Outgrown Airtable? When custom beats Airtable for a 10-60 person firm
Airtable is one of the best ways to get a messy spreadsheet into shape, and its automations and interfaces go a long way. Lots of firms should never leave it. This page is about the point where the base starts running your team instead of the other way round.
Forge is the embedded engineer for people businesses - businesses that sell their people’s expertise and time: agencies, accountants, lawyers, consultants. We audit how your team works, decide what to build, build and test it, train your team and manage the change so people use it, then run it on your own accounts.
When you should stay on Airtable
- Your base is the main place the work happens, and the team is comfortable in it.
- Someone on your team understands how the base is built and has time to keep it tidy.
- Your automations are simple - a few triggers, not a web of them nobody dares touch.
- You're well inside your plan's record and automation limits.
If that sounds like you, keep Airtable. You don’t need us yet.
When custom starts to make sense
Only one person understands the base, and the firm is nervous every time they go on holiday.
The team keys the same hours or client details into Airtable and two other apps.
You're hitting record, automation or seat limits and the next plan up is a big jump.
Reports still get rebuilt by hand every Friday because the data lives in several places.
What a custom build looks like, and what it costs
- Time logged where the team already works, then matched to clients and projects automatically.
- Margin and over-servicing visible per client without anyone rebuilding a report.
- Connected to your project tool and invoicing app, so nobody rekeys the numbers.
- Running on your own accounts, monitored and fixed by us, and changed when your process changes.
The typical market price. Building a time and margin tracking tool usually costs $15,000-30,000 (£12,000-24,000) and takes 4-10 weeks, plus $1,500-7,500 a month if you want someone to keep it working. Those are typical ranges from our custom software cost guide, not a quote.
What it costs with Forge. We start with an ops audit ($2,500 / £2,000, credited to your first month). Then a monthly plan - $2,000, $3,500 or $7,500 (£1,600, £2,800 or £6,000) - with your first build, training and change management included. It runs on your own accounts, so you own it; we monitor it, fix it and keep improving it. See pricing, or see the time tracking tool we built and run at Fame.
The only numbers we quote are our own: the tools Forge built for Fame have given the Fame team back 5,460 hours (as of 14 Oct 2026). How Fame uses Forge.
Questions, answered plainly
Is Forge an Airtable competitor?
No. Airtable is a database you design and maintain. Forge is an embedded engineer: we audit how your firm works, then build, roll out and run the tools you need on your own accounts. That can include keeping Airtable and building around it.
Do we have to move off Airtable?
No. If your base works, we'd usually build around it. We only suggest moving data when it's genuinely causing the double-keying or the limits.
What does a custom time tracking tool cost?
A multi-part internal tool like this is typically $15,000-30,000 (£12,000-24,000) and 4-10 weeks to build, plus upkeep. With Forge it's a $2,500 (£2,000) ops audit credited to month one, then a monthly plan from $2,000 (£1,600) with your first build included.
Who looks after it once it's built?
We do. It runs on your own accounts, so you own it; we monitor it, fix it when a connected app changes and improve it as your process changes.
Not sure if you’ve outgrown Airtable? The audit will tell you.
We map where your team’s hours go and put a number on it. If Airtable is still the right answer, we’ll say so. The $2,500 (£2,000) audit is credited to your first month.