Airtable vs Smartsheet

Airtable and Smartsheet are both tools people compare when choosing between productivity and project management options. Airtable lists 6 features across 5 platforms; Smartsheet lists 7 features across 5 platforms — see the full breakdown below, sourced from each vendor's own site rather than ratings or reviews.

Side-by-side summary

ComparingAirtableSmartsheet
CategoryProductivityProject Management
Alternatives tracked34
PlatformsWeb, macOS, Windows, iOS, AndroidWeb, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
Pricing modelFree + paid plansPaid plans

Best for Airtable

Positioned for teams in product, marketing, project management, operations, sales, design, HR, and finance who want to move off spreadsheets toward custom interfaces and automations.

Best for Smartsheet

Project and portfolio managers, enterprise PMOs, and IT teams who want spreadsheet-familiar tools with enterprise-grade governance.

Feature comparison

Every feature listed here comes directly from each vendor's own official site.

Airtable

  • Relational database foundation shared across a team
  • Multiple customizable views for the same underlying data
  • No-code, AI-assisted app building
  • Workflow automations
  • Interface Designer for building custom drag-and-drop apps
  • Reporting and analytics

Smartsheet

  • Grid and spreadsheet-style work views
  • Gantt charts for timeline and dependency tracking
  • Workflow automation to reduce manual work
  • Forms and centralized intake and approval workflows
  • Role-based dashboards and reporting
  • Resource planning and workload balancing
  • Integrations with Microsoft, Salesforce, Slack, and Jira

Pros and cons

Airtable

Pros
  • Relational database foundation shared across a team
  • Multiple customizable views for the same underlying data
  • No-code, AI-assisted app building
  • Workflow automations
  • Interface Designer for building custom drag-and-drop apps
  • Reporting and analytics
Cons
  • Every plan caps records and attachment storage per base, not per account -- once a base hits its limit (1,000 records on Free), you can't add more records or attachments until you upgrade.
  • The Free plan caps out at 5 editors, so team growth past that forces a paid tier even before hitting record limits.

Smartsheet

Pros
  • Grid and spreadsheet-style work views
  • Gantt charts for timeline and dependency tracking
  • Workflow automation to reduce manual work
  • Forms and centralized intake and approval workflows
  • Role-based dashboards and reporting
  • Resource planning and workload balancing
  • Integrations with Microsoft, Salesforce, Slack, and Jira
Cons
  • Pro is restricted to 1-10 members and is available only to new customers on the current pricing page.
  • Business requires at least 3 members, while Enterprise and Advanced Work Management use custom pricing.

Key differences

  • Airtable is categorized under Productivity, while Smartsheet is categorized under Project Management.
  • Airtable lists Relational database foundation shared across a team, Multiple customizable views for the same underlying data, No-code, AI-assisted app building, Workflow automations, Interface Designer for building custom drag-and-drop apps, Reporting and analytics that Smartsheet doesn't list.
  • Smartsheet lists Grid and spreadsheet-style work views, Gantt charts for timeline and dependency tracking, Workflow automation to reduce manual work, Forms and centralized intake and approval workflows, Role-based dashboards and reporting, Resource planning and workload balancing, Integrations with Microsoft, Salesforce, Slack, and Jira that Airtable doesn't list.

Choose Airtable if…

Choose Airtable if this fits: Positioned for teams in product, marketing, project management, operations, sales, design, HR, and finance who want to move off spreadsheets toward custom interfaces and automations. Compared with Smartsheet specifically, Airtable also offers Relational database foundation shared across a team, Multiple customizable views for the same underlying data, No-code, AI-assisted app building, and 3 more features that Smartsheet doesn't list.

Visit Airtable

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Choose Smartsheet if…

Choose Smartsheet if this fits: Project and portfolio managers, enterprise PMOs, and IT teams who want spreadsheet-familiar tools with enterprise-grade governance. Compared with Airtable specifically, Smartsheet also offers Grid and spreadsheet-style work views, Gantt charts for timeline and dependency tracking, Workflow automation to reduce manual work, and 4 more features that Airtable doesn't list.

Facts on this page are sourced from each vendor's official site (linked below), not from ratings or reviews. Products change — verify anything that matters to your decision directly on the vendor's own site before switching. See our Disclaimer and Sources Policy.

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