The productivity software world has another major acquisition.
Tuesday, August 4, 2026, Bending Spoons announced that it would acquire Airtable, one of the most popular no-code databases on the market. The deal marks another major addition to Bending Spoons' growing portfolio, which already includes products like Evernote, Meetup, WeTransfer, Vimeo, Eventbrite, and AOL.
For many Airtable users, the announcement immediately raised one question:
Should we start looking for alternatives?
The answer isn't necessarily "yes."
But it is a good time to review your options and make sure your data architecture isn't locked into a platform that may change significantly over the next few years.
Why people are concerned
Bending Spoons has developed a recognizable playbook when acquiring software companies.
The company typically focuses on making products more financially efficient through operational changes, tighter cost control, and monetization improvements. While many customers acknowledge that acquired products often receive faster development and better engineering, others have criticized substantial subscription price increases and reductions in free-tier offerings.
Evernote is probably the best known example.
After the acquisition, Evernote received frequent feature updates and modernization efforts, but many long-time customers also experienced significant price increases, leading some teams to migrate elsewhere.
That history has naturally made Airtable customers wonder what comes next.
It's important to note that nothing has been announced regarding Airtable's pricing or product roadmap.
However, if your business depends heavily on Airtable, this is a good opportunity to evaluate your long-term strategy before changes happen, rather than after.
If you decide to move, why Notion deserves serious consideration
Most people compare Airtable with another database tool.
I think that's missing the bigger opportunity.
Notion certainly has databases, including relational databases, linked views, formulas, rollups, automations, and APIs.
But databases are only part of the platform.
Unlike Airtable, Notion lets you combine structured data with documentation, meeting notes, SOPs, project management, company wiki pages, knowledge management, and collaboration, all inside one workspace.
Instead of managing your CRM in one tool...
...your documentation somewhere else...
...and your project management in yet another platform...
Notion lets those systems work together.
Imagine opening a customer record and immediately seeing:
- onboarding documentation
- meeting notes
- implementation tasks
- support history
- project status
- internal SOPs
All connected through the same relational database.
That creates a much richer operational system than simply replacing one database with another.
Migrating from Airtable isn't just about moving data
One of the biggest mistakes companies make is treating migration as a CSV export.
Moving rows is actually the easy part.
The real work is redesigning your information architecture.
Questions worth asking include:
- What should become a database?
- Which databases should relate to each other?
- What information belongs inside pages instead of rows?
- Where should documentation live?
- Which automations should be rebuilt?
- Which workflows can actually be simplified?
This is where many organizations discover they can reduce the number of tools they pay for while giving their teams a better experience.
How difficult is the migration?
For smaller Airtable workspaces, migration is usually very manageable.
Tables can be exported and imported into Notion, relationships can be recreated, and most workflows can be rebuilt using Notion Automations or external tools like Make or Zapier.
The biggest effort usually comes from:
- rebuilding formulas
- redesigning relationships
- recreating automations
- organizing documentation
- training users on the new workspace structure
In other words, the challenge is less technical and more architectural.
My recommendation
I wouldn't recommend panic.
Airtable remains an excellent product.
The acquisition alone isn't a reason to leave.
But it is a reason to ask whether your current workspace is built for the next five years.
If you've already been considering consolidating your documentation, project management, and databases into a single platform, this could be the right time to evaluate Notion.
Done well, the migration isn't just a platform change.
It's an opportunity to redesign how your business operates.
Thinking about migrating from Airtable?
I've helped businesses redesign their systems in Notion, creating relational databases, documentation, project management, and automations that work together instead of across multiple disconnected tools.
If you're considering moving from Airtable, let's talk about building a workspace that scales with your business, not just replicating what you already have.
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