Airtable vs ClickUp Comparison 2026
Airtable is a database with a spreadsheet on top: linked records, custom views and automations, free to start and $20 a seat a month for Team. ClickUp tries to replace every other work tool at once, tasks, docs, whiteboards, goals and dashboards together, free for unlimited members and then $7 a user a month billed yearly for Unlimited. Airtable rewards a team that already knows what it is building. ClickUp rewards a team willing to spend a weekend in the settings screen first.
At a glance
- ClickUp starts cheaper, at $7.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Airtable | ClickUp | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $20 | From $7 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Airtable
A database that behaves like a spreadsheet
Airtable looks like a spreadsheet and works like a database, which is why so many content calendars, sponsor pipelines and asset libraries end up in it. Views, linked records and automations turn a table into something a small team can run on. Per-seat pricing gets expensive the moment collaborators outnumber the tables.
Our note
Portals for outside collaborators are priced apart from seats, starting at $120 a month for fifteen guests. If sponsors or clients need to see the calendar, price that line first. It can cost more than the whole team.
ClickUp
Docs, tasks and dashboards in one place
ClickUp tries to be the only work tool a team opens, and mostly manages it: tasks, documents, whiteboards, goals and dashboards all live together and cross-reference. The cost of that reach is a settings screen that takes a weekend to understand. Automations are metered per plan, which is what pushes a growing team off the free tier.
Our note
AI is a separate $9 per user a month, sitting on top of a $7 seat. That more than doubles the bill, and it is easy to miss when the comparison with Notion gets settled on the headline price.
Why people weigh these two
- ClickUp instead of Airtable
- ClickUp folds docs, tasks and dashboards into one place from $7, cheaper per person when everybody needs to edit.
- Airtable instead of ClickUp
- Airtable handles the same tracking through a spreadsheet-style database you design yourself; free to start, paid from $20.
Which one should you pick
Pick Airtable when the point is structured data: a sponsor row linked to the videos it paid for, a base another tool can read through the API from the free plan. It stays simple because it does one thing, and Team is $20 a seat a month billed annually when a base outgrows the free caps on records and storage.
Pick ClickUp when a team wants tasks, docs and dashboards without paying for three separate tools. Free Forever includes unlimited members, which is unusual and matters for a crew of contractors, though storage and advanced features are capped. Unlimited is $7 a user a month billed yearly, and AI is billed apart at $9 a user a month, which more than doubles the seat price the moment it is turned on.
Common questions
- Is ClickUp's free plan really unlimited members?
- Yes, Free Forever covers unlimited tasks and unlimited members, with the limits landing on storage and advanced features instead of headcount. Airtable's free plan has no stated seat cap either, but it limits records and storage per base rather than per member.
- Why is ClickUp cheaper per seat than Airtable?
- The sticker price is lower: Unlimited is $7 a user a month billed yearly against Airtable Team at $20 a seat a month billed annually. But ClickUp's AI is a separate $9 a user a month, which more than doubles the real cost once a team turns it on.
- Does Airtable have docs and whiteboards like ClickUp?
- No. Airtable is a database with views and automations built on top of records; it has no document editor or whiteboard. ClickUp keeps docs beside the tasks that reference them, which is the reach Airtable does not attempt.
- Which one is simpler to set up?
- Airtable, usually. It does one job, a table that behaves like a database, so a new base is readable immediately. ClickUp's settings screen covers tasks, docs, goals and dashboards at once, and most teams spend real time configuring it before it feels simple.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.