Home / AI Automation / Airtable Review
AI Automation

Airtable Review 2026: Is It Still Worth It After the Bending Spoons Deal?

By Adrian Cole · Updated 12 September 2026 · 8 min read

Abstract navy and gold Teknexia Hub brand graphic reading 'A Database Acquired, Reviewed From the Record' for the Airtable review
Adrian Cole, Lead AI Tools Reviewer at TeknexiaHub

Adrian Cole

Reviews AI tools through documented research and hands-on testing where available · How we test →

Quick Verdict

// Research-based
★★★☆☆ 6.6 / 10
Best for: small teams that want a flexible database with AI fields and automations built in, not a pure no-code automation engine · Price: Free (limited) · Team from $20/user/mo

Teknexia AI Tool Evaluation Framework

Scored from Airtable's own pricing and documentation pages, its published AI feature guides, and aggregated third-party reviews, not from direct hands-on use. We're labeling this review Research-based because we don't have an active Airtable account to test against; every claim below is attributed to Airtable's own materials or to named third-party review platforms.

Ease of use — 7/10Third-party reviews consistently describe Airtable as approachable for non-technical teams, with G2 reviewers specifically praising its visual, spreadsheet-like flexibility, though G2's own ease-of-use sub-score (around 3.8 to 3.9 out of 5) and reports of slower performance on large datasets or complex automations keep this from scoring higher.
Output quality — 6/10Airtable's AI features, Omni (a natural-language assistant for building tables, interfaces, and apps) and AI Fields (cell-level AI that pulls web data, analyzes documents, and generates content), are documented in detail on Airtable's own help center, but we have not tested their output ourselves, so this score reflects feature depth on paper, not verified quality.
Workflow integration — 7/10Airtable's core pitch, a database, interface builder, and automation layer in one product, is a real differentiator per its own documentation, and reviewers on G2 and Capterra generally back that up, though several specifically flag performance degrading as datasets and automations get more complex.
Pricing value — 6/10The free plan is real but limited to individuals or very small teams; Team at $20/user/month (billed annually) and Business at $45/user/month are reasonable for what's included, per Airtable's own pricing page, but Trustpilot reviewers specifically and repeatedly describe the per-seat model as unworkable once a team needs several collaborators.
Beginner friendliness — 7/10Capterra reviewers, 80% of whom identify as small businesses, rate ease of use at 4.4 out of 5, and the visual, spreadsheet-like starting point is a genuinely low barrier to entry, per aggregated reviews we could confirm directly.

Overall: 6.6/ 10

Airtable is a database and app-building platform that looks and feels like a spreadsheet on the surface, with an interface builder, automations, and AI features (Omni and AI Fields) layered on top. We haven't tested it hands-on for this review; instead, we built it from Airtable's own pricing and documentation pages, its published AI feature guides, and aggregated third-party reviews from Trustpilot, G2, and Capterra. This is the fourth review in our AI Automation category, alongside Zapier, n8n, and Make.

Key Takeaways
  • Airtable was acquired by Bending Spoons in a deal announced August 4 and closed September 4, at a reported enterprise value of $1.285 billion, as we covered in our AI Tools Weekly digest. As we noted there, ownership changes like this are worth watching for pricing or product-direction shifts, even when nothing changes immediately.
  • Review platforms disagree sharply on Airtable: G2 (4.6/5, 3,220 reviews) and Capterra (4.6/5, 2,241 reviews) are both strongly positive, while Trustpilot, which we confirmed directly, shows a stark 2.0/5 from 159 reviews, with 61% at one star.
  • Airtable's AI features, Omni and AI Fields, are real and documented in detail on Airtable's own help center, but we have not tested their actual output ourselves for this review.
  • The free plan is genuinely limited to individuals or very small teams; per-seat pricing on Team and Business plans is a recurring complaint in Trustpilot reviews once a team needs more than a couple of collaborators.

The Bending Spoons Acquisition, and What It Might Mean

Bending Spoons, the Italian company known for acquiring apps like Evernote, WeTransfer, and Meetup, announced a definitive all-cash agreement to acquire Airtable on August 4, at an enterprise value of $1.285 billion; the deal closed September 4. We covered this in our AI Tools Weekly digest for August 29, and we're flagging it again here because it's directly relevant to anyone deciding whether to commit to Airtable now: Bending Spoons' acquisition history with other tools has, per general industry reporting, sometimes come with pricing or product changes after the deal closes. We haven't found evidence of a pricing change tied specifically to this acquisition as of this review, but it's worth checking Airtable's current pricing page yourself before committing, rather than assuming today's numbers hold indefinitely.

