Airtable Review: The Brutal Truth About This $20/User Database

First week? Actually not terrible. You pick a template, dump your spreadsheet data in, and suddenly you've got something that looks like a real database instead of Excel hell. The interface doesn't hurt to look at, which is already a win over most database tools I've been forced to use.

Here's where things get tricky. Airtable calls their databases "bases" because apparently they're too cool for normal terminology. Whatever. The real pain starts when you realize that this isn't just Excel with better colors - it's a relational database system, and if you don't understand how database relationships work, you're gonna have a bad time.

Our team spent two solid weeks just figuring out why we couldn't link our customer records to our project records properly. The documentation exists but it's written for people who already understand database concepts. If you're coming from Google Sheets like we were, prepare for some confusion.

The mobile apps are surprisingly usable though. I can actually edit records on my phone without wanting to throw it against the wall, which is revolutionary for a database tool. Most of our field team switched to updating records on mobile instead of waiting to get back to their laptops.

The pricing sucker punch: Free plan gives you 1,000 records per base for up to 5 users. Sounds generous until you realize that's like 3 months of actual business data. Then they hit you with $20-24/user/month for the Team plan. Our 10-person team went from $0 to $2,400/year real fast.

What actually works: The interface is polished and the views (Kanban, Calendar, Gallery) are genuinely useful. You can filter and sort data in ways that make Google Sheets look prehistoric. The automation features work well once you figure them out.

What's annoying: Everything has a learning curve. Formulas use different syntax than Excel. The permission system is confusing. And God help you if you accidentally delete a linked field - cascading data nightmares await.

Oh, and one more thing that'll piss you off - their undo button sometimes just... doesn't work? Like it's there but clicking it does nothing. I spent 20 minutes trying to undo a bulk edit that went wrong, clicking undo over and over like a crazy person before realizing I had to manually fix 200+ records. Good times.

Here's where the wheels come off. Month 3 was when everything started getting expensive real fast.

When Automations Eat Your Budget Alive

Our team loved automations at first - auto-assign tasks, send Slack notifications, all that good stuff. Then we got hit with "You've reached your automation limit" warnings. Turns out their 25,000 runs per month gets eaten up faster than you think.

Here's the bullshit part: one notification automation eats through your monthly limit if you actually use the damn thing. Every record update triggers a run - and when you have 50 people updating project statuses daily, you're looking at thousands of runs per week.

We learned this the hard way when our automation suddenly stopped working mid-project. Just... stopped. No warning email, no graceful degradation. Our project manager spent two hours wondering why he wasn't getting status updates before we figured out we'd hit the limit on day 18 of the month.

Going from $20 to $45 per user? That's not a pricing tier, that's highway robbery.

When Performance Goes to Shit

Around 8,000 records, everything started feeling sluggish. Filtering views took 3-4 seconds, which doesn't sound like much until you're doing it 50 times a day. Switching between views became a coffee break activity.

Our project manager started complaining daily about load times. For comparison, our old Google Sheets with similar data was actually faster for simple filtering. That's embarrassing for a $20/user database tool.

The CRM Disappointment

We tried using it as a CRM replacement. The custom fields and Interface Designer looked promising at first, but it's missing basic CRM features like:

• Email sequences (you need Mailchimp integration or similar)
• Pipeline probability calculations
• Decent reporting (their reporting sucks compared to actual CRM tools)
• Lead scoring

It works fine for basic contact management, but if you need real sales pipeline features, save yourself the headache and get HubSpot or Pipedrive.

The Integration Cost Trap

They advertise 1,000+ integrations but here's what they don't tell you: the good ones cost extra. Want decent automation between Airtable and your other tools? You're paying for Zapier ($20+/month). Want advanced features? More third-party tools.

Our monthly tool stack went from $240 (just Airtable) to over $400 when we added necessary integrations. That's not Airtable's fault exactly, but it's the reality of their ecosystem.

Team Adoption Was Mixed

Half our team picked it up quickly, the other half hated it. The concept of linked records confused people coming from spreadsheets. Sarah from accounting never figured out how to properly filter views and just kept asking us to export everything to Excel.

Budget about a week of hand-holding per person if your team isn't already comfortable with database concepts. Some people never really got it and just worked around the system.

And THEN - this is the part that made me want to throw my laptop - week 2 we accidentally deleted a linked field and spent 4 hours trying to recreate all the customer-to-project relationships. Turns out there's no "undo" for structural changes. We had 300+ customer records that suddenly had no connection to their project history. I ended up manually recreating connections using old CSV exports until 2am on a Tuesday.

Their "smart" automation once suggested sending 500 Slack notifications to our CEO when we updated our client database. Thank god for the preview feature or I'd probably be unemployed right now.

After 6 months of daily use and burning through way too much budget, here's my honest verdict as we head into the final quarter of 2025.

Just Use It If You Have Money to Burn

Look, Airtable is a good product.

The interface doesn't suck, the features work mostly as advertised, and it's genuinely easier than setting up a proper database. But holy shit, the pricing will murder your budget if you're not careful.

You should use it if:

• You're tired of Google Sheets but scared of real databases
• You have $2,000-5,000/year sitting around for productivity tools
• Your team is small (under 15 people) and not constantly adding data
• You need multiple views of the same data (Kanban, Calendar, etc.)

Skip it if:

• You're bootstrapping or budget-conscious
• You have more than 10,000 records to manage
• Your team is fine with Google Sheets or Excel
• You need serious reporting or analytics

The Real Costs Nobody Talks About

Here's what we actually spent:

• Month 1-3: $240/month (Team plan for 10 users)
• Month 4-6:

Around $450/month (Business plan + Zapier + other random integrations)

• Total first year projection: Close to 5 grand, maybe more

Compare that to:

• Google Sheets:

Free (or $12/user/month for Workspace)

• Monday.com: $8-16/user/month for better project management
• ClickUp: $7-19/user/month with more features

What Actually Works Well

• Mobile apps don't suck (rare for database tools)
• Views are genuinely useful
• Kanban saved our project management
• Automation works once you figure it out
• Data import is painless
• Interface looks professional enough to show clients

What's Still Broken

• Gets slow around 8,000 records
• Automation limits hit faster than expected
• Formula syntax is weird compared to Excel
• Export/migration is a nightmare
• Support is mediocre for the price

My Recommendation: 6/10

• Good Product, Bad Value

Airtable solved our immediate problem of outgrowing Google Sheets, but at what cost?

For the money we spent, we could have hired a developer to build us something custom, or paid for several other tools that do specific things better.

Try the free version first. If you hit the limits quickly and have budget for $200-400/month, go for it. If you're cost-conscious or have simple needs, stick with Google Sheets or try Notion instead.

The truth: It's an expensive toy that marketing makes sound essential. Great for teams with money to burn, overpriced for everyone else.