Database access in pro plan

Before the change on prices and plans, the database feature was enable in PRO plan. Please I request to reconsider to enable again this feature in the PRO plan.
The Business Plan is too expensive for starter app developers and for the clients in America latina.

Status Under Review
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30 Comments
Michael2
Participant V

@praveen I second this request. Does data being stored in a db add additional load to AppSheeet servers that storage elsewhere does not?

jader_james
Participant IV

Agree with @Fernando_Lopez

Grant_Stead
Participant V

Unfortunately, I agree… I had to upgrade to the business plan just so I could continue experimenting with databases and authentication sources. So, now I’m having to look at appsheet as more of a capital investment…

aucforum
Participant V

I have made the case too to Appsheet Management, that a datasource be it Google Sheet, Excel, or in my case Microsoft Azure is irrelevant when it comes to appsheet implementation. The volume of data used would still be the same (i.e. for me very small).

WillowMobileSys
Participant V

I too agree 1000%.

Disclaimer for below: I am an AppSheet user just like you but with 25 years systems development.

I do want to point out to those who may not know, that supporting SQL database connections hosted on various OTHER platforms is not a trivial thing under the covers from AppSheet’s perspective. Their pricing is not based on amount of data transferred but rather on the mechanisms needed to support every single different combination of hosting platforms where the SQL databases could reside.

Google, Microsoft Azure, Amazon AWS etc. are all common platforms where there is a very small well-known set of ways to connect AND certain assumptions an organization like AppSheet can make to keep itself protected - this means less coding and maintenance on AppSheet side -> less cost.

To be able to host databases from ALL of the various OTHER web hosting or data hosting service sites, including those hosted locally by AppSheet app users themselves, is a whole other realm. When you throw in all of the protections that need to be put in place to prevent abuse, data breaches and the like, you can start to image the amount of work and effort it takes to support and maintain this level of sophistication within the system. Its tremendous!!

Pricing for these database connections is a different conversation.

csalazaru
Explorer

I totally agree.
Please reconsider the use of cloud databases such as MySQL in Google Cloud with Pro Plan.
Or at least make it a feature that can be added to the Pro Plan for a monthly fee.

Daniel_Turner
Participant III

I wonder if this will change now that AppSheet is part of Google Cloud

Murillo_Rocha
Participant I

Now that appsheets are part of google, they can at least make it cheaper or switch to the PRO plan again for those who use Google Cloud SQL (Which is the case of my company, we are using Cloud SQL).

Here in Brazil, it is very expensive to pay for the business plan for a small company, and we would love to consider using appsheets as the default application here. Help us appsheet!

Jon_Melo
Participant III

Has Appsheet responded to this thread at all? I’m in the same boat.

I just connected to a SQL server and realized that I need to upgrade. I would say that at the very least a pay-as-you-go model for the business plan is needed. The upfront fee seems way out of touch for Appsheet’s target audience.

Dan_Oliphant
Participant V

Hi Jon,

after 6 months of on and off app building, i even taught myself to build a database in Mysql. i went to deploy the app and find out I need a Business plan, for an exorbinate amount of money… did you ever solve this issue with a more economical plan

Jon_Melo
Participant III

Hi Dan - Unfortunately, I haven’t found a work-around for this.

@jared @JCadence - Is there anything on the horizon for using databases as a data source under the Pro plan? This seems like a pretty popular topic for us who can’t afford the Business Plan.

WillowMobileSys
Participant V

@Dan_Oliphant

Gentlemen, I don’t know your needs but I find that Google sheets performs extremely well for small to medium sized businesses. Sheets (and Excel for that matter) are really databases (obviously not relational) under the covers with a nice user interface on top. The free cost and the built-in security is hard to beat. If it matters, I have over 25 years experience building enterprise apps and systems on various different databases. So, I’m curious why the need for a database?

Having said that, if you must have a database, I would recommend reaching out to AppSheet sales for any options. I know in the past they have been helpful to the smaller business needs.

Jon_Melo
Participant III

Thank you for that perspective - if you don’t mind sharing more info based on your experience, I have two concerns with gsheets (or spreadsheets in general).

1 - sensitive client data being stored in a spreadsheet.

In your experience, would you say that Google Sheets/Google Drive has the same level of security as Excel 365/One Drive?

2 - having to manage many spreadsheets as opposed to 1 database.

Due to the large amount of data needed for my app, I need to set up one application/spreadsheet per client. My thought is that a SQL database could handle the larger datasets better than an Excel or gsheets can. Am I off here?

Grant_Stead
Participant V

Jon, you should look into data partitioning. It’s a great solution specifically for working with multiple clients. Let me know if your need any guidance or have any questions.

Bellave_Jayaram
Participant V

Data partitioning is a business plan feature, not available in Pro.