10 best Airtable alternatives in 2026, grouped by why you're leaving

The best Airtable alternatives in 2026 are Baserow, NocoDB and Grist for a cheaper or self-hosted database, Smartsheet and Notion for projects, and GoodTaco, Softr or Zite when people outside the base need a simple app. Which one fits depends on why you’re leaving.

This guide is for operators who run real work in Airtable and are weighing a move. We compare 10 tools on price, record limits and who can sign in, grouped by the reason you’re leaving, then give a step-by-step plan for switching.

Reviewed October 2026. Prices are list prices from each vendor’s own pricing page, and they change often.

We picked these from the reasons people give in community threads for leaving Airtable, and checked each against the vendor’s own pricing and import docs.

The 10 best Airtable alternatives compared

Paid prices are the lowest monthly price on each vendor’s pricing page, which usually means billing yearly.

Tool	Best for	Price to start	Where your data lives	Open source?
Baserow	An open-source Airtable replacement	Free; Premium $10/user/month	Baserow’s cloud, or your own server	Yes (MIT, except paid features)
NocoDB	Self-hosting, or a grid on a database you already run	Free; Plus $12/seat/month	Your own server, or NocoDB’s cloud	Source-available (fair-code)
Grist	Spreadsheet power users who need record-level permissions	Free; Pro $8/user/month	Grist’s cloud, or your own server	Yes (Apache 2.0 core)
SeaTable	Hosting in Germany, or a small self-hosted team	Free; Plus €7/user/month	SeaTable’s cloud in Germany, or your own server	No
Google Sheets	Small datasets and spreadsheet-first teams	Free; Workspace from $7/user/month	Your Google Drive	No
Smartsheet	Project management in a grid	$9/member/month; 30-day trial	Smartsheet’s cloud	No
Notion	Docs, wikis and light databases in one place	Free; Plus $10/seat/month	Your Notion workspace	No
GoodTaco (our product)	A signed-in app on the base you already have	Free plan; paid from $9/month	Your Airtable base, a Google Sheet, or a built-in database	No
Softr	Client portals you design visually	Free; Basic $19/month	Airtable, Google Sheets, Softr Databases and more	No
Zite	Apps for many users on a small budget	Free; Pro $20/month	Zite’s database, or sources such as Airtable	No

Why do people look for Airtable alternatives?

Airtable is a capable tool. People start looking when one of these gets in the way:

• Cost per seat. Airtable pricing is per user: Team is $20 per user per month and Business is $45, billed annually (Airtable pricing). Read-only collaborators are free, but on Team everyone with Commenter access or above is billed, including people who edit or comment in an interface (Airtable plans).
• Record limits. A base holds up to 1,000 records on Free, 50,000 on Team and 125,000 on Business, counting every table in the base. The Free plan also stops at 5 editors and 1,000 API calls a month per workspace (Airtable plans). An API call is one request from another app or integration to read or change your data.
• Automation caps. Automations can run 100 times a month per workspace on Free, 25,000 on Team and 100,000 on Business, and failed runs count (Airtable automations).
• Permissions. Showing people only their own records works only in interfaces, with a “current user” filter you add page by page (interface permissions).
• People outside your company. Airtable interfaces let you build custom pages on top of a base for your team. To give clients or vendors their own sign-in, Airtable sells a Portals add-on on Team, Business and Enterprise Scale plans.
• A new owner. Airtable was acquired in September 2026. Airtable says nothing changes for customers’ plans, prices or service (Airtable), but some teams see it as a natural moment to review their options.

What does a 10-person team pay on each Airtable alternative?

List price per month for 10 editors, billed yearly.

Tool and plan	10 editors a month	Records
Airtable Team	$200	50,000 per base
Airtable Business	$450	125,000 per base
NocoDB Plus	$108 flat, unlimited seats	50,000
Baserow Premium	$100	50,000 per workspace
Grist Pro	$80	100,000 per document
SeaTable Plus	€70	50,000
Smartsheet Pro	$90	—
Notion Plus	$100	—

The free self-hosted editions of NocoDB and Baserow have no record limits or license fees. You pay for the server and its upkeep.

Which Airtable alternatives are free, open source or self-hosted?

These four work most like Airtable: spreadsheet-style tables that behave like a database, and all four can run on your own server if you need your data on infrastructure you control.

1. Baserow

Baserow is an open-source no-code database with automations and an application builder for portals (Baserow on GitHub).

