Airtable vs. BQE CORE

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Airtable
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Airtable is a web-based application builder that combines spreadsheet usability with relational database architecture. The platform enables users to construct custom operational applications, configure automated workflows, and design tailored interfaces without traditional software development.
$24
per month per user
BQE CORE
Score 8.8 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
BQE CORE is a business management solution built specifically for professional service firms. BQE CORE is a combination of a billing assistant, project management, and accounting solution. CORE is designed to do the hard work of delivering actionable insights directly to the user's dashboards or inbox. BQE CORE replaces the products Engineeroffice, Archioffice, and BillQuick; the functionality of these applications is now found in BQE CORE.N/A
Pricing
AirtableBQE CORE
Editions & Modules
Team
$24
per month per user
Business
$54
per month per user
Enterprise
Custom Pricing
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AirtableBQE CORE
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AirtableBQE CORE
Considered Both Products
Airtable
Chose Airtable
Airtable is the best for structuring, automating and interacting with data, but only for internal use. For public-facing needs, other apps are required for their support of custom domains and styling.
Chose Airtable
Airtable is far more sophisticated than Sheets or Excel in terms of its functions. The interface is also much easier on the eyes. People are less familiar with it and there is a bit of a learning curve, but overall, Airtable empowers us to do more and to better understand our …
Chose Airtable
Airtable is more presentable and fluid both in terms of project management and scheduling :)
Chose Airtable
I think it's way more robust than google sheets.
Chose Airtable
Airtable is the most user-friendly and adaptive. It's UX/UI is the most aesthetically pleasing (which matters a lot if its what you're staring at every day), and the customizability of having different views and perspectives of the same record is extremely helpful.

It's also a …
Chose Airtable
It is not comparable because we use it as a bridge those tools and our platform. So, in our use case, Airtable works more as a connector between the different tools we use and as a complement to eliminate repeated tasks trough automation. We are also exploring the possibility …
Chose Airtable
AirTable does a great job at Project Management. You can easily create tasks and set up reminders, including automated reminder emails, when deadlines draw near. You can group the tasks and can also group tasks in a variety of ways (not started, pending, completed or …
Chose Airtable
Airtable was a really good fit for this specific use case as it provided a huge number of collaboration features in an intuitive and pleasant-to-use interface. The free tier worked initially with our work, and the upgrade pathway was fair and made sense for us.
Chose Airtable
There's a saying that spreadsheets were never meant to be databases, and Airtable provides the missing piece for nontechnical users who need to hear that saying. It's more performant and provides more custom view options, for example, than Excel or Google Sheets.

Retool …
Chose Airtable
Salesforce Lightning Platform, Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Adobe Marketo Engage
Chose Airtable
Airtable is as powerful, if not more than these competitors. It has a simple interface like Asana or Trello but has robust data functions and tracking of Jira or ShotGrid (now called Flow). While I haven't found it as profoundly integrated as Jira, Airtable feels much more …
Chose Airtable
While a very capable tool, Smartsheet ultimately didn't provide the ease of use we required for our scenario. Monday was a great tool that felt very similar to Airtable, except its mobile app actually lead to some mismatched information and difficult use in time-sensitive …
Chose Airtable
Most comparable to Monday.com. Great, easy-to-use tool.
Chose Airtable
I have tried Trello, Monday.com, Meister Task, and even Google Sheets. They are all great and solid applications. Some even have really nice user interfaces. However, none of them have met my primary need of being able to view my current projects and associated deadlines at a …
Chose Airtable
Airtable is:
  • More customizable.
  • Simpler to use than Excel or Sheets—you don't need to write formulas
Chose Airtable
Airtable is a great collaboration tool, Its kanban boards facilitate me to add a texture to my projects. There is so much to talk
Chose Airtable
Airtable is so far the best project management tool I've used so far—it is way more visually appealing to the eye and offers the most customizations.
