It picked Airtable… and somehow, I didn’t cry.
I stumbled across it while watching YouTube videos about AI and low/no-code app builders—because apparently that’s who I am now. First glance, it looked alot like Microsoft Excel, even Access -esque. If you know, you know.
I’m not going to lie: I was immediately worried.
It gave me whiplash of flashbacks, wrangling formulas in Excel and wrestling with relationships in Access. Not the fun kind of relationships—the kind that breaks if you sneeze too hard near a primary key.
Remember when I asked ChatGPT to give me to give me tech stack suggestions for my contact lens management app, well it suggested a Glide & AirTable combo.
I always start with the backend in any programming project. So I leaned on ChatGPT to help me define the data structures before moving into AirTable.
What is Airtable?
Airtable is a cloud-based platform that looks like a spreadsheet but acts like a database. It lets you organize information into tables, link those tables together, and build relationships between data—without writing a single line of code.
Airtable is NoSQL application. This is a big departure from what I’m used, as a SQL girlie, but honestly? It’s time that I explore different ways of working with data. Not everything needs a LEFT JOIN and a prayer.
But what really sets Airtable apart is its flexibility: you can add attachments, create dropdowns, build forms, switch views (like calendar or Kanban), and even automate tasks. It’s like a user-friendly database that doesn’t make you feel like you need hardcore programmming syntax just get the ball rolling.
It meets you where you are, whether you’re a spreadsheet person, a builder, or a tired developer trying to simplify things for once.
The Nitty – Gritty
When you create an account with Airtable, they give you pretty generous two week trial of their premium features. The best part? You’re not required to enter your credit card information up front. I actually chose not to continue the use their premium plan just because mainly my app’s backend doesn’t need the extra bells and whistles and I’m a one person team.
Since I’m operating on Free-99, here’s what they offer under their Free plan:
Like I said, very generous. You can have up to five people on the free plan, so if your company is small and you’re building an MVP with a few thousand records—not storing 1080p 30-minute videos or anything crazy—you’re good to go for quite a while before needing to upgrade.
In Airtable, Bases are essentially databases.
For the beginner folk: a database is just a collection of tables, and tables are where your actual data lives. Think of each table like a well-organized spreadsheet, but with powers—because in Airtable, those tables can talk to each other, reference each other, and actually make sense as a whole system.
When creating a base it gives you an option to let AI figure it out for you or do it on your own terms. AI includes taking non structured documents, like a presentation, and then turn that into structured table of information. It can also create forms for you, which is something that can be done the interface designer.
There’s a lot to explore in Airtable, especially since they give away so many features for free. Definitely go try them all—you’ll be surprised by how far the Free-99 tier takes you.
The vibes that I’m getting from this platform: Airtable can absolutely work within a department of a larger corporation. Let’s say your company isn’t married to one ecosystem (like Microsoft or Google Workspace), and you’re just trying to keep your department operational and siloed for admin or workflow purposes—Airtable fits that use case beautifully. It gives your team autonomy without needing IT to spin up a full-blown database server or provision enterprise software.
Little Wins
To be honest, I’ve mostly played around with Airtable’s spreadsheet-style tables. This wasn’t meant to be a deep dive—it’s more of a casual overview to let you know what Airtable is, what it does, and a few wins and “gotchas” I ran into along the way.
Formula fields are intuitive (and a little Excel-esque).
One thing I really like about Airtable is how formulas are handled. You can reference fields by their actual names—not cryptic cell positions like C4 * D4. It feels a lot more intuitive, especially if you’re coming from Excel but want something more readable and maintainable. Writing something like Quantity * UnitPrice just makes sense. It’s a small detail, but it really improves clarity when building logic into your tables.
Data visualists, rejoice—Airtable is aesthetically pleasing.
If you’re the kind of person who gets excited about turning raw data into colorful charts, graphs, and status boards, Airtable’s got you. Not only can the spreadsheet itself be color-coded (even by category!), but each field type comes with built-in functionality that goes beyond basic data entry. It almost feels like Airtable is preparing you to level up—nudging you toward using its other features like Forms for data collection and Interfaces for building dashboards and internal tools. The foundation is simple, but the more you explore, the more power you uncover.
You can add attachments, use dropdowns, create checkboxes, and even enable AI-powered fields to process data or pull in info from outside sources. Just a heads-up: those AI features draw from your 500 free AI credits that Airtable blesses you with on the free plan. But honestly, for quick insights or data enrichment, it’s a pretty generous starting point.
Where Airtable really shines: linking related data without the headache.
One thing I appreciated while working with Airtable is how easy it is to connect data across different tables. You can create a field that links to another record, then use lookup fields to display related info—like pulling a name, date, or status into your main table. It gives you the power of relational data, but in a way that feels visual and accessible, not overly technical.
Coming from a more traditional SQL background, I was surprised at how much Airtable simplifies that process. It’s not strict or overly structured—it’s more flexible and forgiving, which makes it great for quick builds and experimenting with data relationships.
The Gotchas
These aren’t dealbreakers, but they’re definitely things I noticed:
Pre-filled columns can be annoying.
When you create a new table in Airtable, it comes with a set of predefined columns. While this might be helpful for beginners, but as someone with a development background, I found it kind of annoying. There’s no bulk delete option, so I had to either edit each field or delete them one by one. It’s a small thing, but when you’re used to starting with a clean schema, it feels a bit clunky.
CSV imports don’t support linked fields (why though?).
When you’re using Airtable’s browser UI to create tables from a CSV file, there’s no option to link to an existing field in another table during the import process. So if you’re trying to build out your “database” (aka base) quickly from structured CSVs, this is a major buzzkill.
Instead, you have to manually create the tables first, then go in and use the “Link to another record” data type to build those relationships. Which, by the way, is treated as just another field type—not as a separate setup flow or tool. It’s a weird UX choice that makes the relational aspect of Airtable feel more like a workaround than a first-class feature.
Deleting the anchor breaks everything.
Here’s another thing: if you delete the anchor field—the one that links your current table to another—all your lookup fields based on that connection will error out. Everything from the joined table basically vanishes. Airtable won’t scream at you like a relational database might with a cascade warning—it’ll just quietly break stuff. So if you’re restructuring tables, tread carefully. Delete the wrong thing, and suddenly your beautifully linked data turns into a sea of #ERRORs.
Final Wrap Up
So that’s my take— just a quick tour through Airtable from someone who didn’t expect to like it… but kinda does. Am I reformed…no. But do I hate it? Also no. Is it something a beginner can handle, yes with the right attitude.
If you’re curious about low/no-code tools or looking for a flexible way to organize data without diving into full-blown backend development, Airtable is definitely worth a test drive.
P.S. Next up: my quick dive into Glide—because every good backend deserves a frontend to match. Stay tuned!
PS: 📣 CTA (Call to Action)
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