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Knack Review (2026)
Builds online database applications with forms, roles and reports, aimed at organisations replacing a shared spreadsheet with something that has permissions.
3.4 / 5Last verified: · Next scheduled check: The quick answer
Assessed for 2026Unfashionable, quietly dependable, and priced in a way nothing else here is. Knack has been building database applications for fifteen years and it shows in both directions: the data modelling and role handling are solid and it stayed up through every one of our tests at 4.2 on reliability, but the interfaces look like 2016 and the AI assistance is the weakest in this cohort at 2.8. The fact we previously inverted is the one most likely to decide the purchase. Every Knack tier lists "Unlimited Users / Roles", and the vendor titles its own pricing page "Knack Pricing | Unlimited Users Allows You to Scale Without Fees". Knack charges on records, storage and features, and never on seats, on every tier. In an index where per-seat pricing is the norm, that is the single most decision-relevant thing about it. Two more corrections: Ecommerce Payments is a first-party Pro-tier feature, so it is not as unsuited to anything a customer touches as we implied, and custom domains are tier gated at one on Pro and three on Corporate, with none on the entry tier, so "paid plans" was never a useful qualifier when every Knack plan is paid. There is still no free tier, only a trial.
- Best for
- Membership registers, applications and case management for organisations without engineers
- Not for
- Anything design-led, customer-facing, or expected to look current
- Price from
- USD 59 / month, billed monthlyStarter list price. A limited-time new-customer offer of USD 19 for the first three months was live in August 2026. Pro is USD 130, and Corporate is from USD 300 with the vendor's own footnote: Starting price, final cost determined by usage requirements.
- Free tier
- No
The ten axes
Every builder in the index is scored on the same ten axes with the same published weights. This is how Knack performed on our test briefs.
- Reliability16%
- 4.2
- Integrations16%
- 3.5
- SEO and GEO13%
- n/a, not applicable
- Design quality12%
- 2.9
- Agent performance10%
- 2.8
- Speed9%
- 3.4
- Value9%
- 3.0
- Scalability7%
- 3.6
- API and MCP access5%
- 3.6
- Code ownership3%
- 2.1
n/a means the axis does not apply to this tool. It builds internal software behind a login, a native store app or an API, so there are no public crawlable pages to test. The axis is left out of the overall rating and the remaining weights are renormalised, rather than the tool being scored down for something we did not test.
Every axis is scored from 0 to 5 stars. The percentage is that axis's published weight in the overall 3.4 rating.
The verdict
Unfashionable, quietly dependable, and priced in a way nothing else here is. Knack has been building database applications for fifteen years and it shows in both directions: the data modelling and role handling are solid and it stayed up through every one of our tests at 4.2 on reliability, but the interfaces look like 2016 and the AI assistance is the weakest in this cohort at 2.8. The fact we previously inverted is the one most likely to decide the purchase. Every Knack tier lists "Unlimited Users / Roles", and the vendor titles its own pricing page "Knack Pricing | Unlimited Users Allows You to Scale Without Fees". Knack charges on records, storage and features, and never on seats, on every tier. In an index where per-seat pricing is the norm, that is the single most decision-relevant thing about it. Two more corrections: Ecommerce Payments is a first-party Pro-tier feature, so it is not as unsuited to anything a customer touches as we implied, and custom domains are tier gated at one on Pro and three on Corporate, with none on the entry tier, so "paid plans" was never a useful qualifier when every Knack plan is paid. There is still no free tier, only a trial.
Builds online database applications with forms, roles and reports, aimed at organisations replacing a shared spreadsheet with something that has permissions.
The dissenting view
One panellist rated the design axis higher, arguing the theming options are better than the defaults suggest. The score reflects what a buyer gets without design work.
One member of the panel disagreed with the consensus. We publish the disagreement rather than average it away.
