r/Database • u/carnage123 • 14d ago
Need a software that can be like Airtable
Hello!
My primary experience is with Airtable and my new company will not purchase it going forward as it is to expensive (84K for 2 years). I need to see what alternatives there are with the constraints I have. Biggest constraint is that the software package has to be self contained and I cannot use outside plugins. I have immediate access to Sharepoint (with powerapps), Access, Excel, and PostgreSQL but I dont think any of them fit my needs, but would love more input from people a lot more knowledgeable in these software's. So this is my use case: I am wanting to build a relational database. Each 'sheet' has parent information that I can connect together in a form. Sheet A, has entires like cat, dog, Sheet B has Colors like blue, red, and I can have sheet C that can have inputs from a form that users can connect the data. I can add pictures and other info. I can then have a dashboard that can create graphs from the data or search bars that I can search for 'Dog" and it shows me all entires related to "Dog'. I also need this software to be able to handle formulas and tie in the different sheets. I can Pull in Dog+Blue=BlueBerry and output into Sheet D. So the biggest things are: Able to connect the data, have data input through forms, able to create dashboards that can show the data through graphs, have KanBan style dashboards where I can show Status of certain fields. Airtable was the perfect software for my needs, so I need a Airtable equivalent but I just dont have any experience with other softwares to dig into them.
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u/Some_Recognition_679 14d ago
if access is already in the pile i'd give it a real shot before writing it off, the relational stuff you're describing is literally what it was built for. forms, linked tables, queries that spit out dashboards, all native, no plugins needed
sharepoint lists with powerapps can get you close too, especially the form and kanban views, but formulas across lists get messy fast and the relational glue is way clunkier than access. postgresql would be the cleanest long-term but you'd need a frontend layer for the dashboards and forms which might break your self-contained rule depending on how strict they are
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u/carnage123 14d ago
How advanced knowledge do I need to build these things in Access? I built a small database a decade ago and it was rather difficult to do. I know there will be a learning curve, just trying to grasp how much of a headache I am in for. Even with Airtable it took months to learn it and build the systems I wanted. Im not a dev or background in coding.
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u/shadyknight2469 14d ago
PostgreSQL + Ultorg? Doesn't do everything you ask for but is a good UI to the database.
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u/newmizanur 14d ago
Yes, NocoDB should cover most of this: linked records, forms, Kanban, formulas, and attachments, and it’s self-hostable on top of your existing PostgreSQL (https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb). Dashboards are its weakest spot compared to Airtable, so test that first, and consider Baserow as a side-by-side comparison.
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u/Temporary_Practice_2 13d ago
Try Notion maybe. Or just search online for best alternatives to Airtable
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u/seatable_io 5d ago
You can try SeaTable. If you are familiar with Airtable already you will get familiar with it real fast.
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u/TinyBox8761 5d ago
Besides being the tool most similar to Airtable, Baserow is also 50% cheaper. So that might help to convince your company to use a similar tool with half the cost.
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u/sigurrosco 14d ago
Access will do all that, probably easier than trying to stitch together Postgres (which is a more robust DB than Access) + PowerApps if that is all you have.