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Spreadsheets · head to head

Rowy vs Seldon

Rowy logo

Rowy

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet interface for Google Cloud Firestore with cloud functions written in the browser

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Seldon logo

Seldon

Machine Learning

Kubernetes model serving whose current version is licensed under the Business Source Licence

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Rowy every Firestore limit is inherited, including the one megabyte per document ceiling and roughly one sustained write per second per document, which surprises users who expect spreadsheet behaviour.; Seldon seldon Core v2 is under the Business Source Licence rather than Apache 2.0, so production use requires a commercial agreement, and a team that evaluated it believing it was open source discovers the licence is the blocker exactly when the project is ready to ship.
  • They diverge on capability: Rowy covers Firestore backed grid, Seldon covers Kubernetes custom resources.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Rowy and Seldon actually diverge.

Attributes where Rowy and Seldon differ
AttributeRowySeldon
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feefreemium
PlatformsWebLinux
CategorySpreadsheetsMachine Learning
FoundedUnknown2014

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Rowy

  • Firestore backed grid
  • Browser authored cloud functions
  • Typed columns
  • Runs in your Google Cloud project
  • Role based access
  • Form view
  • Open source

Only in Seldon

  • Kubernetes custom resources
  • Inference graphs
  • Traffic strategies
  • Open Inference Protocol
  • Alibi Explain
  • Alibi Detect
  • Kafka-backed pipelines in v2
  • Commercial control plane

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Rowy

  • A Firebase application that needs an internal admin interface without building onenot Seldon
  • Operations staff correcting production records in Firestore without developer involvementnot Seldon
  • Attaching a small transformation or notification function to a field change without a full deployment pipelinenot Seldon
  • A content team populating documents that a mobile application reads directly from Firestorenot Seldon

Seldon

  • Serving an ensemble or a multi-stage inference path as one versioned deployment rather than as a chain of separate servicesnot Rowy
  • Running genuine production experiments where a share of live traffic goes to a candidate model and the results are comparednot Rowy
  • Regulated environments needing explanations and drift monitoring attached to the served model rather than bolted on laternot Rowy
  • Organisations with an established Kubernetes platform team who want serving expressed as manifests under existing deployment controlsnot Rowy

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Rowy

  • Every Firestore limit is inherited, including the one megabyte per document ceiling and roughly one sustained write per second per document, which surprises users who expect spreadsheet behaviour.
  • Firestore has no joins, so linking tables in the grid is a convenience layer rather than a relational feature and reports across collections still need a separate query.
  • It is useful only to teams already on Firebase, so choosing it effectively locks the operational tooling to one cloud vendor.
  • Query costs are billed by document read, and an unfiltered grid on a large collection can generate a bill that a spreadsheet user has no intuition for.
  • Development activity has slowed relative to the broader category, so evaluate current maintenance before making it load bearing for internal operations.

Seldon

  • Seldon Core v2 is under the Business Source Licence rather than Apache 2.0, so production use requires a commercial agreement, and a team that evaluated it believing it was open source discovers the licence is the blocker exactly when the project is ready to ship.
  • Core v1 remains Apache 2.0 but is in maintenance, so taking the free route means running software that receives no new development while the architecture it belongs to moves on without it.
  • Version 2 is a different system rather than a newer release, with different custom resources, a scheduler component and a Kafka-based pipeline model, so migrating from v1 is a re-implementation of every deployment manifest rather than an upgrade.
  • Kafka is a dependency for v2 pipelines, so an organisation that does not already operate it takes on a distributed log with its own storage, retention, rebalancing and failure modes purely in order to serve models.
  • Everything assumes Kubernetes fluency and the failure modes are Kubernetes failure modes, custom resource version mismatches, an operator that will not reconcile, admission webhooks and resource limits terminating an inference pod mid-request, so it needs a platform engineer rather than a data scientist.

Pricing, plan by plan

Rowy

Free
  • Open source self hostedFree
    • No licence fee
    • Deploys into your own Google Cloud project
    • You pay Google Cloud for Firestore reads, writes and storage

Seldon

Free
  • Seldon CoreFree
    • Open source
    • Kubernetes deployment
    • Model serving
  • Seldon DeployFree
    • Enterprise features
    • GUI
    • Monitoring

Which should you pick?

Choose Rowy if

  • You need firestore backed grid.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want browser authored cloud functions.
Rowy review

Choose Seldon if

  • You need kubernetes custom resources.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want inference graphs.
Seldon review

Questions people ask

Is Rowy or Seldon better?
Neither clearly leads. Rowy starts at Free and Seldon at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Rowy or Seldon?
Rowy starts at Free and Seldon at Free.
Does Rowy or Seldon run on more platforms?
Rowy runs on Web. Seldon runs on Linux.
Can I use Rowy for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Rowy best used for?
Rowy is most often used for a firebase application that needs an internal admin interface without building one, operations staff correcting production records in firestore without developer involvement, attaching a small transformation or notification function to a field change without a full deployment pipeline, a content team populating documents that a mobile application reads directly from firestore. Of those, a firebase application that needs an internal admin interface without building one and operations staff correcting production records in firestore without developer involvement are not what Seldon is typically brought in for.
What can Rowy do that Seldon cannot?
Rowy covers Firestore backed grid, Browser authored cloud functions, Typed columns, Runs in your Google Cloud project. Seldon covers Kubernetes custom resources, Inference graphs, Traffic strategies, Open Inference Protocol.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Rowy: Where is my data stored?

In your own Firestore instance inside your own Google Cloud project. Rowy does not hold a copy.

Seldon: Is Seldon open source?

Partly, and this is the thing to check before you build on it. Core v1 is Apache 2.0 but in maintenance. Core v2 was moved to the Business Source Licence in 2024, which allows evaluation but not unlicensed production use. Verify the current licence of each component you intend to run, including MLServer and the Alibi libraries.

Rowy: What does it cost to run?

No licence fee. You pay Google Cloud for Firestore reads, writes, storage and function invocations, and an open grid on a big collection reads a lot.

Seldon: What is the difference between v1 and v2?

Architecture, not just version number. v2 introduces a scheduler, a different set of custom resources and Kafka-backed pipelines. Manifests, mental model and operations all change, so treat a move as a project.

Rowy: Can it do joins across collections?

Not really. Firestore does not support joins, and no interface layer can add them.

Seldon: Do I need Kubernetes?

Yes. It is a Kubernetes-native system and there is no meaningful deployment without a cluster and someone competent to run it.

Rowy: Is there a row limit?

Not from Rowy. The limits that bite are Firestore document size and per document write throughput.

Seldon: What is MLServer?

Seldon's Python inference server implementing the Open Inference Protocol, usable inside Seldon deployments or on its own. Check its current licence alongside Core's, since the company has moved projects onto the Business Source Licence.

Rowy: Is it suitable if I am not on Firebase?

No. It is specifically a Firestore interface.

Seldon: Do I have to run Kafka?

For v2 pipelines, yes. If you only need single models served, that dependency is a large amount of infrastructure for the benefit, and a simpler serving layer may be the better answer.

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