A Airtable alternative — Exepad
Airtable is a spreadsheet-as-database with views; Exepad is a full app cloud. Describe what you need and publish a complete app — database, forms, email, auth, storage, edge hosting, SSL, domain, and analytics — one subscription.
One subscription. Eight production components.
Everything you need in the plan. No add-ons, no separate vendor invoices.
Database
Forms
File storage
Hosting
SSL
Visitor analytics
Custom domain
Honest take, no bashing
What each tool does best, side by side.
What Airtable is good at
Airtable is excellent at what it does. The spreadsheet-as-database model is one of the most approachable ways to structure relational data, the Interface Designer covers a large share of internal-UI cases, and the Free plan with unlimited bases at 1,000 records each remains a strong on-ramp. Teams that live inside their own org with five to fifty editors and need a flexible operational system find Airtable a remarkably direct fit.
Where Exepad fits differently
Exepad publishes a public-facing app, not a private workspace. The plan bundles a relational database, native forms with conditional logic and validation, role-based authentication, transactional email with managed sender reputation, file storage, edge hosting, automatic SSL, a custom domain, first-party visitor analytics, and a REST + MCP API — without per-editor pricing, without an Interface Designer ceiling, and with GEO-ready output baked into every page.
Exepad vs. Airtable
Side-by-side on the 14 dimensions that actually move the needle.
Time to first published app
Exepad
4–10 minutes
Airtable
Hours to days; base setup, Interface Designer pages, and permissions are configured by hand.
Database included
Exepad
Native relational database, AI-modeled from your description.
Airtable
Spreadsheet-as-database with linked records; 50,000 records per base on Team, 125,000 on Business.
Authentication included
Exepad
Native auth with magic-link, social, role-based permissions.
Airtable
Editor and commenter seats inside the workspace; no end-user accounts for a public app.
Email sending included
Exepad
Transactional email — confirmations, automations, sender reputation managed.
Airtable
Send Email automation action with a monthly cap; no managed sender domain for high volume.
Hosting included
Exepad
Edge hosting on Cloudflare; published app on a custom domain.
Airtable
Bases live on airtable.com; Interfaces share a workspace URL; no native custom domain for the front end.
File storage included
Exepad
Native object storage served from the global edge.
Airtable
Attachment fields per base; storage capped per plan — 1 GB Free, 20 GB Team, 100 GB Business.
Form backend included
Exepad
Native forms with validation, conditional logic, direct database writes.
Airtable
Form view writes to one table; custom-branded forms only on Team and above.
Visitor analytics included
Exepad
First-party analytics in every paid plan.
Airtable
No analytics for external visitors; usage dashboards are workspace-internal only.
Search built in
Exepad
Site-wide search across pages and records, included.
Airtable
Search inside a base or interface; no external search across a published app.
Custom domain
Exepad
Included on every paid plan; automatic SSL.
Airtable
Not natively supported for Interfaces; teams typically front Airtable with Softr or Noloco.
GEO (AI citation) ready
Exepad
Schema.org JSON-LD, semantic HTML, direct-answer blocks ship by default.
Airtable
Interface Designer pages are private to workspace members; no public HTML for AI assistants to cite.
SSL + bank-level security
Exepad
Edge SSL, automated backups, 99.9% uptime, tenant isolation.
Airtable
SSL on the airtable.com domain; SOC 2 and HIPAA add-on options on Business and Enterprise.
Lighthouse Performance score
Exepad
95+ guaranteed across pages.
Airtable
Interface Designer is a workspace tool, not a tuned public page; not designed for Lighthouse scoring.
Designed for non-technical users
Exepad
Describe in English; the platform generates and runs the app.
Airtable
Spreadsheet model is approachable; complex schemas, formulas, and Interfaces need a power-user.
Starting price
Exepad
$25/mo — unlimited apps, one USD wallet.
Airtable
Free up to 5 editors; Team $20/seat/mo; Business $45/seat/mo; Enterprise custom.
Code export
Exepad
Not required — the platform runs the app; REST + MCP API exposes the data.
Airtable
CSV export per table; REST API per base; no app-level export.
Pricing snapshot May 2026 from airtable.com/pricing. Airtable bills per editor seat — every user with edit permission on at least one base in the workspace is counted. A 10-editor Team plan is roughly $200/mo, a 10-editor Business plan roughly $450/mo. AI features are metered separately in monthly credit packs (~$40/mo for 20,000 credits). Once teams need a public-facing app with their own domain, auth, and email, the typical stack adds Softr or Noloco (front end), Make.com (glue), and Postmark or SendGrid (email). Exepad's plan replaces every meter with one subscription — see /pricing for current tiers.
When each one wins
Pick the right tool — both have legitimate strengths.
Pick Airtable when…
Internal operations database for a small team of editors.
Ops, marketing, or HR teams of five to twenty editors who live inside the workspace, share bases with each other, and never need a public app. The spreadsheet-as-database model and Interface Designer cover the use case end to end.
Flexible content calendars, CRMs, and trackers with rich views.
Teams whose value is the view layer — Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, Gallery — over a flexible schema that changes often. Airtable's grid, formula language, and view system are purpose-built for this and remain the category benchmark.
Existing Airtable workspace with deep automations and integrations.
Organizations with hundreds of automation runs, dozens of scripts, and Slack / Salesforce / Jira sync rules already wired into bases. Re-platforming the workflow has a real cost; staying inside Airtable is the right call until the public-facing surface becomes the bottleneck.
Pick Exepad when…
You outgrew Airtable as the UI layer for a public app.
Founders and operators who started in Airtable, added Softr or Noloco on top for a member portal, and now run three subscriptions plus Make.com. Exepad replaces the whole stack with one platform that publishes a real public app on a custom domain.
