Kevin JohnsonAirtable is a cloud collaboration service based in San Francisco, California. Howie Liu, Andrew Ofstad, and Emmett Nicholas developed the platform in 2012. At its core, Airtable is a spreadsheet-database hybrid that applies database features on a spreadsheet.
It is a no-code platform, so users can create a database to feed their spreadsheets without writing any code. Unlike traditional spreadsheets, Airtable’s tables have intuitive cells populated with data, visual content, and interactive icons.
Teams can set up column types, add records, and link tables to collaborate on projects. Airtable also allows users to publish views to external websites. In 2022, Airtable employed over 1,200 people, but it laid off around 250 employees, or 20% of its workforce, in Dec 2022. [1]
Airtable redefines how teams collaborate with its innovative spreadsheet-database approach and no-code software. According to CEO Howie Liu, Airtable is well-capitalized despite the ongoing industry-wide downturn.
The company raised $52 million in Series B, $100 million in Series C, $185 million in Series D in Sep 2020, and $270 million in Series E in Mar 2021. In Dec 2021, Airtable closed a $735 million Series F round. This funding boosted Airtable’s valuation to $11.7 billion, reaching the decacorn status.
However, the company faces stiff competition from Quickbase, ClickUp, Google, Salesforce, Ninox, Trello, Microsoft, Asana, and Smartsheet. [2]
Here is an in-depth analysis of Airtable’s top 15 competitors and alternatives:
1. Quickbase
Year founded: 1999
Headquarter: Boston, Massachusetts
Quickbase is a software company that offers a no-code app development platform. Teams can build and customize tools to meet unique business needs without investing in new tech for each project. In 2022, Quickbase had around 6,000 customers on its platform.
Both Quickbase and Airtable offer no-code software; however, Quickbase helps business users visualize, connect, and control complex projects. The platform serves innovative companies from different industries, including AT&T, Mondelez, and Consigli Construction.
In 2022, Quickbase recorded significant growth in demand to support real estate projects. Its sales nearly doubled in 2022 compared to 2021. Quickbase is the top Airtable competitor and alternative. [3]
2. ClickUp
Year founded: 2016
Headquarter: San Diego, California
ClickUp offers a project management platform that replaces all workplace productivity tools with a single solution. Users can manage projects, track tasks and progress, share data, and set goals. Since its founding, ClickUp has raised $537.5 million in funding.
ClickUp combines task management, chat, documents, reminders, goals, spreadsheets, and workflows in one interface. It is an intuitive and customizable platform for managing projects and teams of any size.
In Apr 2022, ClickUp launched Whiteboard to develop work-from-home (WFH) analytics and AI-powered automated workforce supervision solution. ClickUp is the most innovative Airtable competitor. [4]
3. Google
Year founded: 1998
Headquarter: Mountain View, California
Google is an American multinational tech company. It offers Android Studio and Google Sheets, which compete against Airtable. In 2022, Google had around 119,000 employees.
Google Sheets offers a complete set of spreadsheet tools, including data processing and storage. Users can set up workspaces similar to task managers, CRMs, notebooks, planners, and databases. Unlike Airtable, Google Sheets is free to use.
On the other hand, Android Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for building Android apps, and is the best Airtable alternative for Android app developers.
In May 2022, Google released new Android Studio features to improve the development experience, making Google the fiercest Airtable competitor. [5]
4. Salesforce Platform
Year founded: 1999
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Salesforce Platform is an enterprise platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solution for building and testing apps. Developers can also use the platform to resolve defects in cloud applications. In 2022, Salesforce had around 73,500 employees.
The main competitive advantage of Salesforce is its industry-leading CRM. It helps sales, marketing, commerce, service, and IT teams work as one from a single platform. Unlike Airtable, Salesforce offers end-to-end business solutions.
Developers can use Salesforce’s AppExchange instead of Airtable to meet their app needs. In 2021, the company set a goal of reaching $50 billion in revenue by fiscal 2026, making Salesforce a formidable competitor for Airtable. [6]
5. Ninox
Year founded: 2013
Headquarter: Berlin, Germany
Ninox is a leading low-code platform provider. The company caters to the construction, trade, and manufacturing sectors, focusing on CRM, HR, and project management applications. In Apr 2022, Ninox raised €8 million to fuel its growth and global expansion.
Ninox offers lean, cost-effective software solutions tailored to the unique requirements of the companies. The company will use the new investment to develop Ninox Industry Kits, industry-specific and task-specific templates. These templates will help SMEs digitize projects quickly, transparently, and efficiently.
