In this guide
Before you start.
- You need Owner permissions on the workspace. Airtable states that owners can adjust workspace settings and handle billing-related changes, and a self-serve Business or Enterprise plan is changed from the admin panel by an admin instead.
- Do it in a browser. Airtable states that upgrading and downgrading your workspace plan is not an option when using the Airtable mobile iOS and Android apps. Its mobile app sells no in-app purchases, so the store never bills the plan.
- The timing is fixed. Airtable states that downgrades do not take effect immediately and that the change takes effect at the end of your current billing cycle, and separately that a workspace cannot be set to auto-downgrade at a specified date.
- Your data survives the downgrade. Airtable states that moving to the Free plan does not delete your data and that all of your existing bases, tables, records and views remain accessible.
- What does bite is the record cap. Airtable states the Free plan allows 1,000 records per base and 1 GB of attachment storage per base, and that if a base is over the Free plan's limits you cannot add new records or attachments until you are back under the limit, that your existing data stays in place, and that some features may become read-only or unavailable until you upgrade again.
- History is the one thing that is genuinely destroyed. Airtable states that snapshots falling outside the downgraded plan's retention window are removed and cannot be recovered, even if you upgrade later. The Free plan retains two weeks of revision and snapshot history.
- Check who counts as billable. Airtable states the Team plan bills Owners, Creators, Editors and Commenters, while the Business plan bills Owners, Creators and Editors only, and that read-only collaborators and shared-view-link users are never billable.
- Note the refund windows. Airtable states it offers a courtesy refund for accidental billable collaborators or accidental plan upgrades if you contact it within 7 days of receiving your invoice on monthly, or within 14 days on annual, and that otherwise once your payment method is charged it cannot issue a refund or recharge a different payment method.
- Downgrading a self-serve Business plan destroys more than the plan. Airtable states that downgrading a Business plan permanently deletes your organization and all associated settings.
FOLLOW THE RIGHT BILLING ROUTE
Cancel Airtable, step by step.
Downgrade a Team workspace to Free
This is the route for the most common paid plan. On Airtable, cancelling means moving the workspace to the Free plan.
- Open Airtable in a web browser rather than the mobile app.
- Open your Airtable account overview.
- Select the workspace you want to change from the Workspace settings menu.
- Click Change plan under the Workspace plan section.
- Choose Free and follow the flow to confirm.
- Check the Workspace plan section afterwards: Airtable states it shows the scheduled downgrade date.
Airtable states the downgrade takes effect at the end of your current billing cycle. Export or reduce bases that exceed 1,000 records before then if you want to keep adding records afterwards.
Downgrade a self-serve Business plan
Business is managed from the admin panel rather than the workspace, and the consequences are larger.
- Export anything tied to organization-level settings first: Airtable states that downgrading a Business plan permanently deletes your organization and all associated settings.
- Open your admin panel.
- Open Billing.
- Click the three dot icon to the right of Business under Plan details.
- Click Downgrade.
- Acknowledge the changes to confirm.
Airtable states that downgrading your self-serve Business plan automatically downgrades your workspace to a Free plan. For a sales-led Business or Enterprise Scale plan, Airtable routes the change through your sales contact and states the workspace is initially downgraded to a Free plan before you re-upgrade.
Cut billable collaborators instead of downgrading
Often the right move: the seat count is usually what has grown, not the plan. The timing rules are unusually harsh, so know them before you start.
- Open the workspace collaborator list and identify who holds a billable permission level.
- Move people who only need to look at data to read-only, which Airtable states is never billable.
- Remove the collaborators you no longer need.
- Expect no immediate saving: Airtable states that removing billable collaborators mid-billing cycle does not reduce your current invoice, but ensures you are not billed for that seat at your next renewal.
- Do not add anyone new to an annual plan casually: Airtable states owners are charged for a new collaborator's full remaining annual contract.
- If a collaborator was added by mistake, contact Airtable quickly: it states a courtesy refund within 7 days of the invoice on monthly, or 14 days on annual.
Airtable states that owners are immediately charged for billable collaborators when a collaborator's permission level is upgraded to a billable role, and that on a monthly plan owners are not charged until the following month's billing date.
What happens next?
- The paid plan runs to the end of the cycle. Airtable states downgrades do not take effect immediately and apply at the end of your current billing cycle.
- Nothing is deleted. Airtable states that moving to the Free plan does not delete your data and that all of your existing bases, tables, records and views remain accessible.
- Bases over the cap freeze rather than shrink. Airtable states that if a base is over the Free plan's limits you cannot add new records or attachments until you are back under the limit, that existing data stays in place, and that some features may become read-only or unavailable until you upgrade again.
