How much does Airtable cost in 2026?

Team: $20 per seat a month on annual billing ($24 billed monthly); Business: $45 per seat a month on annual billing ($54 billed monthly). 1,000 records per base, 1 GB of attachments and 100 automation runs a month. Checked October 26, 2026.

What is a cheaper alternative to Airtable?

Baserow (Free to self-host (MIT); cloud free plan with 3,000 rows; Premium $10/user/mo billed yearly), NocoDB (Free for up to 3 users; Plus $12/seat/mo billed yearly; self-hosted Community is free (fair-code)), Google Sheets (Free with a Google account; included in Google Workspace). The closest open-source match to Airtable’s tables and views, though it has fewer apps and extensions.

Spreadsheet-database for team workflows

Should you build your own Airtable?

Q: Should you build your own Airtable?

Build it. Many teams run one core workflow in Airtable: a lightweight CRM, an inventory list, a content calendar. Once the fields stop changing, a small internal app on Postgres does the same job with proper permissions and no per-seat bill.

Build it for one stable workflow. Five editors on Team cost about $3,600 over 3 years.

BUILD

Short answer

Many teams run one core workflow in Airtable: a lightweight CRM, an inventory list, a content calendar. Once the fields stop changing, a small internal app on Postgres does the same job with proper permissions and no per-seat bill.

Buy for 3 years: $3,600
Build and run for 3 years: $2,485
Verdict: BUILD

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Cheaper options

Open sourceBaserowFree to self-host (MIT); cloud free plan with 3,000 rows; Premium $10/user/mo billed yearlyThe closest open-source match to Airtable’s tables and views, though it has fewer apps and extensions.CheaperNocoDBFree for up to 3 users; Plus $12/seat/mo billed yearly; self-hosted Community is free (fair-code)Puts an Airtable-style grid on a database you control, but Plus caps you at 50,000 records and 20 GB.Already includedGoogle SheetsFree with a Google account; included in Google WorkspaceEnough for simple lists and tracking, but it has no linked records or form-to-record views.

Airtable pricing in 2026

Plan	Billed yearly	Billed monthly
Team Typical	$20/seat/mo	$24/seat/mo
Business	$45/seat/mo	$54/seat/mo

Free plan: 1,000 records per base, 1 GB of attachments and 100 automation runs a month

Paying too much? If each base stays under 1,000 records, the free plan is enough. Team raises the limit to 50,000 records per base.

Per editor, billed annually, from Airtable’s pricing page. Monthly billing prices and plan limits come from Airtable’s support article. Read-only collaborators are free. Checked October 26, 2026.

Run your own numbers

Defaults are a typical small team at $30/hour. Change anything.

If you buy Airtable

Plan

Seats

If you build it

Your time, $ per hour

Hours to build

Upkeep, hours per month

Hosting and services, $ per month

Buy

$3,600

Build

$2,485

Building saves about $1,115 over 3 years.

3-year totals. Building includes your time, upkeep, running costs and one month of an AI app builder ($25). Change any number to match your situation.

What you’d build

Your workflow’s tables in Postgres (Supabase)
The forms and list or board views your team actually uses
Roles and row-level security
CSV import from your Airtable base

Supabase Pro, so a database your team depends on never pauses.

What you’d give up

Changing fields and views on the fly without a developer
Interfaces, automations and extensions
Thousands of integrations
Free read-only seats (Airtable only bills editors)

Risks the price doesn’t show

Schema changesMedium

New fields now need a developer (or a prompt).

MigrationMedium

Check the imported data carefully before switching off Airtable.

PermissionsMedium

Get row-level security right before inviting the team.

When the verdict flips

Switch to BUY if your team still changes the structure every week, or if only one or two people edit.

Build your own Airtable this weekend

The free Build Blueprint gives you the spec, a database schema with security rules, and the prompts to paste into Lovable or Claude Code, in order.

Get the blueprint

Sources

Airtable pricing · Airtable plans (support article)

Build hours are our estimates for one person using an AI app builder. How we score. Spotted a wrong price? Tell us on X @BuildictHQ.

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