Chose Airtable
Airtable exceeds all competitors I’ve seen. The feature set is full and only growing. The UI is intuitive for non-tech employees. Any competitors that match Airtable are really operating in a different space. Airtable is the industry leader in this category. Period.
Chose Airtable
Asana is a great piece of software but it ultimately had too many features and offerings. Our main focus was having a 'smartsheet' that easily allowed for collaboration at a very affordable price. Airtable was the best fit for what we were looking for at the time. If we ever …
Chose Airtable
We have tried to use smart-sheet before but it is nowhere as good as Airtable. The user interface with Airtable is much better and it also has much more functionality.
Chose Airtable
The only similar thing that I have used is Google Sheets, and Airtable is much better than this as it provides way more abilities and creation of automation.
BQE CORE
Chose BQE CORE
Toms Planner gant charts are very easy to navigate and edit.
Chose BQE CORE
I previously used Gusto for both benefits / employee details and also time tracking. It was really nice to have everything in one place, and Gusto felt very simple. However, it did not have as many broken down categories for time allotment. Harvest felt similar to Gusto, and it …
Chose BQE CORE
It helps and have a great impact on It employees like me to track and submit my timesheet to my managers and higher officials and make a note that I have spend my working house valuable and resourceful and the managers can take a look at what have I done in my working hours
Chose BQE CORE
our team uses both the platforms and does not tie very well. bamboo does have a more pleasant to the eye interface comparatively. it is also a bit easier to navigate and not have to click too many times to reach any particular information on bamboo. BQE CORE does do visuals of …
Chose BQE CORE
BQE CORE combined numerous products for us. It allows everything to be in one place which cuts down on the back and forth, as well as user error.
Chose BQE CORE
It was an admin desiring to switch. However CORE is easy to manage and calculate timesheet automatic with timer future. In addition I believe the admin stag like the billing aimless function and multiple additional future that monograph does not have. Without mentioning that …
Chose BQE CORE
BQE has more visual tools for determining billable hours and for tracking hours against a project. BQE has a better system for involving employee and simpler methods of tracking expenses.
Chose BQE CORE
Monograph did not allow exporting/importing of data nor did they offer integration with Quickbooks Desktop
Chose BQE CORE
Again, since I'm only an employee, I had no part in choosing BQE for my organization. But it is the best timesheet tracking system that I've used, and I've used 3 other ones in the past. BQE is the simplest to use, yet equally as powerful as the others. When editing my …
Chose BQE CORE
It’s the best program I have used to date! It was selected for me through my company.
Chose BQE CORE
They aren't used for the same thing so not able to compare.
Chose BQE CORE
Not used any other software than accounting. This is much easier for my staff to use because it's not a straight up accounting software.
Chose BQE CORE
I didn't take part in selecting BQE CORE; however, our CEO chose it because of its ability to help with invoicing and incorporating other software into the program such as Gantt charts. I like BQE CORE better than BillQuick because it is more user friendly and also displays the …
Chose BQE CORE
BQE CORE has a much more streamlined process for entering expense entries than Concur. You are able to select which project you would like to charge to and where expense entries are sent for approval, whether that be your manager or the project manager. BQE CORE also is very …
Chose BQE CORE
I have only really used this product.
Chose BQE CORE
BQE CORE is much more in-depth at time tracking than Harvest. Harvest is easier to use out of the gate but BQE CORE is worth the learning curve. I haven't had a chance to use BQE CORE on a mobile device so I can't speak to how it stacks up there against Harvest.
Chose BQE CORE
I don't recall the previous program we used as this was years ago, but we had to put in time manually each week and this was very time consuming. BQE CORE keeps your projects in the timesheet from week to week to you don't have to reinput the project number.
