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Your data, at any size, doing the work
Airtable, Smartsheet and Notion keep your team’s data in grids, priced per editor and capped by plan. FasterOS keeps every form’s records at any size, with access rules per form, reports that stay fast across hundreds of thousands of records, and the apps, site, agents and support desk that use them.
- No record caps Hundreds of thousands of records in one form, searched in about a second.
- Cheaper to share $5 a month for builders, $1 for everyone else who uses it.
- Access per record Your team, the public, or each person only their own records.
- More built on it Public forms, sites, a store, agents and a support desk, on the same records.
What's different underneath
Built for data of any size
No-code databasesAirtable caps each base by plan: 1,000 records on Free, 50,000 on Team, 125,000 on Business and 500,000 on Enterprise Scale. Past that, the data has to be split across bases. Smartsheet sheets stop at 20,000 rows or 500,000 cells.
FasterOSA form holds as many records as you have. A large collection gets its own database and search index, so search, filters, sorting and Stats stay quick: six hundred thousand records answer a search in about a second, typos and all.
Priced for the people who use it
No-code databasesEach prices by seat, billed yearly: Airtable $20 (Team) or $45 (Business) a seat a month, Smartsheet $9 (Pro) or $19 (Business) a member, Notion $10 (Plus) or $20 (Business, with its AI agent). Anyone who edits needs a seat.
FasterOS$5 a month for each person who builds, and $1 for each team member who uses what’s built: adds and edits records, works a report, runs an app. The public fills in forms free. Five builders and twenty users come to $45 a month in seats.
Who sees what, record by record
No-code databasesSharing is by base, workspace, sheet or page. Giving outsiders their own slice of the data usually means a portal or interface add-on, or a separate copy.
FasterOSEvery form has its own access rules: the team, the public, or each person only their own records. Fields can be hidden or locked by role. Customers can sign in and see just their own requests, and every action is in the team’s event log.
More than a grid
No-code databasesThe data sits in grids, boards and pages. Public forms with logic, a website, a store, bookings, live chat and a support desk need other tools, and automations are counted (Airtable Team: 25,000 runs a month).
FasterOSThe same records drive public forms that price as people type, reports and dashboards, apps with their own link, a site and store, bookings, live chat, a support desk that answers from them, and agents that work through them on a schedule.
Side by side
What it takes, and where each one comes from.
| What you need | Airtable | Smartsheet | Notion | FasterOS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Records in one table | By plan 50,000 a base on Team; 125,000 on Business | Capped 20,000 rows or 500,000 cells a sheet; larger sheets rolling out | Slows No set cap; Notion’s own guide covers slow large databases | No cap Any size: 600,000 searched in about a second |
| Spreadsheet-style grid | Built in | Built in | Built in | Built in Sheets, with formulas, charts and AI |
| Forms that add records | Built in Basic forms | Built in | Built in Notion Forms | Built in With logic and live pricing |
| Calculations and logic | Built in Formula fields | Built in Formulas | Built in Formula properties | Built in Jade, on every field and form |
| Reports, filters and stats across every record | Built in Views, interfaces | Built in Reports, dashboards | Built in Views; charts on Plus | Built in Stats across every match |
| Related records | Built in Linked records | Built in Cross-sheet references | Built in Relations | Built in |
| Each person sees only their own records | Add-on Interfaces and portals, by plan | Add-on Dynamic View, on higher plans | Add-on Granular permissions, Business plan | Built in Per form, every plan |
| Automations | Counted 25,000 runs a month on Team | Counted 250 a month on Pro; unlimited on Business | Built in Database automations, paid plans | Built in Agents that wait for people |
| AI on your data | Add-on Airtable AI, credits by plan | Built in Smart Assist | Add-on Notion Agent, Business plan | Built in Ask your records, at each model’s price |
| A public site, store and bookings | Not built in Other tools | Not built in Other tools | Add-on Notion Sites (pages only) | Built in |
| Live chat and a support desk | Not built in Other tools | Not built in Other tools | Not built in Other tools | Built in Faster Support |
| Pricing | Per editor $20–$45 a seat a month; read-only free | Per member $9–$19 a member a month | Per member $10–$20 a member a month | Published $5 a builder, $1 a member |
Build the same order tracker
A business wants orders from a public form that prices them, a record of every order and its shipments, a report of what’s open, each customer seeing only their own orders, and an alert when a big one arrives. Here’s what each takes.
