ActiveAdmin
Better knownThe long-standing Rails admin framework, mounted at /admin
No ratings yet# Gemfile
gem "activeadmin"ActiveAdmin vs Trestle
Both replace Retool and Forest Admin. ActiveAdmin is the better-known of the two (9,600 stars), while Trestle covers a narrower slice of the same job.
A modern, responsive admin framework that stays out of your models
No ratings yet# Gemfile
gem "trestle"What ActiveAdmin does
ActiveAdmin has been the default answer to "we need an admin" in Rails for over a decade, and it is still maintained. A DSL for registering resources Filters, scopes, batch actions and CSV export Custom pages and dashboard sections Authorization adapters for CanCan and Pundit The DSL is powerful and opinionated. Deviating from it costs more than it does in Administrate, where you are editing ordinary generated views.
Read the full ActiveAdmin listing →
Why you might pick it
- It has substantially more adoption — 9,600 stars against 2,000.
- Its licence is MIT, which may matter more than the feature list.
What Trestle does
Trestle builds an admin from small per-resource definition files, without asking you to change your models. A resource DSL for tables, forms, scopes and search Bootstrap-based responsive UI Custom admin pages when a resource is not the right shape Hooks for whatever authentication you already run Mounts at /admin . Trestle is LGPL-3.0, not MIT. That is usually fine for a mounted engine, but check it against your own policy before you commit.
Read the full Trestle listing →
Why you might pick it
- Its licence is LGPL-3.0, which may matter more than the feature list.
Side by side
Rows where the two differ are marked.
| ActiveAdmin | Trestle | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Admin and internal tools | Admin and internal tools |
| Replaces | Forest Admin, Retool | Forest Admin, Retool |
| License (differs) | MIT | LGPL-3.0 |
| GitHub stars (differs) | 9600 | 2000 |
| Gem (differs) | activeadmin | trestle |
| Mounts at | /admin | /admin |
| Member rating | — | — |
What each one gets off your invoice
Both replace
Only ActiveAdmin
Nothing unique here.
Only Trestle
Nothing unique here.
Questions
- What is the difference between ActiveAdmin and Trestle?
- Both replace Retool and Forest Admin. ActiveAdmin is the better-known of the two (9,600 stars), while Trestle covers a narrower slice of the same job.
- Can I mount both ActiveAdmin and Trestle in the same Rails app?
- Technically yes — engines mount at different paths — but they overlap, so running both usually means two sets of tables doing one job. Pick one.
- Do ActiveAdmin and Trestle replace the same SaaS product?
- Both are listed as replacements for Retool and Forest Admin.