Best offer on record: Cloud Free plan (permanent $0 tier). 5 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Live check of “Community Edition (free self-hosted, Apache 2.0)”:Confirmed
Appsmith's Community Edition is still a free, self-hosted, open-source edition: the official pricing page lists a "Community" plan at $0 described as "our open-source low code application platform, available for free," and Appsmith's subscription terms (appsmith.com/terms-and-conditions, §2.1.1) state the Community Edition is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (github.com/appsmithorg/appsmith/blob/release/LICENSE). Self-hosted Community Edition carries no license fee and no user cap; only the separate free cloud tier is limited to 5 users.
Live check of “Business Edition 15-day free trial (all new signups, cloud or self-hosted)”:Confirmed
Appsmith's official pricing page states: "All new signups receive a 15-day free trial of Appsmith Business, and there is no credit card required to start," after which the account can activate Business or drop to the Free tier. This matches the claim exactly — 15 days, Business edition, all new signups, no credit card — and Appsmith's docs separately confirm the 15-day Business trial on Appsmith Cloud signups, while the pricing page's trial CTA covers self-hosted instances, so both deployment types are eligible as of 2026-10-22.
Cloud Free plan (permanent $0 tier) high confidence
$0 on Appsmith Cloud, listed as 'Free' on the official pricing page. Limits per the official page: up to 5 users for cloud; 5 workspaces; Git versioning with 3 repos; 3 standard access roles; Google SSO (the comparison table also lists 'Google and GitHub OAuth', see sunset_notes); public apps only (table row 'Embed public apps'; private-app embedding is Enterprise); community support on Discord; 'Powered by Appsmith' branding stays on; backup/restore only when updating to a higher Appsmith version. Apps are listed as Unlimited in the comparison table. Not included on Free: Workflows, reusable packages, custom roles, audit logs, CI/CD, custom domains, SAML/OIDC, SCIM, managed hosting.
Eligibility
Anyone who opens a cloud account. No student, .edu, startup or funding check on any page read. No region limit stated.
How to claim
Sign up at appsmith.com with an organization name (becomes orgname.appsmith.com). No payment step is described for the Free plan.
Expiry
None stated. The homepage says the core platform is 'free to use forever'.
Gotchas
The pricing page defines a user as any member added to a workspace, so viewers count toward the 5-user cap, not just builders. Going past 5 users means moving to Business at $15/user/month. The '10 apps' limit in the brief is not on Appsmith's official pricing (table says Apps: Unlimited); that figure matches ToolJet's free cloud plan (2 builders, 50 end users, 10 apps). The 'public apps only' restriction appears as the 'Public apps' bullet and 'Embed public apps' row; the page does not explicitly say login-protected apps are blocked on Free.
Community Edition (free self-hosted, Apache 2.0) high confidence
Free open-source edition you run yourself. Official pricing page: 'Our open-source low code application platform, available for free.' Homepage: Community Edition is 'fully maintained, community supported' and the core platform is 'free to use forever'. License: Apache 2.0 (Terms section 2.1.1 and the GitHub repo). Install routes in the repo README: Docker (recommended), Kubernetes, AWS AMI. No user or workspace cap is stated for Community; the 5-user limit is labelled 'for cloud'. Community is not a column in the comparison table, so whether Business-only features (workflows, custom roles, audit logs, CI/CD) are available on Community is not stated.
Eligibility
Anyone. No account verification, student or startup check on the pages read. Runs on your own machine, private server or cloud VM.
How to claim
1) Pick an install route from the GitHub README (Docker recommended, Kubernetes or AWS AMI). 2) Follow the installation guide at docs.appsmith.com. 3) Only if you need Business features on your own server, use the self-hosted 15-day trial (see the trial finding) or buy a license.
Expiry
None stated for Community; the homepage says the core platform is free to use forever.
Gotchas
You carry the hosting costs (servers, storage, bandwidth), upgrades, backups and security patching; Appsmith publishes no estimate. Third-party site aitoolsatlas.ai says Community has 'unlimited users and apps'; this is not on Appsmith's own pages, so treat it as unverified. Business-only features are not documented as included in Community.
Business Edition 15-day free trial (all new signups, cloud or self-hosted) high confidence
Official pricing page: 'All new signups receive a 15-day free trial of Appsmith Business, and there is no credit card required to start.' Docs intro: 'Try the Business Edition free for 15 days, then continue with Community Edition or upgrade to a paid plan.' Self-hosted route: a 'Start free trial (self-hosted)' button; self-hosted signups receive a license key with setup instructions. This is 15 days of Business features, not a credit pool; no trial credits were found on Appsmith's pages.
Eligibility
'All new signups'. No student, startup or .edu requirement stated. No region limit stated.
How to claim
Cloud: sign up at appsmith.com with an organization name and the trial starts. Self-hosted: click 'Start free trial (self-hosted)', receive the license key, follow the setup instructions and run the instance with that key.
