The Airtable Terms of Service and AI Terms are the contract documents behind self-serve Airtable plans and, unless replaced by a signed agreement, other plans too. They define who the contracting party is, what the licence covers, how plans are billed, renewed and cancelled, and how generative AI features are governed. This article reads them from a licence-management perspective, and then explains the AI credit allowance, which is the main consumption metric Airtable has added to its plans. Seat counting is covered in collaborators, seats and billing, and limits in plans, limits and trials.
Contracting party and organizations
The Terms are an agreement of Formagrid Inc, dba Airtable, and they govern airtable.com and its subdomains, the hosted services and the Software, meaning browser extensions, integrations, mobile applications, downloadable apps, APIs, tools and documentation.[1] Acceptance happens by creating an account, clicking a sign-up button, agreeing to an order form that references the Terms, or by accessing or using Airtable.[1]
Section 1.3 treats individuals who use the Services on behalf of an Organization as binding that Organization. Airtable may deem a person to act for an Organization if they sign up with an email address associated with it or if the Organization pays or reimburses the fees. The individual’s right to use the Services may be suspended or terminated, and ownership and administration of the account transferred, if they cease to be associated with the Organization.[1] Accounts that are subject to a separate agreement, such as an Enterprise Scale, Enterprise or Business account governed by a separate master subscription agreement, fall outside the Terms for that account, while the Terms still apply to the same individual’s other workspaces.[1] For asset managers, this means that departing staff, personal accounts created with a work email and shadow workspaces can all end up under the Organization’s control.
The licence
Subject to compliance with the Terms, users may access and use the Services during the Subscription Term, except as limited by their Organization.[1] The Software licence is non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable, and covers use solely as reasonably necessary for use of the Services.[1] Airtable states that users do not own their Airtable Account.[1] Developers receive a separate licence to the APIs and tools under the Developer Terms to build Extensions, and Airtable reserves the right to audit Extensions to determine whether they violate the Terms.[1] The retrieved Terms contain no equivalent audit right over customer seat counts.
Plans, billing and true-ups
Section 6.1 allows Airtable to offer free and paid Subscription Plans, to change them or add and amend fees in its sole discretion, with price or payment term changes effective in the billing cycle after notice. Subscription Plans may set allotments for designated aspects of the Services, and use of an aspect in excess of the allotment may result in additional fees that are either included in a true-up invoice or charged automatically to the Payment Method.[1]
Under section 6.2 customers pay in United States dollars plus taxes, wire transfer, card processing and foreign transaction fees where applicable, using Stripe as the payment provider. If payment fails, the customer remains responsible and Airtable may continue to charge the Payment Method. All payments for transactions are non-refundable and non-transferable except as the Terms provide.[1] Section 6.5 adds a service charge of 1.5 percent per month, or the legal maximum if lower, plus collection costs on late payments, and section 6.6 provides that credits, for example from a referral program or a plan downgrade, expire one year after accrual or on account termination, with free-workspace credits expiring after 90 days if the plan is not upgraded.[1]
Renewal, cancellation and termination
Subscriptions continue until cancelled and renew automatically for terms equal to the original term at the price on the renewal date, so a customer who does not want renewal must cancel in Account Settings before the end of the term.[1] If Airtable cancels a Subscription Plan, other than for breach or non-payment, it grants a prorated refund for the unused portion. If the customer cancels, its right to use the Services continues to the end of the term and no refund is given, except that customers in the European Union or Turkey who cancel within 14 days of purchase can be refunded.[1]
Section 2.7 lets customers cancel an account at any time and lets Airtable change or stop the Services, change or stop a plan, create usage limits, and permanently or temporarily suspend or terminate access without notice or liability, without cause or for any reason, including for violating the Terms.[1] The help centre adds that declined payments automatically downgrade a paid workspace to Free.[2]
Changes, assignment and law
Airtable may modify the Terms in its sole discretion, updates the “Last Updated” date, and tells users of material changes by posting the Terms, an in-service notice or other communication. Continued use constitutes acceptance.[1] Airtable may assign the Terms without restriction, while customers need prior written consent.[1] The Terms are governed by California law, with a mandatory individual arbitration agreement and a class action and jury trial waiver, subject to an opt-out and specified exceptions.[1]
AI Terms
Airtable AI means features that use generative AI models, powered by listed third-party AI platform and model providers. The AI Terms form part of the agreement alongside the Terms of Service or a master subscription agreement and control in a conflict relating to Airtable AI.[3] The Terms of Service provide that AI use is subject to these AI Terms.[1] For licence managers the key points are:
- Ownership. Input and Output are Customer Data and the customer keeps all ownership rights in them.[3]
- Training. Airtable will not use, or let its providers use, Input, Output or other Customer Data to train generative AI models.[3]
- Control. Airtable enables AI for workspaces on agreement, but the customer can disable it at any time through the admin panel or workspace settings. Enterprise Scale and Business customers can opt out of any individual third-party provider.[3] The help centre states that AI is on by default on all plans, including legacy plans, with only EU and GDPR customers able to turn it on optionally.[4]
- Retention. On Enterprise Scale and Business, providers do not log or retain input or output. On Free, Team, Pro and Plus, providers may keep them for up to 30 days for safety and compliance moderation.[3]
- Suspension. Airtable may suspend AI if use breaches the AI Terms or the law, or if a provider requires it or suspends Airtable’s access.[3]
AI credits
AI functionality is included in every plan with a monthly credit allowance. Allowances are 500 credits per user with Editor permission and above on Free, 15000 per billable collaborator on Team, 20000 per paid user on both self-serve and sales-led Business, 25000 per paid user at list price on Enterprise Scale, and 1000 per paid user for Portal users.[4] Credits are pooled for shared use across the workspace on Free and Team and across the organization on Business and Enterprise Scale, and collaborators with Viewer permission receive no allocation but can use credits through Omni.[4] Free, Team and self-serve Business credits reset at the start of the billing cycle, sales-led Business and Enterprise Scale credits reset at the start of each month, and included credits expire at the end of the month.[4]
Credits are consumed by AI actions such as deploying field agents, launching AI automations, deep research, categorizing feedback, analysing documents or generating images, and each action uses a variable number based on input, model and output. Examples are 1 credit to categorize a piece of feedback, 10 for a web search or a question to Omni, and about 200 to extract rights from a 10-page contract. Building apps and agents with Omni is free.[4] When internet access is enabled, text pulled from the internet is charged as credits.[4]
Customers who run out can buy packs: 10,000 credits for 20 dollars a month or 200 a year, up to 400,000 for 800 a month or 8000 a year. Free plans must upgrade to Team for more credits and sales-led plans buy through their sales representative.[4] Airtable credits earned from referrals are a different thing, which offset billing and are unavailable on Business and Enterprise Scale.[5] Because included credits depend on the number of billable collaborators, seat growth increases the pooled AI allowance.[4]