Airtable vs Microsoft Excel
Airtable and Microsoft Excel are both databases & spreadsheets tools aimed at small businesses and enterprise. Microsoft Excel costs less, from $9.99/mo versus $24/mo for Airtable. Both have a free plan.
Spreadsheet-database hybrid with apps
The standard spreadsheet for analysis, modeling and reporting
| Pricing | Freemium · $24 | Freemium · $10 |
| Starting price | $24/mo | $9.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | 30 days |
| Built for | Small businesses, Enterprise | Small businesses, Enterprise, Freelancers |
| Platforms | web, ios, android | web, macos, windows, ios, android |
| Country | US · 2012 | US · 1985 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Airtable if
Operations, marketing and content teams that outgrew spreadsheets but do not want a developer-built system.
- Approachable for spreadsheet users yet relational
- Interfaces turn data into usable apps without code
- Rich field types and views
Look elsewhere if: Very large datasets, budget-sensitive teams (Baserow, NocoDB, Grist), or engineering data that belongs in a real database.
Choose Microsoft Excel if
Finance, accounting and analyst teams that need the deepest spreadsheet features and the industry standard file format.
- Industry standard skills and file format
- Unmatched depth for financial modeling and analysis
- Handles large datasets on the desktop
Look elsewhere if: Teams that mostly collaborate live in the browser on simple sheets (Google Sheets) or need a relational database with views (Airtable).
Airtable vs Microsoft Excel pricing
Airtable
- Free$01,000 records/base, 5 editors, 1 GB
- Team$24/seat/mo$20 billed annually; 50,000 records/base, 20 GB
- Business$54/seat/mo$45 billed annually; 125,000 records, SAML SSO
- Enterprise ScaleCustom500,000 records, enterprise API
Microsoft Excel
- Excel for the web$0Free with a Microsoft account, reduced feature set
- Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99/mo$99.99/yr; 1 person, desktop apps, Copilot, 1 TB
- Microsoft 365 Family$12.99/mo$129.99/yr; up to 6 people, 1 TB each
- Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99/mo$199.99/yr; higher Copilot limits and advanced AI
- Office Home 2024$179.99/one-timePerpetual Excel, Word, PowerPoint for 1 PC or Mac
Airtable · Key features
- Relational tables with 25+ field types, lookups and rollups
- Grid, kanban, calendar, gallery, Gantt, timeline and form views
- Interface Designer for dashboards and internal apps
- Automations with triggers, scripts and AI steps
- Sync between bases and external sources (Salesforce, Jira, Google Sheets)
- REST API, webhooks and extensions marketplace
Cons
- Record limits per base can block growth
- Per-seat pricing is high for large teams of light users
- Free plan shrank significantly
Microsoft Excel · Key features
- Dynamic array formulas including XLOOKUP, FILTER and LAMBDA
- PivotTables, PivotCharts and a wide range of chart types
- Power Query to import, clean and reshape data from many sources
- Power Pivot data models for large multi-table analysis
- Python in Excel for analysis and visualization in the grid
- Copilot to generate formulas, analyses and summaries from prompts
Cons
- Advanced features have a steep learning curve
- Web version lacks some desktop features
- Emailed copies lead to version chaos
Airtable vs Microsoft Excel: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Airtable or Microsoft Excel?
Microsoft Excel starts at $9.99/mo and Airtable at $24/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Airtable and Microsoft Excel have a free plan?
Yes, both Airtable and Microsoft Excel have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.