The short answer
- Moving from Airtable Team to NocoDB (free tier) at 1 seat saves $238 in the first year, after setup and upkeep time (Stackcut's model: modeled, not measured).
- NocoDB's official migration guide moves 1 kind of data in full. What moves
- 3 public accounts of making this switch: 2 switching, 1 switched. Read them
- 2 comparison pages checked, each labeled with who wrote it. What they claim
- Switching help: Built-in importer: enter an Airtable personal access token (or API key) and NocoDB imports the base's tables and records directly, described as usually finishing within minutes. nocodb.com
What Airtable and NocoDB cost
List prices from each vendor's pricing page, as stored in the Stackcut catalog. Each price links its source.
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airtable Team | $24/user/mo | $20/user/mo | 50,000 records per base, 20 GB attachments per base, 100,000 API calls/month, 1-year history |
| Airtable Business | $54/user/mo | $45/user/mo | 125,000 records per base, 100 GB attachments per base, unlimited API calls, 1-year history; requires a private email domain |
- Airtable free plan: 1,000 records per base, 1 GB attachments per base, 1,000 API calls/month per workspace, 2 weeks of revision history, up to 5 editors/creators support.airtable.com
- NocoDB free plan: Cloud Free: 3 editor seats, 10 commenter seats, 1,000 records, 1 GB storage, 1,000 API calls/month nocodb.com
NocoDB's plans aren't in the Stackcut catalog yet; check NocoDB's own site.
What comparison pages say
Each claim as the page makes it, and who it favors. Vendor pages are labeled; weigh them accordingly.
2 pages compared, 0 of them written by one of the two vendors. Claims are the pages' own, paraphrased; prices in them may be older than the catalog prices above.
| About | The page says | Favors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other | Airtable holds a 4.6-out-of-5 average across roughly 3,296 G2 reviews; NocoDB has no G2 reviews to compare. | Airtable | G2 independent |
| Ease of use | Airtable scores 8.4 to 8.7 on G2's ease-of-use, setup and admin/support categories; NocoDB shows no data in any category. | Airtable | G2 independent |
| Features | NocoDB works directly on live production data in Postgres, MySQL or MariaDB, unlike Airtable, which requires building a new database. | NocoDB | TechCrunch independent |
| Other | NocoDB's founder claimed over 2,000 companies, including Google, Walmart, Amex and McAfee, used the project. | NocoDB | TechCrunch independent |
| Ecosystem | NocoDB raised about $10.5 million in seed funding from backers including YouTube's and WordPress's co-founders. | Even | TechCrunch independent |
Moving from Airtable to NocoDB
What NocoDB's importer carries over, what it leaves behind, and any help it offers switchers.
To NocoDB
Official guide nocodb.com · Tools: NocoDB Airtable Import
Moves: Tables and records (full). nocodb.com
Watch out for:
- This vendor page is a marketing/stats page, not a spec: it doesn't itself document field-type or attachment fidelity (see the companion community migration_guide for that). nocodb.com
Community guide github.com · Tools: NocoDB native Airtable importer (v0.91+)
Moves: Tables and records (full); Rollup fields (partial); Linked records (partial); Rich text fields (partial); Phone, percent and duration fields (partial). github.com
Doesn't move: Formula fields (not imported at all per the original 2022 report; a May 2024 comment on this thread still asks how to import formula-heavy bases, with no fix noted); Filters/sorts that reference a field type the importer converted or skipped. github.com
Watch out for:
- A personal-access-token import can bring over table structure while skipping row content, per one 2023 report. github.com
- Airtable changing its share-link URL format in 2023 broke the importer's link parser for at least one user. github.com
- Airtable Interfaces and Automations have no import path here either; only base data, views and (partial) structure move. github.com
Switching help: Built-in importer: enter an Airtable personal access token (or API key) and NocoDB imports the base's tables and records directly, described as usually finishing within minutes. nocodb.com
Switching help: Free NocoDB Cloud plan (up to 3 users, 1,000 records, 1GB storage, 100 automation runs) and a free self-hosted Community Edition with most core features. No Smartsheet-specific switch offer; pricing FAQ states no refunds and no nonprofit/education discounts. nocodb.com
From each destination's own migration docs and switching pages, plus community write-ups where no official guide exists, each checked against its page. Confirm terms on the linked page before you rely on an offer.
People who moved from Airtable to NocoDB
3 public accounts of leaving Airtable: 2 switching, 1 switched. Summaries are ours; each links the original, and each was checked against its page before it appeared here.
(2023 account) After importing a 16-table, 18-relation Airtable base, every linked-record relation had become many-to-many with no in-UI fix, making relinking records by hand a lot of work. GitHub
(2023 account) After Airtable moved from API keys to personal access tokens, this user reported that importing with a personal access token brought over table structure but not the row data itself. GitHub
(2023 account) When Airtable changed its shareable-base URL format, this user's import into NocoDB broke with an error, and they asked publicly for a workaround. GitHub
How to leave Airtable
Export first, then cancel. Every step links the vendor's own help page, checked on the date shown.
How to leave Airtable
Export first
- Records in a view: Down arrow next to the view name → Download CSV (web and desktop apps) (CSV). Attachments export as file names and URLs that expire after a few hours, so download the files separately. Comments and field descriptions aren't included. support.airtable.com
Cancel
- Download a CSV of every view you need, and the attachment files separately (see export).
- Account overview → Workspace settings → the workspace → Change plan → Choose free. Owner permissions are required.
- Sales-led Business and Enterprise Scale plans go through your sales contact.
- Takes effect
- At the end of the current billing cycle; nothing changes before then.
- Refunds
- Refunds only for accidental upgrades or added collaborators: within 7 days of the invoice on monthly plans, 14 days on annual.
- After you cancel
- Bases over the Free record limit can't add new records, including through forms and the API. Existing records stay accessible.
FAQ
Is NocoDB cheaper than Airtable?
Modeled, not measured: moving from Airtable Team to NocoDB (free tier) at 1 seat saves $238 in the first year, after setup and upkeep time at $50/hour. It depends on your plan, seats and usage. the math
Can I move my Airtable data to NocoDB?
NocoDB's official guide moves: Tables and records. nocodb.com
Does NocoDB help people switch from Airtable?
Built-in importer: enter an Airtable personal access token (or API key) and NocoDB imports the base's tables and records directly, described as usually finishing within minutes. nocodb.com
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