Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Airtable VS Anvil.works

Compare Airtable VS Anvil.works and see what are their differences

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Airtable logo Airtable

Airtable works like a spreadsheet but gives you the power of a database to organize anything. Sign up for free.

Anvil.works logo Anvil.works

Build seriously powerful web apps with all the flexibility of Python. No web development experience required.
  • Airtable Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-19
  • Anvil.works Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-03-23

Anvil is a powerful online platform that lets you build web applications with nothing but Python. It comes with two-click deployment, built-in user authentication, easy-to-use databases and loads more!

Learn all about Anvil in 80 seconds: https://youtu.be/3V-3g1mQ5GY

Airtable

$ Details
-
Release Date
2013 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
California
Founder(s)
Andrew Ofstad
Employees
250 - 499

Airtable features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Airtable provides an intuitive, visually appealing interface that makes it easy for users to create, manage, and navigate complex data sets without extensive technical knowledge.
  • Customizability
    Airtable offers robust customization options, allowing users to tailor databases and views to their specific needs, including various field types, multiple views, and linked records.
  • Collaboration Features
    Airtable supports real-time collaboration, enabling multiple users to work on the same database simultaneously while tracking changes and maintaining version history.
  • Integrations
    Airtable integrates with various third-party applications and services such as Slack, Google Drive, and Zapier, allowing for seamless workflow automation and enhanced productivity.
  • Templates
    Airtable offers a wide range of pre-built templates for different use cases, which helps users get started quickly without having to build everything from scratch.
  • Mobile App
    Airtable's mobile application allows users to access and manage their databases on the go, ensuring flexibility and continuous productivity.

Possible disadvantages of Airtable

  • Cost
    While Airtable offers a free tier, many of the more advanced features and higher usage limits are locked behind a subscription model, which can become costly for larger teams or extensive use.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users have reported performance issues with Airtable when working with very large databases, including slow load times and laggy interface responsiveness.
  • Limited Offline Access
    Airtable relies heavily on an internet connection, and its offline capabilities are limited, which may be a drawback for users who need consistent access without reliable internet.
  • Data Export Options
    Data export options are somewhat limited compared to other database management tools, making it more difficult to extract data in certain formats for use outside of Airtable.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, the extensive features and customizability of Airtable can present a learning curve for new users, requiring time to explore and understand its full capabilities.
  • Lack of Advanced Features
    Airtable may lack some advanced features found in more specialized or traditional database management systems, making it less suitable for particularly complex or highly specific data management needs.

Anvil.works features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Anvil.works simplifies web development through its drag-and-drop interface and Python-based backend, making it accessible for developers who may not have extensive front-end skills.
  • Integrated Development
    It provides an all-in-one platform, including database management, authentication, and server-side logic, which reduces the need for multiple third-party services.
  • Rapid Prototyping
    The platform allows for quick iteration and development of prototypes, enabling faster testing and validation of ideas.
  • Python Support
    For developers familiar with Python, Anvil.works allows them to leverage their existing knowledge without having to learn JavaScript, HTML, or CSS.
  • Deployment Simplicity
    Deploying an application is straightforward and seamless, as it removes much of the overhead involved in traditional web app deployment.

Possible disadvantages of Anvil.works

  • Limited Flexibility
    Because it's an all-in-one solution, customization might be limited compared to traditional development stacks where you have complete control over all layers of the application.
  • Performance Constraints
    Applications built on Anvil.works might not be as performant as those built with more specialized frameworks or stacks, particularly for very large or complex applications.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Reliance on Anvil.works means that your application is dependent on their platform. Migrating away can be challenging if their pricing model changes or if the service discontinues.
  • Learning Curve
    While it reduces the need to learn multiple web technologies, there is still a learning curve for mastering the Anvil-specific ways of doing things.
  • Cost
    While there is a free tier, advanced features and higher tiers can become costly, particularly if the platform scales with usage.

Analysis of Airtable

Overall verdict

  • Airtable is a highly effective tool for individuals and teams looking for an easy-to-use, versatile platform to manage data and collaborate. It is especially suitable for users who need more functionality than a traditional spreadsheet but don’t require a full-scale database management system.