What it looks like
Pricing
No free tier, trial only. Starter lists at USD 59 a month, Pro at USD 130, and Corporate from USD 300 with the vendor noting that the final cost depends on usage.
| Plan | Price | Billing | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | USD 59 | monthly | Core app, records allowance, unlimited users and rolesA limited-time new-customer offer of USD 19 for the first three months was live in August 2026. |
| Pro | USD 130 | monthly | More records, ecommerce payments, one custom domain, unlimited users and roles |
| Corporate | USD 300 | monthly | Higher limits, priority support, more apps, three custom domainsFrom USD 300. The vendor's footnote: starting price, final cost determined by usage requirements. |
| Enterprise | On request | quote | Volume records, procurement, support terms |
We list the plans we could verify on the vendor's own pricing page. Where a plan exists but its price was not published in a form we could capture, the row says so rather than carrying a number we cannot source.
Feature by feature
The same eleven checks, run on every builder in the index.
| Capability | Status |
|---|---|
| Full-stack backend | Yes |
| Database included | Yes, own store |
| Auth included | Yes, with unlimited users and roles on every tier |
| Code export | No, data export only |
| GitHub sync | No |
| One-click deploy | Yes |
| Custom domain | One on Pro, three on Corporate, none on the entry tier |
| Mobile or native output | Responsive web only |
| Team collaboration | Yes, and unlimited users and roles are included on every tier |
| Public API or MCP server | Yes, REST API |
| Self-hosting the output | No |
What works / What does not
What works
- Unlimited users and roles on every tier. Knack charges on records, storage and features and never on seats, which is unique in this index
- Data modelling and role permissions are genuinely mature
- Stayed up through every brief we ran, scoring 4.2 on reliability
- Ecommerce Payments is a first-party feature on the Pro tier
What does not
- Interfaces look a decade out of date without significant theming work
- Custom domains are tier gated: one on Pro, three on Corporate, none on the entry tier
- Weakest AI assistance in the second cohort at 2.8
- No free tier, only a trial, and no code export
User reviews
Knack holds 10 star ratings and 2 written reviews. They are counted separately: every written review carries a rating, but most ratings arrive without one. Editor panel reviews are shown first and badged.
Community rating
- 5 ★50%
- 4 ★20%
- 3 ★10%
- 2 ★10%
- 1 ★10%
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- Editor panel
Unglamorous and it has never once fallen over
Laila Benali@lailabenali
Programme coordinator at a non-profit. Every tool I choose has to survive a grant audit.
Our volunteer register, applications and case notes have lived here for three years. It looks dated, my colleagues mention it monthly, and it has not lost a record or gone down. For an organisation where continuity matters more than appearance that trade is worth making. Wish there were a free tier for testing ideas.
- Pros
- Very stable. Roles and forms work properly out of the box.
- Cons
- Interface looks a decade old and no free tier to trial.
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- Editor panel
I could not make it look acceptable
Hannah Lindqvist@hannahlindqvist
Product designer. I judge a builder by what it does to my spacing.
Brought in to improve a client's member portal built on Knack. I spent two days in the theming options and could not get it past looking like a form from 2015. The underlying data structure was sound, so we kept it and put a different front end on top, which was more work than it should have been.
- Pros
- Solid data model underneath.
- Cons
- Theming cannot rescue the visual output.
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Frequently asked
- How does Knack charge?
- On records, storage and features, never on seats. Every tier lists unlimited users and roles, and the vendor titles its pricing page "Knack Pricing | Unlimited Users Allows You to Scale Without Fees". In a market that mostly bills per seat, that is the most decision-relevant fact about it.
- Does Knack have a free plan?
- No, only a trial. Paid plans list from USD 59 a month, which is worth knowing before you invest time in a build.
- Can Knack take payments?
- Yes. Ecommerce Payments is a first-party feature on the Pro tier.
- Is Knack good for customer-facing apps?
- Only if appearance does not matter: design scores 2.9, and the SEO and GEO axis is marked not applicable because Knack builds logged-in operational software rather than public crawlable pages. Custom domains are also gated, at one on Pro and three on Corporate.
Sources
Where these numbers come from
- Price
- Knack pricing page · 14 August 2026
- Axis scores
- Our own testing panel: six briefs, three runs each, eighteen runs per tool, scored against the published rubric · 20 August 2026
- Community rating
- Computed from the 10 star ratings held in our own database for this tool · 20 August 2026
Everything we read for this review
- Knack product site · 14 August 2026
- Knack pricing page · 14 August 2026