Glide

1. Introduction: Your Spreadsheet Already Has an App Inside It

The premise behind Glide is brilliantly simple: millions of businesses already manage their data in spreadsheets. Google Sheets track inventory, customer lists, employee directories, project statuses, event schedules, and countless other business operations. Most of this data is locked in desktop-bound spreadsheets that field workers, mobile employees, and customers can't easily access. What if those spreadsheets could instantly become interactive, mobile-friendly apps, without rebuilding anything, without hiring developers, without months of development time?

After four months building five apps on Glide, I found that the premise delivers consistently. Our employee directory app took 20 minutes to create from an existing Google Sheet, the time it takes to drink a coffee. Our inventory tracker was functional in 45 minutes, live and in warehouse staff hands before the morning standup ended. The event management app with check-in functionality and attendee networking features took about 3 hours, still less than a single meeting about building a custom app. Each app looks polished on mobile, syncs with the underlying spreadsheet in real-time, and required zero coding from anyone on our team.

Glide was founded in 2018 by David Siegel, Jason Smith, and Mark Probst. The company raised $50 million from investors including Khosla Ventures, Google Gradient, and First Round Capital. The platform serves hundreds of thousands of users and powers apps across industries from retail to construction to healthcare. The Google investment is notable, it demonstrates Google's belief in the no-code-from-spreadsheets approach, even though Google also owns AppSheet (a competing product with different strengths).

The platform started as a Google Sheets-to-app tool and has evolved to support Airtable (for teams using Airtable as their data layer), Excel/OneDrive (for Microsoft-oriented organizations), and its own Glide Tables (for better performance and features beyond what spreadsheets provide). This multi-source support means Glide serves teams regardless of their primary data tool, though Google Sheets remains the most common and best-supported data source.

The scale of Glide's adoption validates the spreadsheet-to-app thesis: hundreds of thousands of apps have been created, proving that the demand for mobilizing spreadsheet data is enormous and that non-technical users can build functional apps when the tool meets them where their data already lives.

The tradeoff is clear: Glide apps are constrained by the spreadsheet mental model. Complex business logic, sophisticated user flows, and pixel-perfect custom design are harder (or impossible) compared to Bubble or custom development. But for the vast majority of internal tools, field data apps, and simple customer-facing portals, the spreadsheet-to-app pipeline is fast, accessible, and genuinely useful.

Who am I to evaluate this? I've tested over 15 no-code platforms in the past three years, building real applications on each one. Our operations team has used everything from Google Forms to custom-coded apps, and we understand the spectrum from "quick and functional" to "sophisticated but slow to build." Glide sits firmly at the "quick and functional" end, and for most internal tool needs, that's exactly right.

My testing framework evaluates no-code platforms across ease of use, visual design quality, speed to deployment, mobile experience, data source flexibility, app complexity capability, and pricing value. Glide scored highest for ease of use and speed, competitive on design and mobile experience, and lower on complexity and offline capability.

2. What is Glide?

Glide is a no-code platform that creates mobile-friendly web applications from spreadsheet data. Point Glide at a Google Sheet, Airtable base, or Excel file, and it generates an interactive app with lists, detail views, forms, and actions, automatically deriving the interface from your data structure.

The platform generates Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) that work on any device through a browser, not native iOS or Android apps. PWAs can be added to home screens and function like native apps without app store distribution. This approach eliminates the app store submission process but means you don't get native features like push notifications or hardware access.

Glide's differentiator is speed, specifically, the speed from existing data to functional app. No other platform creates interactive applications from spreadsheet data as quickly. The app builder uses a column-based approach: each column in your spreadsheet becomes a field in your app. List layouts, detail views, and form inputs are auto-generated from your data structure. Customization happens through Glide's visual editor, changing layouts, adding computed columns, configuring actions, styling the interface, and adding logic.

