Quickbase vs Airtable: Decoding the Pros and Cons of Each No-Code Platform

No-code development platforms like Quickbase and Airtable are changing the way businesses build custom applications. These platforms allow users to create complex applications without any coding knowledge, making it easier for businesses to streamline their workflows and automate their processes. In this article, we will compare Quickbase vs Airtable to help you decide which platform is best for your needs.

Quickbase Overview

Quickbase is a cloud-based no-code platform that allows businesses to build custom applications without any coding knowledge. Quickbase provides pre-built templates that make it easy for users to get started quickly. With Quickbase, users can create custom forms, tables, and reports, and automate workflows to streamline their business processes.

While QuickBase offers integration options through its App Exchange marketplace and API, integrating with certain external systems or custom solutions may require more technical expertise. Users may need help with attempting to connect QuickBase with specific tools or systems that are not readily supported or lack out-of-the-box integrations.

Airtable Overview

Airtable is a no-code platform that allows businesses to build databases and organize their data without any coding knowledge. Airtable offers a flexible and customizable platform that allows users to create complex workflows and integrations. With Airtable, users can create custom tables, views, and forms, and automate their processes with built-in automations and integrations.

While Airtable provides a wide range of features and functionalities, it may have limitations for users with more advanced or complex requirements. Certain advanced database functionalities, complex data modeling, or advanced calculations may not be supported in Airtable. Users seeking highly specialized or advanced features may find themselves limited by the platform’s capabilities.

Comparing Features & Functionality

When it comes to features, both Quickbase and Airtable have their strengths and weaknesses:

1. Database Structure: Both QuickBase and Airtable offer flexible database structures where users can create tables, define fields, and establish relationships between data. Airtable provides a spreadsheet-like interface, while QuickBase focuses on creating custom forms and views for data entry and manipulation.
2. Data Management: QuickBase and Airtable provide robust data management capabilities. Users can add, edit, and delete records, as well as apply filters, sort data, and perform advanced queries to retrieve specific information. Both platforms support file attachments and have built-in search functionality.
3. Collaboration and Sharing: QuickBase and Airtable allow users to collaborate and share data with team members. They offer features such as user permissions, role-based access control, and the ability to share specific views or tables with individuals or groups.
4. Integration: Both platforms offer integration options to connect with other tools and systems. Airtable provides native integrations with popular apps like Slack, Google Drive, and Dropbox, as well as an API for custom integrations. QuickBase offers integrations through its App Exchange marketplace and also provides an API for seamless connectivity with external systems.
5. Automation and Workflows: QuickBase and Airtable support automation and workflows to streamline processes. QuickBase offers a visual workflow editor and triggers for automating actions, while Airtable provides automation called “Automations” that allows users to define triggers and actions based on specific events.
6. Mobile Access: Both platforms offer mobile access, allowing users to access and interact with their data from mobile devices. QuickBase provides a mobile app for iOS and Android, while Airtable offers a mobile-responsive web interface.
7. Reporting and Visualization: QuickBase and Airtable enable users to create reports and visualize data. Airtable provides various view options, including grid, calendar, and kanban, while QuickBase offers customizable dashboards and reporting tools to create charts, graphs, and summary views.

It’s important to note that the specific features and functionalities may vary depending on the pricing plans and editions of QuickBase and Airtable. Evaluating your specific requirements and comparing the features offered by each platform will help you determine which one aligns best with your needs.

Comparing Pricing

Pricing is an important factor to consider when choosing a no-code platform.

Quickbase offers a range of pricing plans that start at $35 per month per user. Quickbase also offers custom pricing for larger businesses with more complex needs. However, this monthly sum can quickly add up and is not ideal for freelancers, startups, or small businesses.

Airtable offers a range of pricing plans that start at $10 per month for up to 5,000 records per base. Airtable also offers premium plans with additional features and capabilities.

Airtable‘s pricing structure may be a consideration for some users. As you scale up or require additional features, the cost of using Airtable can increase significantly. This is especially true for organizations or groups with many team members that require access to advanced features, such as custom-branded forms or enterprise-level support.

Comparing Support

QuickBase and Airtable both offer support to assist users in utilizing their platforms effectively. QuickBase provides comprehensive documentation, including user guides and FAQs, to help users understand and navigate the platform. They have an active community forum where users can engage with each other and seek assistance. QuickBase also offers a support center where users can submit tickets for prompt responses, and dedicated support plans are available for more personalized assistance.

Similarly, Airtable provides extensive documentation and guides covering various aspects of the platform. They maintain a community forum where users can ask questions and exchange insights. Airtable offers email support to address user inquiries, and a premium support option called “Airtable Enterprise” provides additional benefits such as faster response times and dedicated account managers.

While QuickBase focuses on its knowledge base with comprehensive resources and dedicated support plans, Airtable emphasizes documentation, community engagement, and email support. The availability of support may depend on the pricing plans and tiers users choose.

The Best Option: Knack

Knack is a web-based platform that allows businesses to create custom web apps without requiring coding or technical expertise. With Knack, you can build everything from simple contact forms to complex databases and workflow systems, all through an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface – allowing much more customization, support, and functionality than Airtable or Caspio.

