Moving from Google Sheets to Airtable. How to Let Clients Edit Without Paying for Extra Seats

If you are using Google Sheets to store and share data, one of its biggest strengths is how simple collaboration can be.

You share a link with your clients and anyone with that link can immediately view or modify the sheet. There is no account creation, no onboarding, and no additional costs on your side.

Now you want to move to Airtable because it gives you a much better experience. You get a cleaner interface, better structured data, automations, apps, interfaces, and a level of reliability that Google Sheets does not always offer.

The user experience feels more polished, the design is more modern, and you can build real workflows instead of working inside a basic spreadsheet.

The challenge begins when you want to share your Airtable base with clients. A public Airtable link is always view only.

If someone wants to directly edit a record inside your base, Airtable requires them to sign in and you must give them Editor or Creator permissions. On paid plans, each person with editing access counts as a paid seat.

For you, this becomes a deal breaker. Your clients want smooth and effortless access, but you do not want to pay for extra user licenses. So the question is clear. Is there a way to let clients update data without turning them into paid collaborators?

The answer is yes. There are a few approaches that give you control while avoiding extra user charges.

Use Prefilled Forms for Record Updates

The simplest method is to use forms. Tools like Fillout make this especially smooth because they allow advanced prefill and record updating.

Here is how it works.

• Share your Airtable base with a public read only link.

• Add a button field that opens a prefilled Fillout form for that specific record.

• Your client updates whatever they need and submits the form.

• The form updates the record inside Airtable.

This gives your client a direct and simple way to update data without needing an Airtable login. It is fast to set up and does not require any technical expertise to do it.

The downside is that they are not editing the table directly. They only see one record at a time in a form layout. They cannot scroll through an entire table, they cannot filter or sort, and they do not get a full editing environment.

This approach is perfect for simple use cases, but limited if you want a richer editing experience.

Use Portal Tools

If you need something closer to a true application experience that resembles editing inside Airtable, then you can use a third party portal builder. Softr, Zite and similar tools connect directly to your Airtable base and let you design the exact interface your clients will use.

With a portal, you can:

• create a sign in page

• build pages that list records in a table style view

• allow clients to edit or add records

• control permissions based on the user

• choose which fields and tables each client can see

Your clients never need an Airtable account. They only interact with the portal, and the portal handles syncing with Airtable in the background. This gives them a much richer experience and gives you complete control over access.

This option requires more setup, but it is the best choice if you want a smooth and polished front end without paying for extra Airtable seats.

Final Thoughts

Moving from Google Sheets to Airtable is a smart step for any business that wants structure, automation, and a better overall user experience. The only friction point is client editing, since Airtable charges for collaborators.

With forms, you get a quick and simple solution. With portal tools, you get a complete custom interface. Both options let you keep costs under control while giving your clients the easy access they expect.