Why this product is good

  • Ease of use
    Airtable offers a user-friendly interface that combines the simplicity of spreadsheets with the power of a database, making it accessible for users without technical expertise.
  • Flexibility
    It provides flexibility in terms of creating customizable databases, allowing users to adapt it for various use cases such as project management, inventory tracking, and more.
  • Integrations
    It integrates with a wide range of third-party applications and services, enhancing its utility and reach.
  • Collaboration
    Airtable supports real-time collaboration, enabling teams to work together seamlessly and share updates instantly.

Recommended for

  • Small to medium-sized businesses
  • Project managers
  • Creative teams
  • Freelancers
  • Non-profits
  • Product development teams

Analysis of Anvil.works

Overall verdict

  • Anvil.works is considered a good platform for web development, especially for those who prefer a simplified, drag-and-drop interface.

Why this product is good

  • It provides an easy-to-use, visual interface that allows developers to design web apps quickly without needing to handle the complexities of frontend/backend integration manually.
  • Anvil uses Python, a popular and beginner-friendly programming language, allowing developers to write both frontend and backend code.
  • The platform includes built-in components for common web functionalities, such as user authentication, data tables, API management, and email services, enhancing productivity.
  • It is particularly useful for rapid prototyping and creating small to mid-scale applications, thanks to its all-in-one nature.
  • Anvil simplifies the deployment process, allowing for seamless app sharing and scaling without deep DevOps knowledge.

Recommended for

  • Beginners who want to learn web development using Python.
  • Developers interested in rapid application development and prototyping.
  • Small teams or individuals who need to deploy applications quickly without extensive setup.
  • Educators and students looking for a practical, accessible way to build and deploy applications.

Airtable videos

Airtable Review | Features, Pricing & Team Use

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Airtable API Tutorial With cURL and JavaScript
  • Review - Airtable Blocks for Project Management
  • Review - Airtable vs. Google Sheets
  • Review - airtable review

Anvil.works videos

No Anvil.works videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Airtable and Anvil.works)
Project Management
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100
No Code
100 100%
0% 0
Productivity
92 92%
8% 8

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Airtable and Anvil.works

Airtable Reviews

  1. Sanjana Shah
    · Data Scientist at Boston Institute of Analytics ·
    Airtable: Spreadsheets + Databases = Efficiency

    Airtable is a powerful cloud-based software that combines spreadsheets and databases, offering real-time collaboration and customizable features for efficient task management1.

    🏁 Competitors: monday.com, ClickUp, Smartsheet
    👍 Pros:    Free forever plan and affordable paid options starting at $10 per month.|Visually appealing and user-friendly interface.|Pre-made templates for easy setup and use.|Real-time collaboration and communication.|Customizable features for task management.
    👎 Cons:    Limited project customization without a paid plan.|Top-tier accounts required for gantt tools.|May take time to learn and grasp advanced features.

The Top 7 ClickUp Alternatives You Need to Know in 2025
Benefits:Airtable's ability to integrate various data sources into one platform allows teams to maintain a centralized source of truth while leveraging powerful visualization tools6.
Top 10 Notion Alternatives for 2025 and Why Teams Are Choosing Ledger
Airtable blends spreadsheets with database features, offering teams a powerful way to organize structured information. While its flexibility is impressive, it's not purpose-built for communication or team collaboration at scale.
25 Best Asana Alternatives & Competitors for Project Management in 2024
Airtable is one of the most popular Asana alternatives. It’s project management tool that helps teams create detailed databases for their work. Users can group and sort data in custom fields with views like Grid to include only the relevant project information.
Source: clickup.com
Top 10 Microsoft Power Apps Alternatives and Competitors 2024
Airtable Pricing: Airtable offers a freemium plan with limited features for individual users. Paid plans start at $10 per user per month for additional features and functionalities. Enterprise plans with custom pricing cater to large-scale deployments.
Source: medium.com
The 10 best Asana alternatives in 2024
If you're looking for a project management app that leans more toward data management, try Airtable. Out of the box, Airtable's default view looks like a spreadsheet. It offers a few project templates based on your team type (such as marketing or sales), or you can build a "base" from scratch. From there, you can add highly customizable fields (or columns) to each row, so...
Source: zapier.com