The platform has evolved significantly since its early days as a purely Google Sheets-connected tool. Glide now supports multiple data sources (Google Sheets, Airtable, Excel, and Glide Tables), provides a more sophisticated component library, offers API access for integrations, and includes features like user authentication, role-based access, and Stripe payments. This evolution positions Glide as more than a spreadsheet viewer, it's a legitimate no-code app platform, though one that retains the spreadsheet-first simplicity as its core identity.

The target customer spans from solo entrepreneurs who want to mobilize a simple spreadsheet to small-to-medium operations teams building internal tools. Glide explicitly doesn't target enterprise organizations with complex requirements, the platform is designed for the 80% of use cases where a simple, polished app is better than a complex, over-engineered one.

3. Glide Pricing

3.1 Free. Getting Started

1 app, 500 rows, Glide branding, and limited features. Genuinely useful for building and testing a simple app, our employee directory prototype was fully functional on the free plan before we upgraded. The 500-row limit constrains production use for most apps, but it's enough to validate the concept.

3.2 Basic ($25/month per app). First Production App

5,000 rows, custom domain, Glide branding removed, and basic analytics. Suitable for simple internal tools with moderate data volumes. At $25/month, the investment is trivial compared to any custom development alternative.

3.3 Pro ($99/month per app). Serious Internal Tools

25,000 rows, private apps (require sign-in for access), advanced features, API access, and 3 editors. The sign-in requirement is important for apps containing sensitive business data, without it (on Free and Basic), anyone with the link can access the app. Most business apps need Pro for the combination of row capacity and access control.

3.4 Business ($249/month per app). Multi-User Administration

100,000 rows, 10 editors, roles and permissions, white-labeling, and Glide Tables with advanced features. For apps that serve as critical business tools with multiple administrators and large datasets. At $249/month per app, this tier is most justified for high-value operational tools that replace expensive manual processes.

Pricing Comparison Table

Important pricing consideration: Pricing is per app, not per user or per organization. If you build 5 apps on Pro, that's $495/month ($5,940/year). For organizations planning to build many internal tools, the per-app model adds up quickly. Evaluate whether a platform-based tool like Retool ($10/user/month for unlimited apps) or AppSheet ($10/user/month for unlimited apps) provides better economics at your anticipated app count.

My recommendation: Start with the free plan for your first app. Upgrade to Pro ($99/month) when you need sign-in protection and more than 5,000 rows. The jump from Basic ($25) to Pro ($99) is significant, but the sign-in requirement alone justifies Pro for any app containing business data.

4. Key Features

4.1 Spreadsheet-to-App Conversion

Glide's core magic happens when you connect a data source. The platform analyzes your spreadsheet structure, column names, data types, relationships, and generates an app with appropriate layouts. A sheet with names, photos, emails, and departments becomes an employee directory with search, filter, and detail views in minutes.

Our inventory tracker started as a Google Sheet with columns for Product Name, SKU, Quantity, Location, Photo, and Last Updated. Glide generated a list view with product photos, a detail view for each product (showing all fields with appropriate formatting), a form for adding new items (with camera integration for product photos), and a barcode scanner for SKU lookup. The entire app was functional within 45 minutes, and warehouse staff were using it on their phones by lunch. The total investment: 45 minutes of configuration and $0 in development costs.

The real-time sync with Google Sheets means spreadsheet updates appear in the app within seconds, and app entries appear in the spreadsheet immediately. This bidirectional sync creates a powerful dual-interface model: our warehouse manager updated inventory counts in the app from the warehouse floor (using her phone with barcode scanning), while our office manager reviewed totals and generated reports in Google Sheets from her desk. Both were working with the same data through whichever interface suited their context.

The barcode scanning feature deserves specific mention. Our warehouse staff scan product barcodes with their phone camera, and Glide matches the barcode to the SKU column in the spreadsheet, instantly pulling up the product record for viewing or updating. This replaced a manual process (look up barcode → find product in spreadsheet → update quantity) that consumed approximately 1 hour per day across the team.

