grist-core

Free (Self-Hosted)

grist-core is Apache 2.0 and complete for a single team: the spreadsheet-database engine, Python formulas, access rules, forms, and the REST API. One Docker container on your own box, with no seat cap and no record cap.

Grist Cloud

• Free: $0. Unlimited documents, up to 5,000 records per document, 30 days of automatic backups, 10 members, 2 guests per document.
• Pro: $8 per user/mo. Up to 100,000 records per document, snapshot history back 3 years, from 100 AI Assistant credits/mo.
• Business: $24 per user/mo with a 5-user minimum. Up to 150,000 records per document, snapshots back 5 years, from 2,000 AI credits, automations, priority email support.
• Enterprise: quoted. Custom SSO, custom domain, custom branding, admin controls, audit log streaming, multiple team sites.

Annual billing saves 20%.

Self-Hosted Costs

A $10 to $20/mo VPS runs the single container comfortably. Grist also sells a self-hosted Enterprise build for teams that want the admin and governance features without using their servers.

When to Pay

The free tier's ceiling of 5,000 records per document is what moves people to Pro, and $8 per user is cheap measured against Airtable. Self-host if you want no caps at all. One thing to know going in: branding and theming live in Enterprise, so changing how Grist looks is a conversation with sales rather than a setting.