agent filled a field, describe what the model should produce and who checks it. Compare its output on records you have already reviewed.
Sign in as each kind of user, then publish
Softr lets you preview an app as a specific user. In Exepad, create a test client and a test staff account and open the same pages. Publish after review, and point your custom domain (Pro) once both portals match.
Try it with one task.
Move one portal's document requests
An illustrative pilot for Linden & Park, a sample bookkeeping firm in Sacramento whose Softr portal shows each client the documents the firm still needs. Prove one table and two accounts before you move the rest.
In Softr, add a Download button to the Requests table block and save the CSV, then download the user list from the Users menu.
In Studio, describe a portal where clients sign in, see only their own requests and upload files, with a status of Requested, Received or Reviewed.
Ask for an email to the client when a request is marked Received, and send a test to your own address.
Sign in as two sample clients and confirm neither can open the other's requests or files.
Keep the Softr portal live until ten requests read the same in both apps.
Together in your app cloud
The pieces behind the possibility.
Choose the models and services that support the experience you want to create.
Authentication
Give the right people access
Database
Keep data and context for apps and agents
File storage
A home for your documents and media
Email
Keep conversations moving
Language models
Reason, write, and understand
A little more context
Good questions.
Does Exepad stay in sync with Airtable or HubSpot the way Softr does?
No. Softr reads and writes a connected source directly, so edits in the portal go back to the base or CRM. An Exepad app gets a copy of the rows when you upload a CSV. After that, changes happen in the app, by a deliberate re-import or through a supported integration, so pick one before clients start editing.
Softr has its own database now. Do I still need Airtable behind my portal?
No. Softr's docs recommend Softr Databases when you don't have a database yet, and its Airtable import copies a whole base while leaving the original untouched. An Exepad app also keeps records in its own database. Rebuild one table in each and compare before you retire the base.
How do I export my data from Softr?
It depends on where the records live. For Softr Databases, add a Download button to a Table block to save the visible records as CSV or Excel, or have a developer read them through the Softr Database API. For Airtable or another connected source, export from that source. The Users menu downloads your user list as a CSV.
How does Softr count users, and how are Exepad plans set up?
Softr says it charges by app user. Its plans include a set number of builders, who work in Softr Studio, and app users, who sign in to published apps, with each email counted once. Exepad does not charge by app user: each account has one builder, and the plan sets how many apps you can publish. See Pricing for the current plans. Model and service usage is metered separately.
Can each client see only their own records in an Exepad portal?
It is access you describe and then verify. In Softr, global data restrictions do this job, and limiting what a group can create, edit or delete needs the Business plan or higher. In an Exepad app, describe the access for each collection, such as requests matched to the client's email. Then sign in as two test clients and try to open each other's records.
Can an agent in the portal answer client questions?
In Softr, Ask AI answers questions about a block's records, and an App agent acts as the signed-in user who is chatting with it. In an Exepad app, a language model or an agent works with the records and actions you allow, when asked or on a schedule you set. Design it and test it: check each answer against the record it used.
If I move to Exepad, can I export my portal later?
Yes. You can export your app's data and code. Check it the way you checked the CSV from Softr's Table block: run an export once the portal is rebuilt, open it and look for the requests and clients you expect. Keep that copy with the user list you saved from Softr.
Explore Pricing for plans, included capabilities, and usage details.
Related guides.
Compare other tools.
Sources.
Softr details checked September 25, 2026. Confirm them on Softr's site before you decide.
- Softr: product overview ↗
- Softr: connecting a data source ↗
- Softr: user groups and permissions ↗
- Softr: Softr Databases overview ↗
- Softr: choosing a data source ↗
- Softr: global data restrictions ↗
- Softr: AI Co-Builder ↗
- Softr: Ask AI ↗
- Softr: agents ↗
- Softr: migrating from Airtable to Softr Databases ↗
- Softr: user authentication ↗
- Softr: user email notifications ↗
- Softr: workflows ↗
- Softr: pricing and plan questions ↗
- Softr: Database AI Agents ↗
- Softr: export actions ↗
- Softr: Table block ↗
- Softr: Users menu ↗
- Softr: Database API, get records ↗
- Softr: creating an app from a template ↗
- Softr: publishing and previewing an app ↗
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