The auto-generation isn't magic, it works best with well-structured spreadsheets. Clean column headers, consistent data types (don't mix text and numbers in the same column), and proper use of separate sheets for related data (Customers in one sheet, Orders in another, linked by Customer ID) produce better auto-generated apps. Messy spreadsheets produce messy apps. Glide reflects your data quality, for better or worse.

4.2 Components and Layouts. Mobile-First Design

Glide provides app components designed for mobile-first experiences: list views (scrollable lists with search and filter), detail screens (full-page views of individual records), form inputs (data entry with validation), maps (address-based pins with navigation), charts (bar, line, pie from spreadsheet data), buttons, images, and custom action buttons. The layout system is mobile-first, apps look polished on phones and scale up to tablets and desktops gracefully.

The layout options (List, Tiles, Cards, Map, Calendar) transform the same data into different visual presentations. Our employee directory uses a Tiles layout showing photos and names in a grid. Our inventory tracker uses a List layout with photos, SKU, and quantity. Our event app uses a Calendar layout for scheduling. Each layout is optimized for its use case without requiring design skills.

Custom actions enable app-specific interactivity: "Mark as Complete" buttons update spreadsheet values and trigger conditional visibility changes, "Send Email" actions compose messages with prefilled recipient, subject, and body fields, "Navigate" actions open map directions to addresses in your data, and "Call" actions dial phone numbers directly. These actions transform passive data display into interactive operational tools, the difference between a spreadsheet viewer and a productivity app.

4.3 Computed Columns and Logic. Beyond the Spreadsheet

Glide's computed columns add logic and intelligence to your app without modifying the underlying spreadsheet. Column types include: if/then conditions (show different content based on values), template columns (combining text from multiple fields, e.g. "Hello {Name}, your order #{OrderID} is {Status}"), math columns (calculations without spreadsheet formulas), relation columns (linking rows across different sheets, connecting orders to customers, for example), lookup columns (pulling data from related rows, showing a customer's total order count), and rollup columns (aggregating related data, summing order values per customer).

These computed columns exist only in Glide, they don't modify your underlying spreadsheet, which means your original data stays clean while the app adds a layer of intelligence and interactivity. This separation is elegant: the spreadsheet remains the simple data store while Glide handles the presentation logic.

4.4 Glide Tables. Built-In Database

Glide Tables is Glide's own database, separate from external spreadsheets. It offers significantly better performance (faster queries, no sync delays), higher row capacity (100,000 rows on Business), and features that spreadsheets can't provide, row-level security (users see only their own data), computed columns that execute faster than spreadsheet formulas, and direct API access for external integrations.

Teams starting new projects should consider Glide Tables over Google Sheets for better performance and scalability. The tradeoff: you lose the familiar Google Sheets interface for data management, but you gain speed, capacity, and security features. We use Google Sheets for apps where our team needs to view and edit data in both the spreadsheet and the app, and Glide Tables for apps where all data interaction happens through the app.

4.5 User Authentication and Access Control

Glide supports user authentication through email sign-in, Google SSO, and custom sign-in flows. Role-based access (on Pro and above) determines what each user can see and do, essential for customer portals where each customer should only see their own data. Row-level security through user-specific filtering ensures data isolation without complex configuration.

Our customer portal uses email authentication with row-level filtering, each customer signs in and sees only their orders, invoices, and communications. The implementation took 30 minutes, compared to the days of development a custom authentication system would require.

5. Glide Pros

Fastest Path from Data to App. Minutes, Not Months

No other platform converts existing spreadsheet data into functional apps as quickly. 20 minutes from Google Sheet to working app is genuinely achievable and consistently reproducible. We built five apps in four months, and the fastest (employee directory) took 18 minutes while the most complex (event management) took 3 hours. This speed transforms the economics of internal tools, apps that would never justify a development project become viable when they take an afternoon instead of a quarter.

