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PROJECT MANAGEMENT · MIGRATION GUIDE

Switching from Smartsheet to Airtable

Airtable has a native Smartsheet importer: export the sheet or report as .xlsx, then Import, Smartsheet, upload, and confirm field types in the wizard. Gantt dependencies and workload views are rebuilt.

Quick verdict: Move to Airtable if your sheets have become a database that other work depends on, most of your team only views it, or you want a free plan and viewer-free billing.

Estimate · your inputs

Switching Cost & Friction Estimator

Most buyers only budget for the new subscription. This estimates the hidden labor, data-cleanup, and retraining cost of actually making the switch.

25,000
10

Estimate assumes: 1 hour of data-mapping/cleaning labor per 2,000 records, a blended $75/hr ops rate, tiered migration & cleaning tooling fees, and 4 hours of retraining per seat at a $45/hr fully-loaded rate.

Estimated Migration Time —
Data Friction Rating —
Total Hidden Switching Cost $0

    Why teams move from Smartsheet to Airtable

    Native importer

    Airtable reads Smartsheet .xlsx exports directly.

    Viewers are free

    Only editors are billed, at any team size.

    Database depth

    Linked records, interfaces, sync and 25,000 automation runs a month on Team.

    How the migration actually works

    Team costs $20 a seat against Pro’s $9; Smartsheet’s Gantt dependencies, workload tracking and portfolio views have no direct Airtable equivalent; SAML SSO starts at Business ($45).

    StepWhat you do
    1Export from SmartsheetExport the sheet or report as an .xlsx file so Airtable’s Smartsheet importer can read it.
    2Set up your Airtable workspaceCreate the workspace and add people as editors only if they will change records; viewers and commenters are free.
    3Run the Smartsheet importerOn the Airtable home screen click Import, choose Smartsheet, upload the .xlsx and verify each column’s field type in the wizard.
    4Rebuild links, interfaces and automationsRecreate linked-record fields between tables, then interfaces and automations; check the Team plan’s 50,000-record and 25,000-run limits.
    5Reset sharing and permissionsRe-invite your team and set workspace, base or sheet-level permissions; none of this carries over.
    6Cancel the old planOnce your team is working day-to-day in the new tool, cancel the old subscription.

    What this path doesn’t do for you:

    The importer carries rows, columns and multiple tabs; predecessors, workload views, cross-sheet formulas and automations are rebuilt in Airtable.

    Pricing side by side

    PlanSmartsheetAirtable
    Pricing basisPer Member; Contributors freePer editor seat; viewers free
    Entry pricePro $9/Member/mo (yearly), 1-10 MembersTeam $20/seat/mo (annual)
    Free planNone; trial only5 editors, 1,000 records per base
    Core strengthGantt, dependencies, workload, portfoliosRelational database, interfaces, automations
    Importer for the other toolNone (Excel/CSV import)Native Smartsheet importer; CSV for Notion

    Prices checked on each vendor’s pricing page on September 24, 2026.

    Feature parity check

    CapabilitySmartsheetAirtable
    Pricing basisPer MemberPer editor seat
    Free planNone5 editors
    ImporterNoneNative Smartsheet importer
    Price$9/Member/mo$20/seat/mo

    Going the other direction, or want the full comparison first?

    Read the Airtable vs Smartsheet comparison Switching from Airtable to Smartsheet instead?

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Does Airtable import Smartsheet?

    Yes. Export the sheet or report from Smartsheet as .xlsx, then in Airtable click Import, choose Smartsheet and upload; the wizard shows each column’s field type before you confirm.

    Will it cost more?

    Per editor, yes: Team is $20/seat/mo against Pro at $9/Member/mo. Airtable does not bill viewers or commenters, which narrows the gap for read-heavy teams.

    Do Gantt dependencies survive?

    No. Airtable has Gantt and timeline views but Smartsheet predecessors arrive as plain columns; recreate the dependencies in Airtable.

    Do links, formulas and views survive the move?

    Expect to rebuild them. CSV carries rows and columns; links between tables, formulas, automations, views and permissions are recreated in the new tool by hand.

    Sources

    Prices on this page were recorded from each vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown at the top of the page. Vendors change pricing often — check the live source before you buy.

    Every figure is also in our open dataset (JSON and CSV, CC BY 4.0), with its source page and verification date. See how we research pricing.

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    Bill Belcamino, founder of HelpCompare
    About the author

    Bill Belcamino

    Founder and author, HelpCompare

    Engineer by training, operator by experience, marketer by choice. Bill spent nine years as an engineer at HP, was COO of Auctiva (the number one third-party selling platform on eBay, past 200,000 users) and ran Google’s $70M/year search syndication partnership at Alot.com. Then he spent 13 years building his own web properties with his own money at stake. He has bought, trialled, integrated and cancelled more SaaS tools than he can count, and started HelpCompare because the real cost of switching tools is the part nobody covers.

    “I’ve sat on both sides of the table: the agency recommending the tool and the client paying for it.”

    Researched and fact-checked by the HelpCompare team. Pricing on this page was last verified on September 24, 2026. No paid sponsorships, no affiliate commissions.