Airtable

Pros

Airtable brings actual structure to our working environment. We use for a team of 15 to track tasks, projects, and even for lightweight documentation of work done or where stuff is. I really like the flexibility and the ability to create just about anything with it and still make the finished product look nice. The UI is what people first comment on when I invite them to our shared set of bases--either "it looks great" or "this is easy" or something like that. I especially love the integration with Zapier so that if you need to go outside an Airtable base, you probably won't have to do manual entry--it can sync with your other app.

Cons

With the free version, you will hit the record limit will pretty easily. I wish they had a lower-priced plan that was above the free version, but below their much more expensive tiers.
A second huge miss is that there was really no way to do rich text. That severely limits the usefulness for using Airtable as any kind of repository for content or anything like that. Basically you convert everything to HTML markup and store it as plain text in Airtable, but like I said they have promised to fix this . . .

Pros

The fact that basically all database applications I tried were basically meant for enterprise-level businesses, and generally required a steep learning curve to even set up. I only needed basic database functionality, and to be able to easily edit single or groups of entries. AirTable solved this perfectly. Also, the team over there seem to be constantly adding on new functionality, which I see and realize that could solve problems I did not even realize I had. The best part is just how easy it is to use. I have some people on my team that are far from tech-savvy, and with a quick overview, they were even able to utilize it.

Cons

Their forms have a bit to be desired, but that is mostly just the appearance when I send them out. Also when sorting and filtering, it requires 3 or so clicks, when I think they could make it one.

Pros

When the pandemic hit, within a few weeks, we had a custom-made solution which allowed members to do the health check from home and sign in and out of venues all using a QR code or weblink.

We now have a COVID protocol with contact tracing and have been infection free for 5 months thanks to our AirTable App which does health checks from home and contact tracing also.

Cons

As a charity with many volunteers, if we used the paid version, it would be very expensive. We are using the free tier at the moment but will need to upgrade soon.

Pros

When I first started to use Airtable, I came away deeply frustrated with it's usability. It's sometimes slow, straightly obtuse to use and has many "pending features" that would be extremely helpful for some of the simplest of tasks.

However, there came a time when I had to organise a league table for a tournament over the internet, and all of sudden, Airtable clicked.

What Airtable is good at is creating a database of entries for a specific use, so for example, making an internet registration form where a user can enter data and "register" their interest in a particular thing is so quick and easy to do.

I created an application form which auto stored the data into a highly organised table that I could then use however I wanted (I created a league table from the registered users with ease and shared the results of the league as the scoring progressed) - all via the internet, I don't know of a way that I could have achieved this without AirTable, Google Docs would have been a possible solution, but Airtable allows you to add attachments easily (so images, etc) as well as allowing you to manipulate (And hide) data in any way you can think of using Rollups and Lookups - two of it's most powerful features.

Once you get used to it, Airtable becomes useful, and I can see myself using it again and again when I want to organise a very specific and distributed task on the internet.

Cons

Don't think this is Excel in a different disguise, it's not, it's not as adaptable and not as powerful as Excel. You couldn't use it to track a project or manage a holiday system or anything like that, but creating a full customer list for a newsletter? Yep, easy, that's the kind of thing it DOES do really well.

It could use a few more features on the free tier of the software (the paid tier unlocks "blocks" - which is a strange name for plugins, which allow you to view the data in different visual ways but ultimately it's not as well integrated as it should be and therefore has a limited use)

Another thing is that Airtables mobile interface is woeful compared to it's desktop version, and for some reason you can't access the desktop website via mobile. I have no idea what compelled them to make this decision but it's something they need to address in the future. The mobile layout is next to useless.

Pros

Air table is readily configurable to track and organize a huge variety of business information such as Jobs, timeshares, purchase orders, customers, vendors, machines, maintenance schedules. Etc.

Cons

The android mobile app is very buggy and requires constant programming workarounds. The app is also very limited in its feature set compared to the web interface.