Superblocks
Dev tools
internal tools builder
SHOW HN2022
193points
94comments
#297of 2,570 in 2022
Top 12%of 2022 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
18 positive, 28 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 13 critical, out of 61 comments about the project. Thread score +0.10.
Idea: 10 for, 4 againstDesign: 3 for, 4 againstExecution: 2 for, 1 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Saves developers hours building internal tools
From 3 comments
Gamechanging. Built an internal admin tool with Superblocks in just a few minutes - definitely saved me hours of time and let me focus on building my core product. Congrats on…
daniellanger on HNAwesome. Looks like a great way to save redundant dev hours creating internal tools
guymorita on HNAs someone who used to have to hack internal tools, love that superblocks is making this easier!
taleesita on HN
Early customers report it works well for internal tools
From 3 comments
Congrats on the launch Brad and Ran and team! We've been an early customer of Superblocks for a long time and have been thoroughly impressed with the team and product. We…
henrythe9th on HNWe are another of Superblocks' early customers, and we've found it really useful for creating internal tools quickly. We still prefer to write some of our more heavyweight tools…
a24white on HN[Disclaimer: my company is using Superblocks and have been paying for it for about a year] Been reading the comments and I think there are a bunch of questions about why…
Nimsical on HN
Developer-focused extensibility with Python and JS
From 2 comments
[Disclaimer: my company is using Superblocks and have been paying for it for about a year] Been reading the comments and I think there are a bunch of questions about why…
Nimsical on HNWe are another of Superblocks' early customers, and we've found it really useful for creating internal tools quickly. We still prefer to write some of our more heavyweight tools…
a24white on HN
Objections
Open source concerns and lock-in risk for a young company
From 4 comments
Looks good but I don't think I would try any tool unless it is open source as a developer.
lookes on HNCool product, nice features, too important to rely on such a young company. Sorry to be that guy, but I would never rely the business core on a company like that. That's why I…
snird on HNWhat’s the lock-in? As in - when we’ve built a UI/app is it locked into a subscription? What happens if you go out of business or we stop subscribing?
edf13 on HNInteresting. This is kind of like Camunda without the BPMN baggage and a full blown IDE that integrates all the frontend/UI aspects with the backend workflow stuff. With Camunda,…
felideon on HN
Not Turing complete; custom logic eventually requires code outside the tool
From 2 comments
The problem with all these no-code/low-code tools is that they are not Turing complete. Wherever you need to do something custom, you have to write code.
PhilipDaineko on HNAs a developer, the other concerns that I always want to be addressed around RPA / UI based tools are (1) how do I solve my problem when it outgrows the bounds of the product,…
verdverm on HN
Developers may prefer their own IDE and normal tools over a new UI
From 2 comments
As a developer, the other concerns that I always want to be addressed around RPA / UI based tools are (1) how do I solve my problem when it outgrows the bounds of the product,…
verdverm on HNI have used airplane for scheduled jobs, I like their configuration/definition file driven development flow. I am not a fan of writting code in browser.
hzeng0615 on HN
Form-based step editing is tedious for testing and debugging
From 1 comment
Looks like it has tons of potential, but from watching your demo, developing steps using a bunch of form fields is going to be very tedious, especially when you're trying to…
turtlebits on HN
Requests
More templates and recipes to start from
From 1 comment
Super cool. It's likely in the works but it would be cool to have more recipes / mini templates to start with on the application builder. E.g. a list of most active users or…
phoenixbox on HN
Import projects from own codebase or GitHub repo
From 1 comment
I think the python functioning is super useful for my application on superblock. but it only provides basic functionalities. are you guys going to make it more powerful like…
yhfy2006 on HN
Support for HIPAA compliance
From 2 comments
This could be really useful in healthtech, is it HIPAA compliant by any chance?
Seich on HNWe aren't yet HIPAA compliant (yet), we recently got SOC2 compliance working with a compliance vendor to do more certifications. One thing is that with our on-prem agent your…
bradmenezes on HN
Questions
Is it open source?
From 2 comments
Is this open source? Btw your demo is really slow on my phone.
wizwit999 on HNLooks good but I don't think I would try any tool unless it is open source as a developer.
lookes on HN
How does it compare to Retool?
From 2 comments
How does this compare to Retool (https://retool.com)? We use Retool at my company and like it; this seems like it is similar, but targets non-developers and is less mature (e.g.…
antonyl on HNSuper interesting. Is the idea that this is like Retool, but a little more dummy'd down (in a good way) and has cron/workflow capabilities?
mbesto on HN
What happens to apps if the company shuts down?
From 2 comments
What’s the lock-in? As in - when we’ve built a UI/app is it locked into a subscription? What happens if you go out of business or we stop subscribing?
edf13 on HNInteresting. This is kind of like Camunda without the BPMN baggage and a full blown IDE that integrates all the frontend/UI aspects with the backend workflow stuff. With Camunda,…
felideon on HN
Alternatives named
Retool
From 2 comments
How does this compare to Retool (https://retool.com)? We use Retool at my company and like it; this seems like it is similar, but targets non-developers and is less mature (e.g.…
antonyl on HN[Disclaimer: my company is using Superblocks and have been paying for it for about a year] Been reading the comments and I think there are a bunch of questions about why…
Nimsical on HN
Appsmith
From 2 comments
Congrats on the announcement Superblocks team. I am the cofounder of Budibase - an open source alternative to Superblocks. For us, as developers, it was critical that this type…
foxbee on HNI am a co-founder of a competing OSS product called Appsmith. I discovered Superblocks early this year and my first reaction was that the UI builder looks similar to Appsmith.…
arey_abhishek on HN
Budibase
From 1 comment
Congrats on the announcement Superblocks team. I am the cofounder of Budibase - an open source alternative to Superblocks. For us, as developers, it was critical that this type…
foxbee on HN
Tooljet
From 1 comment
Cool product, nice features, too important to rely on such a young company. Sorry to be that guy, but I would never rely the business core on a company like that. That's why I…
snird on HN
Django Admin
From 1 comment
There are some very good features of Django Admin we can learn from like their onboarding - the major reason some users have replaced Django Admin with Superblocks is that…
bradmenezes on HN