Hello,

Editable Fields in Read-Only Interfaces:

Generally, no. If you add an editable field to a Read-Only interface, it's highly unlikely that Read-Only users will be able to edit the underlying table data directly through that interface.
Exceptions: There might be very specific edge cases or interface configurations where this could happen. However, it's not the standard behavior.
Charges: Even if a Read-Only user could somehow edit data through an interface, it wouldn't necessarily incur extra charges on the Team plan. The Team plan allows for a certain number of edits.
Entirely Editable Interfaces:

Yes, this would likely allow editing. If you make the entire interface editable, Read-Only users would likely be able to modify data.
Charges: This would likely consume edits from your Team plan's allowance.
Scripting Extensions:

Read-Only User-Triggered Scripts:
Potential for Charges: If a Read-Only user triggers a script that modifies table data, it could consume edits from your Team plan's allowance.
Important Note: The specific behavior depends heavily on how the script is designed and configured.
Forms:

Form Submissions:
Yes, these consume edits. When a user submits a form that adds data to a table, it uses up an edit from your Team plan.
Buttons, Automations, and Other Content Edition Features:

Read-Only User Interactions:
Potential for Charges: If a Read-Only user interacts with features like buttons that trigger automations or other actions that modify data, it can consume edits.
"Hidden Dark Pattern" Concerns:

Airtable's Billing Transparency: Airtable generally strives to be transparent about its billing. While unexpected charges are possible in complex scenarios, they are usually not intentional.
Monitoring Usage: You can monitor your Airtable usage closely to track the number of edits used and identify any unexpected increases.
Contacting Airtable Support: If you encounter any unusual billing behavior, it's always best to contact Airtable Support directly for clarification.

@OPall 

Ignore the inaccurate answer from @peter247 above.

To answer your question, you are never charged for read-only users, because they are never allowed to perform any actions that can edit any of the existing data in the base.

They are never allowed to run any automations that edit data in the base, and they are never allowed to run any scripts that edit data, and they are never allowed to click on a button that would edit data or run an automation.

They can always submit a a form because submitting a form simply adds new records to the base.

However, if you want your read-only users to update data in your system without getting charged for it, read-only users are allowed to click on buttons that open external URLs. So you can always allow them to update existing records by using Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable or Make’s custom webhooks:

1. External read-only users can edit your Airtable records for free by using Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable.
   
   Fillout is 100% free, and it offers hundreds of features that Airtable’s native forms don’t offer, including the ability to update Airtable records using a form.
   
   Fillout gives you a formula that you add to your Airtable base, which automatically creates a special URL for each record.
   
   You clients would then click on the URL (or a button) in your shared view or shared interface. (You could even make them read-only users in Airtable as well, because read-only users are free. But that isn’t necessary.)
   
   So they would click on the the URL (or button) while looking at the record, which would take them to that record in Fillout, and they can approve the record there. For any other fields that you don’t want them to edit, you would just add them to your form in a read-only state.
   
   I demonstrate how to do some of this on this Airtable podcast episode:
   Using Fillout to create an eSignature approval process with PDF file creation.
    
2. External read-only users can edit your Airtable records for free by triggering a custom webhook in Make, which would then automatically run an automation that marks that task as complete.
   
   Same setup as #1 above. You would create a formula in your Airtable base, which would automatically create a unique webhook URL for each record.
   
   Then, your read-only user would click on the URL (or button) while looking at the record in Airtable, which would then trigger the automation to mark the record as approved.
   
   I demonstrate how to setup these custom webhooks for approvals in this Airtable podcast episode. I specifically talk about approving records in Airtable in this video.
   
   If you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread.

Hope this helps!

If you have a budget for your project, and you’d like to hire the best Airtable consultant to help you with this, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld

Hi @ScottWorld ,

Thank you for your reply.

I did not even take @peter247 answer into consideration since it's nothing more but an LLM generated content.
I'm confused to see that people keep copy pasting content like this without even using a single neuron...

Your answer seems clear enough. I did not do 100% of the tests yet. I have a secondary read-only account that helps me checking which are the limits of this "read only" role.

I understand from your message that there won't be any auto-upgrade user permission if I end up allowing 1 editable field in a interface. The people without the right permission level won't be allowed to edit it until they're upgraded at least to "Editor" role.

Have a nice day,

That is correct. Even if you have one editable field in your interface, your read-only users will not be able to edit that field, and they will have no ability to automatically upgrade themselves to become an editor.

- ScottWorld, Expert Airtable Consultant

You can use third-party tools like Plumsail Forms to allow read-only users to create and edit records.

Plumsail Forms also offers a free plan with no limits on the number of forms or features, so you can test its full capabilities today.