GridBuddy
One name, two products. The original GridBuddy is a Visualforce package inside your org; the one Validity sells today, GridBuddy Connect, is a hosted web application that reaches into Salesforce, and other systems, from outside it.
What it does well
- Reach across systems. One grid can span several Salesforce orgs, or Salesforce alongside Dynamics 365, Zendesk, SAP and OData, with cross-references between unrelated objects and cross-object filters.
- Depth built up since 2010. Tabbed workspaces, ready-made grids, user-defined grids per person, summary formulas, grouping with subtotals, mass create and update, and conditional formatting that reaches child records.
- Users who liked it. A 4.88 lifetime average from 247 reviews on the original AppExchange listing, where admins across nine years describe it as the thing that made Salesforce usable for their teams.
- Upgrades you do not run. The hosted platform ships a release roughly every two months, most recently 7.33.8 on 5 October 2026, with no package upgrade or sandbox test cycle on your side.
What it is
GridBuddy is two products under one name. The original GridBuddy, listed on the AppExchange by AppBuddy since 1 November 2010, is a managed package of Visualforce grids inside your org. It is still installable, and its latest version, 9.13.0, is dated 29 June 2026. Validity acquired AppBuddy in June 2019 and now sells GridBuddy Connect: a hosted grid that launched as GridBuddy Cloud in July 2020 and took its current name in February 2022, with connectors for Dynamics 365, SAP, OData and Zendesk.
As of 7 October 2026 the original listing was private, and its Get It Now button routed to a Validity representative rather than a self-service install. The GridBuddy Connect listing would not render: it returned a page titled “This listing isn’t available yet.” with the error code SECURITY_REVIEW_REQUIRED. No announcement of either change was found, and Validity’s help center carries release notes through October 2026.
How it is built
GridBuddy Connect’s grid is a web application served from gridbuddyconnect.com. Inside Salesforce, a managed package supplies Visualforce pages and a Canvas handler that frame the vendor’s page into Lightning. Each grid user signs in over OAuth the first time they open a grid from each connection, and GridBuddy Connect then issues the queries and saves against the Salesforce API. Record data rests in Salesforce but passes through Validity’s service on its way to the screen. Until the June 2026 release, an admin could instead store one Salesforce username, password and security token with the vendor.
Your configuration lives in Validity’s cloud, not your org. Grids, tabbed workspaces, actions, extensions, groups and grid users are stored in the GridBuddy Connect account and move between environments as exported files. Admins can write their own JavaScript and CSS extensions; Validity’s migration guide warns that extensions and actions built for the original package will not work in Connect without modification, and that moving to Connect means replacing every GridBuddy component on every page layout and tab by hand.
What it publishes about its limits
No row ceiling, for either product. GridBuddy Connect pages through results with page-number links and a records-per-page menu, and its documentation warns that moving between pages in Edit mode does not save your changes. The original package’s published error messages are Salesforce view-state, heap and script-statement limits, and Validity’s advice is to lower a Max Record Limit until the page loads. The one number on record is a 2022 claim of “50x more records than industry alternatives”, with no baseline.
The Salesforce connector supports Enterprise, Unlimited and Developer editions, in English; the original package also supported Professional Edition and nine languages. No accessibility statement or keyboard documentation was found for GridBuddy. The newest review on the original AppExchange listing is dated 27 June 2024, and the newest on G2 14 March 2024.
Price
GridBuddy Connect listed at $27.50 per user per month, with no minimum users, when its listing was last readable on 6 October 2026 — $330 per user per year. That listing priced the Salesforce connector alone at $2.75 per user per month and pointed to Validity’s website for the price of the required GridBuddy Connect Platform; that website no longer has a GridBuddy page. Other connectors are priced separately. Validity’s purchasing FAQ offers a 30-day trial for up to ten users.
The original GridBuddy package lists at $24 per user per month. Three reviewers between 2018 and 2021 reported a ten-user minimum, which the listing does not state. Both listings have advertised nonprofit discounts, without a percentage.