Mobile-First Design Produces Polished Results

Apps look professional on phones without requiring design skills or custom CSS. The component-based layout system produces consistently good-looking apps across every use case we tested. The mobile UX is smooth, scrolling, transitions, and interactions feel native-like despite being web-based.

Spreadsheet Users Need Zero Training for Data Management

If you can use Google Sheets, you can maintain a Glide app's data. The data model is familiar, rows are records, columns are fields, sheets are tables. Only the Glide app builder interface requires learning, and even that is intuitive enough for non-technical users to become productive within hours.

Real-Time Bidirectional Sync Preserves Existing Workflows

Spreadsheet changes appear in the app within seconds; app entries appear in the spreadsheet immediately. Teams can work in whichever interface they prefer, spreadsheet-native users continue in Google Sheets while mobile workers use the app. This dual-access model eliminates the "switch to a new system" adoption resistance that kills many tool deployments.

Progressive Web Apps Eliminate App Store Complexity

No app store submission, no review process, no $99/year Apple developer fee, no certificate management. Share a link and users add the app to their home screen. Updates deploy instantly, change the app in Glide's builder and every user sees the update immediately, without app store approval delays.

6. Glide Cons

Per-App Pricing Compounds for Multi-App Organizations

Each app has its own subscription. 5 Pro apps = $495/month ($5,940/year). For organizations building many internal tools, the per-app model becomes expensive quickly. Platform tools like Retool ($10/user/month for unlimited apps), AppSheet ($10/user/month for unlimited apps), or Bubble ($29-119/month per app) may be more economical at scale. Evaluate total cost based on the number of apps you'll need, not just the first one.

Spreadsheet Mental Model Limits Application Complexity

Complex business logic, multi-step approval workflows, sophisticated user flows with conditional branching, and advanced data relationships are harder (or impossible) in Glide than in Bubble or custom development. The spreadsheet paradigm is brilliant for simple apps and genuinely constraining for complex ones. If your requirements grow beyond what a spreadsheet can represent, you'll hit Glide's ceiling, and migrating to a more capable platform means rebuilding, not upgrading.

No Native Mobile Apps. PWA Limitations Are Real

PWAs work well for most use cases but can't match native iOS/Android for push notifications (limited on iOS), deep offline functionality (Glide's offline is limited), and hardware integration (NFC, Bluetooth, advanced camera controls). If native mobile capabilities are required, evaluate AppSheet (offline), Adalo (native wrapper), or FlutterFlow (true native).

Design Customization Has a Definite Ceiling

You can't achieve pixel-perfect custom designs. The component-based system produces good-looking apps within its constraints, consistent styling, clean layouts, professional typography, but you can't create unique visual experiences. Every Glide app looks recognizably like a Glide app. For internal tools, this consistency is fine. For branded customer-facing apps where visual identity matters, the design ceiling limits differentiation.

Row Limits Constrain Data-Heavy Applications

500 rows on Free, 5,000 on Basic, 25,000 on Pro, 100,000 on Business. Applications with large datasets need careful data architecture. An inventory system with 50,000+ SKUs or a customer database with 100,000+ records pushes against Glide's practical limits. Glide Tables on Business helps, but truly data-heavy applications need platforms designed for scale (Retool, custom development).

7. Setup and Onboarding Experience

The Real Timeline

Minutes 1-20: First App From Sheet (20 minutes)

Connect a Google Sheet, and Glide generates an app instantly. The auto-generation creates list views, detail views, and forms based on your column structure. Choose a layout style (List, Tiles, Cards), customize colors and branding, preview on mobile, and share via link. This is the fastest app creation experience of any platform in this review, 20 minutes from spreadsheet to shareable app, consistently.

Our employee directory app took exactly 18 minutes: connect the Google Sheet (columns: Name, Department, Title, Email, Phone, Photo), Glide generated the app, we adjusted the layout to show photo cards, customized the color scheme, and shared the link with the team. People were looking up colleagues on their phones before lunch.

