Moving a full system from Airtable - I tested it

How to Migrate from Airtable to Softr: What Works and What Doesn't

If you've watched your Airtable bill climb every time you added a new user, you're not alone. Airtable charges per seat, so growing your team or sharing interfaces with clients gets expensive fast. Softr takes a different approach to pricing, and it now includes a built-in migration tool that pulls your existing Airtable base into Softr in seconds. But the migration doesn't bring everything across, so it helps to know exactly what to expect before you start.

The Three Layers of an Airtable Build

Every Airtable system is made up of three layers, and the migration treats each one differently. The first is the data layer, which is your database of linked tables. In our example, that's team members, projects, and tasks, all connected so that team members are assigned to tasks and tasks relate to projects. The second is automations, like one that stamps a "completed on" date whenever a task's status is marked done. The third is interfaces, which control what each user sees. In the example build, management has an overview of team workload and projects, while the team sees a task board with deadlines.

Why Airtable Costs Grow with Your Team

Interfaces are how you give people access to the information they need without exposing everything else. The catch is that every new person with editor access or higher becomes a new paid seat in Airtable. As your team grows or you share interfaces with more people, that cost stacks up quickly. If you're in that situation, it makes sense to look at a tool that doesn't penalize you as much for adding people.

How Softr's Pricing Compares

On Softr's pricing page, the number to look at is app user management. The $100 per month Pro plan includes 10 internal users and 50 external users. In Airtable, 10 team members or 50 clients accessing an interface would cost $25 or $55 per user per month, depending on the plan. Softr bundles that access into a single price, which can mean significant savings for teams with a lot of users.

Importing Your Airtable Base into Softr

Inside Softr, you'll find an option to migrate from Airtable. The first step is importing the base. You choose the account link, then connect with either OAuth or a personal access token. On the next screen, you control exactly which bases Softr can see, so you can grant access to just the one base you want to move. Once you start the import, it takes only a couple of seconds, and your database appears in Softr with all of your tables.

Reviewing the Fields Softr Flags

After the import, Softr gives you a checklist of fields that need a quick review. In our example, 13 fields had settings to check. These flags point out features that don't work exactly the same way in Softr as they do in Airtable. For instance, Airtable lets you limit which records can be selected in a linked record field, and Softr doesn't have that exact functionality. The links themselves still come across, and the flag is just a heads up. Walk through each one, confirm it behaves the way you want, and check it off as you go.

Getting Your Automation Working as a Workflow

Automations from Airtable come across in Softr as workflows, but they may need some work before they run correctly. In our example, the workflow was created but wasn't turned on, and the action that should have stamped the completion date wasn't mapped properly. To fix it, we tested the workflow with sample data, set the "completed on" field to update with the current date and time, saved it, and published it. We then moved a task back to in review and marked it done again to confirm the timestamp appeared. Whenever you migrate a system, plan to test each workflow step by step and verify that everything is mapped correctly.

What the Migration Doesn't Copy Over: Interfaces

The migration tool brings over your data and your automations, but it does not rebuild your interfaces. That's because Airtable interfaces are an added layer on top of the database, while in Softr you build an app from scratch with its own approach to interfaces and user experience. All of your data is already in place, so what's left is building the app itself.

Rebuilding Your Interfaces with Softr's AI Co-Builder

You can build the front end by prompting Softr's AI co-builder. In Softr, apps are the layer that corresponds to interfaces in Airtable. Create a new app, then select the Softr database you just imported as your data source. By default, Softr will offer to create an application from your attached data, which is a decent start. A better approach is to go back to Airtable first and write a proper prompt that describes what you built for each group of users. Softr can then create one application that treats users differently based on their role, rather than separate interfaces for each team.

Conclusion

Migrating from Airtable to Softr is quick for your data and mostly smooth for your automations, as long as you review the flagged fields and test your workflows. Interfaces are the one piece you'll need to rebuild, and the AI co-builder gives you a head start. If rising per-user costs are the reason you're considering a move, this is a practical way to see what your existing build could look like in Softr.

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