Softr has been a great tool for me, however, I have hit a point where I need to scale my product and the limited capabilities of Softr have left me with the unfortunate choice to move elsewhere.
I have tried to export my users from Softr, however the .CSV file that is generated only presents me with names and emails. How is it possible to also collect each user’s passwords so that I can export them from Softr and import them on a new membership website?
I can’t seem to be able to find the ability to do this and if it’s not possible, it begs the question of why anyone would use Softr to build on if it’s locking them into a platform without the possibility of scaling.
Hi @ShriekinDreamer and welcome to the community, even if you’re headed elsewhere!
A feature to export passwords in cleartext would be a really big security violation. There should not be any way for admins to see a password in cleartext after a user has set it. So it’s not fair to blame Softr for following security best practices.
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but unfortunately what this means is that your users are all going to have to select new passwords. The only way you could have avoided this is by starting out with a third-party SSO solution connected to Softr, so that your new system could authenticate against that too.
However, I don’t speak for Softr, and it’s possible that if you ask their support folks to make a user export that contains cleartext passwords, they might be willing to. Worth a try?
@dcoletta I really hope that the only answer from Softr regarding this question would be “it’s not possible.” Passwords should be hashed so that no one, whether Softr or not, could export them.
Whilst I agree that it wouldn’t be wise for Softr to hand this information out, I do think it is quite poor that there’s no way to leave the Softr platform.
Individuals that use Softr at the start may need to scale their business once they’ve had success and being locked into a platform isn’t great for anyone. I was hoping that Softr would partner with other membership sites such as Memberpass, Memberstack or Outseta for an integration that would freely allow the easy transfer of users.
Lock-in sucks. And most commercial software (as opposed to FOSS) doesn’t tend to prioritize the customer’s need to leave when they have outgrown the product, and the export features that would support that need. This tendency is understandable from the vantage point of making money but maybe even more so when you remember that product managers and developers are also human: who wants to build features that you hope your customers will never use?
I think a more fair way to look at Softr from the “lock-in” point of view is that, given that its purpose in life is to let non-developers make great websites, Softr is pretty much all over the map: in some ways it’s great, in others not so much…
Here are the questions I would ask of a platform and how I think Softr would answer:
What support is there for building features that Softr doesn’t come with out of the box? Answer: custom code, integrations with special purpose services such as analytics and cookie management, plus integrations with Zapier and Make for more complex workflows. Grade: B now, and will be an A once Softr has a block marketplace for third-party developers to create and monetize blocks.
How do I migrate my data to another platform? Answer: because data lives in Airtable and/or Google Sheets, it’s a simple matter of using export functions in those products. Grade: B now, and will be an A as soon as Softr has support for a FOSS SQL implementation such as Postgresql.
How do I migrate my users to another platform? Answer: if you think you will need to do this, make sure you start with a third-party SSO solution rather than Softr’s native user support. Grade: D now, could be a C if there were support for SSO in all subscription plans, could be a B if in addition to that it were possible to automatically migrate an existing native user list to an external SSO solution without users having to create new passwrods, could be an A if Softr included long term IdP support of its native user base in all its plans.
How do I migrate my site design to another platform? Answer: Grade: F. I’m not aware of a standard format that’s higher level than HTML/CSS/JS, so to get a passing grade there would need to be an export function that allows me to copy a directory tree of HTML, CSS, and JS files so I could host my site anywhere I want. Alternatively a way to export to some common higher-end platforms would work.
How do I build functionality that needs to be on the server? Answer: right now the only way I can think of to do this is to run a reverse proxy somewhere that incorporates logic to send some URIs to Softr and others to other servers. Grade: F. A passing grade would require the ability to specify a URI within my site that proxies to another server.
With all this in mind, we’re back to the underlying question of who is the core target market of Softr? I think Softr hasn’t yet reached clarity about whether it’s for making a general-purpose public site that can grow and evolve from a simple experiment to a complex ecosystem, or whether it’s for making quick one-off internal tools inside of medium- to large enterprises, or whether it’s for making demo public websites that are never meant to last. My guess is that Softr will end up where the money is, and that’s enterprise.
@ShriekinDreamer believe me it’s for a good reason you can not export passwords. The system which will allow this to happen is compromised from day one. At Softr we have Passwordless SMS/Email/Gmail based auth perhaps that’s the better move in case one wants to move away or when picking a new system try not to offer passwords at all
@ShriekinDreamer It would be a huge red flag if Softr even had the ability to export passwords. Under no circumstance should passwords ever be available as plain text - period.
Congrats on your user progress Howdy! You may have already contacted Softr, but it appears they will add more users to a Business Plan, perhaps as a one off. According to Softr’s pricing page and chat rep, they have you set up a meeting with Miriam, the CEO, to discuss.
and of course its encrypted one way…