Features
AirtableBQE CORE
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
7.8
Ratings
1% above category average
BQE CORE
8.1
Ratings
5% above category average
Task Management8.90 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Resource Management8.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Gantt Charts8.40 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Scheduling7.40 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Workflow Automation8.00 Ratings8.10 Ratings
Team Collaboration7.90 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Support for Agile Methodology8.30 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Support for Waterfall Methodology8.50 Ratings4.60 Ratings
Document Management7.50 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Email integration7.10 Ratings6.30 Ratings
Mobile Access5.90 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Timesheet Tracking7.80 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Change request and Case Management8.20 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Budget and Expense Management7.10 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Professional Services Automation
Comparison of Professional Services Automation features of Product A and Product B
Airtable
-
Ratings
BQE CORE
8.7
Ratings
12% above category average
Quotes/estimates00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Invoicing00 Ratings8.90 Ratings
Project & financial reporting00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Integration with accounting software00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Best Alternatives
AirtableBQE CORE
Small Businesses
Stackby
Stackby
Score 8.9 out of 10
Stackby
Stackby
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
InEight
InEight
Score 8.2 out of 10
InEight
InEight
Score 8.2 out of 10
Enterprises
InEight
InEight
Score 8.2 out of 10
InEight
InEight
Score 8.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AirtableBQE CORE
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(0 ratings)
9.3
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.5
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.3
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.4
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.0
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
2.3
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
8.0
(0 ratings)
4.5
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
8.0
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AirtableBQE CORE
Likelihood to Recommend
Airtable is well suited for cross-functional teams who all have an interest in data site - it's democratizing who owns data. Especially if there will be a need to add input on a cell-level basis view comment functionality with the expectation of @mentioned parties respond. Airtable is less suited for teams who need to run functions, jobs, and macros across a data set; they're best suited for Excel.
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I would recommend this for our industry: architecture, engineering, or construction. I would recommend this for any larger firm with many employees or high number of projects. I would particularly recommend this for a company with projects that have budget constraints and where time tracking and expense tracking is very important. I would not recommend this complicated software for a small firm with a small amount of income or number of projects.
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Pros
  • I can create tables, create and customize fields
  • Airtable has capabilities commonly found in spreadsheet applications, but also has some of the features found in databases.
  • The ability to filter fields. I set up a filter on the status field, so when a project is marked, complete, on hold, or canceled, that record is hidden from my current projects table view. If it is marked complete, the record is moved to the completed projects table view. In this way I can easily access a record of past projects
  • Being able to duplicate tables and create alternate views
  • Collapse and expand records. When I collapse the rows, I can easily scan current projects, next steps, project status, and due dates. When I expand the row, or field, I can see more detailed information about that field or record very easily. I can also expand or open the entire record. This is is helpful, when I am entering a lot of information to multiple fields in that record.
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  • Invoice Collections within Billing is a great tool because of the ability to take notes and track contact.
  • Invoices are professional looking and easy for our clients to understand the overall progress within each phase of their project.
  • Dashboards are the best tool EVER!
  • The Contact List feature within Clients setup is the perfect way to track multiple project managers within a large company that also has multiple contracts with us.
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Cons
  • Airtable does not integrate with collaboration services with which it is possible to review live changes within each spreadsheet (in the case of keeping them closed).
  • Does not automate analysis traffic.
  • It does not include any section where it is possible to communicate with the other editors.
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  • Customizable Reporting
  • Linking Project to Payment all together
  • Assigning contacts to particular roles - such as Invoicing, Contracts, etc.
  • Accounting Functionality - they are basically a project management accounting software, so in my opinion, they could learn some things from other accounting software such as QuickBooks etc.
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Likelihood to Renew
We love Airtable for how we use it and we know there are probably tons of other ways we can implement it for other departments. We just haven't gotten there yet (due to bandwith) Customer Support is also super helpful and overall ease of use is fantastic
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We have been using Core for a few years now, and honestly started to look at other software systems to see what was out there. What we chose was a nightmare for migration so we never left Core. Now we have added invoicing and payments from Core instead of double entry with QBO. Still only a few cycles in but looks like it will be up to speed soon and working smoothly.
