Airtable Reviews & Product Details
Airtable is a powerful visual project management platform that synergizes data, workflows, and execution teams on a unified dashboard. Streamlining work streams, the platform provides a synced and up-to-date information database that can be accessed by all stakeholders across different departments. Customization is at the heart of Airtable, allowing teams to create personalized apps and a tailored interface allowing easy access to relevant information and giving clear sightlines to the next steps. While customization is a key benefit, it also offers ready-to-use and pre-loaded industry-agnostic templates while extensive integrations and expandability make it scalable and agile.
| Capabilities |
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|---|---|
| Segment |
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| Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, Mobile Android, Mobile iPad, Mobile iPhone |
| Support | 24/7 (Live rep), Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support |
| Training | Documentation |
| Languages | English |
Workflow management is a critical part of any job. It’s what keeps a project moving, and a team motivated to see it through. But, how do you support effective workflow management?
You start with understanding better what tools, platforms, and software are out there that can support your team’s ability to effectively manage workflow and collaborate within their teams and beyond.
To that end, we’ve identified Airtable as a strong market leader in workflow management software. So, let’s dive into Airtable’s features, capabilities, and price points to help you better understand your options.
What Is Airtable?
Airtable is a workflow management application with highly customizable database management tools used predominantly for collaborative project management.
The focus on having accessible, easy-to-use software to help with project management is increasing, and Airtable is a top choice. It features a familiar spreadsheet interface, but unlike traditional spreadsheet software that only records data, Airtable can also help you organize, sync, and manage your data and customize exactly how you need it.
For example, let’s say you’re using Airtable to manage vendor management workflow for an event. This would entail designing the database to include fields for:
- Vendors’ contact details
- Links to their websites
- Inputting key information, such as lead times, product availabilities, and prices
- Uploading order confirmations
- Uploading invoices
- Important notes and comments about the vendor
The option to invite collaborators to this database is also critical so individual users can easily update data in real-time. Having all these features in a single platform means users can clearly follow the progression of a particular project and keep everyone in the team up-to-date on their tasks and next steps.
How Much is Airtable
Airtable’s interface is very flexible and is ideal for numerous industries. While it has been marketed to larger corporations, most users who have had hands-on experience with the platform say that it is just as useful for smaller businesses.
This is reflected in Airtable’s pricing, which follows a monthly subscription model. This subscription cost increases depending on the number of features and ‘seats’ you choose to purchase, making it highly scalable depending on your organization’s needs.
Airtable’s features are grouped into four levels, and the price per seat rises accordingly. A breakdown of each level can be found below:
Free
- Designed for very small teams or individuals
- Up to 5 editors and unlimited ‘read-only’ users
- 1200 records per base
- 2GB of attachments
Plus
$10 per seat – Billed annually
$12 per seat – Billed monthly
- For small to medium-sized organizations
- Eliminates information silos within a team by connecting applications
- More advanced collaboration features
- 5,000 records per base
- 5GB of attachments
Pro
$20 per seat – Billed annually
$24 per seat – Billed monthly
- For medium to large organizations who need to streamline and collaborate on top-priority data
- More advanced features
- 50,000 records per base
- 20 GB of attachments
Enterprise
- Price is customized to your organization’s needs
- Enterprise-wide admin panel
- For organizations who need a scalable product to keep up with workloads
- Unlimited workspaces per organization
- 250,000 records per base
- 1,000 GB of attachments
How Airtable Works
Airtable was built to be as customizable as possible, giving users the ability to display their data in a way that meets their specific needs—whether that means a simple presentation or a more complex one.
Getting started is simple.
You start with an empty Airtable, which is essentially your ‘base.’ From here, you just fill it with your data. You can either use a template and bring in data from another source or construct a database from scratch. Whatever the case, you can leverage Airtable’s features to tailor the platform to meet your needs. For example, you can use the Interface Design feature to visually present data in a way that makes the most sense to you and your team.
Familiarizing and understanding all of Airtable’s features and capabilities may require some effort, but the payoff is worth it. Taking the time to learn the platform will ensure users have full control over their data and workflow management.
Features
Access to Airtable’s numerous features will depend on your subscription and, subsequently, the scalability of your projects. However, all subscription options should include:
- Unlimited bases
- Sync integrations
- The ability to add attachments
- Revision and snapshot history reporting
- Field and editing permissions
- Extension add-ons (e.g., data visualization or reporting extensions)
Airtable also provides:
Customizable Views
With a click of a button, this feature gives users the flexibility to switch between different data views. Users can view project timelines via the Timeline View, and easily switch to managing team tasks on the collaborative Kanban View. Other viewing options are also available ensuring that you can customize your viewing experience so you can maximize the platform.
