Is anvil a hosted service ? Can I host my own apps, preferably by just dropping them into some folder and giving them a database ?
We think it's worth it - for example, it saves you building a new REST API each time you blow your nose - but the trade-off is that we can't just provide a "download as Flask app" button.
If you want to run server code on your own machine, though, check out the Uplink. It's a library you 'pip install', connect to your app, and then you can drive your code from the web. Here's an example driving a Raspberry Pi: https://anvil.works/blog/uplink
Yep! We have customers who have.
> Can I integrate JS components, like a sophisticated datagrid?
Yep! Reference docs: https://anvil.works/doc#js_interop
> Will I be able to query the DB with SQL as I wish?
Our built-in DB is shared, so you can't run SQL against it on a standard plan. Dedicated-plan customers can do that. Or just spin up another database and access it with the standard Python tools - example: https://anvil.works/blog/dashboard
> Does it use AJAX behind the scenes to speed up the responses?
The client/server RPC runs on websockets. More info: https://anvil.works/doc#runtime_details
Happy to answer more questions - check out our forums: https://anvil.works/forum