- Revision history is the real loss. Airtable states the Free plan retains two weeks of revision and snapshot history, and that snapshots outside the retention window are removed and cannot be recovered, even if you upgrade later.
- The Free plan allows 1,000 records per base, 1 GB of attachment storage per base, five collaborators with Editor or Creator permissions, 50 with Commenter, and unlimited read-only collaborators.
- Airtable states that once your payment method is charged it cannot issue a refund or recharge a different payment method, with courtesy refunds for accidental collaborators or upgrades inside the 7 day monthly and 14 day annual windows.
- A declined payment does the downgrade for you. Airtable states that declined payments automatically downgrade your paid workspace plan to a Free plan.
WHEN IT DOES NOT WORK
If you get stuck.
There is no option to change my plan in the Airtable app
That is by design rather than a fault. Airtable states that upgrading and downgrading your workspace plan is not an option when using the Airtable mobile iOS and Android apps. Open Airtable in a browser, on a phone if that is all you have, and use the account overview route. Airtable's mobile apps also sell no in-app purchases, so Apple and Google never bill the plan.
I removed a collaborator and the invoice stayed the same
Airtable states it plainly: removing billable collaborators mid-billing cycle does not reduce your current invoice, but it will ensure you are not billed for that seat at your next renewal. The seat stays reassignable until the cycle ends. Adding works the other way and charges you immediately when a permission level is upgraded to a billable role.
I added one collaborator on an annual plan and was charged a large amount
That is the annual rule. Airtable states that after adding billable collaborators to a workspace on an annual plan, workspace owners are charged for that collaborator's full remaining annual contract. If it was accidental, Airtable states it offers a courtesy refund if you contact it within 14 days of receiving your invoice on annual, or 7 days on monthly, with processing taking 5 to 10 business days.
I cannot add records after downgrading
The base is over the Free plan's 1,000 record cap or its 1 GB attachment limit. Airtable states you cannot add new records or attachments until you are back under the limit, that existing data stays in place, and that some features become read-only or unavailable. Delete or archive records, or split the data across bases, to get back under.
My old snapshots are gone after downgrading
Those do not come back. Airtable states that snapshots falling outside the downgraded plan's retention window are removed and cannot be recovered, even if you upgrade later. The Free plan retains two weeks. Take the snapshots and exports you need before the downgrade date rather than after.
I downgraded Business and my organization disappeared
Airtable states this consequence outright: downgrading a Business plan permanently deletes your organization and all associated settings, and downgrading a self-serve Business plan automatically downgrades your workspace to a Free plan. It is not recoverable by re-upgrading, so the organisation-level configuration has to be rebuilt.
Still not cancelled?Common reasons a subscription will not cancel
GOOD TO KNOW
Questions, answered.
How do I cancel my Airtable subscription?
Open your Airtable account overview in a browser, select the workspace from the Workspace settings menu, click Change plan under Workspace plan, then choose Free. Airtable states the change takes effect at the end of your current billing cycle.
Will I lose my Airtable data if I downgrade to Free?
No. Airtable states that moving to the Free plan does not delete your data and that all of your existing bases, tables, records and views remain accessible. What stops is adding: a base over the 1,000 record cap or the 1 GB attachment limit cannot take new records or attachments until it is back under.
Does removing a collaborator lower my Airtable bill?
Not this cycle. Airtable states that removing billable collaborators mid-billing cycle does not reduce your current invoice, but ensures you are not billed for that seat at your next renewal.
Can I get a refund from Airtable?
Only in narrow cases. Airtable states it offers a courtesy refund for accidental billable collaborators or accidental plan upgrades if you contact it within 7 days of receiving your invoice on monthly, or 14 days on annual, and that otherwise once your payment method is charged it cannot issue a refund.
Is cancelling my Airtable plan the same as deleting my account?
No. Deleting your Airtable user account is a separate action in the account overview, and Airtable states it requires removing payment methods, transferring sole-owner workspaces and removing shared users first. It also states that deleting your account will not delete workspaces and bases that others have access to.
Provider resources
- Airtable: upgrading and downgrading your workspace plan
- Airtable: adding, removing and managing billable collaborators
- Airtable: how collaborators impact billing
- Airtable: billing overview
- Airtable: plans overview and limits
- Airtable: requesting refunds from Airtable
- Airtable: creating, cancelling and deleting your account
Instructions reviewed .
Subex is independent of Airtable. Availability and cancellation terms can vary by plan, billing provider and country.