What Airtable Actually Is

Airtable combines a spreadsheet-style database with an app and interface builder, automations, and AI features, per its own product documentation. Omni is Airtable's natural-language AI assistant, letting you describe what you want and having it build tables, interfaces, or apps for you. AI Fields work at the cell level, pulling in web data, analyzing documents, or generating content automatically within a table. Both features are documented in detail on Airtable's help center and academy pages, though we have not tested either ourselves.

Pricing, in Detail

Airtable's pricing, verified directly against its live pricing page:

  • Free: $0/mo, positioned for individuals or very small teams, with limited collaboration features and the basic building blocks of the platform.
  • Team — $20/user/month billed annually (third-party trackers cite roughly $24/user/month billed monthly, unconfirmed on Airtable's own page): expanded collaboration and automation features.
  • Business — $45/user/month billed annually (roughly $54/user/month billed monthly, per the same third-party trackers): higher usage limits and admin controls.
  • Enterprise Scale: custom pricing, contact sales.

Read-only collaborators, form submissions, and share links remain free even on paid plans, per Airtable's own pricing page. We found no evidence of a pricing change tied to the Bending Spoons acquisition as of this review, but given the deal only closed September 4, we'd recommend confirming current rates directly before subscribing.

What Other Users Say

Third-party reviews

What Other Users Say

We want to lead with how much these platforms disagree, because it's the most useful thing we can tell you before you rely on any single score. G2 shows Airtable at 4.6 out of 5 from 3,220 reviews, with reviewers praising its ease of use and flexibility for non-technical teams, though performance on large datasets and complex automations is a recurring criticism. Capterra shows a nearly identical 4.6 out of 5 from 2,241 reviews, with small businesses making up 80% of reviewers and sub-scores around 4.4 to 4.5 across functionality, ease of use, support, and value. Trustpilot, which we confirmed by loading its page directly rather than relying on a secondary source, tells a very different story: 2.0 out of 5 from 159 reviews, with 61% of reviews at one star. The recurring Trustpilot complaints center on per-seat pricing becoming unworkable for small teams that need several collaborators, along with reports of poor support response and billing continuing after cancellation.

Sources: Trustpilot, G2, Capterra (retrieved 12 September 2026).

Pros

  • Combines a database, interface builder, and automation layer in one product, per Airtable's own documentation
  • AI Fields and Omni bring generative and natural-language AI directly into the database itself, not as a bolted-on add-on
  • G2 and Capterra both show strong, high-volume ratings (4.6/5 each) with ease of use as a recurring theme
  • Free tier is genuinely usable for evaluating the platform, and read-only collaborators and share links stay free even on paid plans

Cons

  • Trustpilot rating (2.0/5, 159 reviews) is dramatically lower than G2 or Capterra, dominated by per-seat pricing and support complaints
  • Performance reportedly degrades with large datasets or complex automations, per multiple G2 reviews
  • Recently acquired by Bending Spoons (closed September 4); we found no confirmed pricing changes yet, but the acquisition is recent enough to warrant checking current terms yourself
  • We have not tested Omni or AI Fields ourselves, so their real-world output quality is unverified in this review

FAQ

Is Airtable still a good choice after being acquired by Bending Spoons?

We haven't found evidence of pricing or product changes tied to the acquisition as of this review, but the deal only closed September 4, so we'd recommend confirming current pricing and terms directly before committing, rather than assuming nothing will change.

Why is Airtable's Trustpilot rating so much lower than G2 or Capterra?

We can't confirm the exact cause, but the pattern (a much lower Trustpilot score than G2 or Capterra) is one we've seen with other tools too. Trustpilot's Airtable reviews are dominated by per-seat pricing and support complaints, while G2 and Capterra skew toward reviewers praising ease of use and flexibility.

Does Airtable have real AI features?

Yes, per Airtable's own documentation: Omni is a natural-language assistant for building tables, interfaces, and apps, and AI Fields work at the cell level to pull web data, analyze documents, or generate content. We have not tested either ourselves for this review.

Is Airtable free to use?

There's a free plan, but it's positioned for individuals or very small teams with limited collaboration features. Paid plans start at $20/user/month billed annually (Team).

Check Airtable's Current Pricing

Given the recent Bending Spoons acquisition, we'd recommend reviewing Airtable's live pricing page directly before subscribing, rather than assuming today's rates are guaranteed to hold.

See Airtable pricing →

Airtable runs an affiliate program via PartnerStack, but we haven't applied and don't have a tracked link, so this is a plain, untracked link to their site.

Leave a Comment