Excel is a traditional spreadsheet for calculations and data analysis with a one-time purchase model, while Airtable is a cloud-based database platform optimized for collaboration, automation, and relational data management with subscription pricing. Excel excels at complex formulas and financial modeling; Airtable excels at team workflows and connected data.
Excel vs Airtable — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Spreadsheet application for data management, calculations, and basic reporting.
Cloud-based database and workflow automation platform for structured data management.
Pricing Model. Collaboration Real-time Updates. Formula Complexity. Relational Database Capabilities. Automation Workflows. User Learning Curve. File Size Limit
Choose Excel if you need powerful financial modeling, complex statistical analysis, and work primarily offline with large datasets and intricate formulas. Choose Airtable if your team needs seamless real-time collaboration, relational data organization, low-code automation, and quick deployment without deep technical skills. Excel dominates quantitative analysis; Airtable dominates operational workflows.
Microsoft Excel: $6/month (Microsoft 365) or $69.99 one-time | Airtable: $0 free tier or $6-$20 paid tier
Microsoft Excel: $72-$144 annually (or $699.90 one-time × 1) | Airtable: $720-$2,400 annually ($6-$20 per user)
Microsoft Excel: 500+ functions | Airtable: 50+ functions
Microsoft Excel: 2-4 weeks for intermediate use | Airtable: 0.5-1 week for intermediate use
Microsoft Excel: 1,000,000 rows (with slowdown) | Airtable: Unlimited (100,000+ tested)
Microsoft Excel: 0 (requires VBA coding) | Airtable: 500+ no-code automations
Microsoft Excel: 50,000+ add-ins (Microsoft Store) | Airtable: 6,000+ via Zapier + 50+ native
Microsoft Excel: No (workaround via VLOOKUP) | Airtable: Advanced (linked records, rollups, lookups)
Microsoft Excel: 1,048,576 | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: $70 one-time or $72/year (Microsoft 365) | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: Manual only | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: 50+ (via Power Query) | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: 4-8 hours (manual) | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: 2-4 weeks | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: 500+ (including VBA macros) | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: Limited (OneDrive/SharePoint) | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: $8.33 (Pro at $100/year) | Airtable: $20-50 (Pro/Team tier)
Microsoft Excel: Partial; slower sync, version conflicts common | Airtable: Native; live cursors, instant updates, comment threads
Microsoft Excel: Unlimited (desktop); 5GB cloud | Airtable: 1,200 records per base
Microsoft Excel: 95+ hours | Airtable: 15-20 hours
Microsoft Excel: No (requires manual linking) | Airtable: Yes (linked records, automatic relationships)
Microsoft Excel: 600+ | Airtable: 200+ via Zapier; strong API with webhooks
Microsoft Excel: Full offline support with sync on reconnect | Airtable: Limited; read-only offline, edits sync when online
Microsoft Excel: $69.99/year (Microsoft 365 Family) | Airtable: N/A
Maximum Row Capacity (Optimal Performance)
Microsoft Excel: 1,000,000+ rows | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: 450+ functions | Airtable: 150+
Microsoft Excel: 30+ chart types including 3D, stock, and surface charts | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: Via OneDrive/SharePoint (manual setup required) | Airtable: Instant (< 1 second)
Microsoft Excel: Full offline functionality; automatic sync | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: 100GB (Microsoft 365 Family) | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: Limited features on iOS/Android; desktop version is primary | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: 10 basic charts | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: Manual or 15-minute minimum | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: 95% of enterprises use Excel | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: Basic viewing only; limited interactions | Airtable: N/A
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Free (limited)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $20-$50 per base
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Advanced (Automations + Scripting)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Generous with tiers
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 5+ million
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Basic (attachments, linked records)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 500+ native
Starting Price Per User/Month (Annual Billing)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Free ($0) or Team Plan ($20/user)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 1,000 records per base
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 50,000 records per base
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Grid, Gallery, Calendar, Form, Kanban, Timeline, Map (7+)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Extensive with Zapier + native automations
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Moderate - requires data modeling knowledge
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Unlimited custom fields, formulas, and rollups
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $540 annually ($45/month)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $20 (annual billing)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 5 editors
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 250+ templates
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Not available
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 30 requests/second (enterprise)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $0 (5 editors, 1,000 records)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $20-24/user
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Unlimited on paid plans
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: No (third-party integration required)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 6+ (Grid, Kanban, Gallery, Calendar, Timeline, Form)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Comments and mentions only
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 1,000+ via Zapier and native
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Advanced automations, scripting, and workflows
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Airtable
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 5 (Pro plan)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Unlimited with relationships
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 500,000+
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Visual workflow builder (no code)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 15-20 (basic setup)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 5-7 hours
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: No, third-party only
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $20/month
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 1,200 records
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 8,000+ integrations
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 8-12 hours
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Advanced (linked records, complex queries, rollups)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: AI Assistant on Team+ plans only ($30+/month)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Limited (gallery view only)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Unlimited with complex conditions
