Administrate
Better knownA Rails admin dashboard framework you own and override
No ratings yet# Gemfile
gem "administrate"Administrate vs Madmin
Both replace Retool and Forest Admin. Administrate is the better-known of the two (5,800 stars), while Madmin covers a narrower slice of the same job.
Thin comparison — too few differences to compare. Kept readable, left out of search.
An admin interface generated from your models, mounted at /admin
No ratings yet# Gemfile
gem "madmin"What Administrate does
Administrate generates admin controllers and views that you then edit like any other Rails code. The generated code is yours. A dashboard class per model describing fields and their types Index, show, new and edit screens Search and filtering Every view overridable, because they are generated into your app Administrate generates code into your repository; Madmin keeps more of itself inside the gem. Pick generated-and-editable, or configured-and-compact.
Read the full Administrate listing →
Why you might pick it
- It has substantially more adoption — 5,800 stars against 1,300.
What Madmin does
Madmin generates an admin interface from your Active Record models, then gets out of the way when you want to change it. Generated index, show, new and edit screens per model Association handling, including nested resources Search and filtering Plain Rails views you can override file by file The installer adds mount Madmin::Engine, at: "/admin" to your routes. Hosted admin panels are faster to a first screen and arrive with row-level permissions and audit logs. Madmin gives you an admin that ships with your app, is reviewed in your pull…
Side by side
Rows where the two differ are marked.
| Administrate | Madmin | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Admin and internal tools | Admin and internal tools |
| Replaces | Forest Admin, Retool | Forest Admin, Retool |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars (differs) | 5800 | 1300 |
| Gem (differs) | administrate | madmin |
| Mounts at | /admin | /admin |
| Member rating | — | — |
What each one gets off your invoice
Both replace
Only Administrate
Nothing unique here.
Only Madmin
Nothing unique here.
Questions
- What is the difference between Administrate and Madmin?
- Both replace Retool and Forest Admin. Administrate is the better-known of the two (5,800 stars), while Madmin covers a narrower slice of the same job.
- Can I mount both Administrate and Madmin 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 Administrate and Madmin replace the same SaaS product?
- Both are listed as replacements for Retool and Forest Admin.