It just does most everything you could want it to do, and it incredibly flexible and easy to work with. On that note, if you're super tempted to use Airtable as your CRM and don't want a more fully-fledged CRM like Copper, you might want to try out Folk instead.
That said, we actually named Airtable as one of our 5 Best Copper App Integrations of 2023, so it still serves a purpose even when you're seeing how it might fit alongside your CRM needs.Īirtable is also not a project manager-please stop trying to use it as one □ For instance, Airtable can serve as a fantastic database extension of your lead and customer info. When Not To Use ItĪs much as we don't recommend using Airtable as your CRM, we do believe it serves a place in just about every business. We've done this because it provides way more structure (it being a proper database), while also having an incredibly powerful API (for integrating and automating).Īnd that's where it has some no-code builder functionality, which means with the right guidance, it can even replace more complicated apps lite Submittable (more of an application management software). Sometimes the structure needs to change slightly, but doing so unlocks so much additional functionality. In most cases, it will completely replace the need for Google Sheets, Google Forms, Typeform, Jotform, and other Form software.īelieve it or not, over the past 8+ years, we've actually entirely replaced every single internal Google Sheet with Airtable alternative. If your team is still using Google Sheets (for things outside of company finance reporting like balance sheets, etc.), then we fully encourage you to check out Airtable and to give it a try. But still, I WISH we could have some simple things like “date modified”, field/table/base metadata, and filters by related record VALUE (not just related record ID).Airtable is an incredibly flexible tool that can be used from something as simple as a Google Sheets replacement, all the way up to a no-code builder.Īt a core, it's really just a user-friendly database, similar to that of Coda and even Notion (although those 2 apps both started as more of knowledge base tools first, whereas Airtable has always been first-and-foremost a user-friendly database). And to be fair, they’ve owned this from the start (I’m actually rather impressed by the clarity of their vision/roadmap).
I totally get it as their business model is clearly focused on monetizing the front-end UI and features (blocks, colors, etc). The biggest gotcha is ensuring that if your request (or requests in the case of batches) returns anything OTHER than a 200 HTTP response code, you cleanly exit rather than syncing an empty response (this has happened to me and it is unfortunate).Īirtable continues to double-down on NOT being a proper backend for data-they are fully invested in their front-end and have let all of us API users nibble on the meager crumbs they throw our way. The only way I’ve managed (sane) syncs is by:įetching all records from a table (usually in batches), creating a hash using specific fields, comparing that hash to a cached value associate with that record ID, and only THEN can my script tell if that record has changed. Zapier doesn’t have a “trigger” for Airtable updates (just new records) and the API (as you know) doesn’t expose date modified (only date created). To the best of my knowledge, NOTHING can track changes/updates to records other than Airtable itself.