Pros and Cons of Using Airtable Software

Published

Share this Article:

Our content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click links to our partners. Learn more in our Editorial & Advertising Policy.

Teams and companies are always looking for tools and solutions to enable them to move quickly and to streamline collaboration and work. The most successful teams find ways to break down information silos and build the right workflows so all teams can stay aligned. Airtable is well-suited to meet the needs of high-performance teams, but it also has its pros and cons. This article looks at the advantages and disadvantages of using Airtable.

Table of Contents

What is Airtable?

Airtable is an online platform that enables users to build and customize apps using real-time, shared data. It connects teams, data, and workflows using a no-code/low-code platform and ensures that everyone from anywhere is using the most up-to-date information. Users at any technical skill level can choose how to view information that is relevant to them through pre-built views or with custom interfaces. Airtable The software also allows teams to move work forward with increased speed. Built-in automations help reduce manual work and error-prone repetitive data entry. Apps built in Airtable can integrate with many other applications and platforms so teams can create end-to-end workflows and complete business solutions. The platform is scalable to help businesses of all sizes and includes enterprise-grade tools for stricter control, granular permissions, and extendable architecture. Back to top

Airtable Software Use Cases

Airtable is a customizable platform with modular structures for a wide range of teams and users.

Company Data Management

Airtable gives users the central platform to store company data and retrieve them in a highly accessible way. Any user with the right permission can access company data to perform their task and complete their work. It allows different teams and departments to make the right decisions faster without data silos preventing them from seeing the bigger picture. It offers enterprise-grade features that allow teams to work across the organization by syncing information across systems in real time. It is capable of handling large teams and datasets. Airtable provides 250,000 records per database, supporting an unlimited workspace with 3-year revision history. It also complies with most data security standards.

Team Collaboration

Airtable is flexible enough to easily enable different teams to manage their tasks and processes collaboratively. Marketing teams can manage their deliverables at every stage of their campaign with a centralized plan, linked actions, and the right priorities. Sales teams can work together smoothly to manage accounts, simplify handover, and win more loyal customers. Teams can easily collaborate with one another and with their customers to collect feedback and analyze insights. Operations teams can streamline requests and work fulfillment without any duplication of work with a single source of truth. HR teams can work seamlessly together throughout the entire process, from hiring to onboarding. Finance teams can communicate quickly with other departments to organize requests and plan budgets.

Project and Workflow Management

Airtable is a handy platform to help teams manage cross-functional projects, improve their work processes, and stay aligned with company goals. The centralized data source with intuitive tools makes it easy for teams to build connected apps that support their unique workflows. Automation, integration, and various templates enable different teams to work effectively within their specific departments but still keep in sync with the larger organization. Airtable The platform offers ready-to-use templates for inventory management, vendor management, goal tracking, and contract management to improve operations. Of ;articular interest to HR professionals, Airtable has applicant tracking, employee onboarding, and company org chart templates. Other templates for various use cases are CRM, sales pipeline, asset management, and customer success management. Airtable is a customizable platform with modular structures for a wide range of teams and users.

Company Data Management

Airtable gives users the central platform to store company data and retrieve them in a highly accessible way. Any user with the right permission can access company data to perform their task and complete their work. It allows different teams and departments to make the right decisions faster without data silos preventing them from seeing the bigger picture. It offers enterprise-grade features that allow teams to work across the organization by syncing information across systems in real time. It is capable of handling large teams and datasets. Airtable provides 250,000 records per database, supporting an unlimited workspace with 3-year revision history. It also complies with most data security standards.

Team Collaboration

Airtable is flexible enough to easily enable different teams to manage their tasks and processes collaboratively. Marketing teams can manage their deliverables at every stage of their campaign with a centralized plan, linked actions, and the right priorities. Sales teams can work together smoothly to manage accounts, simplify handover, and win more loyal customers. Teams can easily collaborate with one another and with their customers to collect feedback and analyze insights. Operations teams can streamline requests and work fulfillment without any duplication of work with a single source of truth. HR teams can work seamlessly together throughout the entire process, from hiring to onboarding. Finance teams can communicate quickly with other departments to organize requests and plan budgets.

