Monday.com vs. Airtable: Which project management tool is best?

Monday.com has become one of the most popular project management software during the past few years, and it is for a reason. But, like any other tool, it is not perfect and not for everyone.

Similarly, Airtable is a highly used collaboration and spreadsheet management tool that is simpler than monday.com. Today, we will dive deep into both of those tools and help you figure out which tool will be a better fit for your company’s needs.

Let’s start with each tool’s strengths and weaknesses, and then get to the monday vs Airtable comparison.

Table of contents

• What is monday.com?
• What is Airtable?
• An easier alternative to reduce clusters: Retable!
• Monday.com vs Airtable – side by side comparison
• Conclusion
• Frequently asked questions

What is monday.com?

Monday.com is a work OS platform that brings project management and basic CRM capabilities together. The tool has a score of 4.7 on G2, which is among the highest liked tools among monday.com competitors.

The scope of the product and the variety of collaboration and customization abilities make monday.com almost an all-in-one tool, giving its users the opportunity to combine their projects, workflows and budgets on dashboards of their own creation.

But, monday.com isn’t perfect.

While most tools had to do something similar, monday.com users also had to face steep pricing hikes during the past years – with little to no exception with veteran users.

Also, monday.com can be confusing for most users. In order to pack so many features into an as-simple-as-possible interface, the many buttons and screens can turn into a maze. In short, monday.com is a difficult tool to set up and get used to.

Monday.com pricing

• The free plan of monday.com includes limited capabilities with up to 3 boards and 2 seats.
• The basic plan of monday.com costs €9/month/seat and unlocks unlimited free viewers, unlimited items, and 5GB file storage.
• The standard plan of monday.com costs €12/month/seat and unlocks different view types and automations.
• The pro plan of monday.com costs €19/month/seat and unlocks time tracking and more comprehensive dashboards.
• The enterprise plan of monday.com comes with enterprise-level onboarding, automation and customization options. You can contact their sales teams to get a custom quotation for your needs.

Monday.com key features

• Customizable pre-built templates
• Colorful Gantt charts
• Monitor task lists, task dependencies and task milestones
• Dashboard for turning insights into data
• Real-time collaboration
• App integrations
• Task automation

Monday.com reviews

Monday.com has a rating of 4.7 on G2 and is a market leader for its category. Its rating on Capterra is 4.6.

Monday.com pros

• G2 - “I love how customizable the platform is. We can section staff into teams to ensure the right info is displayed to the right people - this keeps things clean and allows us to categorize the content that's applicable for different teams.”
• G2 - “For me Monday stands out for its numerous integrations with various apps and websites, adding to its appeal and adaptability across different platforms. I personally incorporate Monday into my daily routine and am thoroughly satisfied with its performance.”

Monday.com cons

• G2 - “The prices for a team is not the best. They require a team to have a minimum of three. So even if you have a two person team, you have to pay for three seats.”
• G2 - “I do wish there were more templates, like a user created library, they can be a bit limited depending on the area. Sometimes the automation can feel a little limited/hard to set up too, but I'm generally pretty happy with that and the 'create your own' functionality.”

What is Airtable?

Airtable is a spreadsheet-based collaboration and project management tool. Don’t think that the only thing Airtable does is spreadsheets, though. You can create whole workflows with Airtable project management or combine different trackers on a single dashboard.

Most Airtable users use the tool as a better version of your everyday spreadsheets – aka Google Sheets and Excel. But once you manage to dive into the tool, you can find out that Airtable has:

• Better views,
• A better aesthetic that is relatively easier to manage,
• And functions that don’t require you to be a math genius.

But, Airtable has its flaws. While the tool does make spreadsheets more meaningful, most users on G2 state that the tool is very difficult to get used to.

Some users even argue that the capabilities aren’t all that great, and unless you are really desperate for the looks, any other spreadsheet or excel would be enough to fulfill Airtable’s role.

And also, the steep Airtable cost and their inflexibility for different needs is another concern that leaves users to think twice of Airtable as a project management tool.

Airtable pricing

Important note: unlike many other tools that allow you to upgrade all your workspaces with upgrades, Airtable’s pricing and upgrades only apply to a single workspace. This means that you will have to upgrade all your workspaces and pay for each of them separately, which skyrockets the pricing.

