Airtable vs Monday: Battle of the Workflow Automation Giants

Using a workflow automation tool is essential for scaling your business. Airtable or Monday.com? Find out which one is better for your business.

Be it on a smaller business or a large established enterprise, every company can and should benefit from using workflow automation software. If you were looking for one such software, there is a huge chance you have seen these two names – Airtable and Monday.com. And there is no surprise, they are the giants of the industry.

As a company can’t use two workflow automation software, a choice between the two has to be made. But how do you choose? Which one is generally better? Which one can offer my business the features it needs? Which one matches my company’s budget better? If you were asking yourself any of these questions, we are here to answer them.

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What is Airtable?

Regardless of what type of business you are running, you can automate your workflow with Airtable. Airtable is a low-code platform that offers user-friendly intuitive interfaces that are easily customizable. With Airtable it’s easy to organize, manage, and track lists and the status of your projects. You can visualize data in different formats, so depending on the type of each project you can adapt the view to suit it. Unlike other workflow automation tools, Airtable doesn’t want to offer rigid tools, but flexible ones powered by AI.

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How Can You Use Airtable?

When it comes to workflow automation, Airtable offers three ways to use its platform to avoid repetitive tasks. Automations, computed fields, and formulas – these are the three techniques you can automate your workflow with.

Automations – best for routine tasks such as sending email updates. This technique is best for tasks that need to be performed under similar circumstances. For example, let’s say you need to send an email every time you complete a step and want to move on to the next. Instead of doing it yourself, it will be sent automatically.
Computed Fields – best for tracking record updates. The way computed fields work is by setting a number of conditions and these fields update automatically. This technique is great for being able to look back and see how and who wrote updates – like a “paper trail”.
Formulas – best for customizing calculations, simple or more complex. With formulas, it’s easier and faster to track budgets and metrics. They are best for customizing calculations. These fields can be used for either simple calculations such as the ones that use operators (additions, subtractions, multiplication, and division), or more complex calculations like functions.

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What is Monday.com?

Monday.com is a productivity tool that is mostly used for project management. To make sure your company’s operations are in order and easily manageable, Monday.com is a great platform. Monday.com offers customizable workflows and an intuitive interface that is easy to use. To ensure efficiency and save you time, Monday users can collaborate in real-time with their teams and share updates.

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How Can You Use Monday?

With Monday you can also easily set up automations that help reduce both the time used for performing repetitive tasks and the errors that might occur when performed by humans. You can schedule emails and receive updates from teammates when tasks are completed. Sending reminders and updating statuses are a thing of the past with Monday.com. Automating does not require programming skills – it’s all no-code and it’s fully customizable.

Monday offers extensive automation capabilities such as:

Notifications and Date Reminders – with Monday.com you can automate notifications and date reminders so you don’t have to send them manually. You just need to customize them and then let the platform do the rest. This works by the principle: “When this date arrives, send this notification or reminder to this person”.
Auto-Assign and Task Creation – another automation capability of Monday is auto-assigning and creating tasks. By setting triggers and conditions, automations enable actions. In other words, it works like this – “when this happens, do that”. Even more so, for more complex automations, you don’t have to limit yourself to action – you can add multiple actions.
Custom and Ready-Made Automations – with Monday.com you can choose whether you want to build your own automation or use a pre-made template. Either way, you have the freedom to customize automations that fit your needs. Just follow the next steps: choose a trigger, then a condition, and lastly set an action.

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Airtable vs Monday

Airtable and Monday.com both have powerful and complex workflow automation software. They are both flexible and adaptable to your needs. Using these tools will ensure your business's smooth operations and increased efficiency. When choosing one of the two, price is something to consider. Depending on your budget, choosing one over the other can make deciding easier.

Free Plans – both Airtable and Monday offer free forever plans. Not only do they not expire, but they also do not require adding a credit card so you don’t have to worry about unexpected payments. Airtable’s free plan allows up to five editors per account while Monday.com’s plan allows up to two seats.
Pricing – Airtable’s priced plans are billed per user and can be either monthly or annual commitments. The prices start at $20/month for the Team plan and $45 for the Business plan. The biggest plan, Enterprise Scale, is customizable so you can receive a pricing offer after contacting the sales department. Monday.com on the other hand offers four plans that are billed per seat and when choosing to commit annually you can benefit from an 18% discount. The Basic plan costs $9.71/month, the Standard plan is $12.95/month, and the Pro plan is $20.50/month. The Enterprise plan is customizable to your business needs and you need to contact the sales department.

Why you might prefer Airtable

Airtable is more flexible and offers more customization options than Monday.com
You have more unique workflow requirements
Airtable’s free plan is more generous in features than the one of Monday.com
You are an individual or part of a small team that doesn’t need what the priced plans have to offer

Why you might prefer Monday.com

Monday.com has more advanced automation features than Airtable
Monday.com supports more third-party tool integrations than Airtable
Monday.com offers more variation in terms of subscription plans
You are part of a large enterprise that manages complex projects and high-data volumes

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Both Airtable and Monday.com are great workflow automation tools – they are famous for a reason. It ultimately depends on what you are looking for specifically. Do you prefer a more customizable and flexible platform that can handle automations, but complex automations are not the main thing you’re looking for? In this case, Airtable might be more suitable for you. Or are you looking for a platform with visual interfaces that offers a wide variety of automation capabilities? If so, Monday.com is what we recommend.

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