Anvil.works Reviews

We have no reviews of Anvil.works yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Airtable might be a bit more popular than Anvil.works. We know about 130 links to it since March 2021 and only 97 links to Anvil.works. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Airtable mentions (130)

  • How to Build Internal Tools 100x Faster
    It is possible to speed up the development and delivery process for many internal applications by using no-code or low code tools. These vary in offerings from open source to SaaS, including popular ones like AirTable, BudiBase, Retool, NocoDB and others. These can all greatly help speed up delivery times. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Growing a side-project to 100k Unique Visitors in one week
    For the backend, I opted for Airtable as a database. It's a simple, no-code solution that I've used before. It's not the most powerful database, but it's perfect for a project like this. I could easily add, edit, and delete records, and it has an embeddable form functionality that I used for user submissions. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Airtable.com — Looks like a spreadsheet, but it's a relational database unlimited bases, 1,200 rows/base, and 1,000 API requests/month. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How to generate links to a record to view it in an Interface?
    The ?XXXXX part of the URL identifies the type of interface page it is. Just copy that and then your formula is just "https://airtable.com.../...?XXXXXX=" & RECORD_ID() I'm not sure it works in every type of interface page (where you've started from a blank page for example). There has to be something to identify the record viewed from the page, if you see what I mean. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Working on a personal app for data tracking. looking for suggestions
    So I started building something on airtable.com that would allow me to easily track updates for each batch. What in your experience would make sense to track that I may be missing? Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

Anvil.works mentions (97)

  • Delphi Is 30
    I've often compared Anvil (it's web-IDE for web-apps in Python https://anvil.works) to Delphi. I'm curious how you'd rate it on those qualities (off the bat it ticks a lot of those boxes. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Everything I built with Claude Artifacts this week
    I am a bit frustrated that I don't have a great "tool" environment to build out this stuff, because of having to futz with the I/O. Like most of that stuff is "well I know how to write the Python to do the last step, but wrapping it all up in a simple web UI is Too Much Work". That effort might be small, but it's still orders of magnitude larger than the snippet! Lots of TUI interfaces try to approximate this, but... - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2024)
    Anvil (https://anvil.works) | Developer Advocate | Cambridge, UK | ONSITE, VISA | Full-time/part-time/flexible We make an open-source web framework, an online code editor, a GUI builder, and a PaaS hosting platform. Together, you can build and host a full-stack web application - and all you need is a little Python. (Yes, even the client-side code - we compile Python to JS and provide a GUI framework!) We’re... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • A list of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings that have free tiers of interest to devops and infradev
    Anvil.works - Web app development with nothing but Python. Free tier with unlimited apps and 30-second timeouts. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2024)
    Anvil (https://anvil.works) | Senior Developer | Cambridge, UK | ONSITE, VISA | Full-time/part-time/flexible We make an open-source web framework, an online code editor, a GUI builder, and a PaaS hosting platform. Together, you can build and host a full-stack web application - and all you need is a little Python. (Yes, even the client-side code - we compile Python to JS and provide our own GUI framework!) We’re... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Airtable and Anvil.works, you can also consider the following products

Trello - Infinitely flexible. Incredibly easy to use. Great mobile apps. It's free. Trello keeps track of everything, from the big picture to the minute details.

Unity - The multiplatform game creation tools for everyone.

Asana - Asana project management is an effort to re-imagine how we work together, through modern productivity software. Fast and versatile, Asana helps individuals and groups get more done.

Blender - Blender is the open source, cross platform suite of tools for 3D creation.

Basecamp - A simple and elegant project management system.

Unreal Engine - Unreal Engine 4 is a suite of integrated tools for game developers to design and build games, simulations, and visualizations.