In a landscape dominated by closed, complex and often costly tools, Motor Admin stands out as an open source alternative for those who need a fully customizable, secure, and user-friendly admin panel without building an interface from scratch.
Available on GitHub under the AGPL v3 license, this project —built with Ruby on Rails— enables developers, startups, and product teams to create, read, update, and delete records from their databases through a web UI in just a few clicks.
A no-code solution to work with your data in seconds
Motor Admin allows you to deploy a complete admin panel in under a minute using Docker, Heroku, Digital Ocean, Railway, or a docker-compose file. It can be run locally or in the cloud, and its modular design supports multiple databases.
Key features include:
- Customizable CRUD for any table or view
- Dynamic form builder
- Advanced SQL editor with visualization tools
- Dashboards combining multiple reports
- Smart search and custom filters
- User roles and permissions management
- Email and Slack alerts for data changes or reports
For enterprise needs, Motor Admin offers features such as multi-factor authentication, SAML SSO, and custom UI styling, available under a commercial license.
Built for startups, technical teams, and growing businesses
Motor Admin is not aiming to compete with major business intelligence tools. Instead, its mission is to simplify data operations and internal workflows, making it a valuable tool for:
- Product teams validating ideas without constant engineering support
- Founders monitoring metrics without daily SQL queries
- Support teams editing data safely without direct DB access
In critical operations, the custom actions feature stands out, allowing users to trigger workflows such as sending emails, calling APIs, or automating logic with a single click from the admin panel.
Fast setup and full control
One of Motor Admin’s key strengths is its ease of deployment. With a single terminal command:
docker run -it -p 3000:3000 -v `pwd`:/app motoradmin/motoradmin:latest
you can launch a working Motor Admin instance connected to your local database. There’s also official support for deployment on Heroku, Railway, and Digital Ocean, and it’s easily adaptable to various environments thanks to its clean architecture.
Users can configure roles, sync settings, define access policies, and track every operation via the built-in audit log.
A growing community and active development
Motor Admin has over 180 commits on its official repository, with active development and community contributions. In May 2024, documentation was updated to standardize the use of motor.yml configuration files.
While not as widely known as tools like Retool or Forest Admin, its open source philosophy, ease of integration, and full customization capabilities make it an attractive option for teams that value privacy, code control, and cost-efficiency.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What license does Motor Admin use?
Motor Admin is released under the AGPL v3 license, meaning it is free to use, but modified versions distributed publicly must include the source code.
Can I connect multiple databases to Motor Admin?
Yes. Motor Admin supports multiple database connections, allowing you to manage them all from a single dashboard.
Can I customize the UI?
Yes. The enterprise version supports custom styling. Since it’s open source, you can also modify the frontend and backend freely.
Does it require advanced technical knowledge to deploy?
Not necessarily. It can be installed with Docker in under a minute. There are ready-to-use templates for Railway, Heroku, and Digital Ocean.