• The free plan of Airtable provides up to 5 editors and up to 100 automations.
• The team plan of Airtable costs $20/month/seat and unlocks integrations, gantt and timeline views, and more customization options
• The business plan of Airtable costs $45/month/seat. This plan unlocks premium two-way integrations and the administrator panel.
• The enterprise scale plan of Airtable unlocks enterprise API and audit logs and DLP. For enterprise level pricing, contact their sales teams.

Airtable key features

• Project reports
• Workflow management
• Automation
• Advanced data views and column types
• Integrations with third-party apps
• Transform workflows with AI
• Scalable data model

Airtable reviews

Airtable has a rating of 4.6 on G2 and its rating on Capterra is 4.7.

Airtable pros

• G2 - “I use Airtable to manage my client information, client processes, projects, KPIs, personal finances, and content management. It's pretty intense and incredible as to how I'm able to use it for so many different purposes.”
• G2 - “Easy Integrations: Integrated apps such as Gmail, Twilio, or custom apps via Zapier and using them are extremely easy and straightforward!”

Airtable cons

• G2 - “Though Airtable has a smooth and user-friendly interface, there is a learning curve that involves its operations. It took some time for me to know and become familiar with some of its amazing features.”
• G2 - “There is room for development in the forms part to make them more configurable in their design; if this were the case, I would be more inclined to embed an Airtable form on a website. It may be difficult to get everyone on the same page about how to use the systems Airtable provides, so additional documentation to assist optimize the tools available would be nice.”

An easier alternative to reduce clusters: Retable!

Project management and data visualization shouldn’t be hidden behind complicated formulas or steep paywalls.

Have you ever wished for a tool that is just easier to use, more affordable, and more responsive for support requests...

Retable is at your service.

With Retable, you can:

✅ Easily create tables with different column types and functionalities,

✅ View all your data from multiple views with tables, maps, kanban boards, or charts,

✅ Benefit from unlimited sharing capabilities,

✅ Work on your own project, share with a team, or even create an internal organization for all you data.

And all this for only a fraction of the cost of Airtable or monday.com...

So don’t waste any time. Check out Retable right here 👈🏻

Airtable vs Monday – side by side comparison

Now that you are familiar with both, let’s compare the key points of each of those tools side by side to give you a better view over which is better suited for your needs.

Features comparison

Overall, monday.com has a higher features satisfaction rate compared to Airtable.

Customer satisfaction comparison

Overall, monday.com has a higher customer satisfaction rate compared to Airtable.

Pricing comparison

While monday.com seems more affordable, the fact that there is no option for 1 or 2 seat plans can bump monday.com’s prices higher than Airtable.

So basically, if you need more than 4 seats, monday.com is cheaper. Otherwise, Airtable is more affordable.

Conclusion

All in all, both tools are strong in their own arenas. If you need:

• More complex features for project management and customizable dashboards, go with monday.com.
• Easily managed tables with different views and trackers, go with Airtable.

👉 But if you need to easily sort your data, create collaborative online spreadsheets, view them in different forms, create automations and share your spreadsheets with others for an affordable price, go with Retable.

Frequently asked questions

Let's answer the most frequently asked questions about monday.com vs Airtable:

Is Airtable better than Monday?

The answer depends on your needs. If you are in need of a project management tool that has more features with custom dashboards, then go ahead with monday.com. If you need a spreadsheet-based data management tool, then Airtable will be more suitable. But if you need the best of both, then see our charts above to get a better grasp of the monday.com comparison and airtable comparison.

Can Monday com integrate with Airtable?

You cannot transfer data from product in terms of product management monday.com to Airtable, but you can import your Airtable data into Monday using monday.com’s integration.

Is Airtable a good project management tool?

Airtable is a good tool with a lot of value, but its steep learning curve and high price can make it inaccessible to most companies. Retable, on the other hand, does everything and more that Airtable does, and costs only a fraction of Airtable’s price.

How much does Monday.com cost?

Monday.com pricing varies from no charge at all up to €19/month/seat.

What is an alternative to Airtable and Monday.com?

The best alternative to Airtable project management or monday project management software is Retable as it has better onboarding, a more responsive support team, and more affordable pricing.