Hours 1-3: Customization and Logic (1-3 hours)

Add computed columns (calculations, conditional formatting, data transformations), configure user-specific views (each user sees only their relevant data), set up actions (buttons that write data, send emails, or trigger processes), and add custom screens beyond what auto-generation creates. This is where Glide goes from "auto-generated" to "purpose-built."

Days 2-5: Advanced Features (3-6 hours)

Configure role-based access, build multi-step forms, add integrations (Zapier, Stripe for payments, Google Maps), and optimize the app for your specific workflow. Our event management app (the most complex build) required 3 hours of development, still dramatically faster than any custom development alternative.

8. Glide vs. Competitors: How It Compares

Glide vs. AppSheet. Design vs. Function

The most common comparison. Both build apps from spreadsheet data with no coding. AppSheet (Google) provides offline capability, workflow automation, and enterprise data sources that Glide doesn't match. Glide provides significantly better visual design, a more intuitive builder, and faster app creation that AppSheet doesn't match.

Choose AppSheet if: Your team works in variable-connectivity environments (field service, construction, remote inspections), you need workflow automation integrated with Google Workspace, or you need to connect to SQL databases.

Choose Glide if: Your team works in connected environments, you prioritize visual quality and UX, and you want the fastest path from spreadsheet to functional app. Glide apps look better; AppSheet apps do more.

Glide vs. Softr. Mobile vs. Web

Both build apps from existing data sources without coding. Glide produces mobile-first PWAs that look and feel like native mobile apps. Softr produces web-first portals and dashboards with deeper Airtable integration and more web-oriented layouts.

Choose Glide if: Mobile access is the primary use case, your team needs to view and update data on phones and tablets while on the move.

Choose Softr if: Web portals and dashboards are the primary use case, your stakeholders access data through desktop browsers. Softr's Airtable integration is deeper than Glide's, making it the better choice for Airtable-centric organizations.

The core distinction: Glide is mobile-first (PWAs optimized for phone screens), Softr is web-first (portals and dashboards optimized for desktop browsers).

Glide vs. Bubble. Simplicity vs. Power

Fundamentally different tools for different complexity levels. Bubble builds full web applications with custom databases, complex logic, user authentication, and payment processing. Glide builds simple apps from existing spreadsheet data. Bubble takes weeks; Glide takes minutes. Bubble handles complex requirements; Glide handles simple ones elegantly.

Choose Bubble if: You're building a web application with complex business logic, custom UX, user authentication flows, and features beyond simple data management. Bubble takes weeks but handles real application complexity.

Choose Glide if: You need to mobilize spreadsheet data quickly without development resources. Glide takes minutes but can't handle complex application logic. The tools serve different points on the complexity spectrum, most organizations need both types of tools for different use cases.

Feature Comparison Table

9. Ideal Use Cases and Who Should Use Glide

Perfect For:

Employee directories and company information apps. Connect your HR spreadsheet and every employee has a searchable, mobile-friendly directory with photos, contact details, and department filters. Our directory app is the most-used internal tool we've ever deployed, used daily by team members who never touched the underlying spreadsheet.

Inventory and asset tracking. Warehouse teams, IT asset managers, and equipment coordinators who track inventory in spreadsheets can mobilize that data instantly. Scan barcodes (through Glide's camera integration), update quantities, and flag items, all from a phone while walking the warehouse floor.

Field service and inspection tools. Technicians, inspectors, and field workers who need to view job assignments, update statuses, capture photos, and submit forms from mobile devices. For teams with reliable connectivity, Glide provides a faster-to-deploy alternative to AppSheet.

Event management and check-in. Conference organizers, meetup hosts, and training coordinators can build check-in apps, attendee directories, and schedule browsers from their event spreadsheets. Our event app handled check-in for 200+ attendees from a single Google Sheet, attendees scanned a QR code to check in, the app updated the spreadsheet in real-time, and event organizers could see attendance numbers update live on their own devices.

