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Airtable charges $20 (Team) or $45 (Business) per editor per month billed annually, with caps on records, storage and automations depending on the plan. A custom app costs $6,800 to $22,400 (€6,000–€20,000)excl. VAT once: it takes over when the base becomes critical, large or open to customers.
Airtable is an excellent tool for structuring data without a developer. Many teams build a real business tool in it: case tracking, catalog, scheduling, a small CRM. Then the base grows, automations pile up, customers or partners need access, and the tool starts holding you back. Here are Airtable’s public prices, a 3-year comparison, and the signs that it is time to move to an application.
Airtable public pricing
Prices checked in October 2026 on Airtable’s pricing page. At the time, the page showed prices in US dollars, per seat per month, billed annually. Monthly billing prices were not shown.
| Plan | Price | What is billed |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | presented as a plan for getting started |
| Team | $20 per seat per month, billed annually | each user who can edit at least one base |
| Business | $45 per seat per month, billed annually | same |
| Enterprise Scale | custom quote | based on the organization |
Useful detail: read-only collaborators, form submissions and share links are not billed. The page also states that each plan has caps on records, attachments, automations and API calls, without giving numbers: they are in the plans overview in Airtable’s help center, and you should check them for your case since they change.
The 3-year cost compared with custom software
Assumptions for this example, to replace with your own: 15 editors, annual billing, no price change over 3 years, no AI add-on or paid extension. For the custom option: an app at $16,800 (€15,000)excl. VAT plus €2,500 a year for hosting and maintenance. Airtable amounts are in dollars, custom in euros.
| Option | Annual cost | 3-year cost |
|---|---|---|
| Airtable Team ($20) | $3,600 | $10,800 |
| Airtable Business ($45) | $8,100 | $24,300 |
| Custom app ($16,800 (€15,000)excl. VAT + €2,500 a year) | €2,500 a year, plus the upfront investment | €22,500 |
On subscription alone, Airtable Team is still cheaper. The gap narrows on Business or with more editors, but that is not where the decision is made. What matters is risk: a base that has become critical to the business, whose logic lives in automations and scripts nobody fully masters. The full calculation method is in the 3-year total cost.
Signs that Airtable is reaching its limits
| Sign | What it reveals |
|---|---|
| You are approaching record or automation caps | The base has outgrown what the plan was designed for |
| Automations fail or trigger in cascades | The business logic has become too complex for the tool |
| Customers or partners need access to part of the data | You need fine-grained, row-level and role-based permissions |
| Field teams need a reliable mobile app, sometimes offline | Generic interfaces are no longer enough |
| Only one person really understands the base | Dependency and outage risk |
| Data must flow to and from the ERP or invoicing | No-code connectors become fragile |
One or two signs: improve the base. Three or more: migration becomes a serious question.
When to keep Airtable
I would advise you to stay on Airtable if:
- the base is internal, used by a small team;
- the process still changes every month: Airtable lets you adjust it without a developer, which is a real advantage;
- volumes stay well below the caps of your plan;
- an error or outage does not stop your business.
In these cases, a custom app would freeze a process that is still taking shape too early. The guide on custom vs no-code covers this trade-off.
Moving from Airtable to an application
Your Airtable base is not wasted: it is the best possible requirements document. Tables become the data model, views become screens, automations become tested business rules.
| Step | Content | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Base audit | Tables, fields, automations, scripts, integrations | a few days (express audit $660 (€589)excl. VAT) |
| Scoping | Scope of the first version, fixed quote | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Mockups | Screens tested by users | 1 to 3 weeks |
| Development and data migration | Tested batches, import from Airtable | 1 to 3 months |
Indicative budget: $6,800 to $22,400 (€6,000–€20,000)excl. VAT for a business app, with a 0.85 multiplier when a prototype already exists. The estimator gives you a range in one minute. The page on taking over a no-code app explains the takeover method.
Where to start
- Take stock: number of records, automations, scripts, integrations, users.
- Compare with your caps in Airtable’s help center.
- A 30-minute call to decide between improving the base and migrating.
- Scoping, mockups, development in batches, then switchover once the data is verified, with three months of support included.
Frequently asked questions
What are Airtable’s limits?
Each plan caps records per base, attachment storage, automation runs and API calls. The pricing page says you need to upgrade once a limit is reached; the exact numbers are in Airtable’s help center and change over time, so check them for your plan.
Are read-only users billed on Airtable?
According to the pricing page checked in October 2026, no: on Team and Business, only users with edit permission on at least one base are billed. Read-only collaborators, form submissions and share links are not.
Can we migrate an Airtable base without losing everything?
The data can be exported as CSV or through Airtable’s API, and the table structure becomes the basis of the app’s data model. Automations, scripts and interfaces have to be rebuilt: they are inventoried during scoping.
Can an Airtable base serve as a prototype?
Yes, and it makes an excellent basis for requirements. A working base already shows the data, the stages and the useful views. With an existing prototype, my estimator applies a 0.85 multiplier.