Expiry
15 days from signup. No renewal or extension stated. At the end you can activate Business or keep using the Free tier.
Gotchas
Activating Business bills monthly by credit card you provide at activation (per the pricing page). The pages do not say what happens to Business-only features, or to accounts above the Free 5-user cap, when the trial ends, so check before inviting users. The no-card wording comes from the pricing page; the docs page is silent on it, so confirm at signup.
Appsmith Startup Program: $30,000 in credits valid 12 months high confidence
$30,000 worth of Appsmith credits, valid for 12 months once accepted, plus all Business plan features and access to Appsmith developer advocates. FAQ (summarised fetch): no restriction on usage hours or number of apps. Perks from the FAQ (medium confidence, summarised fetch): a 30% discount on upgrading to Enterprise as a program member; an extra 2 months free for each verified referral, requested by email to startups@appsmith.com. Credits are a platform credit, not cash; the page does not say how they are drawn down.
Eligibility
All four apply: (1) you plan to use Appsmith for your own startup; (2) you have raised less than $10M in funding; (3) you were incorporated less than 2 years ago; (4) you are looking to host Appsmith on your own infrastructure. Existing Community users can enrol if they meet the same criteria. Not stated: region or country limits, a credit card requirement, a cap on accepted startups, or a program end date.
How to claim
1) Check the four criteria on appsmith.com/startup-program. 2) Click 'Join now' and fill in the linked Google Form. 3) Appsmith's team schedules a call after you apply. 4) Questions go to startups@appsmith.com. Acceptance timing is not stated.
Expiry
Credits valid 12 months once accepted. Program end date and acceptance start date are not stated.
Gotchas
Hosting on your own infrastructure is a stated condition, so a cloud-only startup may not qualify; ask startups@appsmith.com. The $10M and 2-year limits are checkable. Arithmetic only, not program terms: at the $15/user/month Business list price, $30,000 equals about 2,000 user-months (about 167 users for 12 months). Third-party aggregators (sourcey.com, claimstartupgrants.com) list the same $30K offer; their eligibility text is secondary, so rely on the official page.
Business Cloud 30-day free promo (limited time, June 2025) low confidence
From the June 2, 2025 Forge launch-week post, Day 5: 'For a limited time, we're offering 30 days of Business Cloud for free to new subscribers. Email discount@appsmith.com to claim your free offer and start building.' This is a 30-day trial of hosted Business, not a student or startup program.
Eligibility
'New subscribers' (not defined on the page). Not restricted to students or startups.
How to claim
Email discount@appsmith.com and ask for the 30-day Business Cloud offer.
Expiry
Unknown. The post says 'limited time' with no end date. Could not confirm the offer is still running in October 2026.
Gotchas
Probably lapsed since the June 2025 post; confirm by email before planning around it. Not a student or startup offer.
Changes and gaps as of 2026-10-22. (1) Jan 2025 pricing overhaul (announced in Launch Week, Jan 12, 2025): moved from usage-based pricing (tracker cites $0.40/hour) to Business at $15/user/month; Free capped at 5 cloud users (previously unlimited) and 5 workspaces (new quota); Business capped at 99 users (previously unlimited); Enterprise $2,500/month for 100 users. Sources: https://www.appsmith.com/blog/appsmith-launch-week-1 and https://pricingsaas.com/companies/appsmith/diffs/2025Q1. (2) GitHub SSO: the tracker says it was removed from Free in 2025, but the official page shows both 'Google SSO' (bullet) and 'Google and GitHub OAuth' (table). Verify before relying on GitHub login on Free. (3) The brief's '10 apps' Free limit is not on Appsmith's official pricing; it matches ToolJet's free cloud plan. (4) Third-party comparison pages dated Aug to Oct 2026 (Softwr, 30 Aug 2026; Taskade, Sep 2026; Jetadmin, 26 Sep 2026; Awesomic, 8 Oct 2026) show the same Free (5 cloud users, 5 workspaces, 3 Git repos) and Business ($15/user/month) terms, so the plan terms look unchanged through October 2026 (medium confidence, secondary sources). (5) No education, student, teacher or academic license found, so no education finding is listed. Checked: the pricing page; appsmith.com/industry/education (only 'Start building for free' and sales@appsmith.com); the docs intro; the homepage; and the GitHub Student Developer Pack page (Appsmith not found there; the fetch may not have shown every offer). Institutions are routed to sales@appsmith.com. (6) Startup program: no end date or acceptance timeline is stated; aggregator record dates (Sept to Oct 2026) are not program start dates. (7) The Business Cloud 30-day promo is from June 2025, time-limited, and its current status is unconfirmed. (8) Search gap: the web search budget ran out during this run, so I could not search for other 2026 announcements, other startup or education programs, or the current status of the Business Cloud promo. Official pages were fetched directly instead. To run those searches, raise CLAUDE_CODE_MAX_WEB_SEARCHES_PER_SESSION and rerun.