Databases for Everyone Airtable vs. Grist
Author: Peter Kaminski Issue: 2024-09-18
Databases for Everyone: Airtable vs. Grist
by Peter Kaminski
As many of you know, I’ve been a long-time fan of Airtable. It's made organizing for personal life and business fun. But recently, I’ve been diving into Grist, and I have to say, it’s got some serious potential too. Here’s a quick rundown of how both tools stack up.
Why Should You Care?
We all have to keep track of stuff. Imagine you have a bunch of similar items you want to keep track of, like your book collection, recipes, or even your daily tasks. Each of these things has certain details you want to remember - books have authors and page counts, recipes have ingredients and cooking times, tasks have due dates and priorities.
A regular spreadsheet can help you organize this info, which is great! But tools like Airtable and Grist take it a step further. They're like spreadsheets with superpowers. Not only can you list out all your items and their details, but you can also connect different lists together (like linking your grocery list to your recipes), or add special features like checkboxes, dropdown menus, or even photos.
So while a spreadsheet is like a super-organized list, Airtable and Grist are more like digital assistants that help you see connections between your lists and do more with your information.
Airtable vs. Grist: What’s the Difference?
Airtable is a user-friendly, visually appealing database tool that offers a spreadsheet-like interface with powerful relational database capabilities. You can switch between different views—grid, calendar, gallery, or Kanban—depending on how you want to see and work with your data. Plus, with a huge library of templates and integrations, getting started is quick, and you can easily connect it to your other tools.
Grist is a user-friendly, visually appealing database tool that offers a spreadsheet-like interface with powerful relational database capabilities. Unlike Airtable, though, it's also open source. It has different views and visualizations that can be arranged in dashboards. It can be self-hosted pretty easily for one user using Docker. Self-hosting for a team will be a little more complicated, but still doable. Grist also offers powerful data analysis features and supports complex formulas and Python scripts for those who want to dive deeper.
Look at both, see which one appeals to you.
What Can You Actually Do With These?
- Organizing community events
- Tracking projects and goals
- Managing a side hustle
- Building a knowledge base of shared resources
- Or just trying to adult by keeping your life in order
Quick Mentions
Some other tools. These are general purpose organizers, good for text and more miscellaneous information. I use both kinds of tools – database and information management.
- Notion: Does a bit of everything, including databases. Great if you want your whole digital life in one place. Great for teams.
- Coda: Mixes documents and databases in creative ways. Pricey.
- Obsidian: Doesn't do databases (well, the Dataview plugin kinda does), but I always mention Obsidian whenever I mention Notion. Organizes with pages of Markdown text, like a wiki. Great for individuals, can be used by teams with some overhead. Has a bit of a DIY flavor, but has a huge community of users and developers. Free for personal use.
The Bottom Line
Whether you stick with my old friend Airtable or check out my new friend Grist, there's never been a better time to get your data organized.
Both tools have a good free tier that I've been able to do real work with – check 'em out. There's a database tool out there that can make your life easier. Who knows? You might even have some fun doing it.
Don't forget to share your experiences with these tools in Mattermost or the OGM mailing list or wherever - your insights could help fellow Plex readers find the perfect solution for their needs!
Related:
- Peter Kaminski (author)
- 2024 (year)
- Topics: Science and Research, Tools and Platforms