The Timeline View
The Kanban View
Automations
Airtable Automations lets users streamline their work processes and boost team efficiency by providing customization options for notifications and creating multi-step workflows. The feature is helpful in terms of tracking project timelines and helping eliminate manual, repetitive tasks. Additionally, it can also minimize the risk of user error.
Syncing
Airtable’s ability to synchronize data means users have a central repository of information that is updated in real-time across all users and departments. It’s a useful tool that promotes seamless collaboration and data integrations, allowing everyone to enjoy a comprehensive understanding of project status or workflows at the speed of need.
Reporting
To enhance your project’s reporting capabilities, Airtable’s powerful reporting tools and extensions let users create highly customized reports that visualize your data in a simple understandable way. You can choose from a variety of charts, graphs, and tables to ensure that information is presented in a way that is easy to understand.
Integrations
Airtable offers robust integration that lets you connect the platform to a wide range of software; ensuring that all the project management tools that you use operate seamlessly. Airtable’s integrations mean multiple applications can be streamlined to automatically sync data, share information between different platforms, and automate tasks so workflows can be further improved.
Templates
Airtable’s templates can be used to effectively organize every aspect of your project’s workflows. Their pre-designed databases can be used as a great starting point for your projects. Conveniently, Airtable templates are also organized into several categories and industries, which helps you save time and effort from creating a new one from scratch. As always, these pre-populated grids are highly customizable.
Airtable Pros and Cons
Pros
- Facilitates easy collaboration between teams with company-wide visibility of plans, calendars, and workflows.
- Both Google and non-Google users can take advantage of all the features and integrations to support workflow management and collaboration
- Highly customizable bases and effective reporting features
Cons
- The platform’s user interface can be complicated for beginners
- Requires a significant learning curve
Airtable Alternatives
A great way to decide whether Airtable is the right software for you is to compare it to other options in the workflow management space.
Eliminate the hassle of comparing options by choosing from your top choices below. With the ability to review features and relevant information in one place, you can utilize our comprehensive product reviews to gather the necessary data you need to make well-informed decisions.
ClickUp
An all-in-one project management application, Clickup is designed to be used across any industry. From solo users to larger organizations, Clickup focuses on task management to help teams streamline their workflow.
ClickUp offers numerous workflow features and data views, including a built-in Table View to ensure your team always has access to a condensed, actionable snapshot of your projects.
Notion
Designed for smaller teams or individuals, Notion is an all-in-one SaaS note-taking app and database for streamlined project management. Some features include:
- A web clipper so you can easily save images and sites
- A real-time messenger feature
- Allows for category and page hierarchy organization
Hive
With a focus on automation tools, Hive aims to simplify overly complicated work processes through email and task automation. Boasting a user-friendly dashboard, Hive aims to help teams of all sizes automate time-consuming work tasks to give time back to a project’s creation and growth.
A Final Findstack Opinion
Overall, Airtable is a highly comprehensive and customizable workflow management application.
Airtable’s app offers flexibility by allowing you to switch views and integrate reporting extensions, ensuring your data is suitable for various applications. Additionally, its extensive list of integrations enables you to consolidate all your preferred tools and their data in one convenient location.
It’s important to keep in mind, however, that these features are only useful for those willing to take the time to learn them. Airtable’s interface can be quite overwhelming for new users so our advice is to scale to higher subscription packages only after you’ve taken the time to learn the app’s features and familiarize yourself with them.
There are so many helpful use cases for tracking data and information, and the ease of use makes getting started a breeze with plenty of room to go deeper as you go!
Some of the advanced features are confusing, and I'd like more options for types of data in the fields. I'd love for instance to be able to group dates by day of the week and month, but am only able to do this through a complicated custom formula.
I have data I regularly want to track that I later want to organize or analyze. Working as an independent contractor for instance, i keep track of all my projects and can see where I'm making money and where I'm not.
I got so excited about Airtable when I first started using it that it made me question my values. I almost felt silly that spreadsheets could get me so engaged that it made me wonder if I needed to switch career paths to something more database-centric. The GUI is everything. Airtable manages to make previously boring, tedious data more compelling & interesting to look at.
The only downside is that it's not an industry standard. I want everyone to use this so it makes collaborating that much easier.
Airtable helps me use spreadsheets, period! I love a good spreadsheet but without functionality PLUS form, they don't hold my attention long enough for me to keep coming back.. Airtable solves for this elegantly.
I love that I can add all the pdf's, documents, links, literally everything to a cloud accessible in one place. I can then access on any device is awesome!
Haven't found a reason or thing I dislike yet.
Working in education, Airtable allows me and my colleagues a spot to share and save our lessons plans in one centralized location. This has led to better collaborations.
I like how easy Airtable is to use. I love that I can add pictures easily to my table, the search function is easy to use. It's nice that I can very easily share my table with a friend. I also appreciate there are many different types of tables pre-made or you can make your own from scratch. I have recommended Airtable to a few friends already.
