Airtable is one of the most popular project management software options, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the right choice for every team. Check out the top alternatives to Airtable to find the right project management tool for your business.
Jump to:
- Best Airtable alternatives
- What are the pros and cons of Airtable?
- Choosing between Airtable and its alternatives
Best Airtable alternatives
monday work management
monday work management is a project management software with a flexible yet feature-rich platform. Compared to other project management tools, monday gives users greater flexibility in configuring different visualizations and project views.
monday.com’s unique features
- Ability to visually display project data through a variety of views including Gantt chart, kanban, charts and dashboards
- WorkForms feature for customizable data collection
- Log of all changes made by users for better project tracking and visibility
- 250+ pre-built workflow automations
- Extensive integrations available for developer tools, CRM and more
Pricing
monday.com offers five plans to choose from:
- Individual: A free plan that supports up to two users, 1,000 items and 500 GB of storage.
- Basic: $24/month for three users billed annually or $8/month per user billed monthly. Organizations can have unlimited items, boards and free viewers.
- Standard: $30/month for three users, billed annually or $10/month per user billed monthly. Organizations can access timeline, Gantt and calendar views as well as automations and integrations.
- Pro: $48/month per user billed annually or $16/month per user billed monthly. Organizations can gain access to the chart view, time tracking features and more.
- Enterprise: Enterprise pricing is customized based on business needs. This plan provides premium support and enterprise security among other benefits.
SEE: Deciding between monday.com and Jira for your business (TechRepublic)
Pros
- Many view options for chart, table, and dashboards
- Integrates with numerous apps
- Built-in time tracking
- Customizable templates
- Powerful communications tool
Cons
- Limited features for entry price. Some great features are only in higher price tiers
- Difficult to track time and expenses
- Some find user interface cluttered
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a highly rated cloud-based project management software that can meet the needs of teams of various sizes, focus areas and technical skill levels. The software tool makes it easy to organize, visualize and communicate clearly about ongoing projects. Like Airtable, Smartsheet displays project data on a spreadsheet-like interface.
Smartsheet’s unique features
- Data visualization through grid, Gantt, card and calendar views
- WorkApps, Smartsheet’s code-free tool for building web and mobile apps
- Activity log for tracking projects changes and updates
- Pre-built project and automation templates
Pricing
Smartsheet is the only software vendor on this list that does not offer a free plan, but you can do a free trial before picking one of the three available plans:
- Pro: For $7/month per user billed annually or $9/month per user, organizations can access basic collaboration and project management functions. This plan has a maximum of 10 editing users but allows unlimited viewers.
- Business: For $25/month per user per month billed annually or $32/month per user billed monthly, organizations can add unlimited editors.
- Enterprise: Custom plans and pricing available for Enterprise companies.
Pros
- Dynamic views
- Automated workflow
- Intuitive user interface
- Ability to export to various formats
- Streamlined collaborative work, connection and content sharing
Cons
- Can be difficult to use for beginners
- Mobile version lacks auto-save
Wrike
Wrike is a leading project management software vendor. The software offers high-level project planning and management as well as seamless collaboration across teams. Wrike offers project management features targeted towards IT project teams, marketing teams, creative teams and service delivery teams. The platform can serve businesses of all sizes and features specialized offerings tailored towards the needs of enterprise clients.
Wrike’s unique features
- Intuitive displays with table, list, board, Gantt, timelog and analytics dashboard views
- Project templates available for IT, project management, marketing and other teams
- 400+ integration options with a wide range of apps and software tools
- Premium security and data privacy features for enterprise users
Pricing
- Free: Users can sign up to the free plan to use the basic task management functions on desktop or mobile at no cost.
- Teams: For $9.80/month per user, organizations can add on shareable dashboards, interactive Gantt charts and integrations. 20 free collaborators; 2GB storage per user.
- Business: For $24.80/month per user, organizations can access advanced customization features.
- Enterprise: Businesses that want enhanced reporting and security tools can inquire about the Enterprise package. Pricing is customized.
- Pinnacle: Includes advanced reporting capabilities, locked spaces and 15GB storage per user. Pricing is customized.
