Administrate
Better knownA Rails admin dashboard framework you own and override
No ratings yet# Gemfile
gem "administrate"Administrate vs Trestle
Both replace Retool and Forest Admin. Administrate is the better-known of the two (5,800 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 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 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.
| Administrate | 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) | 5800 | 2000 |
| Gem (differs) | administrate | trestle |
| Mounts at | /admin | /admin |
| Member rating | — | — |
What each one gets off your invoice
Both replace
Only Administrate
Nothing unique here.
Only Trestle
Nothing unique here.
Questions
- What is the difference between Administrate and Trestle?
- Both replace Retool and Forest Admin. Administrate is the better-known of the two (5,800 stars), while Trestle covers a narrower slice of the same job.
- Can I mount both Administrate 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 Administrate and Trestle replace the same SaaS product?
- Both are listed as replacements for Retool and Forest Admin.