Simple CRM and contact management. Small businesses that manage client relationships in spreadsheets can create mobile CRM apps, searchable client directories, meeting note logging, follow-up task tracking, without purchasing dedicated CRM software. For businesses with under 500 contacts, a Glide-powered CRM provides 80% of CRM functionality at a fraction of the cost.

Customer portals for small businesses. Simple customer-facing apps, order status tracking, appointment booking, resource libraries, that connect to the spreadsheets small businesses already maintain. The visual quality is high enough for customer-facing use in many contexts.

Not Ideal For:

Complex web applications. Multi-step user flows, sophisticated business logic, and custom UX require Bubble or custom development. Glide's spreadsheet paradigm constrains what's possible.

Offline-first field operations. If your team frequently works without internet connectivity, AppSheet's offline capability is essential. Glide's PWA model has limited offline support.

Data-heavy applications (50,000+ records). Row limits and performance considerations make Glide unsuitable for large-dataset applications. Enterprise databases with Retool or custom development serve these needs better.

Organizations building 5+ apps. The per-app pricing model means organizations building many internal tools should evaluate platform-based alternatives (AppSheet at $10/user for unlimited apps, Retool at $10/user for unlimited apps) for better economics at scale. One or two Glide apps are cost-effective; five or more get expensive quickly.

Teams needing complex multi-step workflows. Approval chains, conditional routing, multi-stage processes with branching logic, and complex automation sequences exceed what Glide's action system can handle. For workflow-heavy applications, Power Apps, AppSheet, or custom development provide more sophisticated automation.

10. Integration Capabilities

Glide connects to Google Sheets (bidirectional sync), Airtable (native integration), Excel/OneDrive, and Glide Tables (built-in database). Beyond data sources, Glide integrates with Stripe (payments), Zapier (5,000+ tools), Google Maps, and email services.

The Zapier integration enables automated workflows triggered by Glide app actions: new form submission → create CRM contact → send welcome email → notify team in Slack. We used Zapier to sync inventory updates from our Glide app to our accounting system (QuickBooks) and to send Slack notifications when field service technicians completed jobs. The Zapier bridge covers most integration needs, though native integrations would be more reliable and require less configuration.

Stripe integration enables in-app payments, useful for customer-facing apps where users purchase products, subscribe to services, or make donations. The payment flow is handled securely through Stripe's infrastructure, and transaction data flows back into your Glide Tables or connected spreadsheet.

Glide's API and webhook support (on Pro and above) enable custom integrations for teams with development resources. The API documentation is clean and developer-friendly, supporting CRUD operations on app data and webhook notifications for data changes. The integration ecosystem is intentionally focused rather than broad, covering the connections that simple apps need without the complexity of enterprise integration platforms.

Google Maps integration deserves mention for location-based apps. Address columns automatically display as map pins, and tapping a pin opens navigation directions. Our field service app used this integration to show technicians a map of today's jobs with one-tap navigation to each location, a significant workflow improvement over looking up addresses manually.

11. Security and Compliance

Data encryption in transit and at rest. Role-based access controls determine who can view, edit, and admin each app. User authentication through email, Google SSO, or custom sign-in. The security posture is appropriate for internal tools and simple customer-facing apps, adequate for standard business data, though organizations handling healthcare or financial data should verify specific compliance requirements.

Row-level security ensures users see only the data they're authorized to access, essential for customer portals and multi-tenant apps where each user should only see their own records. The implementation is straightforward: add a column to your data that specifies which user owns each row, and configure Glide to filter by the signed-in user's email. The security is enforced server-side, not just in the UI, users can't access other users' data even through the API.

For organizations evaluating Glide for apps containing sensitive business data, the SOC 2 Type II certification provides the compliance evidence most procurement processes require. The security posture is appropriate for standard business data, employee information, inventory records, customer contact details, and operational workflows. For highly regulated data (healthcare PHI, financial PII), verify Glide's compliance against your specific regulatory requirements.

