Spreadsheets · head to head
APITable vs Formance
APITable
Spreadsheets
Open source spreadsheet database with an API first design and an embeddable widget system
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Formance
APIs
Open source double-entry ledger and payment orchestration for money-moving software
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: APITable records are held in the product own schema rather than as native database tables, so the practical row ceiling is a product limit and large tables should be load tested before commitment.; Formance formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
- They diverge on capability: APITable covers API first design, Formance covers Double-entry ledger.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which APITable and Formance actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in APITable
- API first design
- Widget SDK
- Embeddable views
- Multiple view types
- Linked records and formulas
- Self hosting
- Real time collaboration
Only in Formance
- Double-entry ledger
- Numscript transaction DSL
- Multi-currency
- Payments connectivity
- Reconciliation
- Self-hosted deployment
- Cloud offering
- API and SDKs
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
APITable
- Embedding an editable table view inside a product you are building, rather than sending users to another toolnot Formance
- An internal platform where tables are read and written mostly by code through the API and only occasionally by peoplenot Formance
- A self hosted replacement for a per seat spreadsheet database where seat count is the cost drivernot Formance
- Building a custom dashboard widget that sits beside the data instead of in a separate reporting toolnot Formance
Formance
- A marketplace splitting a single customer payment between seller, platform fee and tax that needs the split to be atomic and auditablenot APITable
- A fintech whose homegrown balances table produced numbers finance could not reconcile and now needs proper double-entry before an auditnot APITable
- A payments team that wants one normalised model across several PSPs so reconciliation is not written separately for eachnot APITable
- A company that wants its ledger under a licence it can keep running even if the vendor disappearsnot APITable
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
APITable
- Records are held in the product own schema rather than as native database tables, so the practical row ceiling is a product limit and large tables should be load tested before commitment.
- The hosted free tier caps records per space, so evaluating on the cloud version gives a misleading picture of what the software can do when self hosted.
- Automation is thin compared with the commercial alternatives, and most real workflows end up in an external automation tool.
- The self hosted deployment is heavier than a single container, so running it properly means managing several services rather than one.
- Documentation and community activity are uneven in English, and finding an answer to an operational problem can take longer than the problem itself deserves.
Formance
- Formance holds no money and provides no regulatory cover, so it must be paired with a payments provider or bank, and buyers occasionally mistake a ledger for a treasury system and discover the gap late.
- Numscript is a domain-specific language your team must learn, and while it makes complex splits expressible it also means transaction logic sits outside the languages your engineers already debug well.
- Self-hosting a ledger that must never lose or duplicate a transaction is a serious operational commitment covering backups, upgrades and Postgres tuning, which is real cost the zero licence fee hides.
- Enterprise pricing is not published, so the difference between the free path and the supported path cannot be evaluated without a sales conversation.
- The company is much smaller than the incumbent alternatives, and while the MIT licence protects the code it does not protect the roadmap, so features on the hosted side may arrive slowly or change direction.
Pricing, plan by plan
APITable
Free- Self hosted open sourceFree
- No licence fee
- No product record cap on self hosted deployments
- Docker and Kubernetes deployment
Formance
Free- Open SourceFree
- MIT licensed core ledger
- Numscript transaction DSL
- Multi-currency tracking
- Enterprise$undefined/year
- Managed or private deployment
- Payments connectivity and reconciliation
- Support with response commitments
Which should you pick?
Choose APITable if
- You need api first design.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Linux.
- You also want widget sdk.
Choose Formance if
- You need double-entry ledger.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
- You also want numscript transaction dsl.
Questions people ask
- Is APITable or Formance better?
- Neither clearly leads. APITable starts at Free and Formance at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, APITable or Formance?
- APITable starts at Free and Formance at Free.
- Does APITable or Formance run on more platforms?
- APITable runs on Web, Linux. Formance runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web, API.
- Can I use APITable for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is APITable best used for?
- APITable is most often used for embedding an editable table view inside a product you are building, rather than sending users to another tool, an internal platform where tables are read and written mostly by code through the api and only occasionally by people, a self hosted replacement for a per seat spreadsheet database where seat count is the cost driver, building a custom dashboard widget that sits beside the data instead of in a separate reporting tool. Of those, embedding an editable table view inside a product you are building, rather than sending users to another tool and an internal platform where tables are read and written mostly by code through the api and only occasionally by people are not what Formance is typically brought in for.
- What can APITable do that Formance cannot?
- APITable covers API first design, Widget SDK, Embeddable views, Multiple view types. Formance covers Double-entry ledger, Numscript transaction DSL, Multi-currency, Payments connectivity.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
APITable: What is the record limit?
The self hosted edition has no product cap, but performance is bounded by the internal schema rather than by your database. Test at your expected size.
Formance: Is Formance really open source?
Yes. The core ledger is MIT licensed with full source access and no deployment restrictions.
APITable: Can I embed it in my own product?
Yes, and that is the main reason to choose it. Views embed and the widget SDK extends them.
Formance: Does Formance move money?
No. It records and orchestrates movements; the actual payments happen at a PSP or bank you connect.
APITable: Is the hosted version representative?
No. Its free tier caps records per space, which is a commercial limit rather than a technical one.
Formance: What does the enterprise version cost?
Not published. It is an annual subscription quoted per customer.
APITable: How hard is self hosting?
Harder than a single container. Plan for several services and someone to keep them running.
Formance: Do I have to use Numscript?
Yes for anything beyond the simplest transfers. It is how multi-party transactions are expressed atomically.
APITable: Does it do automations?
Lightly. Expect to pair it with an external automation tool for anything multi step.
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