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Endearist vs Airtable
A fair, specific comparison — written so you'd be comfortable if a Airtable engineer read it.
Fairness pledge
Airtable is the most powerful DIY option in this comparison — it's not a personal CRM at all, but a flexible database that thousands of people have shaped into one. If you enjoy building systems, the free tier (1,000 records per base, 100 automation runs/month) is genuinely enough for a personal contact base, and no purpose-built CRM matches the freedom of designing your own fields, views, formulas, and automations. The honest trade: you become the product manager of your own CRM forever. Every reminder, every view, every 'when did I last talk to them' rollup is something you build and maintain — and Airtable's record limits, per-seat pricing, and cloud-only architecture were designed for teams, not for a private address book.
Where does my data live with Airtable versus Endearist?
Airtable: cloud-only — your bases live on Airtable's servers (US infrastructure); there is no offline-first mode and no way to keep the data on your machine. Endearist: not publicly available yet. The primary copy is intended to stay on your device. End-to-end encrypted sync over storage you run yourself — a local or shared folder, or a WebDAV server — is planned for v1. Google Drive as a destination is not decided yet. Managed sync on Endearist Cloud is planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only.
How does each tool access AI?
Airtable AI is a paid add-on at $6/seat/month on the Team plan (included in Business at $45/seat/month) — summaries, content generation, and AI automation steps, metered in credits and processed on Airtable's servers. Endearist's AI is planned as strictly opt-in: your own key, or managed AI in a proposed Pro Cloud subscription. The app is designed to work fully offline without AI. AI with your own key: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised.
What do Airtable and Endearist cost over three years?
Airtable Free: €0 — genuinely workable for a personal base under 1,000 records. Airtable Team: $20/month (annual billing) → ~$720 / ~€660 over 3 years; with the AI add-on ~$26/month → ~€860. Endearist cannot be bought yet; its proposed prices are Pro Lifetime at €69 once and Pro Cloud Light at €4.99/month (~€180 over 3 years). Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local core and data export. The proposed 25-contact limit is not a confirmed entitlement. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local app and AI with your own key (planned for v1). Sync over your own storage is planned for v1. Managed cloud services are not a lifetime feature. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised.
What doesn't Endearist do?
We don't have formulas, custom views, automations, interfaces, an API, or a build-anything schema — Endearist's fields are opinionated and relationship-shaped on purpose. If you want to model anything beyond people (projects, inventory, editorial calendars) or wire your contacts into Zapier-style workflows, Airtable does that and we never will.
Feature matrix
Side-by-side.
| Feature | Endearist | Airtable |
|---|---|---|
| Local-first data storage | Designed so the primary copy lives on your device, not on a server. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — cloud-only; bases live on Airtable's servers. |
| End-to-end encrypted sync | End-to-end encrypted sync over storage you run yourself — a local or shared folder, or a WebDAV server — is planned for v1. Google Drive as a destination is not decided yet. Managed sync on Endearist Cloud is planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only. | Server-side encryption; Airtable holds the keys. |
| Mobile native apps (iOS / Android) | Flutter apps in development; nothing to install yet. Native Android app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native Windows app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native iPhone and iPad app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native macOS app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native Linux app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. | Source check for Airtable (2026-09-30): Listed platforms: iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Web. Native availability for Linux is unverified. Download/help listings only; functionality and store/account restrictions were not tested. Check current availability and account/region limits with the vendor. We have not tested the apps ourselves. |
| Desktop native apps | Native desktop apps in development; nothing to install yet. Native Android app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native Windows app: planned for v1. The first release is intended for Android and Windows. Native iPhone and iPad app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native macOS app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. Native Linux app: planned for later. The first release is intended for Android and Windows only. | Source check for Airtable (2026-09-30): Listed platforms: iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Web. Native availability for Linux is unverified. Download/help listings only; functionality and store/account restrictions were not tested. Check current availability and account/region limits with the vendor. We have not tested the apps ourselves. |
| AI features | Planned as strictly opt-in — your own key, or managed AI in a proposed Pro Cloud subscription. AI with your own key: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised. | Airtable AI add-on, $6/seat/mo on Team (included in Business) — summaries and AI automations, credit-metered on Airtable's servers. |
| Self-host option | No — there is no server component to host; the local store is meant to be the app itself. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — SaaS only. |
| Pricing | Proposed, not purchasable yet: free up to 25 contacts; Pro Lifetime €69 once, Pro Cloud Light €4.99/mo, or Pro Cloud €9.99/mo. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local core and data export. The proposed 25-contact limit is not a confirmed entitlement. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: local app and AI with your own key (planned for v1). Sync over your own storage is planned for v1. Managed cloud services are not a lifetime feature. Proposed plan, not purchasable yet: managed AI (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only) and Endearist Cloud (planned for after v1, as part of the Pro Cloud subscription only). Specific budgets, routing and prices require approval. Family sharing: not decided yet; no included family seat is promised. | Free (1,000 records/base, 100 automation runs/mo). Team $20/seat/mo annual ($24 monthly). No lifetime. |
| Open source code | Pledged source release if we shut down or get acquired. | No — proprietary. |
| Plain-Markdown export | Planned — plain Markdown you can read without any app. Markdown, CSV and vCard export: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. The documented implementation has a separate readable ZIP export with media and a report of omissions; legacy exports remain partial. This is not device or release acceptance. | CSV per table via the view menu; attachments and linked records need extra handling. No Markdown. |
| Voice-note transcription | Planned — on-device, or with your own key. On-device transcription: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No. |
| Family / multi-vault share | Family sharing: not decided yet. Multiple vaults: not decided yet. | Up to 5 editors per free workspace — sharing a base with a partner works, but it's team collaboration, not a private vault. |
| Journal / reflection | Journal, weekly ritual, and appreciation prompts are meant to be built in, not built by you. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | No — you can build a notes table, but there's no journal surface, prompts, or ritual. |
| Relationship depth (how-we-met, pets) | Designed with ready-made fields: how-we-met, pets, custom pronouns, life events, debts, attachments. Local-first vault, fully offline: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | Any field you can imagine — but zero defaults. You design and maintain the entire schema yourself. |
| Reach-out reminders | Gentle per-person cadence reminders (no streaks) are planned. System reminders: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1. | Buildable with automations (date fields + scheduled runs), capped at 100 runs/mo on Free — you write and debug the logic. |
When to pick Airtable
When is Airtable the better choice?
If you genuinely enjoy building tools — and many people do — a hand-rolled Airtable base is the most flexible personal CRM that will ever exist, because it's exactly what you make it. Pick Airtable if your contact list doubles as a project tracker, you want formulas and rollups over your relationships, or you need the same data feeding other workflows via the API. The free tier is real and sufficient for most personal bases — and, unlike Endearist, you can use it today. We're building the opposite bet: an opinionated, ready-made relationship practice meant to work on day one and never ask you to maintain a schema.
Switching
How do I switch from Airtable to Endearist?
In Airtable, open each table you use for people, switch to a grid view, and choose the view menu (⋯) → 'Download CSV'. Endearist is not released yet, so keep that file for now: CSV import is planned for the app, but how Airtable columns map to Endearist fields has not been verified. If you split interactions into a second table, export it too; linked-record columns export as plain names, so do this while your base is still open for reference. Attachments aren't included in CSV exports — download any that matter and keep them alongside the CSV. vCard and CSV import: not publicly available yet. Status: planned for v1.
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Prices and positioning verified 2026-06-10.
Platform information updated 2026-09-30; source-check dates are shown in the table.
Sources for the platform review
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