Tadabase AI vs Knack: the honest comparison.
Knack is a no-code online database with unlimited users. Tadabase AI builds the whole app from a prompt — real React you own, on a governed backend.
Describe the app you’d build in Knack — we’ll build it now.
Plain English is enough. You get a working app with a real database, logins and roles, free to start.
A no-code database you click together or an app from a prompt.
Knack has been a dependable no-code online database for years: tables, connections, forms and views, user roles, and unlimited users on every plan. It is priced per plan — $59 a month for Starter (20,000 records, 3 apps), $130 for Pro (50,000 records, unlimited apps) and from $300 for Corporate, with roughly two months off on annual billing and, for new customers, 66% off the first three months. An AI builder now sits on every plan, and an MCP server lets AI coding tools such as Claude, Lovable or Replit create tables, records and roles in Knack — the front end those tools generate is not built in Knack. HIPAA work runs on the separate Knack Health plans, with a signed BAA and an AWS GovCloud hosting option: HIPAA Forms from $159 a month for secure forms, HIPAA Starter from $499 a month for full apps.
Tadabase AI starts from a description, not a blank table. Describe what you need and the AI generates real React on Tadabase — a database with relationships, authentication, roles, row- and field-level security enforced on the backend, workflows, PDFs and file storage, hosted on your own domain and exportable to GitHub. App users are unlimited on every plan, plans run from $25 to $250 a month with 25,000 to 500,000 records per app, and HIPAA-eligible plans come with a BAA. Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT can also build in your Tadabase account over MCP.
Knack and Tadabase AI, side by side.
What each one gives you out of the box, capability by capability.
| Capability | Knack | 
Tadabase AI
|
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per plan, unlimited users | Per plan, unlimited app users |
| Entry price | $59/mo ($49 billed annually) | $25/mo ($21 billed annually) |
| Record limits | 20,000 (Starter) to 2.5M+ per plan | 25,000–500,000 per app |
| Apps | 3 on Starter, unlimited from Pro | 3–50 published apps, extra slots $5–$9 |
| File storage | 2–50 GB | 5–250 GB |
| Build style | Visual builder + AI builder chat | Conversational AI that writes React |
| Front end | Knack pages and views | Real React, exportable to GitHub |
| MCP for AI coding tools | Backend only: tables, records, roles | Build apps from Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT |
| AI for your end-users | AI builder is for app builders | Ask, Analyze, Agents |
| Row-level security | User roles and page access | Built in, to backend, field-level |
| Custom domain | From Pro (1), Corporate (3) | Every plan |
| Remove platform branding | From Pro | Every plan |
| SSO | Basic on Starter, Advanced SSO a paid add-on on Pro, included from Corporate | Business plan (Google, Microsoft, SAML) |
| HIPAA and BAA | Knack Health (forms from $159/mo, apps from $499/mo) or Enterprise | HIPAA-eligible plans with a BAA |
The part Knack can’t match.
Generating the screens is table stakes now. What you ship on top (real AI for your end-users, agents that act, and security that holds up) is where Tadabase AI is built differently.
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Your users ask. The app answers.
Front-end AI
End-users type a question in plain English — "show me overdue invoices this month" — and get a real answer as a table, chart, or number, pulled live from your data and scoped to exactly what that user is allowed to see.
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Insights, not just dashboards.
Front-end AI
Analyze reads the numbers your users already pulled and writes the takeaway — trends, outliers, what changed since last week — grounded in the real records, never made up.
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Agents that take action.
AI agents
Put an AI agent inside your app to qualify leads, triage tickets, or send follow-ups. It reads, plans, and acts through your workflows — and pauses for human approval before anything high-stakes. Every action is logged.
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Security as a default.
Security
Row-level security carried by JWT all the way to the backend, 2FA, SSO and SAML, full audit logs, and a pre-deploy security pass that catches committed secrets and missing auth before you publish.
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Ready for regulated work.
Compliance
HIPAA-eligible plans for healthcare, controls built to SOC 2 guidelines (not independently audited), encryption in transit and at rest, per-tenant container isolation, and a DPA on request — GDPR and CCPA aligned.
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A real backend, included.
Real backend
Database with relationships, authentication, visual workflows, PDF generation, file uploads, schedules, and webhooks ship with your first deploy — powered by Tadabase, already running real businesses for years. Nothing to wire up.
Quick answers.
Still curious? Email support@tadabase.io. A real person answers.
Can I move my Knack app to Tadabase AI?
Yes. Export each Knack table as CSV (Knack exports one table at a time), import it into Tadabase, and describe the app you want on top of it. Connections become relationships, user roles become roles with row-level security, and your forms and views become pages. Check the permissions with a test user before you invite anyone.
Is Knack's price going up?
Knack raised prices from November 4, 2025, applied at each subscription's first renewal on or after that date. Customers who moved to annual plans by October 27, 2025 kept the old price until their renewal in October 2026, per Knack's own pricing-change FAQ. In October 2026 Knack lists $59, $130 and from $300 a month ($49, $110 and from $250 billed annually), with 66% off the first three months for new customers.
Knack has an MCP server too. What is different?
Knack's MCP server lets AI coding tools such as Claude, Lovable, Base44 or Replit work on Knack's backend: tables, fields, relationships, records and roles. Knack's documentation lists front-end page building as not supported, so the app those tools generate lives outside Knack. Tadabase AI generates and hosts the whole app — database, security and the React front end — in one place.
Which one is HIPAA-eligible?
Both offer a BAA. Knack offers HIPAA on its Knack Health plans (HIPAA Forms from $159 a month for secure forms, HIPAA Starter from $499 a month for full apps, with an AWS GovCloud hosting option) and on Enterprise. Tadabase AI offers HIPAA-eligible plans with a BAA, PHI access logs, field masking synced to row-level security and per-app HIPAA controls. Controls are built to SOC 2 guidelines and are not independently audited.
Do both charge per user?
No. Both price per plan and neither charges for the people who log in to your app. The difference is how the app gets built and what you own: Knack's builder and pages, or an app Tadabase AI generates as React you can export to GitHub.
Bring your business into the world of AI.Launch a real app today.
Already using Knack, or about to? Describe what you would build there and Tadabase AI builds it on a real backend, hosts it and puts it on your domain.
- Free plan, no card
- Unlimited app users
- Live on your own domain