Best Low-Code Database
March 27, 2025

Best Low-Code Database

Kaley White | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Airtable

My organization used Airtable as a low-code "database" and project management tool. We weren't large enough to need "real" relational databases, and Airtable allowed our nontechnical users to easily perform CRUD operations and visualize information.

Pros

  • Custom views of tabular data.
  • Audit trails: who edited what, and when?
  • Custom scripts and automations.

Cons

  • When records are deleted, there could be more options for what happens to associated records in other tables.
  • Multi-select fields should be sortable.
  • The per-user pricing model can be cumbersome when you need to share bases with third parties but can't use a publicly accessible URL.
  • Allowed us to centralize customer information from many different sources, saving valuable support agent time
  • Streamlined project management task reminders
  • Provided easy data entry for external parties
Like most low-code tools, Airtable is designed for easy use by nontechnical personnel. Unlike many low-code tools, though, Airtable largely lives up to its promise. Project managers, salespeople, and science employees have easily picked up Airtable for many different use cases. Airtable documentation is top-notch as well; if a user was having trouble with Airtable, our support team could easily point them to a helpful support article.
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 requires more code and has a higher learning curve than Airtable, but Airtable provides much of the same functionality.

Do you think Airtable delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Airtable's feature set?

Yes

Did Airtable live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Airtable go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Airtable again?

Yes

Airtable is great when you need more than a spreadsheet but less than a SQL database. For example, we used it to organize the implementation progress of a certain type of feature in our software product.

We tried using Airtable as a substitute for a project manager, and that unexpectedly did not work well. However, the PM that we finally did onboard ended up using the PM base that I built.

Airtable Feature Ratings

Project Management
6.4
Task Management
8
Resource Management
Not Rated
Gantt Charts
Not Rated
Scheduling
Not Rated
Workflow Automation
Not Rated
Team Collaboration
8
Support for Agile Methodology
Not Rated
Support for Waterfall Methodology
Not Rated
Document Management
6
Email integration
7
Mobile Access
3
Timesheet Tracking
Not Rated
Change request and Case Management
Not Rated
Budget and Expense Management
Not Rated
Professional Services Automation ()
Not Rated

Using Airtable

15 - About half of the employees at the startup I worked at, used Airtable, including product, science, support, and sales.
We had no dedicated Airtable support personnel, but customer support moonlit as internal IT and was available to troubleshoot and handle Airtable implementation/project requests.
  • Centralizing customer support information from multiple sources, such as the ticketing system and CRM
  • Tracking customer research collaboration status
  • Managing customer support agent onboarding and training
  • Externally facing dashboard for our distributors
  • Research collaboration agreement document management
  • Support knowledgebase article tracking/management
  • License management app
  • Task tracker
My organization retained our Airtable subscription even after we were acquired, so we could still access our bases.

Evaluating Airtable and Competitors

Not Sure
I was uninvolved with my organization's purchase of Airtable, but I believe it was chosen largely for its usability, even for nontechnical users.
N/A. I wasn't involved in the evaluation and selection process.

Airtable Implementation

Airtable Training

  • No Training
Airtable is a pretty usable product, and it has extensive self-help documentation for both technical and nontechnical users. Support is also very responsive.

Configuring Airtable

Airtable is very customizable for all kinds of use cases. We especially enjoy the ability to create custom views for different user types and even share bases with non-Airtable users via URL and password.
Airtable is miles beyond a spreadsheet for data management, but it's not a panacea. For example, I wouldn't recommend attempting to build your own in-house project management software using it, even with custom scripts and automations.
No - we have not done any customization to the interface
Yes - we have added extensive custom code - We attempted many custom automations, data entry, and other CRUD tasks using custom code. For instance, we added "Delete" buttons that deleted all related records when a given record was deleted.

Airtable Support

Airtable support provides prompt, comprehensive responses, and Airtable always takes feature requests.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Quick Initial Response
Not kept informed
No. Airtable is user-friendly enough as to not need much support, especially with such great self-help documentation.

Using Airtable

ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Consistent
Quick to learn
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • Adding, removing, and editing records
  • Linking records between tables
  • Custom views for different users and use cases
  • Data entry forms are somewhat limited
  • UIs for custom scripts are somewhat limited
Yes - I found the mobile interface too crowded and didn't use it more than a couple times.

Airtable Reliability

We have never had issues with many users accessing the same Airtable base simultaneously.
We never experienced any outages.
Airtable loads fairly quickly. Some custom scripts and automations can be a little slow, though.

Integrating Airtable

We successfully integrated Airtable with other software, such as Google Sheets, using Zapier.
  • File import/export
  • API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
  • Javascript widgets
Before writing custom code for integration, check whether that integration is already built in.

Relationship with Airtable

I did not help purchase the product, but Airtable's per user pricing structure is inconvenient when some users only need occasional or read-only use.

Upgrading Airtable

Yes - I was uninvolved with the change, but I believe a big reason was to add support for more users as our company grew.

Comments

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