For a small municipality testing a permitting workflow, the “best” free development review tools are usually the ones that help you track applications, route reviews, collect comments, and keep documents organized without needing a full enterprise permitting system.

Here are the best free options by use case:

1. Airtable or Google Sheets + Forms

Best for: very small pilots, simple intake and review tracking
Why it works:

• Easy to set up quickly
• Good for tracking permit status, reviewer assignments, deadlines
• Can use forms for applicant intake
• Flexible enough to model a workflow

Pros

• Free tier available
• Very low setup effort
• Easy for nontechnical staff

Cons

• Not a true permitting system
• Limited workflow automation on free plans
• Can get messy as volume grows

2. Trello

Best for: visual workflow testing
Why it works:

• Kanban-style boards are great for seeing permit stages
• Simple “To Review / In Review / Comments Sent / Approved” workflow
• Good for testing internal coordination

Pros

• Free tier is generous for small teams
• Easy to use
• Great for lightweight process piloting

Cons

• Not ideal for structured data
• Limited reporting and search compared with purpose-built tools

3. Notion

Best for: combining SOPs, checklists, and workflow tracking
Why it works:

• Can create databases for permits, reviewers, and status
• Helpful for documenting review procedures alongside the workflow
• Good for internal knowledge management

Pros

• Flexible and easy to prototype
• Free tier available for small teams
• Good for organizing templates and reference docs

Cons

• Permissions and automation are limited on free plans
• Can become unstructured if not carefully designed

4. Smartsheet alternatives: ClickUp or Asana

Best for: task routing and team coordination
Why it works:

• Good if you want to assign review tasks to departments
• Useful for due dates, dependencies, and comments

Pros

• Free plans available
• Better task management than spreadsheets
• Easier collaboration for review teams

Cons

• Not specialized for permitting
• Free plans often have limits on automation and advanced reporting

5. Open-source forms and workflow tools

If your municipality has access to even light IT support, these can be stronger long-term free options:

a. NocoDB

• Spreadsheet-like database on top of SQL
• Good for custom permit tracking
• Open source

b. Baserow

• Similar to Airtable, but open source
• Good for structured permit intake and review tables

c. Budibase

• Useful for building internal apps and forms
• Good for routing tasks and creating simple review portals

d. Appsmith

• Better if you need a custom internal dashboard
• More technical, but flexible

e. Camunda Modeler / Flowable / Node-RED

• Better for modeling workflow logic
• More technical and best if you want to simulate routing rules

6. Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 trial/free tools

Best for: agencies already using these ecosystems
Why it works:

• Shared drives for documents
• Forms for intake
• Sheets/Excel for tracking
• Approval workflows via email and task lists

Pros

• Familiar to staff
• Easy document management
• Quick to pilot

Cons

• Not purpose-built
• Manual coordination can become burdensome

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Best practical stack for a small municipality

If you want the simplest effective free pilot, I’d suggest:

• Google Forms or Microsoft Forms for intake
• Airtable, Baserow, or Google Sheets for tracking
• Trello or ClickUp for internal review routing
• Shared Drive/SharePoint for document storage
• A checklist/template document for each permit type

This lets you test:

• Intake completeness
• Department routing
• Review turnaround times
• Comment consolidation
• Applicant notifications

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My top recommendations

If I had to narrow it down:

Easiest to start:

• Trello
• Google Forms + Sheets

Best free “database-like” option:

• Baserow
• NocoDB

Best for internal workflow prototyping:

• ClickUp
• Notion

Best if you have some technical support:

• Budibase
• Appsmith
• Camunda Modeler

If you want, I can also give you:

1. a recommended tool stack by municipality size,
2. a comparison table, or
3. a sample permitting workflow setup using free tools.