# NocoDB vs SeaTable

> NocoDB scores 75.7 (BB) on agent readiness against SeaTable's 66.3 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do sheets records. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nocodb-vs-seatable
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nocodb-vs-seatable.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nocodb-vs-seatable.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nocodb-vs-seatable.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

NocoDB scores 75.7 (BB) on agent readiness against SeaTable's 66.3 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do sheets records.

- NocoDB: grade BB, 75.7/100, rank #37 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nocodb.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nocodb.json
- SeaTable: grade B, 66.3/100, rank #241 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/seatable.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/seatable.json

## Which one, for what

### NocoDB (BB)

Good for: Teams that want Airtable-style typed records with the option to self-host, and an agent that reads, filters and writes records or builds schema through MCP with a narrow allowlist.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 97 against 69
- Security & auth, 71 against 59
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 76

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: 5 requests a second per user on every plan, shared by all of that user's tokens, with a 30-second block after a 429

### SeaTable (B)

Good for: Teams that want typed tables hosted in Germany or on their own server, with an agent reading and writing rows through a per-base token or the official MCP server.

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: Monthly API call quotas by plan, 3,000 for a whole Free team, 10,000 per user on Plus and 50,000 per user on Enterprise


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | NocoDB | SeaTable | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 97 | 69 | NocoDB +28 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 81 | NocoDB +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 74 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 71 | 59 | NocoDB +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 76 | NocoDB +11 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 75 | NocoDB +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **75.7 · BB** | **66.3 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | NocoDB | SeaTable |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | NocoDB Inc | SeaTable GmbH |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://app.nocodb.com` | `https://cloud.seatable.io` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Sustainable Use License 1.0 since January 2026 (source-available, not OSI-approved; AGPL-3.0 before). NocoDB Cloud is a proprietary service under NocoDB's Terms of Service | Proprietary cloud service under the Terms of Service for SeaTable Cloud. The MCP server is MIT. SeaTable Server Enterprise Edition is licensed under an EULA |
| Tools exposed | 199 | 21 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.seatable/seatable` |
| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-04 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-10-14 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-03-20 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 65k stars, 6.3k npm/wk | 103 npm/wk, 1.7k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**NocoDB.** API tokens and MCP connections are limited by permission category and by base, and an MCP connection registers only the tools it is allowed. The v3 REST API has a public OpenAPI file. Requests are capped at 5 a second per user, REST writes take 10 records a call, and the Free plan stops at 1,000 API calls a month.

**SeaTable.** API tokens are limited to one base and to read-only or read-write, and the official MCP server marks every tool as read-only or destructive. The Free plan allows 3,000 API calls a month in total, and base calls are capped at 200 a minute. The status page showed the base API degraded for 0.77 per cent of 30 days.

## Before you call either

### NocoDB

1. Create a fine-grained token limited to the bases and categories the task needs. Send it as `xc-token` or as a Bearer token
2. Stay under 5 requests a second across all tokens of one user. After a 429, honour `Retry-After` or wait 30 seconds
3. Send REST writes in batches of 10 records. The MCP record tools take up to 100, counted as one API call per 10 records
4. Write date filters with a sub-operator, such as `(due_date,eq,exactDate,2026-06-01)`, and put no space after `~and` or `~or`
5. Use `/records/upsert` with a merge key so a repeated write updates the record instead of adding a duplicate

### SeaTable

1. Create an API token for the one base with read-only permission unless writes are needed, then exchange it at `/api/v2.1/dtable/app-access-token/` for a Base-Token
2. Renew the Base-Token before it expires after 3 days, and send it as `Authorization: Bearer` to `/api-gateway/api/v2/dtables/{base_uuid}/`
3. Read `x-ratelimit-remaining` and `x-ratelimit-reset` on every base call. SeaTable Cloud allows 200 base calls a minute and answers 429 with no body
4. Batch writes to save the monthly quota. One call appends or updates up to 1,000 rows over REST and 100 over MCP
5. Over MCP, prefer `update_rows` and `delete_rows` to `query_sql`, which can run UPDATE and DELETE, and call `get_schema` before writing

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, NocoDB or SeaTable?

NocoDB scores 75.7 (BB) on agent readiness against SeaTable's 66.3 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

### Do NocoDB and SeaTable need an API key?

NocoDB takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. SeaTable needs an API key.

### Can an agent call NocoDB and SeaTable without installing anything?

Yes. NocoDB has a hosted endpoint at https://app.nocodb.com and SeaTable at https://cloud.seatable.io.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nocodb-vs-seatable.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nocodb-vs-seatable.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "nocodb", "b": "seatable"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare nocodb seatable`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nocodb.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/seatable.json

## Other comparisons with NocoDB or SeaTable

- [Coda (Superhuman Docs) vs NocoDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coda-vs-nocodb.md)
- [Coda (Superhuman Docs) vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coda-vs-seatable.md)
- [Google Sheets API vs NocoDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-sheets-api-vs-nocodb.md)
- [Google Sheets API vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-sheets-api-vs-seatable.md)
- [Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) vs NocoDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-nocodb.md)
- [Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-seatable.md)
- [Airtable vs NocoDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtable-vs-nocodb.md)
- [Airtable vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtable-vs-seatable.md)
- [Baserow vs NocoDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baserow-vs-nocodb.md)
- [Baserow vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baserow-vs-seatable.md)
- [Grist vs NocoDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grist-vs-nocodb.md)
- [Grist vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grist-vs-seatable.md)
- [NocoDB vs Smartsheet API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nocodb-vs-smartsheet.md)
- [NocoDB vs Teable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nocodb-vs-teable.md)
- [SeaTable vs Smartsheet API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/seatable-vs-smartsheet.md)
- [SeaTable vs Teable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/seatable-vs-teable.md)