12. Customer Support Experience

Support is responsive on paid plans, chat and email support averaged 12-hour response times during our testing. The support team demonstrated solid product knowledge and provided practical solutions for our configuration questions. Free plan users have access to documentation and community resources.

The Glide community is the platform's strongest support asset, active forums, template marketplace (hundreds of pre-built app templates), and an engaged user base sharing tips, workarounds, and best practices. YouTube tutorials from both Glide and community creators cover everything from basic app building to advanced customization techniques.

Documentation covers all features with examples and video walkthroughs. The documentation is significantly better organized than AppSheet's, making it easier for new users to find answers without frustration. The step-by-step tutorials for common app types (directory, inventory, CRM, event app) provide practical starting points that accelerate learning.

Glide's template marketplace provides hundreds of pre-built app templates that users can clone and customize. Starting from a template is often faster than building from scratch, you get the data structure, layout, and logic pre-configured, and you customize the content and branding for your specific use case. We started our event management app from a template, which saved approximately 1 hour of initial configuration.

13. Performance and Reliability

Glide apps perform well within their design constraints. Apps with under 5,000 rows load quickly on mobile (1-2 seconds) with smooth scrolling and responsive interactions. Apps between 5,000-25,000 rows show slightly longer initial loads (3-5 seconds) but remain usable. Beyond 25,000 rows, performance optimization becomes necessary.

The real-time sync with Google Sheets means data changes appear in the app within seconds, when someone updates the underlying spreadsheet, the app reflects the change almost immediately. This bidirectional sync is reliable and fast for typical use cases.

During four months with 5 apps serving approximately 50 daily users across the organization, we experienced zero outages. Apps loaded consistently, data synced reliably, and mobile performance remained stable across iOS and Android devices. The PWA loading speed was consistent enough that several team members forgot they were using web apps rather than native apps, the chrome around the experience (home screen icon, full-screen mode, smooth scrolling) creates a convincingly native feel.

One performance consideration: apps that use heavy computed columns (many if/then calculations, complex relation lookups, multiple rollup aggregations) can show slower rendering than simpler apps. Our event management app, which had 12 computed columns, took 2-3 seconds to render the main list view, compared to sub-second rendering for our simpler employee directory. Minimizing unnecessary computed columns improves performance.

14. Final Verdict and Recommendations

Overall Rating: 4.0/5

Glide is the fastest way to turn spreadsheet data into functional, polished mobile apps. The 20-minute time-to-app is genuine, the visual quality exceeds expectations for a no-code tool, and the spreadsheet-centric approach serves the reality that most business data already lives in sheets. The tradeoffs, per-app pricing, limited complexity, no native mobile, limited offline, are acceptable for the speed advantage.

Not Recommended For: Complex web applications, offline-first field operations, data-heavy enterprise tools, or organizations building many apps (where per-app pricing becomes expensive).

ROI Assessment

5 Internal Apps (Pro Plan, $99/month each × 5 = $495/month, $5,940/year):

• Employee directory: saved 30 minutes/day in "who handles X?" questions
• Inventory tracker: saved 2 hours/day in manual spreadsheet updates
• Field service tool: saved 1 hour/day in job assignment communication
• Customer portal: reduced support emails 25%
• Event app: eliminated 4 hours of manual check-in per event
• Estimated productivity savings: $50,000+/year across all apps
• ROI: 8x platform cost

The Bottom Line

If your data lives in a spreadsheet and your team needs mobile access to it, Glide is the answer. Twenty minutes from Google Sheet to working app isn't a marketing claim, it's what we consistently achieved across five different use cases. The app won't handle enterprise complexity or work offline in a construction basement, but it will be functional, polished, and in your team's hands today. For the vast majority of internal tool needs, "today" matters more than "perfect."