Key takeaways
- Softr can connect to an Airtable base and sync with it, or run on its own database. Softr says it can also import an Airtable base and keep the links between tables.
- Keep Airtable underneath when your team works in it every day. Move to Softr’s database when the app is new, mostly client-facing, or heading past your Airtable plan’s record limit.
- Running both means paying for both: Airtable per editor, and Softr per plan with a set number of builders and app users.
Most of the portals we build are exactly this combination, an Airtable base underneath and a Softr app in front, so this page is the conversation we have at the start of those projects. Catalytics is listed in Softr’s partner directory.
How do Softr and Airtable work together?
Softr connects to an Airtable base and uses it as the data behind an app. Your team keeps working in Airtable, and the people outside the team, clients, partners or staff who should never see a grid, log in to the Softr app instead and see only the records their role allows.
Softr describes the connection as two-way, so what a user changes in the app lands in the base, and what the team changes in the base shows in the app.
Should you keep your data in Airtable or move it to Softr?
Softr now has its own database, which makes this a real decision rather than a formality.
Keep Airtable when the team lives there. Their views, automations, extensions and reports are already built, several people know how to use them, and the portal only needs to show clients a slice of the data. Moving the data would mean rebuilding all of that with nothing gained on the client side.
Move to Softr when the app is the point. For a new build that is mostly client-facing, where nobody on the team needs the Airtable grid, keeping two systems in sync adds work and a second bill. Softr says it can import an Airtable base and keep the relationships between tables, so moving is not a rebuild.
Watch the record limits, because they differ. Airtable allows 50,000 records per base on Team and 125,000 on Business. Softr allows 50,000 records per database on Pro and 200,000 on Business. A dataset that is uncomfortable on one can be fine on the other.
What running Softr and Airtable together costs
Here is the arithmetic for a portal serving 50 clients, with four people on the team who edit data, on annual billing.
| Setup | What you pay | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Airtable Team plus Softr Pro | 4 Airtable editors at $20, plus Softr Pro at $99 | $179 |
| Softr Pro on its own database | Softr Pro at $99, two builders included | $99 |
| Airtable Team plus Airtable Portals | 4 Airtable editors at $20, plus Portals from $120 for 15 guests | From $200, and only 15 guests |
The third row is the one that surprises people. Airtable’s own Portals add-on starts at $120 a month for 15 guests on the Team plan, and Softr’s Pro plan includes 50 client users for $99. Above 15 guests Airtable does not publish a price, so that figure has to come from their sales team.
None of this means the Airtable half is wasted money. If the team genuinely works in Airtable every day, paying for both is paying for two different jobs.
Which setup we choose, and why
For a service business that already runs on Airtable, we keep the base and put Softr in front of it. The team carries on where it is, and the clients get a login that shows them their own records.
For a business with no Airtable history, we usually start in Softr’s own database. One system, one bill, one place where permissions are set.
We avoid one arrangement in particular: a base nobody maintains, a Softr app built on top of it, and nobody sure which of the two holds the truth. If you are running both, the base is the source of truth and the app is a window onto it.
Before you build
Not sure whether to keep Airtable underneath your portal?
Bring what your team does in Airtable today, how many clients need access, and roughly how many records you hold. The first call is free, thirty minutes, and you will leave knowing which setup fits, even if we never work together.
Book the free first callFrequently asked questions
Can I use Softr for free with Airtable?
Yes. Softr’s Free plan connects to data sources and allows up to 5 app users and 1,000 records per database, which is enough to test a portal on a real base before paying for anything.
How much does Softr cost on top of Airtable?
Softr’s paid plans are $19, $99 and $329 a month on annual billing. For a client portal, Pro at $99 is the usual starting point, on top of whatever your Airtable editors cost.
Does Softr replace Airtable?
It can. Softr has its own database, so a business with no existing Airtable setup can run on Softr alone. A team that already works in Airtable usually keeps it.
Is Softr a legitimate company?
Yes. Softr’s pricing page shows SOC 2 Type II and GDPR badges, its site names customers including Netflix, Google, Stripe and UPS, and Softr says more than a million builders use the product.
Airtable is where a team organises data. Softr is where everyone else meets it. The decision worth making early is which of the two holds the source of truth, because everything else in the build follows from that.
For the costs on each side, Softr pricing and Airtable pricing have the numbers. For the portal itself, how a Softr client portal works covers permissions and cost together, and Softr development is how we build them.