Airtable vs Trello
A side-by-side look at 2 Productivity tools for 2026 — the verdict, pricing, ratings, features, and what readers think.
A
airtable.com
Best for Ops, marketing and product teams that want database power with spreadsheet familiarity.
Part spreadsheet, part database, all flexible.
Visit Airtable
T
trello.com
Best for Individuals and small teams wanting simple kanban boards
Visual kanban boards for organizing anything.
Visit TrelloPricing compared
Airtable
$20/user/mo
Trello
$5/user/month
Head to head
| Airtable | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | ||
| Starting price | $20/user/mo | $5/user/month |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | Web · iOS · Android · macOS · Windows | — |
| Founded | — | 2011 |
| HQ | — | New York, NY |
| Team size | — | 1000-2000 |
Pros & cons
Airtable
Pros
- Spreadsheet-style entry with real relational database power: typed fields, linked records and lookups.
- One dataset, many views: grid, kanban, calendar, gallery, timeline and forms.
- Built-in automations and an API cover most workflow glue without extra tools.
- Interface Designer turns a base into a simple app for teammates who do not need raw data.
- Free plan, and read-only collaborators, form submissions and share links are not billed.
Cons
- Per-seat pricing is charged for everyone with edit access, so costs climb as teams grow.
- Record, attachment and automation limits per plan can cap growth; over-limit bases stay usable but cannot add more.
- The relational model has a learning curve compared with a plain spreadsheet.
- Annual prices are published; month-to-month pricing is not shown on the pricing page.
Trello
Pros
- Extremely easy to set up and use
- Beautiful, intuitive kanban interface
- Generous free plan with unlimited cards
- Power-Ups extend functionality
- Great mobile apps
Cons
- Kanban-only view limits complex project planning
- Reporting is basic without paid Power-Ups
- No built-in time tracking
- Can get disorganized at scale
Features compared
| Airtable | Trello | |
|---|---|---|
| Plans & pricing | ||
| Free tier | — | ✓ Yes |
| Free trial | — | ✗ No |
| Pricing model | — | Free; Standard $5/user/mo; Premium $10/user/mo; Enterprise custom |
| Money-back guarantee | — | ✗ No |
| Platforms & access | ||
| Web app | — | ✓ Yes |
| Mobile apps | — | ✓ Yes |
| Desktop app | — | ✗ No |
| Self-hosted option | — | ✗ No |
| Offline mode | — | ✗ No |
| Integrations & extensibility | ||
| Public API | — | ✓ Yes |
| Webhooks | — | ✓ Yes |
| Native integrations | — | Slack, Google Drive, GitHub, Jira, Confluence, Salesforce, Zapier |
| Automation (Zapier/Make) | — | ✓ Yes |
| Security & compliance | ||
| SSO / SAML | — | ✓ Yes |
| Two-factor auth | — | ✓ Yes |
| SOC 2 | — | ✓ Yes |
| GDPR compliant | — | ✓ Yes |
| Encryption at rest | — | ✓ Yes |
| Collaboration | ||
| Team workspaces | — | ✓ Yes |
| Real-time collaboration | — | ✓ Yes |
| Role-based permissions | — | ✓ Yes |
| Guest access | — | ✓ Yes |
| Support | ||
| Email support | — | ✓ Yes |
| Live chat support | — | ✗ No |
| Phone support | — | ✗ No |
| Knowledge base | — | ✓ Yes |
| SLA | — | 99.9% uptime SLA for Enterprise plans |