Pros
- Numerous 3rd party integrations
- Strong customer service
- Robust customization for marketing and creative
- Free version offers unlimited projects
Cons
- Too few filtering options
- Difficult on-boarding
- Steep learning curve
- Limited UI customization
Asana
Asana is another project management software that has been adopted by many organizations. Its main emphasis is on task management. Asana has a very clean and simple interface that works well on desktop and as a mobile app. As opposed to Airtable’s spreadsheet-style layout, Asana has a more classic to-do list layout. Users can view their task lists in a to-do list format where tasks can be checked off or on a calendar layout.
Asana’s unique features
- Offers extensive communication and collaboration tools including messaging tools, shared calendars and the ability to comment within specific tasks
- Integrates well with business intelligence programs like Tableau
- Subtasks can be assigned to different users with staggered deadlines
Pricing
Asana has four different pricing tiers:
- Basic: The free plan supports unlimited projects and tasks for up to 15 users.
- Premium: For $10.99/month per user billed annually or $13.49/month billed monthly, organizations can add unlimited users and gain access to the Workflow Builder.
- Business: For $24.99/month per user billed annually or $30.49/month billed monthly, organizations can add on advanced reporting, a portfolio view, advanced workflows and personalized support.
- Enterprise: Pricing available on request, with customizable plans for enterprise companies.
SEE: Wrike vs Asana: Project management software comparison (TechRepublic)
Pros
- Versatile communications channels
- Integrates well 3rd party apps and software
- Great platform for team collaboration, such as real-time communications
- User friendly dashboards, UX
- Strong security measures
Cons
- Challenging to new users
- Can’t assign multiple people to same task (one person only)
- No time tracking
- Limited export/import options
Zoho Projects
Zoho Projects is a well-rounded project management tool for tasks management, process automation and team collaboration. It is part of Zoho’s extensive software product catalog, making it an especially good choice for organizations that already use a Zoho product or are looking for multiple easy-to-integrate business tools.
The software offers a ton of data visualization options including a traditional spreadsheet view, simple list, kanban board or Gantt chart. Users can also automate mapped workflows with the Blueprints tool.
Zoho Projects’ unique features
- Project tracking in spreadsheet, list and kanban views
- Integrations with other Zoho products as well as Google and Microsoft
- Project baseline feature to help compare expected against real progress on tasks
- Ability to track and analyze time spent on each task
Pricing
Zoho Projects is an affordable option with three pricing levels:
- Free: Teams with three users or less can use the software for free and create two projects.
- Premium: For $5/month per user, for up to 50 users, with 20 project templates and unlimited projects, it includes 100GB of storage space.
- Enterprise: With no upper limit, the Enterprise tier is $10/month per user, with unlimited projects, 120GB of storage space and 30 project templates.
Pros
- Pricing
- Robust billing and time tracking
- Versatile reporting features and tools
- Ability to build company-specific wiki pages thanks to Intranet capability
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Best workflow automation reserved for enterprise plan
What are the pros and cons of Airtable?
Airtable is one of the most popular project management software tools. This is partially due to the versatility of the software. Airtable provides solutions for teams of all sizes from small businesses to large enterprises, and there is even a free plan for smaller teams or individuals. Airtable also offers an intuitive user interface and seamless data importing process, making it a very user-friendly option.
SEE: Five key resources to improve your project management (TechRepublic Premium)
However, there are a few reasons that users may seek alternatives to Airtable. The first one is simply that many people have different preferences when it comes to the task management interface. Airtable’s interface is intuitive for most users, but it does feel more like a spreadsheet. Excel enthusiasts will like this, but others may prefer a layout like Asana’s, which often feels more like a standard to-do list.
Enterprise users may also choose to go with an Airtable alternative as many competitors offer more comprehensive enterprise integrations. There are also limited extensions for many of the subscription plans.
Choosing between Airtable and its alternatives
Airtable is a popular choice for project management software. It offers a wide range of strong project management and reporting features. However, it isn’t the best fit for all organizations, as it does have some weaknesses in its task management features.
There are plenty of alternate project management software options available. These competitors may offer better task management features or a preferable user experience compared to Airtable. To compare these tools and others, check out our round up of the best project management software.
Read more about project management with these articles on the eight best practices and five steps to success:
- 8 project management best practices (TechRepublic)
- The 5 steps of project management (TechRepublic)
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