Stacker Astra is sunsetting: Why and how to migrate to Softr

If you’re a Stacker Astra user, you’ve probably already heard the news: Astra will be retired by the end of 2025.

Platform sunsets are never easy, especially when you've built your business around a tool you trust. The last thing you need is disruption to your operations while searching for a new solution.

Here’s the good news: migrating doesn’t have to be difficult. We’ve been welcoming teams who aren’t just searching for a replacement, but an upgrade, and we’re here to make the migration as easy as possible.

If you're evaluating new platforms for your business, here's why Softr stands out as the ideal alternative to Stacker Astra, and everything you need to know about making the transition.

Why teams are moving from Stacker to Softr

If you loved how easy Stacker made it to turn your spreadsheets into applications, but still found yourself running into limitations, here are some of the main reasons Stacker customers are choosing Softr.

Softr is now a full-stack no-code platform designed for teams who want to build flexible custom business apps that can actually run their operations and power entire workflows and business processes.

In addition to supporting 17+ data sources, we recently launched Softr Databases, a powerful and ready-to-go alternative to Airtable and other similar platforms, with an easy import functionality from Airtable to Softr.

We've also just opened beta access to Softr Workflows: our comprehensive alternative to tools like Zapier, Make, and n8n. It comes with everything you'd expect: loops, conditions, branches, schedulers, and all the triggers and actions you need, like webhooks, emails, and custom code.

1. A familiar home for your business data, with an upgrade

If you built your Stacker app on a native database, you'll find migrating to our native Softr Databases fast and familiar. You'll also be able to continue managing it all in one place—just like you're used to, but with more power under the hood.

Of course, if your app is built on top of Airtable, you can easily reconnect it in Softr and get an immediate upgrade: our 2-way sync is real-time, so your data is always instantly up to date, no more delays. As your business needs evolve, you can also connect to 16+ other sources like Google Sheets, HubSpot, Notion, SQL, or any REST API.

2. Get ahead with AI that empowers builders and end users

We're dedicated to building in AI where it can drive the most impact to you and your team's productivity. Here's what makes ours different: it's practical, easy to implement, and actually saves your team time.

Your users can get instant answers from your live data with Ask AI, a built-in chat assistant that takes one click to turn on. There's no complex setup, it's secure by default and automatically respects your user permissions, so you don't have to worry about users getting access to data they shouldn't.

For builders, you can create AI agents (or AI-enabled fields) in our native Softr databases, that cut hours of manual data entry and cleaning into seconds. For instance, auto-filling missing record details, extracting info from files, creating content, or auto-tagging records by category.

What sets Softr apart is the level of control. You can set specific filters and conditions for when they run, so you're not wasting credits on tasks that don't need automation.

3. Granular and flexible permissions system

Softr’s permission system is more powerful and automated than Stacker’s.

You can create custom user groups and set granular permissions to control exactly what those users can see and edit, from entire pages to specific records. With conditional filters, it’s also very easy to build secure portals where each client logs in and can only see their own projects and data.

For enterprise-grade security, you can also set app-level permissions with global data restrictions, that allow you to define a rule once, like “clients only view their own records”, and it applies throughout the entire application, so you don’t need to manually configure each page.

4. Custom workflows and automations

With Workflows now in beta, you can build automations with loops, conditions, branches, schedulers, and all the triggers and actions you need, like webhooks, emails, and custom code. Or, you can easily integrate with 3rd-party tools like Zapier, Make, and n8n.

With our built-in action buttons, you can add advanced business logic. Send an invite email the moment a user joins, automatically mention teammates in a comment, or call an API to process external invoices—all right inside your app.

5. Professional and tailor-made business apps

Your apps should look and feel exactly the way you want. With Softr, you get full control over design and layout without needing a developer.

• 100+ building blocks: Lists, Kanban, Charts, Forms, and more to build any interface.
• 80+ templates: Launch Client Portals, CRMs, Dashboards, and more in minutes.
• Granular permissions: Control exactly what each user can see and do, from hiding a button to restricting access to specific data.

“We thought we'd need developers, a product manager, and UX designers before launching a new project management system. With Softr, we built it ourselves in weeks.”

Natalie Neumann, COO, Designity

Softr vs. Stacker: a quick comparison

How to migrate from Stacker to Softr

We want your move from Stacker to feel simple and stress-free.

To help you get started, we’re offering Stacker users a free migration consultation—our team will review your setup, scope the project, and help you map out the smoothest transition to Softr.

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Prefer to get started on your own? You can rebuild and even improve your Stacker app in just a few simple steps:

1. Connect your data: Connect to your existing Airtable, Google Sheets, or SQL database, or import everything into Softr’s built-in Database.
2. Build your interface: Use our drag-and-drop builder to recreate your app’s pages. Start with a template if you’d like a head start.
3. Set up users and permissions: Mirror your current user roles with Softr’s flexible user groups and permission settings.
4. Publish your app: Add your domain and branding, then launch your upgraded business app.

With Softr’s intuitive builder, most teams finish their migration in just 1–2 weeks (often faster!) depending on the size of the project.