Common complaints
What we read: 50 of the 247 reviews on the original GridBuddy listing on AppExchange, and the 28 reviews of GridBuddy Connect on G2, read on 7 October 2026.
-
Downtime, and data that disagrees with Salesforce
GridBuddy Connect runs outside Salesforce and reads the org over an API. The two most recent detailed reviews on G2 report repeated downtime and records that disagree between Salesforce and the grid. These are reports about Connect, not about the original package that ran inside the org.
“random data mismatch issues between Salesforce and Gridbuddy Connect” — Salesforce administrator, G2, March 2024
Evidence 2 of the 28 G2 reviews, from 2023 and 2024.
-
Slow with large lists, and from far away
G2’s own summary of the reviews notes inconsistent performance with larger datasets. A reviewer in Australia rated it 1 out of 5 for latency alone, and another found that many parent-child relationships make the grid clunky.
“Product is too slow for use in Australia” — Solution consultant, G2, June 2022
Evidence 3 of the 10 G2 reviews read in full, and G2’s summary of all 28.
-
Connect does less than the original grid in places
An administrator who used both found the Connect grid took more room on the page, needed a separate link to change its filters, and saved too slowly to take notes in a meeting. Another could not filter by the second object in a hierarchy.
“clunky and takes up more space than the previous Grid Legacy” — Nonprofit administrator, G2, April 2022
Evidence 2 of the 10 G2 reviews read in full.
-
A ten-user minimum, on the original package
Reviewers in 2018, 2020 and 2021 turned GridBuddy down because of a ten-user minimum, including a nonprofit that needed three seats. The GridBuddy Connect listing states no minimum, so this applies to the original package.
“There is a 10 person min requirement” — AppExchange reviewer, August 2020
Evidence 4 AppExchange reviews and comments.
AppExchange reviews of GridBuddy · GridBuddy Connect Pricing tab
What reviewers and each vendor’s own documents say, with links; counts are of the reviews we read, not of customers, and quotes are cut short. Nothing was installed or tested. Rowhouse has no reviews yet: it has not shipped.
Choose GridBuddy when
- You edit data across more than one Salesforce org, or across Salesforce and Dynamics 365, Zendesk or SAP, in a single grid.
- You need a grid on an Experience Cloud site today.
- Your team has built GridBuddy JavaScript or CSS extensions and custom actions, and has the people to maintain them.
- GridBuddy is a small line in a multi-year Validity agreement, and unpicking it is not worth the effort.
Rowhouse vs GridBuddy Switching from GridBuddy
Checked 2026-10-07; due for a re-check by 2027-04-07. These are each vendor’s own published claims; nothing was installed or tested. Something wrong? Tell us and we will correct it.
GridBuddy: questions
How much does GridBuddy cost?
The GridBuddy Connect listing published a list price of $27.50 per user per month, with no minimum users, when it was last readable on 6 October 2026. The original GridBuddy package lists at $24 per user per month, read on 7 October 2026.
Is GridBuddy still available?
Validity still ships it: GridBuddy Connect release 7.33.8 is dated 5 October 2026. As of 7 October 2026 both of its AppExchange listings were private, and the GridBuddy Connect listing returned the error code SECURITY_REVIEW_REQUIRED instead of rendering; Validity has not said what that code means for buyers.
Does my data leave Salesforce with GridBuddy Connect?
It passes through Validity’s service. The grid is served from gridbuddyconnect.com and GridBuddy Connect issues the queries and saves against the Salesforce API; whether record data is cached there is not stated in Validity’s public documentation.
Where does GridBuddy Connect keep my grids?
In your GridBuddy Connect account on Validity’s platform, not in your Salesforce org. Grids, tabbed workspaces, actions, extensions, users and groups are stored there, and move between environments by file export and import rather than as Salesforce metadata.
Three things you can verify without asking us
Nobody should pay per seat to edit a thousand rows.
Compare it on your own data: install it beside the grid you have, and keep both until you are sure.