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Airtable vs Sheetsee.js vs Tabletop.js: What are the differences?
Introduction
In the realm of web development, tools like Airtable, Sheetsee.js, and Tabletop.js aid in managing and displaying data efficiently. Each tool offers unique features that cater to different needs of developers and users.
Data Storage and Manipulation: Airtable excels in storing and manipulating data with its user-friendly interface, offering various data types and easy customization. Sheetsee.js and Tabletop.js, on the other hand, focus on retrieving and displaying data from Google Sheets while providing limited data manipulation capabilities.
Real-time Updates: Airtable allows real-time collaboration, enabling multiple users to edit data simultaneously, providing up-to-date information instantly. In contrast, Sheetsee.js and Tabletop.js rely on periodic syncing with Google Sheets, lacking the immediacy of real-time updates.
Customization and Integration: Airtable offers extensive customization options, allowing users to create custom views, attach files, and apply rich formatting to data. Sheetsee.js focuses on simplicity and ease of integration, providing basic customization features. Tabletop.js emphasizes seamless integration with Google Sheets, sacrificing advanced customization for convenience.
Backend Infrastructure: Airtable hosts data on its servers, offering a complete backend infrastructure for data storage and retrieval. Sheetsee.js and Tabletop.js both rely on Google Sheets as the backend, with Sheetsee.js handling data retrieval on the client-side and Tabletop.js utilizing a proxy server for communication with Google Sheets.
Community Support and Documentation: Airtable boasts an active community forum, extensive documentation, and a variety of templates and resources. Sheetsee.js and Tabletop.js have less extensive community support and documentation, which may require users to rely on their problem-solving skills more frequently.
Cost and Scalability: Airtable offers a free tier with limited features, while premium plans unlock advanced functionalities suitable for larger projects. Sheetsee.js and Tabletop.js are open-source tools with no direct cost, making them ideal for small-scale projects but may face limitations in handling more extensive data sets.
In Summary, Airtable stands out for its robust features, real-time collaboration, and extensive customization options, while Sheetsee.js and Tabletop.js offer simplicity, ease of integration, and cost-efficiency for smaller projects.
I'm trying to set up an ideally "no- code" way to have a backend of 3 different tables and be able to find a value in table #3 (contains businesses & cities) by first finding a record in table #1 (7,000+ zip codes) that corresponds to a city (table #2 has the unique cities), and then finding which businesses are located in these cities ( in this specific, original zipcode lookup). And return the business and a description via an API to a front-end results page, which happens to be a WordPress page - but doesn't need to be. I've tried Airtable's API, AirPress (a finicky WordPress plugin for Airtable's API), and I've looked at Sheetsu and a similar spreadsheet as backend and a simple API. I run into the issue where they work fine when you just need to query 1 table, but when you need to use the result from that query in another query to a different table. I'm back in SQL land - where sure it could be done with SQLite - needing to probably create an intersection table or a JOIN and build an API off of that. Is there a way to accomplish what I want without going back to SQL queries and some API?
You're right that there isn't a great way to join tables with Airtable's API. The closest you can get is to use a linked record field, which acts as a pointer to another record. You still end up with the problem you mentioned of having to run another query on the second table separately.
Your best bet is to stick with an actual SQL database. Using an ORM should make your life significantly easier so you don't actually have to write raw SQL. If you still want a graphical interface to your data, BaseDash lets you view and edit SQL databases just like Airtable. A full API with join support is coming soon, so that could be your perfect solution to this problem.
Let me introduce you to integromat. It connects these services without you having to work any code. And it even has a decent database built inside it.
It makes is an easy process to develop multistep workflows with multiple services and it’s free tier is surprisingly functional.
Pros of Airtable
- Powerful and easy to use19
- Robust and dynamic8
- Quick UI Layer6
- Practical built in views4
- Robust API documentation3
- Great flexibility0
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