In 2022, Ninox had more than 6,500 customers and is one of the best alternatives to Airtable. [7]
6. Trello
Year founded: 2011
Headquarter: New York City, New York
Trello is a web-based project management, workflow, and issue-tracking platform owned by Australian tech giant Atlassian. Its Kanban board helps users streamline team interactions and boost productivity in the workplace. Currently, the platform supports 21 languages.
Trello and Airtable streamline team collaboration and workflow, but Trello needs to match Airtable as a standalone solution. To unlock Trello’s full potential, users need to leverage add-ons.
Fortunately, Trello provides a free plan with unlimited integrations. Teams can power up Trello with Google Drive or Dropbox for storage, Calendar or Gantt chart for time tracking, and Slack for communication. These add-ons consolidate workflows, project participants, and processes in a single platform, making Trello one of the top Airtable alternatives. [8]
7. Microsoft Visual Studio
Year founded: 1997
Headquarter: Redmond, Washington
Microsoft Visual Studio is the integrated development environment (IDE) offering from Microsoft Corporation. Developers can use this IDE to build web and mobile apps, websites, and web services.
In 2022, Microsoft released a 64-bit Visual Studio app. Users can run and debug large and complex solutions without consuming too much memory. [9]
Visual Studio and Airtable compete in the app development sector, but Visual Studio offers a lightweight source code editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Unlike Airtable’s low-code platform, Visual Studio caters to skilled coders and is one of the best Airtable alternatives for developers.
8. Asana
Year founded: 2008
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Asana is a work management platform that helps teams organize, track, and manage work. Users can create projects, assign tasks to teammates, and set deadlines. In 2022, Asana had over 1,000 employees.
Asana and Airtable improve team collaboration and productivity, but Asana specializes in work management. It streamlines workflows with robust features, including reporting tools, calendars, and time tracking.
In 2022, Asana recorded a high customer retention rate of 120%. The platform integrates with Microsoft Teams and Power BI, Gmail, Jira, Tableau, Salesforce, Vimeo, Splunk, and Netskope. These integrations increase Asana’s competitive advantage over Airtable. [10]
9. Smartsheet
Year founded: 2005
Headquarter: Bellevue, Washington
Smartsheet is a collaboration and online project management tool with a spreadsheet-like interface. The company makes most of its revenue from subscriptions. In 2022, Smartsheet employed around 2,600 people. [11]
Both Smartsheet and Airtable are hybrid solutions based on spreadsheets. Airtable combines spreadsheets with databases, while Smartsheet blends spreadsheets with Gantt charts, file sharing, and workplace automation.
Using Smartsheet, teams can track projects, assign tasks, and monitor progress, making Smartsheet one of the top Airtable alternatives for work management.
10. Monday.com
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Tel Aviv, Israel
Monday.com is a project and work operating platform. Like Airtable, Monday.com allows teams to build custom workflow applications. In Jun 2021, Monday.com went public in a $574 million IPO and recorded a surge in valuation to $7.5 billion. [12]
Monday.com and Airtable are collaborative tools, but Monday.com caters to PMPs (project management professionals), while Airtable serves teams in all sectors. The main benefit of using Monday.com is its customizable templates that simplify custom app development.
In 2022, Monday.com had more than 100,000 business clients. Monday.com is one of the best Airtable alternatives for project managers.
11. Basecamp
Year founded: 1999
Headquarter: Chicago, Illinois
Basecamp is a web-based project management tool developed by 37signals. Businesses use the platform to manage to-dos, files, messages, and tasks. In Sep 2022, 37signals launched Basecamp 4 with more features to help teams eliminate project complexities. [13]
Basecamp provides an intuitively organized and centralized workspace where team members can collaborate on everything. According to the company, Basecamp 4 is built for small businesses rather than Fortune 500.
The latest version of Basecamp offers new tools and features, including customizable home pages and more integrations, making Basecamp a worthy alternative to Airtable.
12. Wrike
Year founded: 2006
Headquarter: San Jose, California
Wrike is an enterprise work management platform owned by Citrix. Innovative companies like Hootsuite, Nielsen, Ogilvy, and Siemens use Wrike to plan, manage and execute work at scale. In 2021, Citrix had around 9,000 employees.
Wrike offers a configurable platform with enterprise-grade features and tools. So, it can meet the needs of any company, team, or application regardless of the scale or use case.
