Wall Check
Airtable
Free caps at 1,000 records and 1,000 API calls — hit the wall and bases freeze until you pay per seat.
Gates 4/5 4 of the five walls fired — the score is a count, not a verdict.
Checked 2026-09-25 · re-check due 2026-11-24.
The five walls
! Price wall
The free tier ends. The limit you hit while everything still looks free.
Free: 1,000 records/base, 1GB attachments, 1,000 API calls/workspace/mo, 5 editors. Team from $20/user/mo.
source · checked 2026-09-25
! Permission wall
You can see the setting but not touch it. Licenses and admin roles decide what you control.
Interface Designer, extensions, Gantt/Timeline, locked views and automations depth are paid-tier features.
source · checked 2026-09-25
✓ Gate wall
A human at the vendor decides your timeline — approvals, reviews, onboarding queues.
Free/Team/self-serve Business are self-serve; Enterprise Scale is sales-led.
source · checked 2026-09-25
! Meter wall
Cost scales with your success. Per-unit, per-seat, per-message pricing that grows as you do.
Per-seat billing on editors + record/API quotas; over the cap, bases still open but you cannot add records.
source · checked 2026-09-25
! Exit wall
Getting out costs more than getting in. Your data, your domain, your number — who keeps them.
CSV export per table; interfaces, automations and linked-base structure do not transfer.
source · checked 2026-09-25
The twelve questions
- What is the hard number where the free tier ends?
- 1,000 records + 1,000 API calls/mo on Free
Documents read for this check: pricing page, help center.
Where Airtable shows up in our fixes
- Track SAM.gov expirations and compliance renewals automatically
- Sync inventory sheets directly to your website without code
Side-by-side comparisons
We are not paid by this vendor or any vendor listed here. These are the gates we found — which ones you accept is your call, not ours.
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