Looking for an Airtable CRM alternative?
An Airtable CRM is a CRM you built yourself: tables, views, formulas, and automations you have to design and maintain. Orbit is a CRM that already exists and runs itself, with 16 AI agents that prospect, follow up, and chase invoices. The free plan needs no credit card. Stop building a CRM in a database. Start using one.
Why do people leave an Airtable CRM?
Airtable is a wonderful database. Linked tables, rich field types, views, and automations let you build almost any system, and plenty of people build a CRM in it. The early version feels custom and clever, exactly the way you want it.
Then maintenance arrives. The formulas need tending. The automations break when a field changes. The views multiply. New activity does not log itself, so the timeline is only as current as your discipline. You are not running a CRM, you are running CRM construction and maintenance as a side project, on top of the actual selling.
The honest realization is that you do not want to keep building a CRM. You want one that is already built, already knows what a deal and a follow-up are, and does the upkeep for you.
Build a CRM in a database, or use one?
The difference is who does the work of running it.
| Orbit | Airtable CRM | |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-made CRM structure | You build it | |
| Contact timelines that fill in | Manual | |
| AI follow-up drafts | Tess | |
| Call-back and follow-up calls | Remy, Piper | |
| Invoice chasing | Ray | |
| Maintenance burden | Low | On you |
| Flexible custom database | Lighter | Deeper |
| Free plan |
What do you gain by switching to Orbit?
Orbit gives you the CRM you were trying to build, and a 16-agent team to run it. Every output is a card you approve.
- A real CRM out of the box: contacts, timelines, pipeline, tasks, invoices, and proposals, nothing to assemble.
- Tess drafts inbox follow-ups, Wes nudges proposals, and Ray chases overdue invoices automatically.
- Remy calls new leads back in about 90 seconds and books from your real calendar availability.
- Sam keeps the data clean by sweeping duplicates, dead numbers, and stale deals each week.
- Smart views and tags for the slicing you used to build with Airtable views, without the formulas.
When should you keep Airtable?
Keep Airtable when you genuinely need a flexible database, not just a CRM. If you track inventory, content, projects, or anything with a custom shape that a CRM cannot hold, Airtable's flexibility is the point and Orbit will feel narrow. Many people run both: Airtable for custom data, Orbit as the CRM that does the relationship management.
Choose Orbit over a homemade Airtable CRM when the system you built is specifically a CRM, and the upkeep has become the job. A purpose-built CRM with agents will always run itself better than a database you keep patching.
How do you move your Airtable CRM to Orbit?
- 1Export your contacts table from Airtable as a CSV file.
- 2Import it into Orbit and map your fields and tags. Drop the helper columns you only built for formulas.
- 3Recreate your pipeline stages from your status field, keeping the ones you use.
- 4Add your AI model key, then turn on Tess and Ray so follow-up and invoice chasing start at once.
- 5Retire the automations you built to fake a CRM. The agents replace most of them.
Keep exploring
Frequently asked questions
Why use Orbit instead of building a CRM in Airtable?+
A CRM built in Airtable needs constant upkeep: formulas, automations, and views you design and maintain, with activity that logs only when you remember. Orbit is a purpose-built CRM that already knows what deals and follow-ups are, and it runs 16 AI agents that do the follow-up and keep the data clean.
Can I move my Airtable CRM data to Orbit?+
Yes. Export your contacts table from Airtable as a CSV file, then import it into Orbit and map your fields and tags. You can drop the helper columns you only built for formulas, and rebuild the pipeline from your status field in minutes.
When should I keep Airtable?+
Keep Airtable if you need a flexible database for custom data like inventory, content, or projects, not just a CRM. Many people run both, using Airtable for custom data and Orbit as the CRM that handles relationships and follow-up.
Is Orbit free like Airtable?+
Yes. Both have free plans. Orbit's free-forever plan needs no credit card and includes all 16 AI agents using your own AI keys, unlimited contacts, one pipeline, and capped pages, forms, invoices, and proposals. Pro and Team plans are coming soon.
Stop building a CRM. Start using one.
Orbit is free to start, no credit card. Import your Airtable contacts and let the agents run the follow-up.
Free forever plan. No credit card. No spam.