Monday.com vs Airtable: A data-backed comparison
Explore Monday.com and Airtable's features, pricing, adoption trends, and ideal use cases to help you determine which project management tool is the best fit for your team.
Monday.com vs Airtable at a glance
Both Monday.com and Airtable excel in workflow management but serve different needs. Monday.com is ideal for teams that prioritize visual process tracking with strong automation, while Airtable is better for those needing sophisticated data relationships and database functionality within a spreadsheet-like interface.
Metrics | Monday | Airtable |
|---|---|---|
Relative cost | 31% lower cost than category average | 21% lower cost than category average |
Adoption trend | 11% QoQ adoption growth | 5.79% QoQ adoption growth |
Primary user segment | 41% of users are SMB | 47% of users are micro businesses |
Best for | Teams that need powerful yet intuitive work management tools to coordinate projects across teams without the complexity of enterprise software. | Teams that need flexible data organization that combines spreadsheet simplicity with database capabilities. |
Monday.com overview
Monday.com is a highly visual work management platform that enables teams to build custom workflows, track progress, and streamline collaboration. Its color-coded boards, customizable fields, and automation support transparency and accountability, making it ideal for managing complex projects across departments.
Monday.com key features
Features | Description |
|---|---|
Dashboard reporting | Aggregates data from multiple boards into customizable dashboards with visual widgets, including charts, timelines, calendars, and metrics that update in real-time. |
Automation | Creates rule-based automations that trigger actions when specific conditions are met, such as status changes, date approaches, or assignments. |
Forms | Creates customizable intake forms that feed directly into the boards, allowing external stakeholders to submit information that automatically populates as new items. |
Integrations | Connects with over 200 external tools—including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, Zoom, Salesforcento create a unified workspace. |
Custom boards | Organizes work into customizable boards with items, columns, and automations that adapt to any workflow type—from simple task lists to complex project plans with dependencies and timelines. |
Airtable overview
Airtable combines spreadsheet simplicity with database power, allowing teams to link related datasets, track complex information, and maintain data integrity. With multiple views like grids, kanban, and calendars, it adapts to different workflows while offering advanced formulas and relational data capabilities for precise management.
Airtable key features
Features | Description |
|---|---|
Multiple data views | Presents the same dataset in various formats including Grid, Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, Gallery, and Timeline views. |
Automation capabilities | Creates trigger-action sequences that automatically perform tasks like updating records, sending notifications, moving items between views when conditions are met. |
Integrations | Connects with 36 native integrations across project management, file handling, communication, and social networking tools, plus offers API access. |
Custom interfaces | Allows creation of tailored dashboards and data entry screens without coding knowledge. |
Pros and cons
Tool | Pros | Cons |
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Monday |
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Airtable |
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Use case scenarios
Both Monday.com and Airtable serve teams effectively, but they excel in different scenarios:
When Monday.com is the way to go
Monday.com excels when teams need to manage complex approval workflows with clear visibility. Imagine a finance department using Monday.com to track budget planning cycles with visual timelines and progress indicators. They can easily see which items are in review, approved, or need revision.
The platform's visual nature makes it perfect for coordinating cross-departmental initiatives where accountability and status tracking are critical. Teams can implement standardized processes for recurring operations like month-end closing, with automation handling the routine tasks. Monday.com also shines when creating executive-friendly dashboards that visualize KPIs without requiring database knowledge.
When Airtable takes the lead
Airtable performs better when teams need to build sophisticated databases with complex relationships between datasets. For example, a finance department can use Airtable to maintain detailed asset registers linked to depreciation schedules, locations, and responsible parties—all connected through relational database principles.
Its excel-like formula capabilities make it ideal for creating modeling systems that require advanced calculations across related records.Teams can develop customized budget tracking solutions that connect allocations, actuals, and forecasts while maintaining data integrity. Airtable's form capabilities also excel at collecting and organizing data from multiple departments in a structured manner.
Other project management tools
- ClickUp offers a highly customizable workspace with built-in documentation, ideal for teams needing detailed tracking.
- Smartsheet combines spreadsheet familiarity with collaboration, perfect for teams transitioning from Excel.
- Notion is an all-in-one workspace for knowledge management, project tracking, and documentation.
- Asana focuses on structured task management with timeline features for goal-oriented workflows.
- Wrike is built for enterprise project management, offering advanced resource tracking and team insights.