Airtable vs Microsoft Lists

Airtable

• Teams that want to shape a database into their own project tracker
• Operations and marketing teams building internal apps without code
• Nonprofits and educators, who can get 50% off the Team plan

Microsoft Lists

• Organizations already paying for Microsoft 365 that need shared trackers
• Teams that want a tracker beside the conversation in a Teams channel
• Tracking issues, assets, events and onboarding from ready-made templates

Airtable

• The Free plan is capped at 1,000 records per base and 5 editors.
• Record limits apply per base on paid plans too: 50,000 on Team and 125,000 on Business.
• Timeline and Gantt views and extensions are not part of the Free plan.
• Two-way sync and the admin panel need the Business plan at $45 per seat / month.

Microsoft Lists

• Lists is not sold on its own: it comes with Microsoft 365 business and enterprise plans, which are priced per user.
• The iOS and Android apps were retired in mid-November 2025. On a phone, Lists runs in a mobile browser or inside Teams.
• A list can hold up to 30 million items, but a view that shows more than 5,000 can run into the list view threshold.
• Help pages direct users to a work or school account. Lists for personal Microsoft accounts is offered only as a preview.

Airtable

Relational bases

Data lives in bases of linked tables. Record limits per base rise from 1,000 on Free to 50,000 on Team and 125,000 on Business.

Eight view types

A table can be shown as a grid, form, calendar, gallery, kanban, timeline, list or Gantt view. Timeline and Gantt views need the Team plan.

Interfaces

Custom interfaces can be built from base data, giving each team a tailored app on top of the same records.

Automations and sync

Automations handle repetitive steps inside a base. Two-way sync with outside tools is included from the Business plan.

Omni and field agents

Omni builds apps from a plain-language description and field agents run AI across records. Both draw on monthly AI credits: 500 per editor on Free and 15,000 per seat on Team.

Portals

Portals let guest users from outside the organization collaborate on selected data.

Microsoft Lists

Templates and imports

Ready-made templates such as Issue tracker, Asset manager, Event itinerary and Onboarding checklist. A list can also start from an Excel workbook, a CSV file, an existing list or a blank page.

Grid, calendar and gallery views

The same items can be shown as a list, a calendar or a gallery, and saved views can sort, group and filter them. A single view can display at most 5,000 items.

Conditional formatting

View formatting highlights rows that meet a condition, such as a status set to Blocked, and alternating row styles are built in. An advanced mode accepts JSON.

Rules

A rule pairs a trigger, such as an item being modified or a column value changing, with an action such as emailing someone. Date-approaching rules are limited to two per list.

Lists in Microsoft Teams

A list can be added as a tab in a Teams channel, next to the conversation. Lists are created in the desktop or web version of Teams; on mobile, members can view and edit but not create them.

Power Apps and Power Automate

Forms can be extended with Power Apps and workflows built with Power Automate, using a list as the data source for a custom app.

Airtable

• Free$0

  1,000 records and 1 GB of attachments per base, up to 5 editors and 2 weeks of revision history.

• Team$20

  per seat / month, billed annually ($24 billed monthly)

  50,000 records and 20 GB of attachments per base, Gantt and timeline views, extensions and 15,000 AI credits per seat a month.

• Business$45

  per seat / month, billed annually ($54 billed monthly)

  125,000 records and 100 GB of attachments per base, two-way sync, an admin panel and 20,000 AI credits per seat a month.

• Enterprise ScaleCustom

  Sold through sales, with pricing based on the organization's needs and 25,000 AI credits per paid user a month.

Microsoft Lists

• Microsoft 365 Business Basic$7.00

  per user / month, paid yearly ($8.40 on a monthly subscription)

  Lists with SharePoint, Teams, web and mobile Office apps, business email and 1 TB of storage per user. The version without Teams is $5.40.

• Microsoft 365 Business Standard$14.00

  per user / month, paid yearly ($16.80 on a monthly subscription)

  Everything in Basic plus desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, Loop and Clipchamp. The version without Teams is $10.79.

• Microsoft 365 Business Premium$22.00

  per user / month, paid yearly ($26.40 on a monthly subscription)

  Everything in Standard plus device management, protection against phishing and malware, and sensitive-data controls. $18.79 without Teams.

• Business Standard with Copilot$23.50

  per user / month, paid yearly

  Business Standard with Microsoft 365 Copilot Business built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams. $20.30 without Teams.

• Business Premium with Copilot$32.00

  per user / month, paid yearly

  Business Premium with Microsoft 365 Copilot Business included. The version without Teams is $28.80.

Airtable

• Annual discount

  Lower per-seat price with annual billing

  Team is $20 per seat / month billed annually against $24 monthly, and Business is $45 against $54, about 17% less in both cases.

• Nonprofit

  50% off the Team plan for nonprofits

  Registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits, or accredited equivalents outside the US, can apply for 50% off Team seats. Airtable AI is excluded from the discount.

• Education

  50% off Team for educators, free for students

  Employees of accredited educational institutions can get 50% off Team, and students get 6 to 24 months of free access depending on graduation date.

Microsoft Lists

• Annual discount

  Lower per-user price when paid yearly

  Business Basic is $7.00 per user a month paid yearly against $8.40 on a monthly subscription, Standard $14.00 against $16.80 and Premium $22.00 against $26.40.

• Nonprofit

  Nonprofit grant and staff pricing

  Eligible nonprofits get Microsoft 365 Business Basic as a grant, free for up to 300 users, with Business Standard at $3.50 and Business Premium at $5.50 per user a month, paid yearly.