In May 2022, Wrike won seven subcategories in TrustRadius’ Top Rated Project Management Awards. As a subsidiary of Citrix, Wrike has enough resources to compete and poach some customers from Airtable. [14]
13. Appium
Year founded: 2012
Headquarter: Malmo, Sweden
Appium is an open-source mobile app for cross-platform application testing. Businesses can use this tool to test native, hybrid, and web apps and automate testing on physical devices. Unlike Airtable, Appium is free to use.
Appium supports all languages with Selenium client libraries, including Java, JavaScript, Ruby, PHP, and Python. It translates Selenium Webdriver commands into iOS or Android commands based on the device type. So, Appium works on Android and iOS platforms because it has no dependency on the device’s operating system.
Users only need to install Nodes.js to initialize Appium Server and test their apps. Appium is the best free alternative to Airtable for app testing. [15]
14. Twilio Studio
Year founded: 2008
Headquarter: San Francisco, California
Twilio is a cloud-based communication platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) with a fully-editable API. Its Studio is the go-to platform for building scalable customer engagement bots, apps, and systems. According to Gartner Customer Reviews, Twilio Studio has a 4.8-star rating.
Twilio makes it easier for businesses to develop and deploy customer outreach apps and communicate with the target market. The platform serves over 208,000 customers, including innovative brands like Uber, Airbnb, Lyft, and Yelp.
In 2021, Twilio acquired Zipwhip for $850 million and it is one of the top Airtable alternatives for building customer engagement apps. [16]
15. Micro Focus
Year founded: 1976
Headquarter: Newbury, United Kingdom
Micro Focus is a British software and IT company. It offers a Business Process Testing tool that simplifies manual and automated system tests. In Oct 2022, Micro Focus shareholders accepted an acquisition offer from OpenText and closed the deal in Q1 2023. [17]
Business Process Testing makes system tests more readable and easier to maintain. It reduces time-wasting on manual testing processes.
Businesses can use Micro Focus’ OpsBridge to monitor their solutions, identify the root causes of technical issues, and find quick problem resolution. Unlike Airtable, Micro Focus offers data center, security analytics, endpoint, and information access management solutions.
Over 40,000 customers use these products to protect IT assets and bridge the gap between old and new technologies. Micro Focus is one of the best Airtable alternatives for app management.
References & more information
- Mascarenhas, N. (2022, Dec 8). Airtable, last valued at $11 billion for its no-code software, lays off over 250. TechCrunch
- Chapman, L. (2021, Dec 13). Airtable scores $11.7 billion in valuation and plans Europe expansion. Bloomberg
- Quickbase, Inc. (2022, Nov 8). Quickbase sees demand double from real estate customers. Business Wire
- Preimesberger, C. J. (2022, Apr 4). ClickUp launches Whiteboard to develop WFH analytics. Venture Beat
- Oviedo, J. S. (2022, May 11). Google I/O 2022: What’s new in Android Development Tools? Android Developers
- Miller, R. (2022, Dec 18). Salesforce ends 2022 in an unusually turbulent position. TechCrunch
- Ivanovic, N. (2022, Apr 27). Berlin-based B2B low-code SaaS platform Ninox raises €8 million for the continued expansion. EU Startups
- O’Sullivan, F. (2022, Jun 10). Best Trello Power-Ups in 2023: Add free features to Trello Boards. Cloudwards
- MS Editor (2022, Jan 12). What’s new in Visual Studio 2022? Microsoft.com
- Green, T. (2022, May 9). Why Asana Stock Crashed 33% in April. The Motley Fool
- Smartsheet Inc. (2022, Mar 15). Smartsheet Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Fiscal Year 2022 Results. Business Wire
- Crystal, T. (2021, Jun 10). com Jumps in Debut After Raising $574 Million in US IPO. Bloomberg
- 37signals (2022, Sep 27). Helping small businesses cut complexity: 37signals launches Basecamp 4. Business Wire
- Wrike (2022, May 12). Wrike Wins Top Project Management Awards from TrustRadius. Business Wire
- Hamilton, T. (2022, Dec 16). Appium Tutorial: Android and iOS Mobile App Testing. Guru99
- Twilio (2021, Jul 14). Twilio Completes Acquisition of Zipwhip. Yahoo Finance
- OpenText Corp. (2022, Oct 18). Micro Focus shareholders approve all-cash acquisition by OpenText. PRNewswire
- Featured Image by Team Nocoloco
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