On this page
Airtable made spreadsheet-as-a-database mainstream. Tadabase plays in a different lane: database-backed multi-user applications. Both are great. The trick is knowing when you have hit the edge of one and need the other.
Describe the app you need — we’ll build it now.
We started the prompt for you. Edit it, or describe your own app.
What they actually share #
- Relational tables with field types, connections, formulas.
- Forms to capture data from non-builders.
- Automations that fire on record changes.
- Integrations with Slack, Google, Stripe, and friends.
- A REST API to read and write data programmatically.
If you stop here, Airtable wins on polish and Tadabase wins on price-at-scale. The picture changes the moment you add end-users with logins.
Where they really diverge #
| Capability | Airtable | Tadabase |
|---|---|---|
| End-user portal | Interfaces (limited per-row access control) | Full page builder with row-level RLS by role |
| Pricing model | Per editor seat | Flat per account, unlimited end-users |
| User authentication | External auth or shared interfaces | Built-in users + roles, with self-signup, SSO, MFA |
| Custom domain + white-label | Limited | Custom domain, CSS, JS — no Tadabase branding |
| Compliance | HIPAA available on enterprise tiers | SOC 2 guidelines, HIPAA-eligible, GDPR |
| Generated PDFs | Add-on / extension | Built-in template editor |
| REST API access from inside the app | Scripting block / extensions | Pipes — first-class API connector |
The pricing trap to watch for #
Per-editor pricing is fine for an ops team of five. It becomes a real problem when "editors" turns into "every customer logging into our portal." Tadabase's flat per-account model is not a marketing line — it is the reason teams move when their user count outruns Airtable economics.
When to pick which #
- Pick Airtable when: small internal team, content/asset tracking, lots of views, no end-customer logins.
- Pick Tadabase when: end-users log in, multiple roles, row-level access, custom domain, generated documents.
- Pick both when: Airtable is your team's internal database and Tadabase is the portal your customers use. They play nicely via API.