Tool profile
Grist: cost, fit and limits
Grist is a relational spreadsheet and no-code database made by Grist Labs that keeps spreadsheet formulas, adds linked tables and per-row access rules, and includes an AI Assistant that chats with your data and can edit records and formulas.
What to know first
Grist prices by user and by record count per document: Free allows 5,000 records, Pro is $8 per user per month billed annually with 100,000 records, and Business is $24 with 150,000 and a five-user minimum. A community edition is free to self-host. The AI Assistant can create and modify records and formulas, and credit allowances rise with each plan.
Grist at a glance
| Maker | Grist Labs, Not stated on the vendor pages |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Entry price | $0 (Pro $8 per user per month billed annually) |
| API access | Yes |
| Category | Best AI No-Code Database Tools in 2026, rank 4 of 13 |
| Website | getgrist.com |
Who Grist is best for
Spreadsheet users who want formulas to stay
Grist keeps spreadsheet-style formulas on top of linked tables, so analysts do not have to learn a new expression language to model their data.
Teams sharing sensitive tables
Access rules control who sees what down to each row and column, which suits HR, finance or client lists that live in one shared document.
Groups that want a self-hosted option
The community edition is free to self-host, and Enterprise adds a dedicated server, custom domain and branding for larger organizations.
Grist plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Unlimited documents, up to 5,000 records per document, 30-day snapshot history and 100 AI Assistant credits, granted one time. |
| Pro | $10 per user per month monthly, $8 annually | Up to 100,000 records per document, 3-year snapshot history, AI Assistant credits starting at 100 a month and higher MCP limits. |
| Business | $30 per user per month monthly, $24 annually, minimum 5 users | Up to 150,000 records per document, 5-year snapshot history, AI credits starting at 2,000 a month, Automations and priority email support. |
| Enterprise | Contact us | Dedicated server, custom SSO, custom domain, custom branding, audit log streaming and multiple team sites. |
Checked November 2026.
What Grist does
- AI Assistant
- The AI Assistant chats with your data and can create and modify records and formulas. A separate AI Spreadsheet Generator builds a sheet from a prompt, and credit allowances differ by plan.
- Row and column access rules
- Rules decide who sees which rows and columns, so one document can serve several teams without copies. This is the feature most often cited when Grist is compared with plain spreadsheets.
- Summaries and charts
- Rows can be summarized into charts or pivot tables, and a card layout turns rows into data cards with attached images and files, which suits catalogs and contact lists.
- Snapshot history
- Automatic backups keep snapshots for 30 days on Free, three years on Pro and five years on Business, which lets a team roll back a document after a bad import.
- API, webhooks and widgets
- The homepage names a REST API, webhooks and custom widgets. Forms and surveys can be shared with a single click for collecting data from people without accounts.
How Grist handles your data
The privacy page says information may be stored, processed and transmitted in the United States and other locations around the world, and it names no specific data centers. It does not state a retention period, whether customer content trains AI models, or any certification. The pricing page lists snapshot history lengths per plan, which serves as the visible backup policy. Self-hosting the community edition moves storage and retention entirely to your own infrastructure, which is the route for teams with fixed residency rules.
Where Grist falls short in practice
- Records are capped per document. Free stops at 5,000 records, Pro at 100,000 and Business at 150,000, each counted per document. Very large datasets have to be split or moved elsewhere.
- AI credits on Free do not renew. The Free plan grants 100 AI Assistant credits one time. Regular AI users need Pro, which starts at 100 a month, or Business at 2,000.
- Little company information. The pages we read give no headquarters, no certification and no hosting region, so a security review depends on questions to the vendor or on self-hosting.
Alternatives to Grist
Grist: common questions
Can Grist hold more than 100,000 records?
Business allows up to 150,000 records per document, and Enterprise terms are by contact. Records are counted per document, so a larger dataset can be split across documents, though that complicates formulas that span them. Test with your real data before committing.
Is there a free self-hosted version of Grist?
Yes. The pricing page lists a community edition that is free to self-host. You then run updates, backups and security yourself, and the pages we read do not compare its features with the hosted plans, so check which of them you need.
What can the AI Assistant do?
The AI Assistant chats with your data and can create and modify records and formulas. The Free plan gives 100 credits one time, Pro starts at 100 a month and Business at 2,000. We did not run it, so verify the formulas it writes against known results.
Why is there a minimum on Business?
The Business plan lists a minimum of five users, at $30 per user per month billed monthly or $24 annually. Pro has no stated minimum. A team of three that needs Automations or five-year snapshots would pay for five seats.
Does Grist use a REST API?
The homepage names a REST API, webhooks and custom widgets. We did not open the API documentation, so confirm rate limits and authentication options if you plan to feed Grist from scripts, and ask whether the API is available on every plan.