FasterOS: 7 steps, one place
- Create your team and invite the staff1:34 how-to
- Build the order form1:56 how-to
- Make it price the order as people choose1:45 how-to
- Turn its orders into a report1:49 how-to
- Add shipments as related records
- Let each customer see only their own orders
- Tell the team in chat when a big order comes in1:47 how-to
Five are shown start to finish in narrated how-tos. About 9 minutes of video in all.
Airtable: a base, then the extras
- Create a base with linked Orders and Shipments tables
- Build a form (the total is a formula filled in after, not a price shown as people choose)
- Build an interface for the team’s view
- Set up a portal (a paid add-on) so customers see only their own orders, or share filtered copies
- Write an automation for the alert, counted against the plan’s monthly runs
- Move up a plan as the base nears its record limit
Smartsheet and Notion follow the same pattern: the grid is built in; customer access, public pages and live pricing come from add-ons or other tools.
Your first year, priced
Our own published prices, and theirs as published or benchmarked. Change anything to match your quotes.
People who build it Team members who add and edit records Records Visits a month FasterOS $267–$841 Seats, plus hosting by use (low to high activity). Public forms, reports, agents and a support desk included. Already on FasterOS? Only its storage more Seats are paid once, for everything your team builds: adding this costs only its own use and any add-on. Airtable $6,480 12 editors on Business, billed yearly. Read-only people free. Smartsheet $2,736 12 members on Business, billed yearly. Public forms with logic, a site and a support desk not included. Notion $1,440 12 members on Plus. Notion’s AI agent needs Business ($20 a member).Each of these is one tool for one job, with its own bill. FasterOS is a platform: the first solution pays for your team’s seats, and every one after it (a site, a store, a support desk, agents) adds only its hosting and any add-on.
Beyond a database
What a no-code database leaves to add-ons and other tools, FasterOS builds on the same records.
Data of any size Reports and dashboards that stay fast across hundreds of thousands of records. Take the tour →Every form is a table Query, filter, relate and edit records, with no database to run. Take the tour →Agents that work through your records Decide, loop over every record, chase people and escalate, on a schedule. Take the tour →Charts and dashboards Charts suggested from your data, and the numbers to watch from any form. Take the tour →A support desk that answers from your data Answers from your own knowledge, a ticket and a conversation for every request. Take the tour →Websites and stores Public pages, order forms, bookings and a store, on your own domain. Take the tour →Your first year with each
No-code databases
- Pay a full seat for everyone who edits
- Watch record limits, and split bases or upgrade as the data grows
- Buy portals or other tools for customers and the public
- Count automation runs against the plan
FasterOS
- Add people who use it at $1 a month
- Keep every record in one form, at any size
- Public forms and customer access included
- Agents run on your records, paid as activity, not by the run
When a no-code database is the better fit
- A team that lives in a flexible grid, with views and interfaces it has already built in Airtable.
- Project plans with Gantt charts, dependencies and resource workloads (Smartsheet).
- A wiki and notes workspace where the databases are a side table, not the business (Notion).
Questions
How many records can a form hold?
As many as you have. Teams with hundreds of thousands of records can add the Performance Cluster ($5 a month): their own database with a search index, so search, filters and Stats stay quick.
Do people who only use it cost anything?
Anyone who signs in to your team is a member, $1 a month. The public, filling in forms or viewing what you’ve shared publicly, is free.
Is there a spreadsheet view?
Yes. Sheets are spreadsheets with formulas, charts and AI, and every report shows its records as rows and columns you can filter, total and edit.
Can customers see their own records?
Yes. Set a form so each person sees only their own records, and they sign in to see just those, with nothing else of yours in view.
Is my data backed up?
Every change is written to three copies on separate servers, deleted items can be restored until your deletion policy removes them, and any report’s records can be exported.
Sources, as published in 2026: Airtable pricing (Team $20, Business $45 a seat a month billed yearly; read-only collaborators free); Airtable plans overview (records per base and automation runs by plan); Smartsheet pricing (Pro $9, Business $19 a member a month billed yearly); Notion pricing (Plus $10, Business $20 a member a month billed yearly); Carly: Smartsheet row and cell limits in 2026; Notion help: optimize database load times and performance.
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