• Best for: non-technical teams that want an open-source replacement, hosted for them or on their own server.
• Pricing: the cloud Free plan includes 3,000 records per workspace. Premium is $10 per user per month billed yearly ($12 monthly) with 50,000 records (Baserow pricing). Self-hosted Baserow has no record, storage or API limits and is free; premium features cost extra per user. Cloud plans include up to 500 external app users for the portals you build.
• Open source? Yes. Everything except the paid premium and enterprise features is MIT-licensed.
• Limitation: the Airtable importer brings over tables, records, links and attachments, but not formulas, lookups or rollups, and you rebuild automations and interfaces yourself. Role-based permissions start on the Advanced plan, at $18 per user per month billed yearly.
• Verdict: the easiest open-source pick for teams without a developer, because you can start in the cloud and self-host later.

2. NocoDB

NocoDB gives you spreadsheet-style tables in its cloud or on your own server. It can also sit on top of a database you already run, such as Postgres (NocoDB).

• Best for: technical teams that want to self-host, or that already keep their data in a database.
• Pricing: the self-hosted Community edition is free, with unlimited records and seats. In the cloud, the Free plan covers up to 3 users and 1,000 records, and Plus is $12 per seat per month billed annually, or a flat $108 a month billed annually for unlimited seats (NocoDB pricing).
• Open source? No, it’s source-available. NocoDB’s Sustainable Use License follows fair-code principles and isn’t OSI-approved: it’s free for internal use, but offering NocoDB to others as a hosted service needs a commercial license.
• Limitation: NocoDB can import an Airtable base, but formulas don’t come across as formulas, so you rebuild them (NocoDB docs).
• Verdict: the best choice if you want Airtable’s grid on infrastructure you control and have someone technical to look after it.

3. Grist

Grist blends a spreadsheet and a database. Formulas are written in Python, with Excel-like functions for spreadsheet users (Grist help), and access rules control who can see or edit individual tables, columns and records.

• Best for: spreadsheet power users who need record-level permissions, such as partners who should see only their own records.
• Pricing: the Free plan allows up to 5,000 records per document and 10 team members. Pro is $8 per user per month billed annually ($10 monthly) with up to 100,000 records per document (Grist pricing). The self-hosted Community edition is free.
• Open source? Yes. The core, grist-core, is Apache 2.0 licensed.
• Limitation: each document allows only 2 free guests, and team members need paid seats on paid plans, so sharing with many outside people adds up.
• Verdict: the strongest pick if permissions, more than price, made you leave.

4. SeaTable

SeaTable is a spreadsheet-style database with an Airtable import built in (SeaTable). SeaTable Cloud runs in data centers in Germany.

• Best for: European teams that want an Airtable-like tool hosted in Germany, or a team of three that wants to self-host for free.
• Pricing: free for up to 25 users and 10,000 records. Plus is €7 per user per month billed annually (€9 monthly) with 50,000 records (SeaTable prices). The self-hosted Enterprise Edition is free for up to 3 users.
• Open source? No. The Enterprise Edition is proprietary, and the license-free Developer Edition mixes open-source and proprietary parts (SeaTable admin manual).
• Limitation: the importer skips button, count, lookup and rollup columns, and Airtable formulas arrive as placeholders you rewrite by hand (SeaTable help).
• Verdict: a good fit when hosting in the EU matters more than open source.

Which alternatives suit spreadsheet users and project teams?

For teams that think in spreadsheets or run projects more than data, a familiar grid can beat a new database.

5. Google Sheets

Google Sheets is the spreadsheet most teams already know, and anyone with a Google account can use it (Google Sheets).

• Best for: small datasets and teams that think in spreadsheets.
• Pricing: free with a Google account. Google Workspace business plans start at $7 per user per month with a one-year commitment (Workspace pricing, payment plans).
• Limitation: sharing is set per spreadsheet (who can view and who can edit), not per record, and a spreadsheet tops out at 20 million cells (Google Drive limits).
• Verdict: the cheapest move if your data is simple. Our Airtable vs Google Sheets comparison goes deeper.

6. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is work management built on a spreadsheet-style grid, with Gantt, table, board and calendar views (Smartsheet pricing).

• Best for: project management, especially when many people only update their own tasks.
• Pricing: Pro is $9 per member per month billed yearly ($12 monthly) for 1 to 10 members, and Business is $19 billed yearly ($24 monthly). Contributors, who can view, comment and add attachments, are free on every plan, and Business adds free guests from outside your organization (seat types). People you send an update request to can update those records without being shared on the sheet (update requests).
• Limitation: there’s a 30-day free trial but no free plan, and Pro includes 250 automations a month.
• Verdict: the best Airtable alternative for project management when most people only need to update their part. If you’re on Smartsheet and weighing a move, see our Smartsheet alternatives.

