If you’re looking for business tools, you might’ve come across two: Airtable and Google Sheets. These are two of the world’s most popular business tools, both offering spreadsheet-like interfaces, flexibility, integrations, collaboration, and more.
Google Sheets and Airtable power countless organizations, businesses, small teams, and individuals. When you first look at them, you might think them to be quite similar. In fact, many might even come to think of Airtable as an upgraded version of Google Sheets! However, once you look beneath the surface, you might notice that these tools aren’t so similar after all.
In this article, we look at Airtable vs Google Sheets, comparing them at a glance and far greater in depth. If you’d like to know more about how these tools function and which one might be better for you, read on to learn more!
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Table of Contents
Airtable and Google Sheets At-a-Glance
If you’re trying to pick between Google Sheets or Airtable, one of the best things you can do is to look at a head-to-head comparison. Below, you’ll find a table looking at Google Sheets vs Airtable in close juxtaposition.
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Airtable and Google Sheets Compared |
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Criteria |
Airtable |
Google Sheets |
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Visuals and Design |
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Use Cases |
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Collaborative Features |
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No-Code |
Yes |
Yes |
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Ease of Use and Complexity |
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Integrations |
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Price |
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Airtable vs Google Sheets: The Detailed Comparison
What is Google Sheets?
Rating: 4.6/5
By now, Google Sheets is so commonplace that you probably already know what it is and what it does. But if you don’t, Sheets is essentially Google’s version of Microsoft Excel. When Google released it in 2006, they did so with the intent of bringing a Microsoft Excel alternative online for web and cloud use. Today, that goal has not changed, and Sheets remains a fantastic spreadsheet tool you can use on the web or through your mobile device.
Google Sheets allows you to create spreadsheets and manipulate data right within your browser or mobile device. There’s no special software required — in fact, Sheets doesn’t even have an app available for the desktop. This means that if you are on a Mac or Windows computer (or even Linux!), the only way to use Sheets is through your web browser.
Today, Google Sheets still has a few competitors, such as Airtable, Smartsheet, and Microsoft Excel.
Pros and Cons of Google Sheets
If you aren’t sure about using Google Sheets, perhaps the pros and cons below can help.
| Pros | Cons |
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Google Sheets is relatively easy to pick up, but there are tons of handy tricks you can learn to make mastering it easier. Check out our guide on the top tips and tricks for Google Sheets.
What is Airtable?
Rating: 4.7/5
Airtable came out later than Google Sheets. It was founded in 2012, but it wasn’t until 2015 that it launched publicly. At first glance, this tool might look like a much more colorful version of Google’s spreadsheet app. Indeed, you’ll see rows and columns, much like a familiar spreadsheet interface. However, the Airtable spreadsheet comparison is pretty much where the similarities end.
Here’s how Airtable differs from more traditional spreadsheets:
- Airtable allows you to set each column type explicitly, letting you input plain text, dates, single selects, attachments, and more
- This tool is a spreadsheet and database hybrid that lets you link records across different spreadsheets, or what Airtable calls “tables”
- The linked records will allow you to establish connections between different sets of data
Airtable’s competitors include tools like Rows, Google Sheets, Coda, and more.
Pros and Cons of Airtable
If you think Airtable might be good for you, consider some of the pros and cons of Airtable below.
| Pros | Cons |
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Visuals and Design
Looking at both tools’ interfaces, it’s easy to notice that Airtable looks more interesting overall. It’s more colorful, relatively easy to navigate, intuitive, and dynamic. Elements can be color-coded and customized depending on what you prefer. Airtable also allows you to change the way your dashboards display — you have the option between grids, galleries, calendars, timelines, forms, Kanban, and Gantt.
If you look at Google Sheets’ interface, you’ll notice what is quite clearly a Google product — it’s simple, relatively easy to use even for beginners, and straightforward to boot. It won’t be the most exciting interface you’ve worked with, but it’s clean!
Use Cases
Google Sheets can be useful in many cases. One of the most common, of course, is data management, visualization, and analysis. Google Sheets can also be quite useful for data storage, and its formulas can allow users to do things like budgeting, inventory, and more. With enough expertise, you can create your own mini-apps within Excel, where you can input data and have the sheet perform functions and formulas to present a result.
Airtable, on the other hand, is much more versatile and flexible. As a database-spreadsheet hybrid, this tool allows users to work with massive amounts of data. You can manipulate and display your data in various ways, plus connect your datasets and tables. Thanks to its abundant integrations and third-party apps, Airtable’s functionality expands even further, making it useful for customer relationship management (CRM), project management, inventory management, e-commerce, product management, marketing, sales, and more!
Collaborative Features
Airtable and Google Sheets both have fantastic features for collaboration. After all, both tools are cloud-based and web-based, allowing real-time updates. Needless to say, thanks to these features, teams can collaborate in real time, no matter where they are.
Airtable’s extensive collaboration features include commenting, personal views, advanced data fields, and even audit trail access to allow users to see and track changes. Airtable is online-only, meaning you’ll need to be connected to the internet for it to function.
Google Sheets offers similar features, but it offers a little extra on top — Sheets allows users some limited capability to work offline, syncing their work when they are next connected to the internet.
