Airtable pricing: The hidden costs and how Baserow compares

When evaluating no-code databases, Airtable and Baserow often top the list. Both simplify data management for small teams and growing teams that need flexible collaboration tools without deep technical skills. But once your project management needs scale beyond a few thousand records, understanding Airtable pricing becomes crucial.

At first glance, Airtable’s paid plans appear straightforward—choose a pricing plan, add your users, and start building. Yet behind the clear tiers lie record caps, automation limits, and integration costs that can make scaling expensive. In this guide, we unpack Airtable’s pricing structures, surface its hidden costs, and show how Baserow’s open-source model delivers a far more cost-effective alternative.

How Airtable’s pricing works

Airtable operates on a per-seat model, meaning each active collaborator with edit rights counts as billable. Whether you’re on a team plan or an enterprise plan, costs rise as new members join—especially when seats are billed annually by credit card. Read-only users are free, but once a colleague edits or comments on records, that seat becomes part of your monthly total.

All Airtable pricing plans include four main tiers:

Every plan follows the same “month billed annually” structure, and features like automation runs, API calls, and revision history scale upward with each tier. However, Airtable’s caps remain rigid—so a sales team or operations department with heavy datasets can hit those ceilings quickly.

For readers comparing no-code database costs, the CloudEagle Airtable pricing guide lists recent changes that doubled per-seat prices and reduced allowances on lower tiers.

Free plan — where it fits and where it breaks

The Airtable free plan looks generous for newcomers but becomes restrictive once data volume grows. “1 000 records per base” means that each workspace table stops accepting new rows after hitting that number. With only 1 GB of attachment space and no synced tables or integrations, most project management workflows outgrow it within weeks.

Still, for freelancers tracking content calendars or product prototypes, the free plan provides a fast, visual start. But for even modest team collaboration, upgrading becomes inevitable.

Team plan — for small teams starting to scale

At $20 per user per month (billed annually), the team plan suits small cross-functional groups managing marketing campaigns or client pipelines. It supports 50 000 records per base and 10 GB of storage. However, limits on API calls and automations can slow complex integrations.

A small agency, for instance, may find itself paying extra once multiple editors or departments require access. Compared with similarly priced Baserow Premium, which supports more rows and advanced views at half the price, Airtable’s team plan can feel expensive relative to what the plans offer.

Business plan — for growing teams

Airtable’s business plan increases the cap to 125,000 records per base, along with 100 GB of attachment storage, priced at $45 per user per month. This tier targets growing teams that manage heavier workloads or rely on more complex automations. While this jump in record limits looks substantial on paper, many users report performance slowdowns well before reaching that threshold.

For companies expanding their project management or sales operations, the business plan seems attractive but quickly becomes expensive as new editors are added. In comparison, Baserow’s Advanced plan offers 250 000 rows per workspace for just $20 per user per month—double the data capacity at less than half the price.

Feedback from the Baserow community often highlights how this open-source model removes the frustration of record limits, providing scalable performance without forcing an upgrade to higher, costlier tiers.

Enterprise Scale plan — when governance and scale dominate

For enterprise-scale plans, Airtable offers up to 500 000 records per base and 1 TB of attachments, plus administrative controls, SSO, and priority support. Pricing is available on request and generally starts around $60 per seat per month.

Although this tier adds oversight tools, it still lacks a self-hosted option. For organizations operating under strict data-governance policies—finance, healthcare, or public sector—that can be a deal-breaker. You remain dependent on Airtable’s SaaS servers for uptime, compliance, and security updates.

Baserow, in contrast, offers both managed cloud hosting and self-hosted deployments, letting enterprises run databases on-premises while retaining unlimited rows and storage. That flexibility often proves more cost-effective than committing to closed enterprise scale plans.

The hidden costs of Airtable

Beneath the clear-cut pricing structure lie subtle expenses that accumulate as teams grow:

1. Seat creep — Because every editor or commenter is billable, adding collaborators can double monthly charges without warning.
2. Integration tax — Connecting Airtable to CRMs or analytics tools often requires Zapier or Make, each with separate subscription fees.
3. Automation ceilings — API and automation caps throttle workflows unless you upgrade.
4. Performance limits — Bases slow down far before the 125 000 record mark, forcing earlier migration to higher tiers.
5. Vendor lock-in — With no open-source or self-hosted path, data portability depends entirely on Airtable’s ecosystem.

For small teams, these constraints might seem manageable. But for any business plan that scales across departments, the combined effect is higher operational overhead and less flexibility.

Baserow: a more cost-effective alternative

Baserow delivers a familiar spreadsheet-style interface while removing the hard caps that make Airtable pricing steep at scale. Its open-source foundation allows customization through plugins and API integrations, enabling businesses to extend functionality without hidden add-on costs.

Hosted pricing starts with a free tier for up to 3 000 rows per workspace, followed by Premium ($5 per user per month) and Advanced ($20 per user per month) plans — each supporting unlimited databases and generous storage. Self-hosted deployments eliminate row and storage limits entirely, offering enterprise plan features such as role-based access, audit logs, and SSO.

For example, a sales team hitting Airtable’s 50 000-record barrier could migrate to Baserow Advanced Cloud and manage 250 000 rows for less than half the cost per user—while retaining faster performance and data control.

Real-world use case: when teams outgrow Airtable

A digital sales team managing customer leads once used Airtable’s Team plan to track campaigns and forecasts. As data volume increased, the base neared 50 000 records and automations slowed dramatically. Adding more editors triggered higher monthly charges, and connecting reporting tools through Zapier introduced another subscription layer.

After migrating to Baserow Advanced Cloud, the team instantly handled 250 000 rows per workspace and built custom automations directly through Baserow’s API-first platform—no external connectors required. When compliance requirements expanded, they deployed a self-hosted enterprise plan to maintain full control over data residency and security policies.

The result: faster load times, lower annual cost, and zero limits on growth.

Community insights

Across the Baserow community, users consistently note how open-source flexibility eliminates vendor lock-in. Developers highlight the ability to add plugins or adapt the schema for niche project management workflows—something Airtable’s closed platform cannot replicate. Others emphasize predictable billing: no per-seat surprises, no API throttling, and transparent storage.

These conversations echo a common theme: teams want collaboration tools that scale with them rather than penalize them as they expand.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How much does Airtable cost?

Plans start free, then $20 per user per month for Team, $45 for Business, and around $60+ for Enterprise Scale—each billed annually.

• What does 1 000 records per base mean?

Each database (base) stops accepting new rows once that count is reached; additional records require deletion or an upgrade.

• What is Airtable mostly used for?

It’s a hybrid spreadsheet-database used for project management, content planning, and lightweight CRM systems.

• How can I reduce Airtable costs?

Limit billable seats, archive unused bases, and evaluate open-source options like Baserow where plans offer more headroom.

• Is Airtable really free?

Yes—but the free plan restricts storage, records, and automations, making upgrades inevitable for teams.

• Is Airtable better than Excel?

It’s more flexible for collaboration, yet Excel remains stronger for deep analytics; Baserow’s spreadsheet-style database combines both benefits.

Conclusion

Airtable remains a polished no-code tool, but its pricing structures create hidden costs that scale quickly. For organizations needing higher record limits, compliance options, and predictable budgets, Baserow provides a more cost-effective and customizable path.

Take control of your data today—sign up for Baserow and experience open-source flexibility without the surprise bills.