Best Airtable Alternatives in 2024: Review and Comparison
Looking for an Airtable alternative? You've come to the right place.
Founded in 2012, Airtable is an alternative to one of the most critical, yet often overlooked, software tools upon which much of society relies — the humble spreadsheet. Airtable's founder, Howie Liu, didn't want to make a better spreadsheet. He wanted to reinvent the spreadsheet entirely. Liu's vision was to empower people to create what are essentially applications without writing a single line of code.
Over the years, Airtable managed to deliver on that ambition quite well, accumulating over 300,000 active customers and being dubbed the "spreadsheet killer".
But Airtable is not without its shortcomings, and there are many reasons why you may be looking for an Airtable alternative:
Airtable is powerful, but at the same time highly complex. Many users find it too over-engineered to be used productively (source)
Airtable is very flexible and customizable, but it takes a long time to configure it the way you want (source)
It has accumulated numerous features and integrations over the years, but this also made it somewhat clunky (source)
When used collaboratively with multiple people, Airtable can get sluggish (source)
Some users find the interface of Airtable to be unintuitive and cluttered (source)
Does that sound familiar? Then it might be time to switch to a more user-friendly and fast option – fortunately, there are many great Airtable competitors to choose from.
Best Airtable alternatives and competitors
To make your decision easier, we've evaluated dozens of options and put together a shortlist of the best alternatives to Airtable:
Airtable is a highly versatile tool. It's a hybrid between a spreadsheet, a relational database, a project management tool, and a low-code app builder. Depending on how you are using Airtable and why you are looking for an alternative, a different tool might be a better fit for your needs.
We hope this list helps you learn more about your options and find the Airtable alternative that works for you.
1. Nuclino
Nuclino is a lightweight alternative to Airtable. While not as feature-packed, Nuclino focuses on the essentials, such as search, content organization, and collaborative editing. By doing away with the clunky menus and rarely-used options, Nuclino is able to offer a much cleaner and more intuitive interface, minimizing the learning curve for new users.
Nuclino is designed like a hybrid of Airtable and Google Docs, bringing together structured data and rich long-form content. Every entry in your database is its own document that can be collaborated on by multiple users in real time. This allows you to add notes, assign tasks, and embed files, consolidating everything you need to get the job done in one place.
Comments and mentions make it easy to exchange feedback directly in Nuclino and preserve the context of every decision.
Like Airtable, Nuclino allows you to organize your work in many visual ways. In addition to a database-style table, your can visualize your docs and projects in a Kanban board, a hierarchical list, or an interconnected graph.
This makes Nuclino a great solution for a wide range of use cases, including knowledge sharing, employee handbooks, employee onboarding and offboarding, sprint planning, process documentation, and many more.
Performance is another notable strength of Nuclino. Every interaction in the app is optimized for speed, from search to editing. All content can be collaborated on by multiple users in real time, with every change automatically preserved in the version history. Markdown commands allow you to quickly format text without taking your hands off the keyboard.
What users say about Nuclino:
"I use Nuclino to document the projects I work on. It serves as a wiki for the project which helps anyone joining the project at later stages understand what was done during the design process, and why certain decisions were made. It is definitely a big step up from using Google Docs and Google Sheets which gets very messy during the course of a project."
2. Google Sheets
Any list of Airtable competitors will be incomplete without Google Sheets, one of the solutions that inspired Airtable a decade ago. If you are primarily using Airtable as a spreadsheet and are looking for a more powerful and flexible tool, Google Sheets may be a valid alternative.
A core strength of Google Sheets lies in its seamless integration with the other apps within Google Workspace. For example, you can easily connect Google Sheets and Slides, embedding your spreadsheets into your presentations and keeping everything in sync.
Google Sheets may lack some of the Airtable features, such as Kanban boards or galleries, however, when it comes to its spreadsheet functionality, Sheets offers a lot more flexibility.
What users say about Google Sheets:
"I love the fact that it integrates with the other Google apps and allows you to link additional files in your spreadsheet document. There is a bit of a learning curve when using Google Sheets, but other than that, it's a great program."
3. SeaTable
If you are looking for an Airtable clone, SeaTable is as close as it gets. The design of SeaTable was heavily inspired by Airtable, to the point where you might barely notice a difference between the two tools.