7. Notion

Notion puts docs, wikis and databases in one workspace (Notion pricing).

• Best for: teams whose projects live next to their docs and meeting notes.
• Pricing: Free plan; Plus is $10 per seat per month billed yearly ($12 monthly), and Business is $20 billed yearly ($24 monthly). Business adds granular database permissions, which limit people to the records assigned to them.
• Limitation: on the Free plan, content blocks are limited once two or more members share a workspace, uploads are capped at 5 MB each, and you can invite 10 guests.
• Verdict: a good home for light databases that sit next to your docs.

Which alternatives let people outside your base use the data?

Sometimes the base is fine and what’s missing is a simple app for clients, technicians or approvers. These three tools build an app on top of your data instead of replacing the database, and all three can work with data in Airtable, so you may not need to migrate at all.

8. GoodTaco (our product)

GoodTaco is an AI app builder for business apps: you describe the app in plain language and get a working web app with sign-in in minutes. It connects to the Airtable base you already have, so nothing moves, or you can start on a built-in database.

• Best for: teams that like their base but want a focused app for clients, technicians or approvers.
• Pricing: Free plan with no credit card; paid plans from $9 a month. Pricing is per workspace, not per app user.
• Limitation: GoodTaco is an app builder first, so if your team wants to work in a grid all day, a database tool fits better. The built-in database holds up to 25,000 records per database, and building uses AI credits. It isn’t open source.
• Verdict: pick it when you need an app on top of your data, not a new database. Our GoodTaco vs Airtable comparison goes feature by feature.

9. Softr

Softr builds apps and portals on top of your data. It connects to Airtable, Google Sheets, Notion and its own Softr Databases, among other sources (Softr pricing).

• Best for: client and vendor portals on an Airtable base, designed visually.
• Pricing: Free plan with up to 3 builders, 5 app users and 5,000 database records. Basic is $19 a month billed yearly ($25 monthly) with 5 team users and 5 client users. Pro is $99 billed yearly ($119 monthly) with 10 team and 50 client users, Google sign-in and granular permissions. From Pro up, you can buy extra app users.
• Limitation: app users are capped by plan, and anyone who signs in with Gmail or another free email address counts as a client user, so large portals push you up the plans.
• Verdict: a mature, visual way to build portals. Our Softr comparison covers how it differs from GoodTaco.

10. Zite

Zite is an AI app builder with its own built-in database, and it connects to tools including Airtable and Google Sheets (Zite integrations).

• Best for: apps with lots of users on a small budget, since every plan includes unlimited users.
• Pricing: Free plan with unlimited users and apps, 5,000 database records and limited AI credits. Pro is $20 a month billed annually with 100,000 records and 100 credits a month (Zite pricing).
• Limitation: building runs on AI credits, and the Free plan has a limit of 10 messages a day.
• Verdict: a strong pick when the number of users drives your costs. Our Zite comparison shows how it stacks up against GoodTaco.

Other Airtable alternatives and competitors

A few more apps like Airtable are worth a look:

• Stackby is a spreadsheet-style database with a free plan for up to 5 users. Paid plans start at $4.20 per user a month, billed annually for 3 users, with 7,000 records per stack, Stackby’s name for a base (Stackby pricing).
• Teable is open source under AGPL-3.0 and runs on a Postgres database you can host yourself (Teable on GitHub).
• Supabase is a Postgres database with a table editor, built for developers (Supabase).
• monday.com and ClickUp are work management tools built around tasks; pick one when tasks matter more than data (monday.com, ClickUp).

How to choose an Airtable alternative

Start with the reason you’re leaving:

If you’re leaving because…	Start with
Seats cost too much	Grist or Baserow, or NocoDB’s flat price for unlimited seats
You hit record limits	Self-hosted NocoDB or Baserow, which have no record limits
You want open source or your own server	Baserow, Grist or NocoDB
Your team thinks in spreadsheets	Google Sheets or Grist
You run projects	Smartsheet or Notion
People outside the base need a simple app	GoodTaco, Softr or Zite

Then check each finalist against these criteria:

• Where your data lives. On your own server, in the vendor’s cloud, or in a source you already use. App builders such as GoodTaco and Softr can leave your records in Airtable or a Google Sheet.
• Who signs in, and what each person costs. Count editors, viewers and outside people separately. Viewers are free in Airtable (read-only collaborators) and Smartsheet (Contributors). Zite includes unlimited users, Softr includes a set number of app users per plan and charges for more, and GoodTaco prices per workspace, with private apps that open only for the users or roles you choose.
• Record limits. Add up the records in every table and compare the total with each plan’s cap.
• Permissions. If people should see only some records, check how each tool handles it: Grist’s access rules, Notion’s Business plan or Softr’s granular permissions. GoodTaco has no switch for this, but you can ask it to show each signed-in person only their own records, then sign in as a test user to check.
• Who will run it. Self-hosting saves license fees, not work.

