@thijs have you considered using PAT vs OAuth on Airtable connection?
How much faster is PAT vs OAuth BTW?
around 8x
1 Like
Boy I am swicthing to PAT as I read āaroundā¦8ā
1 Like
Hi @Jjenglert and everyone else,
With the best intent is this the last thing I will say on this topic (but for the last time as Iām on my way out anyway):
From a client-perspective, Softr has a loooong way to go. Just this thread alone shows Softrās lack of understanding (so I gave up my hope that this will ever change).
So this is what I hope Softr will realize some day:
- In this forum the lack of performance of Softr website is flagged by multiple clients. This thread is one of the few related to āperformanceā which is nearing 1k views - as you keep ignoring this issue/not responding with anything helpful (other than just yestday coming out of the blue that PAT is 8x faster than OAth - how could we know this, is it really neccessary to keep pressing you for input like this?!).
- In this thread I must have asked a thousand times for Softr to take the lead in providing a best practice to help me understand how to improve the terrible performance of my Softr website - or to just simply be honest about the limits of your products.
- Instead of being proactive, Softr leans back - and waits for its clients (me) to figure things out ourselves. Only when I share results of what I believe may be helpful, there is a message of celebration from Softr - again ignoring my request. And when I point you back to my request, you answer it only half way - so it seems that providing a comprehensive answer is not a priority.
- and so it keeps on going.
For anyone whoās interested: Iām working on a website with Weweb and Xano - what I believe is the best no-code solution for responsive webapps at this moment. Weweb is very fast, responsive on any device and allows for extremely interactive and great looking websites. Xano is a proper no-code SQL-database. Both have great video tutorials (on Youtube and own academy). Also, both tools are backed by support from the State Change community.
The time I spent learning and building (now probably 2 weeks and the website is half way) is already compensated with the huge time-saver of website-broad settings for styling (which is also a pain point on my Softr website, next to the performance issue).
I wish everyone the best of luck with improving their business!
Hi @thijs
Thank you so much for bringing your concerns to our attention. Iām really sorry to hear about your frustration and apologize that we havenāt been able to provide the help you were looking for. Weāre constantly working on improving performanceāitās a daily priority for us. I want to acknowledge that a lot of performance issues come from the database side. While youāre currently using Airtable, which might not be the fastest, we recognize this and are actively working to include more robust databases among our data sources, with Xano being one of them in the coming months.
We really appreciate your feedback as it is crucial for our growth and improvement. Iām grateful you shared your thoughts and experiences, and despite the challenges, I hope we can continue to support you in the future. Wishing you the best with your projects, and hopefully, our paths will cross again soon!
-JJ
3 Likes
Thanks @artur. What are the trade offs with PAT Vs Oauth?
@Ben for now PAT has performance upside, other than that no diff
Was wondering @artur because your docs indicate a limit to what PATs can and cannot access and there may be issues with them. Also, I havenāt heard much here from builders about their PAT experience:
- PATs can limit what Softr can access, giving more security-conscious Softr applications a bit more peace of mind. That said, we recommend enabling all scopes for a PAT so that Softr can function to its fullest. If you run into issues using a PAT, you may need to create a new one with the proper scopes enabled.
Airtable ā Softr Help Docs.
@Ben with PAT selecting the scopes will be on you, hence you need to provide whatās suggested in the screen on Softr Studio.
Hi all!! Updating this thread as PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server and MariaDB data sources are now live! Xano and Supabase to follow suit soon. 
2 Likes
The problem with these @Jjenglert, is that they require more advanced skills than your average No-code builder. This is why Softr is not getting much of a positive response, at least here in the community, about all of the new datasources added.
I understand @Ben . At the end of the day, we can only go as fast as the datasource provides. Airtable has openly admitted that their API is slow as itās not meant to be used in the fashion that weāre using it, which has encouraged us to find faster data sources for you all.
Otherwise, weāll continue to do what we can on our side to improve the performance for all data sources across Softr.
I believe that Softr Academy should urgently create learning materials not only for implementing SQL but also to teach us how to approach these tools from a no-code perspective. While there are numerous resources available to learn SQL, finding materials tailored to users transitioning from tools like Airtable, SmartSuite, or Monday can be challenging.
Itās possible that traditional programmers or coders might not transition to no-code tools. However, no-code users will eventually need to adopt more robust technologies like SQL, just as Softr (a no-code tool) is beginning to support more reliable technologies.
There is a noticeable gap for users wanting to transition from user-friendly databases to powerful, traditional databases. As a result, we often hire coders or programmers to complete tasks or find creative ways to work within existing limitations.
I see this as a huge oportunity for softr to support the thousands of users bearing with the need to swicth from their current data sources.
2 Likes
My impression from the brief Xano launch call was that it was complicated and expensive compared to Airtable. If there are suggestions of how to overcome the tradeoffs between these faster less user-centric SQL based datasources and Airtable, I think No-coders would appreciate it here @artur, @Jjenglert, and community.
Understood. Thanks for your suggestion, Ben!
For a faster alternative to Airtable, which no-code/low-code data source would be next in line, without needing to learn the complexities of SQL and similar?
So far, Supabase has been working well for me, partly because it includes an AI assistant that generates code based on my commands. I also use ChatGPT to help create specific code for functions, triggers, and data formatting. I just wish there were more Supabase users here so we could collaborate and troubleshoot together, as it still has a few glitches compared to Airtable.
2 Likes
I like Xano, but it has a higher learning curve.
1 Like