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 2 bases
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 2 GB per attachment
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Advanced linked records, lookups, rollups, and junctions
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Advanced visual automation builder with multi-step workflows
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 6 (grid, calendar, kanban, gallery, form, timeline)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Basic (timeline view only)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 20 GB per base
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 7 (moderate - requires database thinking)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 5 users
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Native linked records with rollups and lookups
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: REST API + Metadata API + JavaScript SDK
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Automations, Scripting, Extensions
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 25+ (including linked records, lookups, rollups, formulas)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 5 (Grid, Calendar, Kanban, Gallery, Timeline)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Limited (attachments only)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 1,200 rows
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Comprehensive REST + GraphQL APIs with extensive examples
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 25+ (conditionals, multi-step)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Unlimited linked records + lookups + rollups
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 100+ simultaneous
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $20 (Pro plan)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 5 req/sec
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 6 views (grid, gallery, calendar, kanban, form, timeline)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Minimal (tables-focused, limited formatting)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Advanced with junctions, rollups, complex queries
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 14 days
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $0 (with limits)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: No hard limit
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $20 per seat/month (Team plan)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Enterprise-grade with linked records, lookups, rollups
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Not included (third-party required)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 6 views (Grid, Gallery, Calendar, Kanban, Form, Timeline)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Moderate (database concepts, relational thinking)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Unlimited (with limitations)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 6 (grid, gallery, form, calendar, kanban, expandable records)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Automations with advanced conditions and nested logic
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: $20/month (Pro)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 170+ actions
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: Minimal (basic text blocks)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 1000+ integrations
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 200+ functions
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 100,000+ rows (stable)
Microsoft Excel: N/A | Airtable: 4-6 hours (relational setup)
How to choose between Microsoft Excel and Airtable
Excel vs Airtable — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Excel vs Airtable. Contains 164 attribute comparisons, 3 FAQ pairs.
Excel vs Airtable — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Excel vs Airtable.
Should I use Airtable or Excel for project management?
Airtable is generally better for project management. Its multiple views (kanban, calendar, Gantt/timeline, gallery) let teams visualize the same data in different ways depending on their role. The kanban view for sprints, calendar for deadlines, timeline for dependencies — these are project management UX that Excel requires significant manual setup to replicate. Airtable's real-time collaboration, @-mention comments, and record assignments make it genuinely team-native. Excel can work for project tracking, especially with templates, but it's more manual and less visual. If your team is already in Microsoft 365, Microsoft Planner or Project may be better alternatives to Airtable for project management.
Airtable is more accurately described as a no-code relational database with spreadsheet-like UX. The key difference: Airtable's "Link to another record" field type creates true relational links between tables — like foreign keys in SQL — enabling lookups, rollups, and data normalization that flat spreadsheets can't do natively. For example: a Projects table can link to a Clients table and a Tasks table; tasks automatically associate with their project and client without duplicating data. Excel has table relationships via Power Pivot, but they require advanced setup and are not easily accessible to non-technical users. For structured, relational data that a team needs to interact with visually, Airtable is meaningfully more than "a fancy spreadsheet."
Can I migrate my data from Excel to Airtable?
Yes, migrating from Excel to Airtable is straightforward—you can import Excel files directly into Airtable, and it will automatically detect columns and create fields. However, complex formulas in Excel may need to be recreated using Airtable's formula syntax, and some manual cleanup might be required for data formatting or linked records that don't have Excel equivalents.
How to Choose Between Microsoft Excel and Airtable
Pricing Model: Microsoft Excel has $69.99 one-time (2026) or $6-12/month subscription, while Airtable has $0-$20/user/month cloud subscription.
Consider: Collaboration Real-time Updates
Collaboration Real-time Updates: Microsoft Excel has Slower, requires saves and syncs, while Airtable has Instant real-time collaboration across users.
Formula Complexity: Microsoft Excel has 500+ built-in functions, advanced array formulas, VBA scripting, while Airtable has 50+ formulas, limited to field-level operations.
Consider: Relational Database Capabilities
Relational Database Capabilities: Microsoft Excel has Single flat sheets, requires VLOOKUP/INDEX-MATCH workarounds, while Airtable has Native linked records, many-to-many relationships, lookups.
Automation Workflows: Microsoft Excel has Basic macros, requires coding knowledge (VBA), while Airtable has No-code automations, triggers, actions, 500+ app integrations.
User Learning Curve: Microsoft Excel has 2-4 weeks for intermediate competency, 8+ weeks for advanced, while Airtable has 3-5 days for basic use, 2-3 weeks for intermediate.
File Size Limit: Microsoft Excel has 2GB per file (practical: 1M rows × 16,000 columns), while Airtable has Unlimited rows, soft cap of 100,000+ records per base.
Excel is a traditional spreadsheet for calculations and data analysis with a one-time purchase model, while Airtable is a cloud-based database platform optimized for collaboration, automation, and relational data management with subscription pricing. Excel excels at complex formulas and financial mo