SeaTable is also a great option for those who would prefer to host their data within the EU. The SeaTable Cloud is hosted in certified German data centers and the platform is fully compliant with GDPR.
If you want more control over your data, SeaTable has you covered as well. In addition to its shared cloud-hosting service, SeaTable allows you to install it as a self-hosted on-premises solution or as a dedicated system, combining the simplicity of the cloud with the flexibility of a self-hosted system.
Note that like Airtable, SeaTable is also somewhat clunky and complex, so expect a certain learning curve.
What users say about SeaTable:
"I love SeaTable for democratizing access to relational databases for end-users. It's a great alternative to Airtable and it's going to be great as it matures into a larger product."
4. Asana
If you are using Airtable for project management, Asana can certainly be an alternative worth evaluating. Like Airtable, Asana offers multiple different ways to visualize your data, including a table-style list, a board, a calendar, a timeline that works like a Gantt chart, and more.
While Asana may not be a great solution for creating generic databases or working with spreadsheets, its project management features are a lot more extensive and robust than those of Airtable. The interface of Asana is also less cluttered and more intuitive, making it easier to get started with the tool.
Looking for more tools similar to Asana? Check out this list of alternatives to Asana.
What users say about Asana:
"We switched from Airtable because its project management features were not as robust as we needed. We use Asana daily to keep everyone on track, and I couldn't be happier with the results. Powerful tagging and search functions make it very simple to keep track of our myriad marketing activations and all their associated deliverables. Adding subtasks and including collaborators on tasks makes it very easy to keep track of who needs to do what and by when. Various views like lists, calendars, and kanban boards make it accessible to everyone on the team who thinks and processes information differently."
5. nTask
nTask is another noteworthy option when it comes to Airtable alternatives.
nTask allows you to manage and monitor your work with ease, enabling you to focus on the important stuff. Its drag-and-drop interface makes it easy to prioritize tasks, assign them to team members, and keep track of progress. nTask also provides powerful project management features such as custom views, automated task reminders and due dates, and detailed reporting.
What users say about nTask:
"It's really a hidden jewel because you can take advantage of most of the features for free, and it offers many of the same functions as larger and much more expensive project management tools."
6. Trello
While Trello started out as a simple Kanban tool, it has evolved into a much more flexible, multi-purpose solution. In February of 2022, Trello added its own table view, becoming a strong Airtable competitor.
Trello is still primarily designed to be used as a project management tool and isn't as flexible as Airtable when it comes to labeling and organizing data. However, it makes up for it with a lower learning curve and a simpler interface.
Looking for more tools similar to Trello? Check out this list of Trello alternatives.
What users say about Trello:
"Airtable has more of a learning curve. Though it is also a great tool, I felt that it was harder to get people on board with using it. Trello is the perfect customizable workflow and task management system for me! I can create a multitude of boards for all of my business and personal needs. Managing these boards and teaching my team or clients how to use this is super easy!"
7. Jira
Jira is owned by the same company as Trello – Atlassian. And while both tools can both serve as Airtable alternatives, they are two very different solutions.
Jira is, first and foremost, an Agle project management tool for software development teams. While it allows you to organize your projects in a database-style table, similar to Airtable, its feature set is largely geared towards developers.
Jira is exceptionally powerful, allowing you to manage the most complex and large-scale projects. At the same time, it's very feature-heavy and comes with a steep learning curve. It can be a great asset for large, experienced software development teams, but for everyone else, it can be confusing and unintuitive.
Looking for more tools similar to Jira? Check out this list of Jira alternatives.
What users say about Jira:
"Jira has been an integral part of our software development and project management journey and has just about all the tools you need to successfully manage your project or product offerings. It's more customizable than Trello, Asana, and Airtable, while being user-friendly at the same time."
Find the right Airtable alternative for you
So what is the best alternative to Airtable? The best choice depends on how you are planning to use it. If you are looking for a faster and more intuitive solution where you can bring all your team's work together, Nuclino can be a great option. If you need a full-featured spreadsheet app, consider Google Sheets. If you want to replace Airtable with a nearly identical but more affordable tool, take a look at SeaTable. And if you are primarily using Airtable for project management and need a more robust alternative, give Trello, Asana, or Jira a try.
Whatever tool you choose, make sure to thoroughly evaluate it, especially if you are planning to use it together with your team.
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