Airtable Pricing Updates for 2023 are a slap in the face for Pro Users.

[Sean_Wilson]

The new airtable pricing, is quite, frankly, a joke.

We are now dealing with a company that is actively hostile to its user base. This is generally the users within small and medium sized businesses who are growing.

I don't know about you guys, but for me, I have recommended 3 other businesses join airtable, have personally onboarded one, and have my own business on it. Not only that, but I heard about this tool from another person who was in the not-for-profit space.

A huge slap in the face for us is the change in the Pro Plan, specifically that we have to move to Team Plan which has the following downgrades:

1. Automation runs have been cut in half to 25,000 automation runs.
2. API calls have been reduced from unlimited to 100,000.
3. Attachment space has been cut in half from 20 GB to 10 GB.
4. Multi-source syncing has been eliminated.

For a couple of businesses I know, that has killed them and they'll have to move to teams and pay for some of their users who have access to a single interface for the purposes of ordering steel, or sending an invoice to a client.

For now, you might be thinking, but, this is a small expense in regards to the overall revenue of a company right?

Yep. But its NOT ABOUT THAT. It is about CONFIDENCE IN A PLATFORM.

Airtable could be now considered hostile to its users. Airtable can now retroactively change pricing of the tool that you use as the foundation or a key part of your company's digital strategy. That is bad for the KEY INGREDIENT required in doing business - CONFIDENCE.

I am very open to hearing from airtable about this, especially in light of other changes such as the changes to their PDF linking and formulas which was a huge pain in the ass.

So, congrats I guess airtable? You want to up prices, try to get more enterprise, and kill growing SMB sentiment? Its a bold strategy, looking forward to see how it'll work out! You basically killed your word of mouth marketing, which to be fair is hard to track metric-wise (if you're lazy, but if you are a decent sales exec you will see your organic growth vs attributable to paid marketing growth but whatever) so for people like me and other SMB's we are **bleep** out of luck.

[Henry_Ferguson]

So sad. They could probably have captured a huge individual and small-business market at roughly $20/month/owner with unlimited (ideally) editors per base for the basic product without all the questionable extensions. A huge strength of Airtable has been the ability to collaborate.  This is unaffordable for most at $20/month/editor. 

[Pat_Arnoldus]

Yup, with moves like this it is better to steer around them in a very wide angle. Great to know there're more and more alternatives and the way most people will react (and they don't all post their feelings here) will be about indeed confidence and the assumption there is another reason to do this so abruptly. Very worrying and again, if you can, then find another solution. This happens once, think again...

[airtablesucks]

Is there another platform we could switch to? Ive been looking I hate paying its so stupd  

[hayato88888]

I'm just wondering, if smartsuite is a viable alternative to airtable?  How do they compare for your use cases?  For me, I'm using Airtable because I'm not at the level where it makes any material differences.  I'm wondering if I would have problems mentioned above down the road.

[Sean_Murphy1]

Folks, any cloud provider that is interested in being profitable can and will do this as part of their long term business strategy.

This is why I'm keeping Grist and Budibase in my back pocket, for when an Airtable licensing change comes for me. Hopefully I get a few more years out of Airtable while the OSS platforms mature, but if I was starting my project over, I would do it there.

[Cabhorn]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share my recent experience and get your thoughts on Airtable's pricing model, which I find particularly challenging as a solo entrepreneur. Like many of you, I’ve invested significant time and effort into developing customized Airtable solutions for small businesses. However, the recent changes have made it increasingly difficult to continue using Airtable effectively without incurring substantial costs.

Here are my main concerns:

1. Multiple Licenses Requirement: As someone who manages customized Airtable solutions for various clients, the necessity to purchase two licenses (one for myself and one for each client) per workspace has dramatically increased my costs. This structure poses a significant hurdle for my business model.

2. Client Segmentation: To keep each client's data separate, I need to create individual workspaces for each one. This not only complicates management but also adds to the licensing costs, making it harder to scale my services efficiently.

3. Lack of Affiliation: Despite recommending Airtable to my clients and driving new business, there’s no formal recognition or benefit. I spend a considerable amount of time and resources onboarding and supporting clients on Airtable without any direct support or incentives from Airtable.

4. Limited Affiliate Consideration: If I were to manage all my clients under a single workspace, it would appear as though I am the sole user, thus not qualifying for any programs or benefits. This discourages me from continuing to promote Airtable to new clients.

Additionally, my business is still in the early stages, and I cannot deduct any costs yet. These pricing challenges make it even more difficult for me to get started.

When I reached out to Airtable to discuss these concerns, the response I received was less than encouraging. It felt like an "eat or die" scenario, with no flexibility or support for small businesses like mine.

It’s disheartening to see that Airtable is prioritizing enterprise clients at the expense of small and medium-sized businesses. This approach undermines the confidence we have in the platform. As a solo entrepreneur, this change feels like a significant setback.

I’m curious to hear if anyone else has had similar experiences and how you are coping with these changes. Are there any alternative platforms that you’ve found to be more accommodating for small businesses?

Looking forward to your thoughts and suggestions.

Markus