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Usability
Airtable is a simple and intuitive tool. However, when you first set it up, you need someone who is curious and able to design a system that works for your organisation's use case. This takes some time, but it can be intuitive once it's set up.
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The foundation is awesome, like I have said before, however the house being built on it, the educational resources being provided to us (more of sales pitches that don't work), and flexible workflow opportunities, is making us look elsewhere for how much we will be spending on per user. It's crazy to think how flexible they are not when it comes to user settings. Lack of integration with other sources is awful.
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Reliability and Availability
I have rarely experience downtime, compared to other tools, and given how much time we spend on the tool. Even if there were to be, their updates on it are very timely, and our support team are able to provide any questions regarding
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I can only remember a couple of times in 4 years that Core has been unavailable.
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Performance
I never had any issues with load time, even with the integrations that we use today (google sheets) However, I'm curious if adding additional layers of integrations would slow down performance. We do carry quite a bit of data in Airtable, but, again, no impact on overall performance
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This is one area that does need some improvement. It can be slow at time, so we had our IT look at it from our side and we had no issues, so it has to be some slowness on their side.
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Support Rating
Airtable has great support. They have a variety of support features to answer any questions. They have great self teaching instructions for templates and product tours. They also have support for teams and project management. They also have a fantastic customer help line. They are able and willing to answer customer questions and never have customers waiting long
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As a new employee and CORE user, I talk to support on a weekly basis. I have never had to wait for more than 3 min to get connect with a support rep, and all my questions have been answered. The support representatives are polite and eager to help no matter how simple your question is.
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In-Person Training
This training was done in-house, but the Airtable team provided resources and how to guides to ensure that we covered all components of the system
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
Recorded trainings were provided by the Airtable team. Great as an evergreen resources to new team members and for anyone that wants to refresh their Airtable knowledge
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Make sure you have someone training you that fits your style of learning.
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Implementation Rating
Training all users was an important part of the implementation, which did take considerable time and effort. At first glance without training, the content calendar can be overwhelming because of the amount of data. The features within Airtable seem to be endless but our team was able to identify the most important to be successful.
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wont let me skip
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Alternatives Considered
Airtable is the most user-friendly and adaptive. It's UX/UI is the most aesthetically pleasing (which matters a lot if its what you're staring at every day), and the customizability of having different views and perspectives of the same record is extremely helpful. It's also a great cloud-based storage place for marketing materials, as it goes beyond simple storage - you can group together, make notes, connect, and comment on assets.
Read full review
Deltek Vision is far more advanced, more encompassing and offers more flexibility with what you want to do. However, it's also quite difficult to use, whereas BQE CORE is intuitive and user friendly. The trade off is worth it in some arenas but overall it's not suited for a larger fast paced company. Great for smaller companies.
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Scalability
There are TONS of opportunity to scale, but I think it's a matter if you have the time and resources to do so because the initial setup can be fairly time consuming and prioritized dedication
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This software works on a small and large scale.
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Return on Investment
  • It gives us a real-time experience of working.
  • Through this platform, I always have the idea bout which of my team member is working on which particular part of the project, I can easily track their progress, and also I can easily correct them where it is required by adding sticky notes, by sending the attachments and URLs.
  • Quality services.
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  • Quick setup of new tasks under a parent project, with immediate hourly billing to it.
  • Monitoring of details of non-chargeable efforts in appropriate detail
  • Validation of hourly cost, billing cost, benefit cost, profitability by person and role
  • Company tracking of write-off's included in corporate and project reporting, no data is "lost"
  • Can track excessive work time as +PTO in lieu of pay for use as future vacation
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ScreenShots

Airtable Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

BQE CORE Screenshots

Screenshot of Core powered by BQE SoftwareScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Dashboard ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE 360* Firm Performance ViewScreenshot of BQE CORE Reporting & AnalyticsScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Time EntryScreenshot of BQE CORE Project Expense Tracking