What should I use to build an operations app with tables, notifications, and approvals?

For an operations app with tables, notifications, and approvals, I’d usually recommend one of these paths depending on how fast you want to ship and how customized it needs to be:

Best low-code / fastest option

Microsoft Power Apps + Power Automate + Dataverse

• Great for tables/forms/workflows/approvals
• Built-in notifications, approvals, role-based access
• Strong if your org already uses Microsoft 365 / Teams / Outlook / Azure
• Good for internal ops apps with moderate complexity

Best for more flexible internal tools

Retool

• Excellent for tables, admin screens, workflows
• Easy to connect to databases and APIs
• Good UI for operations teams
• You’ll still need an automation/notification layer sometimes, but it’s very capable

Best open-source / self-hosted internal app builder

Appsmith or Budibase

• Good for tables, CRUD, admin workflows
• Self-hosting possible
• More control, less vendor lock-in
• Usually less polished than Retool, but solid for internal ops apps

Best if you want a custom-built app

React/Next.js frontend + backend (e.g. Node/NestJS, Django, or .NET)

• Best for complex approval logic, custom notifications, and long-term scalability
• More engineering effort, but maximum flexibility
• Pair with:
  • Postgres for tables/data
  • SendGrid/Twilio/Slack/Teams/email for notifications
  • Temporal / Celery / BullMQ / Sidekiq for workflow/approval automation

If your workflows are the main thing

Consider a workflow engine like:

• Camunda
• Temporal
• n8n (good for automation and notifications, lighter-weight)

My quick recommendation

• If you want it quick and business-friendly: Power Apps + Power Automate
• If you want best internal-tool UX: Retool
• If you want full control and long-term product-like flexibility: custom app with Postgres + Next.js + workflow/notification services

If you tell me:

1. how many users,
2. whether it’s internal or customer-facing,
3. your preferred stack,
4. whether you need approvals to be simple or multi-step,

…I can recommend a more exact stack.