Stackby - Plus Exclusive

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SapphireWolf

Verified purchaser

Deals bought: 367Member since: Feb 2018
3 stars
3 stars
Jan 6, 2020

Powerful Database...

Stackby is a powerful database tool. Would I say it's worth replacing Google Sheets with this deal? Yes (only if you don't intend on going anywhere near the limits of this deal).
I do not really like the deal structure though. I wish there was less emphasis on number of users or storage limit and more on the stuff that matters like # of workspaces and stacks and rows since that translates into a very hard ceiling inside the platform I can't circumvent in some way. I can share my login or host storage on the cloud and link to it inside Stackby, that's a hassle but not a problem.

Pros:
- Some powerful features if you know how to properly use a database.

- The UI - it's pretty easy to look at due to its simplicity* (not to be confused with an absence of powerful features)

Cons:
- The UX - the curve is far too steep for probably most of the folks here on AppSumo (not trying to offend anyone, it's just not intuitive to capture a wide enough audience, you have to LOVE data to grind your teeth and get through the weeds with this)

- It's far too rigid - there are asinine hurdles you have to jump through to set up your data. Trying to get started in any other views that aren't "Grid" is impossible unless you have certain columns in place beforehand, for no reason whatsoever. I have to have a Correspondents column in my Grid, but clearly when I get to Kanban, it doesn't make a difference as they're shown as unassigned on the left. Stuff like this is really bothersome and the exact reason I hated Jumppl. RIGID SOFTWARE IS BAD SOFTWARE!!! You can't change the table's primary field easily after you've entered data, I should be able to drag and drop whatever I please to make it the primary field, don't force me to choose a field type and stick to it for the lifetime of that data. Also seemingly can't delete rows once you create them?

- With the limits that are imposed to you per stack, it's a shame that you can't link to other stacks inside one workspace...

- The integrations as of right now are meaningless to me, which is tragic - I hope Zapier will fix that. I wish there was the ability to connect directly to a service's API so I didn't have to wait or rely on Stackby to create what I need. If I can grab the code from somewhere, let me connect independently.

This should NOT be considered for project management (sorry). It's just too rigid to manage and so much of it is going to have to be done in views you might not be comfortable with or that force you to have X or Y qualifiers present in order to even access it. If you want something similar, check out Infinity (and no, I have zero affiliation with them) which is in this trinity of Airtable and Stackby when directly comparing products with a sort of similar interface, but allows FAR more flexibility, customization, and complete control - it's still young and missing things such as these APIs but considering none that live inside Stackby are helpful to me, I can't give it a point for that either.

Founder Team
Rachit_Stackby

Rachit_Stackby

May 9, 2024

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your review. Hope I can bring some clarity here:

Won't comment on the pros. On the cons

1. Please let me know any specific UX features that made you feel the way it did. We've spent immense amount of time on the UX, did various UX research experiments with different set of users and still keep making improvements as we move forward. I would say we add UX improvements every two days.

2. In Stackby, it all starts with a 'Grid'. We wanted to give an experience, that helps structure the unstructured workflows. It's not rigid in anyway. For example, on Kanban you can add new rows right inside any card panel, all you need is to structure Kanban with Single option column type and same goes with Calendar, where you need a date/time column type to show it there. Those seem very logical choices. If we had to make it rigid, we wouldn't have given a 'Form Layout' completely drag and drop to customize your way.

3. We can't link to other stacks because each stack could have different user permissions, it's possible engineering wise but doesn't make sense in terms of purpose. You can link multiple tables however in a single stack with Link and then do a Lookup or an Aggregate to make it even powerful. We've seen more than 300 companies using this feature, seamlessly in our platform.

4. We've native integrations to various popular business APIs for a reason that we wanted to build some really good use-cases, and not be a jack of all. Every API is different with its structure, authentication method etc., so without standardizing the UX within Stackby doesn't make it useful for the end user. We've 50+ pre-built API functions across 15+ Integrations. All of them pertaining to a use-case.

We give equal importance to flexibility and control and that's why spent more than 2 years building the tool that would really make a difference to people's lives. It's ok that some features are not working for you, but I would request if you can spend more time in exploring the details you it would definitely change your mind. Like with every platform, it evolves when we get feedback from users like you and our success is only when we are able to convince you with our efforts.

Thanks,
Rachit

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