CentriWebThe main Airtable alternatives are other no-code work management databases such as SmartSuite, open-source tools such as Baserow and NocoDB that you can self-host, a hosted database such as Supabase with screens built on top, or a custom app. Businesses usually look for one when they reach Airtable’s record limits, need tighter permissions than their plan allows, or find that other systems reading and writing to it are slowing down.
Facts below come from each vendor’s own pricing and documentation pages, as at November 2026. Check their pages for current prices. Several pages show “$” without naming a currency, so confirm it on each page. CentriWeb builds custom software, so weigh our view with that in mind.
What Airtable does well
Airtable turns a spreadsheet into a set of linked tables with forms, views, automations and simple interfaces, and almost anyone can learn it. For a practice tracking client work, a team managing a content calendar or an office running job requests, it is a big step up from a shared spreadsheet.
Airtable’s pricing page lists Free, Team and Business plans priced per user per month and billed annually, plus Enterprise Scale on request. You only pay for people with edit permission on at least one base; read-only collaborators and form submissions are not charged. That makes it affordable to share data widely.
Airtable limits that send people looking
Record limits
Airtable’s plans page lists, per base, 1,000 records on Free, 50,000 on Team and 125,000 on self-serve Business. Enterprise Scale limits come from its sales team. A business logging every enquiry, job or transaction can reach those numbers within a few years, and archiving old records into a second base makes reporting harder.
API calls and speed
The same page lists monthly API calls per workspace: 1,000 on Free, 100,000 on Team and unlimited on Business. Separately, Airtable’s API documentation says the API is limited to five requests per second per base. That is plenty for a form and a few automations. It becomes a bottleneck when a website, a CRM and several automations all read and write to the same base through the day.
Permissions
Airtable’s plans page sets out permission levels for workspaces, bases and interfaces: owner, creator, editor, commenter and read-only. Rules like “this staff member sees only their own clients” or “this field is hidden from contractors” need careful design with interfaces, and are worth testing on the plan you would pay for before you rely on them.
Airtable alternatives at a glance
| Option | What it is | How it charges | Who maintains it | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SmartSuite | No-code work management database | Per seat, with minimum seats | Vendor; you maintain your set-up | Teams that want more permission control without code |
| Baserow | Open-source no-code database, cloud or self-hosted | Per user on cloud; self-host option | Vendor on cloud; you if self-hosted | Teams that want an Airtable-style tool with a self-host path |
| NocoDB | Open-source spreadsheet-style front end, cloud or self-hosted | Per seat on cloud; free Community edition to self-host | Vendor on cloud; you if self-hosted | Teams with some technical help, or an existing database |
| Supabase | Hosted Postgres database with tools for building apps | Monthly plan plus usage | Supabase runs the platform; a developer builds and maintains the app | A business ready to have screens built on a proper database |
| Custom app | Software written for your process | Build cost, then hosting and maintenance | You, or the developer you pay | A process the business depends on |
What each alternative does well
SmartSuite
SmartSuite’s pricing page shows prices per seat, with a three-seat minimum on Team and five on Professional. It lists records per solution (its name for a workspace of related tables) of 5,000 on Team, 100,000 on Professional and 400,000 on Enterprise. Professional adds table and field permissions, and Enterprise adds dynamic record permissions. It suits a team whose main problem with Airtable is permissions.
Baserow
Baserow’s pricing page lists cloud plans priced per user, with rows counted per workspace: 3,000 on Free, 50,000 on Premium, 250,000 on Advanced and 1,000,000 on Enterprise. It also offers a self-hosted option. Role-based permissions are listed on Advanced. It suits a business that likes the Airtable way of working and wants the choice of running it on its own server later.
NocoDB
NocoDB’s pricing page lists cloud plans priced per seat, with records from 1,000 on Free up to 1,000,000 on Scale. Its Community edition is free to self-host with unlimited records. The Business plan can connect to existing PostgreSQL and MySQL databases, which is useful if your data already lives in one. Self-hosting means someone handles the server, updates and backups.
Supabase
Supabase’s database documentation says every project gets a full Postgres database, and describes row level security as how Supabase makes the database safe to query directly. That is how per-user rules like “staff see only their own clients” are enforced in the database itself. Its pricing page lists a free plan whose projects pause after a week of inactivity, and paid plans from $25 a month plus usage. Supabase is not an Airtable replacement on its own: a developer builds the screens, forms and logic on top.
When to move to a proper database
Stay on Airtable if the team is happy, you are well inside the record limits and the permissions work. Moving costs time and goodwill.
Look at the no-code alternatives if one specific limit hurts, such as permissions or record counts, and the team still wants to build and change things themselves.
Move to a proper database with an app on top when:
- the data is now the record the business runs on, and losing it or getting it wrong would be serious
- customers, contractors or several branches need different views of the same data
- several systems need to read and write to it all day
- you need to say exactly where the data is hosted and who can reach it
Our guides on replacing a spreadsheet with an app and no-code vs custom development cover the wider choice, and internal tools: Retool, low-code or custom covers building staff screens on a database.
How to move off Airtable without losing anything
Data moves easily. What takes the time is everything built around it: automations, formulas, interfaces and the habits of the people who use them.
- List what the base does. Every table, view, form, automation and interface, and who uses each. You will find some nobody needs.
- Clean before you move. Merge duplicates, fix inconsistent pick lists and archive what is finished. Moving messy data just moves the mess.
- Map the fields. Linked records, attachments and formula fields behave differently in each tool. Decide how each will work in the new one.
- Rebuild the automations and test them with copies of real records, not the live ones.
- Run both in parallel for a short period with the new system as the one people enter data into, and compare the results.
- Switch over and keep a final export of the Airtable base somewhere safe before you cancel the plan.
Expect the people side to take longer than the data side. Show staff the new screens early and let them point out what is missing before launch day.
Where a system built and looked after for you fits better
A database and app someone builds and maintains for you fits when the data runs a core part of the business, for example client work in a professional services practice, several people and systems depend on it, and nobody inside has time to own a self-hosted tool. It also fits when an Airtable base has grown into something everyone relies on and only one person understands.
It does not suit a small team well inside Airtable’s limits, an owner who enjoys building bases and has the hours, or a need that a standard plan covers. Stay where you are, or try a no-code alternative. When a proper database does fit, our custom software work moves the data across, rebuilds the views and automations people use, and looks after it afterwards.