Here are some of the reasons why Knack is the best choice for no-code app development:

1. Pricing: Knack’s starter package begins at just $59 per month for unlimited users and does not have a limit on records per app. Knack also offers enterprise subscriptions that are customized to each company to ensure return-on-investment is shown. Because of this, Knack truly is the best option for all sized companies – from startups and small businesses all the way up to corporations. For governments and healthcare professionals, Knack’s GovCloud and HIPAA packages are perfect for protecting your data, staying secure, and complying with GDPR and SOC2 Type 2. For non-profits, Knack offers special discounted pricing.
2. User-friendly Interface: Knack’s drag-and-drop API makes it easy for users of all technical levels to create custom applications. You don’t need to know how to code or have extensive technical expertise to build custom applications with Knack.
3. Customer Support: Knack offers support through chat, email, a very large, active community forum, and regular weekly webinars and bi-monthly virtual user groups. Users also have the option to set up consultations as needed. Knack also has an extensive YouTube library with tutorials. Plus, Knack also has a wide expert network that users can leverage if they want to expand their app, improve the design and branding, or have a custom template made.
4. Customization: Knack offers a high degree of customization, allowing you to create apps that meet your specific business needs. You can choose from a range of templates or start from scratch, and customize everything from the layout and design to the functionality and features.
5. Integrations: Knack offers seamless integration with other business applications through Zapier and Make. Some of the most popular integrations include Quickbooks, Salesforce, MailChimp, Dropbox, Google Sheets, Slack, Microsoft 365 email, and Shopify. This makes it easy to add automation and streamline your business processes across your entire company.
6. Scalability: Knack is designed to grow with your business. You can start with a small project (es: a simple online database) and scale up (ex: a custom CRM) as needed, without having to rebuild your application from scratch. 
7. Security: Knack takes security seriously, offering robust encryption and permission controls to protect your data, including multi-factor authentication. You can also choose to host your application on your own servers for additional security and control.  Knack is also SOC 2 Type II Certified and undergoes an annual audit with a third party to attest to higher security standards and practices.
8. Cost-effectiveness: Knack’s pricing is affordable with utility pricing based on the number of records., This makes it a cost-effective solution for businesses of all sizes. You only pay for what you use, with no hidden fees or charges.

In conclusion, Knack is a powerful and user-friendly platform that makes it easy for businesses to create custom web applications without requiring extensive coding or technical expertise.

Knack vs Quickbase

When it comes to low-code and no-code development platforms, Knack stands out as the unrivaled choice for organizations seeking to build complex projects effortlessly. While QuickBase is a strong contender, Knack’s combinated backend and front end intuitive interface, simple yet powerful ability to make app customizations,, and the ability to scale seamlessly to additional users and/or applications make it the best option for businesses looking to optimize their no code application development process. In this article, we will compare Knack and QuickBase, highlighting Knack’s unique strengths and showcasing why it should be your preferred choice for creating powerful, tailored applications. 

First, Quickbase mainly offers per user pricing or limited user pricing, which requires teams to understand and forecast the exact amount of users they need to budget for the year which slows down innovation and the development of new use cases across departments and teams. Via a simple data records metric, Knack offers more predictable cost forecasting that allows for greater innovation and more problem solving. 

QuickBase also has a combined front and back end experience differentiating it from Airtable which only offers the backend database.  However, some users struggle highlighting that Quickbase’s ability to change groups and views is complex and often requires a more dedicated QuickBase Builder or Front End Developer to scale with a large number of personalized dashboards and web pages. For instance, in Quickbase each page requires builders to create views on the tables and relationships one by one in a more serial fashion, while in Knack you can make one universal change which cascades down to each page to reduce errors and save time. This is a similar process for adding CSS/HTLM to create a deeper level of customization on the front end, in Knack you can make one universal change and let it cascade to all your pages. The page builder in Knack can also manipulate the CSS, change color bars /buttons on the page in a very simple more intuitive way. Builders have more power to code the things they need to customize into it.

On the backend database QuickBase offers a robust data collection and management system, but it requires users to build tables as a report and then add fields separately on a table, which makes building relationships and connections between tables more difficult. Knack offers a more straightforward and simple way to build tables, via a more intuitive easy step by step, visually view of the table you are building then allowing the builder to layer in custom conditions, formulas or custom business logic. Overall, Knack offers a all-in-one platform that works in harmony, the backend and front end that working together to improve speed for true citizen developers that want to iterate quickly on their application.ck offers the backend and front end together, all-in-one system.

Knack vs Airtable

In Airtable, there is no way to link a sheet to another object, it is designed as a flat large online table, so again no easy way to add relationships in a sheet to another object. Knack offers the best of both worlds. On one hand, similar to Airtable, Knack offers a very simple interface, with no developer required for building project management workflows and automation. However, since Airtable is built as an advanced online spreadsheet, it is limited in its capabilities for creating powerful connections between data tables like Knack. Typically, to gain the same functionality on the backend and frontend, Airtable requires that you buy a second front end focused tool like Softr to build out the front end experience. This means your builders need to learn and adopt yet another tool to build a single working app, not to mention additional license fees, support, and maintenance. Knack also offers more advanced access controls, and an elegant front-end user experience for customer/partner/member portal use cases to display data and interact with it. In Airtable, there is no way to link a sheet to another object, it is designed as a flat large online table.

 Finally, from a pricing perspective, Knack offers a value based solution with no charge for application end users or builders, it is based on the data, and there is no limit on records per app, your data use is available to any builder or app in your account to scale linearly with value to your business. 

Conclusion

Quickbase and Airtable are powerful no-code platforms that can help businesses streamline their workflows and automate their processes. When choosing a platform, it’s important to consider factors like features, pricing, and support. If you need a platform with pre-built templates and robust reporting and analytics tools, Quickbase may be the best choice. If you need a more flexible and customizable platform with a strong community of users and developers, Airtable may be the best choice. Ultimately, the best platform for your business will depend on your specific needs and requirements.