I haven't found anything at this time that I don't like.
I was having issues with adding photos to my tables. I would have to save each photo and then add it to my table, where as now I've found I can just copy a photo and add it which saves a few steps and space on my camera roll.
Customization and templates - since almost anything is built with a simple grid spreadsheet, the power of airtable is endless to create the tool you need.
None. Or, I suppose that I can't enter text freely the way I can in Excel - you can't enter a random note inside an integer-only field.
I use airtable as a CRM that helps with grant reporting on the dozens of events and activities we manage. The personal views and ability to group and sort based on the data I'm looking for at any given moment is one of the highlights.
Powerful and versatile database with a pleasant interface. They are constantly adding features. We use it to track everything from new requests (coming in through our website via Airtable forms or via Zapier when entered manually in Hubspot) through the tasks and lifecycle of a project, clients/companies, vendors, vendor invoices, client invoices, portfolio ideas, social media calendar, EOS scorecards. We use some Automations and Extensions, and plan to get into Interfaces soon.
I found the learning curve ok for myself, but I know there is a lot of functionality that I am not using yet. Others might find the learning curve harder. I would suggest starting out to use it like a spreadsheet, then adding more views and cross-references to other tables, then getting into advanced features.
It allows us to keep almost all of our business and operations data in one place, making duplicate data entries a thing of the past and allowing everyone to access the data they need at a moment's notice. We can share granular data in custom views with clients or vendors, so they can stay abreast of deliverables and status as well.
The different filters and the single/multiple selections. The data I have needs different tags and this feature makes it easier to pull data for the specific reasons for my projects.
Not having the ability to use more than 10 colors under the free version and I wish there was an easier way to export a base that has multiple sheets as 1 document and the ability to print the gallery view.
Keeping track of my reading stats and reviewing information for my reading journal and blogs. as well as my watch journal and gallery. I use Air Table instead of having to write all the information down.
I can keep track of all my stamp sets and include photos with each entry. The search function helps me locate stamps with particular images or words, like 'monkeys' or 'miss you'. Then I check the photo to see if it's appropriate. Great function.
It's not easy to download the data or it's not easy to find that function.
Organization and retrieval of information.
The color coding, sorting, and ease. I can share with people.
Not much. I wish I could use my credits throughout all my databases.
I track everything in airtable, even my tax stuff.
The ability of multi uses. It's great to be able to manage multiple aspects of my business in one place.
I don't dislike this but I had to see how multiple people/organizations use the tool so I can use it best.
Organization, collaboration, and project management.
We are a virtual art gallery, and we are able to use Airtable to keep all of the artwork that comes into our gallery in one place. We use forms to allow artists to upload their artwork straight to the database, and I can give guest jurors access to choose the art for shows. I can then use the databases when I'm uploading the artwork to our website and our 3-D gallery, clicking check boxes for each step. It really keeps things seamless and organized!
We have had some issues with forms that give artists error messages when they hit "submit," even though the information has made it into the database. I would love for the form process to be a bit less buggy, and if people could somehow save their responses to come back to later, that would be fantastic, as well.
The art world is full of disorganized people, and Airtable keeps us organized! We are able to allow artists to upload their artwork straight to the database without having to input it ourselves, and we have been pleased with how easy it is for our jurors to come in and organize the art using the KanBan view into "Yes" "No" and "Maybe", especially since most of our jurors have never even heard of Airtable before we bring them in!
Low code, easily adaptable to fit the job. Looks good.
Forms can be clunky - it's hard to make them look like your organisation's other things.
At the moment it's helping us with our loading. We use it to monitor upcoming project time and to identify if we can take on new work.
Speed Versatility Automations Fields and functions
Only the amount of 1,200 records per base. But its no so bad
Full database of my business and automated tasks. Team task management with suppliers, custommers, and collaborators
I love how versatile Airtable is! I keep all sort of data there, including my accounting. It's the perfect tool for me as a small entrepreneur. I also love that it's online and accessible from all platforms.
I wish formulas were easier to use, as in excel: =A+B For accounting, it would be amazingly helpful. I don't see anything else to improve, it's really perfect for my use!
I wanted to have detailed info about my 100+ products in a glimpse. It was impossible to manage with Excel and moving the data to Airtable made it so easy. It saves me a lot of time and gives me a lot of insight about my own products.
I love we can use kanban, calendar view, etc and also the way we can filter the views depending of the person needs when is a shared base, this is very helpful and the automations is another think I love.
I don't like the way it seems when a lot of projects are listed because it is very noisy. However I know we can hide them or filter them to don't see that too much.
Airtable help us to organize and collaborate on different projects across the entire company, which is great to have the capability, also the way we can do forms and receive the answers to the bases