Stay on Airtable if your team works in the base all day, your records fit the plan, and only your own staff need access. A move costs real time.

How to switch from Airtable step by step

1. Decide whether you need to move at all

If the base works and what’s missing is a simple app for the people around it, keep the base and build the app on top. Move the data if record limits, self-hosting or the price per editor is the problem.

2. List everything the base does

Write down every table, linked record, formula, automation, interface and integration, plus who uses each one. Importers move records well. They don’t move logic.

3. Export or import your records

Airtable downloads a CSV from a view, one table at a time, and includes only the columns visible in that view, so use a view with no filters or hidden columns. Record comments aren’t included, and attachments come through as a file name and a link that expires after a few hours, so download the files separately (Airtable help). NocoDB, Baserow and SeaTable can import a base directly instead. To get an app rather than another database, put each CSV on its own sheet of one Excel workbook and upload the workbook to GoodTaco, up to 2,000 records and 10 MB per upload. You don’t need an account to try it; create one to keep the app.

4. Rebuild formulas, lookups and rollups

None of the importers above bring Airtable formulas over as working formulas, and Baserow and SeaTable also skip lookups and rollups, so plan to rebuild them.

5. Recreate automations and interfaces

Automations and interface pages don’t travel with the data. Rebuild each one in the new tool, then run it with real records before anyone depends on it.

6. Run both side by side, then switch

Keep Airtable running while a few people do real work in the new tool. Compare record counts, sign in as a test user to check permissions, then make the old base read-only and move everyone over.

Keep your Airtable base and give people an app with GoodTaco

Connect your Airtable base to GoodTaco with OAuth, so you never share your Airtable password, then describe the app you need. GoodTaco’s AI builds a working web app with screens, forms, search and dashboards in minutes, and you change it by asking for changes.

People sign in to the app with Google or an emailed link, and private apps show no data until they do, with access limited to the users or roles you choose. The app reads and writes the base through your Airtable connection. The records stay in Airtable, so its record limits and monthly API call allowance still apply. For a client portal, ask GoodTaco to show each person only their own records, then sign in as a test client to check before you invite real ones.

Apps can also send email from your Gmail and run scheduled jobs such as a daily reminder, every change is saved so you can roll back, and hosting is included.

Keep your base, and give the people who need it an app. Start free, no credit card needed.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Airtable?

It depends on why you're leaving. Baserow and Grist are the closest all-round replacements, Smartsheet suits project management, and GoodTaco, Softr or Zite fit when people outside your base need a simple app.

Is NocoDB the best alternative to Airtable?

It's a strong choice for technical teams that want to self-host for free or put a spreadsheet-style view on a database they already run. Its license is source-available (fair-code) rather than open source, and its Airtable importer doesn't carry formulas over, so non-technical teams may find Baserow or Grist easier.

What is the best alternative to Airtable for project management?

Smartsheet is the closest fit. It keeps a spreadsheet-style grid, adds Gantt, board and calendar views, and people who only view or comment join free as Contributors. Notion works well when your projects live next to docs and wikis.

Is there a free Airtable alternative?

Yes. NocoDB, Baserow and Grist have free editions you can run on your own server, and Google Sheets, Notion, SeaTable, Softr, Zite and GoodTaco all have free plans. Smartsheet offers a 30-day trial instead of a free plan.

Is there an open-source Airtable alternative?

Baserow and Grist are open source and can be self-hosted: everything in Baserow except its paid premium and enterprise features is MIT-licensed, and Grist's core is Apache 2.0. Teable is open source under AGPL-3.0, NocoDB is source-available under a fair-code license, and SeaTable's self-hosted Enterprise Edition is free for up to three users but isn't open source.

Can I keep my Airtable base and build an app on it?

Yes. App builders such as GoodTaco, Softr and Zite connect to an existing base, so you don't have to move your records. The records stay in Airtable, so the base's record limits and monthly API call allowance still apply.

Who are Airtable's main competitors?

They fall into three groups: spreadsheet-style databases such as Baserow, NocoDB, Grist, SeaTable and Stackby; spreadsheets and work management tools such as Google Sheets, Smartsheet, Notion, monday.com and ClickUp; and app builders that sit on top of your data, such as GoodTaco, Softr and Zite.