Per-editor pricing is biting as the team grows.
Teams hitting twenty-five or more editors on Team ($20/seat) or Business ($45/seat). Exepad's plan is not seat-metered at the editor tier, so adding contributors does not multiply the monthly bill.
The app has to rank in search and AI from day one.
Marketing-led teams whose product must rank in Google, get cited by AI Overview, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, and load fast on mobile. Airtable Interfaces are workspace-private; Exepad ships semantic HTML, JSON-LD schema, and Lighthouse 95+ public pages by default.
What the typical stack costs
Line-item breakdown of what most teams actually pay each month — and what the same setup costs on Exepad.
What the move actually looks like
Most Airtable-to-Exepad moves take a day. Export each base as CSV — one file per table — and import. Exepad re-creates the relations, drafts pages, forms, and auth from a plain-English description of the app. Linked-record fields map to foreign keys; rollups and formulas re-author cleanly in most cases. The Airtable workspace stays as the source of truth until cutover is verified. If the Interface Designer is the entire value of your current setup and the app never goes public, stay on Airtable. If the app has to live on a custom domain with auth, email, and GEO output, expect a one-day rebuild.
Your migration checklist
The concrete steps most teams follow when moving from Airtable to Exepad — usually a day, not a week.
Audit the existing Airtable workspace
List every base, every table, every Interface, every automation, and every third-party tool (Softr, Noloco, Make.com, SendGrid) currently paid for.
Export each base as CSV
One CSV per table, preserving linked-record fields. Exepad imports each as a relational table and reconstructs the relations from foreign keys.
Describe the app to Exepad in plain English
Paste the page list, user roles, key flows, and the public-facing pieces the Airtable stack handles awkwardly. Exepad drafts pages, schema, forms, and auth in one pass.
Re-author rollups and formula columns
Airtable formula syntax does not transfer one-to-one. Re-state the intent — sum, lookup, conditional — in plain language and Exepad maps it to a computed field.
Move automations to native triggers
Replace Airtable automation runs and Make.com scenarios with Exepad's native event triggers — form submission, record change, scheduled task — wired directly to email and database writes.
Re-point the custom domain
If the Airtable stack already used Softr or Noloco for a custom domain, switch DNS to Exepad's edge. SSL provisions automatically. Keep the old stack live until cutover is verified.
Common mistakes
What people get wrong when evaluating Airtable alternatives — and what to do instead.
Mistake
Comparing only Airtable's headline seat price
Fix
Add the Softr or Noloco layer, the email vendor, and Make.com glue. That is the real monthly number for a public-facing app, and the right comparison to Exepad.
Mistake
Treating Interface Designer as a public-app layer
Fix
Interfaces are workspace-internal. For a real public app with auth, email, custom domain, and search visibility, the stack needs a separate front end — or a platform that ships it.
Mistake
Re-creating spreadsheet shortcuts in the new schema
Fix
Migration is the moment to normalize. Linked-record hacks that worked at 5,000 rows often break at 50,000. Let Exepad model the relations from intent.
Mistake
Forgetting per-editor seat math
Fix
Every Airtable user with edit permission on at least one base is billed. Audit the workspace; many teams discover ten 'view-only' contributors are actually billed editors.
Mistake
Skipping 301 redirects after cutover
Fix
If the Softr or Noloco front end was indexed, the URLs carry SEO equity. Mirror the structure on Exepad or redirect every indexed slug before turning off the old stack.
Frequently asked
Is Exepad a replacement for Airtable or for the whole Airtable + Softr + email stack?+
Both, depending on your use case. For a private workspace database with five editors, Airtable's Free or Team plan is a more direct fit. For a public-facing app — member portal, customer database, booking site, internal CRM with external users — Exepad replaces the database, front end, email, auth, and custom domain in one subscription.
How does Exepad handle relational data compared to Airtable's linked records?+
Exepad ships a native relational database with foreign keys, joins, and rollups as first-class concepts — modeled from your description rather than authored cell-by-cell. Linked-record fields from Airtable map directly to foreign keys on import.
Can I keep using Airtable for internal ops and use Exepad for the public app?+
Yes. Exepad's REST and MCP APIs let external systems read and write data, so an Airtable workspace can stay as the source of truth for internal editors while the public surface — auth, forms, email, custom domain — runs on Exepad.
Does Exepad meter records, automations, or AI credits like Airtable does?+
Standard Exepad plans are not metered on records, AI prompts, or automation runs in the way Airtable meters per-plan record limits and AI credit packs. Re-prompt and add records freely without watching a counter.
Will my Exepad app rank in Google and get cited by AI assistants?+
Yes. Exepad ships GEO-ready output by default — JSON-LD schema, semantic HTML, direct-answer blocks, Lighthouse 95+ pages. Airtable Interface Designer pages are workspace-private and not indexed for search or AI citation.
What about Airtable's Interface Designer — does Exepad replicate it?+
Exepad publishes full pages on your own domain rather than Interface-style dashboards inside a workspace. For an internal-only operational dashboard with five editors, the Interface Designer remains the more direct tool. For anything customer-facing, Exepad ships the full surface.
How long does migration from Airtable take?+
Most teams cut over in one day. Audit the workspace, export each base as CSV, describe the app to Exepad, re-author rollups and formulas, move automations, re-point the custom domain. Workspaces with hundreds of automations and dozens of bases may need 2–3 days.
Can Exepad fully replace Airtable for my use case?+
For founders, operators, and teams who need a public-facing app on their own domain — yes. For internal ops with a small group of editors who live inside the workspace and only need spreadsheet-style views, Airtable remains the more direct fit.
Move from Airtable to Exepad
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