Open Source Microsoft Access Alternatives

Mathesar sits on top of an existing PostgreSQL database and presents it as something much closer to a spreadsheet. Colleagues who will never write SQL can read and change real data without waiting for a developer to build them a custom admin panel first.

There is no extra abstraction in between. Mathesar works directly with Postgres schemas, tables, primary keys, foreign keys, constraints and data types, so a relationship in the interface is a foreign key in the database, and access control uses existing Postgres roles and privileges instead of a parallel permission system. Anything else in the Postgres ecosystem keeps working alongside it.

The interface handles both data entry and light analysis.

• Table editing: view, create, update and delete records in a spreadsheet-like grid.
• Filter, sort and group: slice a table several ways without leaving the page.
• Data Explorer: build queries and joins through the UI, with no knowledge of SQL or joins assumed.
• Forms: share a link that collects submissions from anyone and saves them automatically as new records.
• Schema work: create and update schemas and tables, move columns between tables in two clicks, and use custom types for emails and URLs validated at the database level.

Installation is a Docker deployment against a new or existing Postgres database, and because it is self-hosted the data never leaves your servers. The project is in public beta, which its maintainers call stable and feature-rich enough for production, and it is developed by the Mathesar Foundation, a nonprofit committed to keeping it open source.