Project and Workflow Management

Airtable is a handy platform to help teams manage cross-functional projects, improve their work processes, and stay aligned with company goals. The centralized data source with intuitive tools makes it easy for teams to build connected apps that support their unique workflows. Automation, integration, and various templates enable different teams to work effectively within their specific departments but still keep in sync with the larger organization. Airtable The platform offers ready-to-use templates for inventory management, vendor management, goal tracking, and contract management to improve operations. Of ;articular interest to HR professionals, Airtable has applicant tracking, employee onboarding, and company org chart templates. Other templates for various use cases are CRM, sales pipeline, asset management, and customer success management. Back to top

Airtable Cons and Disadvantages

While Airtable claims to be versatile for a broad range of use cases, some users are wondering if it has the depth of functionality to replace a dedicated solution.

Limited Project Management Features

Airtable does not have all the features that project teams may expect from dedicated project management software. Purpose-built project management solutions typically include project budgeting, expense management, or critical path analysis; functions that would be complex to build without a team of developers. Airtable does offer a project planning template with Gantt view, but Gantt and timeline views are available only on certain of its higher-priced paid plans. Although Airtable simplifies the manipulation of data, some users are not able to make connections among tables like from a full-blown database to create the customized project management features they need.

Segmented Collaboration Between Bases

Airtable provides teams real-time collaboration and unlimited commenting. It also offers unlimited databases or ‘bases’ per account. However, each database has its own collaborators and comments. A sync functionality is available, but it will sync only tables within the same database. A workaround is to link one base to another base to create either a synced table or copy data to a new table, both of which involve complex steps.

Premium Extension Features

Airtable offers several work views like grid, calendar, form, Kanban, and gallery. Other work views like Gantt view and timeline view are available only on higher-priced paid plans. Further, other visualizations and functionality called extensions are also limited per plan. The lowest-priced paid plan includes only 3 extensions per base. Some examples of extensions are search, charts, pivot tables, summary, or description fields, so it is not the most affordable tool for note-taking, wiki, content creation, or project reporting. Back to top

Airtable Pros and Advantages

Airtable is popular because it provides an effective solution for a good number of teams and companies that need to create ready-made or customizable apps without having to invest much on setup time or personnel training.

Real-time Data Accessibility

Airtable functions like a relational database where teams can see centralized data as it changes or gets updated in real time. Data can come from internal teams as well as integrated sources from other platforms. Therefore, users can view or use the most up-to-date information to complete their work and make accurate decisions. They can collaborate with different teams on shared data to work in unison as one team or company.

Intuitive Apps Builder

Airtable’s no-code/low-code architecture allows users to build the tools that meet their needs. It is flexible so teams can dial in the right features instead of adjusting the way they work to fit their software. The interface designer enables a user to build and share custom interfaces intuitively with clicks and drag-and-drop manipulation instead of writing code.

Quick Setup of Work Views

Aside from an intuitive app builder, Airtable has ready-made work views so users can quickly choose how to see information. Teams can look at the same data arranged in different ways to find the insight that is relevant to them. They can choose from a Kanban board view, Gantt view, calendar view, grid view, gallery, or form view. Depending on what action a user wants to take, these views help teams track progress, meet deadlines, plan for events, spot trends, showcase images, or capture data in a standard way. Airtable

Built-in Automation and Integration

Airtable is versatile because users can apply it in a variety of ways, and build the solution most useful for their situation. Built-in automations using trigger and action logic streamline manual processes. Teams can increase their efficiency by letting the software work on tasks it can handle by itself so people can work on tasks only they humans should handle. The platform can readily integrate with more than two dozen apps and can connect with more using Zapier, Workato, Integromat, Tray.io, or through its API. Back to top

Ready to Try Airtable Software?

Airtable’s ability to create a visual project management platform gives teams and organizations access real-time data and build applications quickly. It is customizable, extensible, quick to set up, and with views and templates for a wide range of use cases. Airtable makes it easy for companies to stay connected so that all their efforts align with bigger goal.

Back to top If you’re interested in learning more about top-rated project management software, project-management.com actively recommends the following:

Sign up for our emails and be the first to see helpful how-tos, insider tips & tricks, and a collection of templates & tools. Subscribe Now

Featured Partners

Subscribe to Project Management Insider for best practices, reviews and resources.

Project-Management.com Avatar

Get the Newsletter

Subscribe to Project Management Insider for best practices, reviews and resources.