The first open-source, end-to-end encrypted Airtable alternative.
Linked tables, formulas, kanban boards and documents that sync in real time — on the Matrix protocol, with encryption your server cannot bypass. Every cell is encrypted on your device before it ever leaves. Your server stores ciphertext. So do we.
open source · federated · no telemetry — and this page runs zero JavaScript
What the server sees. What you see.
The left column is your project board exactly as it crosses the wire and sits at rest on the homeserver. The right column exists only on devices that hold the keys. Hover a row to decrypt it. Each pair below is one row of your project board: first as it crosses the wire and sits at rest on the homeserver, then as it appears on a device that holds the keys. Only your device can get from one to the other.
What that isn't: TideWork has had no third-party security audit. Continuously verified cryptography is not the same thing as an independent review, and we won't imply otherwise — CI proves the guarantees hold as the code changes; it cannot tell you the design was right to begin with. An external audit is what the hosted revenue is for, and we'll publish the report and the findings, including the unflattering ones.
One honest data model, all the way down.
Everything is a table
Rows, schema, even view configurations — one cell format, one merge
rule, one code path: io.tidework.cell.update, and
io.tidework.cell.batch when many cells change at once.
Kanban and documents are just projections of the same encrypted cells.
Conflict-free, offline-friendly
Last-write-wins cells on a hybrid logical clock converge across devices and collaborators — no locks, no merge dialogs, no lost edits after a reload.
Federated & sovereign
Use our hosted server, or point the app at any Matrix homeserver you trust — including your own. Collaborate across servers. Leave whenever you like; it's your data and your identity.
Who else can read your tables?
Plenty of tools are open source. Plenty are encrypted. The question that matters is narrower: when your data sits on a server, can the operator read it? Here is the honest answer for the nearest alternatives.
| Property | TideWork | Airtable | Anytype | CryptPad | Grist | Baserow | NocoDB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Server can read your data | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Where it syncs | Any Matrix homeserver | Their cloud only | Peer-to-peer, via their network | Any CryptPad instance | Their cloud, or self-hosted | Their cloud, or self-hosted | Their cloud, or self-hosted |
| Linked tables | Yes | Yes | Yes | Spreadsheets only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Formulas | Yes | Yes | No | In-sheet only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Proprietary | Source-available | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
“Can read your data” means the operator sees your contents — not whether the disks are encrypted, which nearly everyone does and which protects against a stolen drive rather than against the operator. Self-hosting makes you the operator: a real answer, and a different one from “nobody can.” Corrections welcome — tell us and we will fix this table.
Same code. Same encryption. Your choice of captain.
TideWork is open-core: the entire workspace — crypto included — is open source. Pay us to run the boring parts, or run them yourself.
Hosted
- Try free for 14 days — no card required
- Account on tidework.io — managed, backed up
- Unlimited encrypted workspaces & devices
- Federates with the whole Matrix network
- Cancel anytime — your keys stay yours
Self-hosted
- The same app, pointed at your homeserver
- Full data & identity sovereignty
- Apache-2.0 licensed, auditable
- Our production deploy is in
infra/— a worked example, not yet a parameterised, supported path