No-Code
Both Google Sheets and Airtable require zero code, making both suitable for users who have zero coding experience.
Ease of Use and Complexity
For spreadsheet newbies, Google Sheets might look incredibly complex, confusing, and maybe even daunting. However, despite what you may think, Google Sheets is actually somewhat more user and beginner-friendly than even Microsoft Excel.
There are plenty of complex and challenging ways to use Google Sheets, but thanks to its popularity, it’s quite easy to find free tutorials and paid courses online. With enough time, you can familiarize yourself with its interface and formulas.
Unlike Google Sheets, Airtable offers a bit more complexity. It’s user-friendly enough that most can get started without much struggle, but it can be challenging to master. Some less tech-savvy users may also struggle to get a grasp on what Airtable is and what it can do without trying it out themselves.
If you are unsure about Airtable, one of the best things you can do is try out the free forever tier.
Integrations
If you compare Google Sheets and Airtable in terms of integrations, you’ll see that there is a clear winner: Airtable. Airtable comes with many integrations built right in, including to tools like Trello, Mailchimp, Asana, Slack, Typeform, and more. With Zapier, you can connect Airtable to over a thousand more integrations.
Beyond these integrations, Airtable also offers a robust API that has allowed many other third-party apps and tools to expand Airtable’s functionality even further. Some tools, like Softr, can even allow users to turn basic databases into web apps.
Google Sheets clearly has fewer integrations in comparison. However, thanks to its nearly 20 years of existence, many developers have made third-party apps and built-in integrations to tools like Typeform and Slack.
Price
Cost is where Google Sheets wins — after all, it is 100% free to use on the web and mobile. If you’d like to expand your Google Drive storage and get access to additional Google Apps, you can pay for a Google Workspace subscription with plans starting at $6 per user per month.
Airtable does offer a free forever tier, but it is more limited than what Google Sheets offers. Nevertheless, it can be more than enough for some users!
If you’d like to access more of Airtable’s features and functions, you can subscribe to some of their plans. Airtable has two tiers between the free plan and enterprise: Plus and Pro.
Plus pricing is $10 per seat per month when billed annually. If you’d prefer to pay monthly, the cost is $12 per seat instead.
Pro pricing is at $20 per seat per month when billed annually. If you’d rather pay monthly, that cost is $24 per seat.
Enterprise pricing is available, though you will need to contact Airtable for a custom quotation.
Google Tables vs Airtable: Is There a Comparison?
If you’ve heard of or come across Google Tables before, you might be asking yourself if there’s any comparison between it and Airtable. But to properly compare Airtable vs Google Tables, the best way to do that is to first look at what Google Tables is.
Google Tables is a collaboration database that can help users work with hybrid and remote teams. It is, in fact, much like Airtable and is even considered by some to be a direct competitor.
Google Tables is in its infancy. In fact, it was in beta until 2021. Though it is now released as a Google Cloud product, it needs more time to settle and become the robust tool that we can expect from Google.
Can You Connect Airtable to Google Sheets?
You can indeed connect Airtable with Google Sheets! There are a few ways you can do so, though one of the most common methods is by using a third-party integration service. One such integration is offered by Zapier. This integration allows you to send information between both apps automatically. Unsurprisingly, no code is required! That means you won’t have to worry about knowing how to code to make this integration work for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Airtable better than Google Sheets?
The answer to this question depends entirely on your specific use case. If you want a more traditional spreadsheet tool, then Google Sheets would be your best bet. However, if you’d like a database/spreadsheet hybrid with many more integrations and use cases, Airtable might be your pick. Airtable is a more versatile platform that lends itself to various purposes, including CRM, project management, inventory management, event planning, and more.
Is Airtable free?
Like Google Sheets, Airtable does have a free forever tier that you can use as long as you need if you don’t need all the bells and whistles. This free forever tier is great for individuals or even smaller teams who are just getting started. If you like Airtable enough and feel it would benefit you or your organization, you can look into the paid plans starting at $10 per seat.
Can you use Google Sheets like Airtable?
The answer is yes, you can! Airtable is capable of most of the things that Google Sheets can do. Both tools are quite distinct, but at the same time, they also have tons of similarities. Both are no-code, offer similar interfaces, use web-based platforms, and more. You can also use both tools for many of the same use cases, though Airtable is more flexible than Google Sheets overall.
Conclusion
From the in-depth Airtable vs Google Sheets comparison above, it’s relatively easy to come to a conclusion — that Google Sheets and Airtable are relatively similar while still remaining quite distinct.
Google Sheets is the best pick if you want something simpler for handling your data and doing some data analysis. It’s robust, free, and offers pretty much everything you need from a spreadsheet app. It has many use cases and also has plenty of third-party apps and integrations to expand its functionality.
Airtable can do most of what Google Sheets can and more. This database-spreadsheet hybrid is much more versatile, lending itself toward more use cases than Google Sheets. It also has a free forever tier, though it’s a much less generous version than what Google Sheets offers.
In the end, your choice of service depends entirely on your needs and preferences!
If you feel that Airtable is not for you, perhaps you’d like to check out our Google Sheets vs. Microsoft Excel Comparison instead. You can also check out this guide on converting Google Sheets to Excel.
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