Airtable vs Smartsheet
Airtable is spreadsheet-style database for building team apps, with AI built in. Smartsheet is spreadsheet-style work management for projects, programs and processes. Here is how they compare on price, free plan, platforms and the jobs each does best, from each vendor's own pages.
| Airtable | Smartsheet | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Spreadsheet-style database for building team apps, with AI built in | Spreadsheet-style work management for projects, programs and processes |
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $20/user/mo billed annually (Team) | $9/user/mo billed annually (Pro) |
| Free trial | None stated | 30-day free trial |
| Platforms | Web, API | Web |
| Integrations (vendor's figure) | Not stated | Not stated |
| Open source | No | No |
| Made by | Airtable | Smartsheet Inc. |
Choose Airtable if…
- You want a free plan: Smartsheet does not have one.
- You need an API to build on.
- The job is tracking clients, inventory or content calendars in a shared database.
- The job is building a simple internal app or dashboard for a team without code.
Choose Smartsheet if…
- Price matters: its cheapest paid plan is $9/user/mo against $20/user/mo.
- The job is planning a project on a Gantt timeline shared with clients as contributors.
- The job is collecting requests through forms into a tracked sheet.
What Airtable does
- Bases of linked tables and records
- Interface Designer for building team apps on top of data
- Automations (100 runs on Free up to 500,000 on Enterprise Scale)
- AI features funded by monthly AI credits on every plan
- Sync integrations and extensions (Team and above)
- Portals add-on for sharing with external guests
Watch out for
- Free plan caps each base at 1,000 records and 1 GB of attachments, with up to 5 editors
- On paid plans, every user with edit access to a base is billed as a seat
- SAML single sign-on and two-way sync require the Business plan
What Smartsheet does
- Gantt, table, board and calendar views
- Unlimited sheets, forms and reports
- Conversational AI features, including Smart Assist, Smart Columns and AI-powered dashboards
- Automations (250 per month on Pro, unlimited on Business)
- MCP-enabled integrations to connect external AI tools (Business)
- Add-ons such as Resource Management, Dynamic View, Data Shuttle and Brandfolder
Watch out for
- No free plan; a 30-day free trial only
- Pro is limited to 10 members and 250 automations per month
- SAML SSO, portfolios and scenario planning require Enterprise
Questions
Is Airtable or Smartsheet cheaper?
On published entry prices, Smartsheet is cheaper: $20/user/mo billed annually (Team) for Airtable against $9/user/mo billed annually (Pro) for Smartsheet. What each plan includes differs, so compare the limits too.
Do Airtable and Smartsheet have free plans?
Airtable does; Smartsheet does not, though it offers a 30-day free trial.