Exploring byteDB as an Airtable Alternative
Tags: airtable, nocode, saas
Published: 2020-09-25 19:23:54

In this modern era of advanced technologies, No-Code development is steadily becoming a sensation that can't be ignored. 

Modern businesses have started using No-Code based SaaS services to cut down costs, achieve quicker growth, and improve bottom-line. 

And why not? Companies can now stand-up platforms within minutes through No-Code rather than spending expensive man-hours to write codes. In the world of No-Code, Airtable is a name that needs no introduction - a platform that acts as a spreadsheet-database hybrid, with features of a database applied to a spreadsheet.  

This article will take a closer look at Airtable use-cases alongside exploring [byteDB](https://www.byteline.io/?utm_source=Dev&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=byteDB) as an Airtable alternative, making it possible to quickly and easily connect with a Webflow CMS. 

Let us start with a few basics first. 

## What is Airtable? ##
Airtable is a cloud-based No-Code Database platform that lets you get a database ready without spending hours setting up tables, defining a schema, and standing up the underlying infrastructure. With its intuitive UX interface, Airtable can help you store, slice, and dice important data critical to an organization's daily operation. Airtable Base (commonly referred term for a Database) offers Database-as-a-Spreadsheet platform, which is not only easy to setup but is considered extremely user friendly. In an ideal world, an Airtable Base acts as a set of relational rows and columns of a spreadsheet, containing data essential for an organization. 

### Airtable Features ###
- Easy adaptive interface  
- Relational database management
- Multiple third-party integrations
- Scheduled automatic backups
- Easy customization of fields & views
- Automatic data synchronization

### Airtable Use-cases ###
#### Hubspot 
Hubspot successfully integrated Airtable into their project management workflow by automating processes and organizing its content database. With that, they made sure that each workflow was rightly tagged to its respective personnel, providing a swift snapshot of nearing/missed deadlines and outstanding tasks. 

#### Time 
Before integrating Airflow into their platform, Time dealt with effort-duplication at the data entry level and lack of a tool offering transparency at various levels of a payment cycle. With Airtable, Time was able to cut down effort-duplication by utilizing Airtable's automated data sync. Additionally, Airtable through its customized views ensured clarity of processes across various stages of a workflow. 

With several use-cases of Airtable to cheer, let us explore [byteDB](https://www.byteline.io/?utm_source=Dev&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=byteDB) as an Airtable alternative and how its feature-rich platform can turn out to be the right tool for business intelligence in quick simple steps.

## What is byteDB? ##
byteDB offers a powerful *No-Code Relational Database platform* that helps stand up a database without writing a single line of code. Through byteDB, you leverage Byteline's multiple services to easily create workflows and stand up an underlying database by either manually creating new tables or simply uploading an excel workbook. With its intuitive UX, you can stand up a new dataset, or query an existing table almost instantly without being concerned about setting hardware resources or defining schema. 

### byteDB Features ###
- Stand up a database on the cloud with a few simple steps - use an excel sheet or custom create a table manually.   
- Relational Data - filter/sort/access stored data through SQL queries or an intuitive UI. 
- Data synchronization across Byteline services - ensures all services are updated with real-time changes. 
- Integrates with all Byteline services, without coding - leverage the benefits of multiple Byteline services with one-click integration to byteDB.
- Create fields & views - effortlessly customize DB objects for frequent use of complex queries.
- Sync with a Webflow CMS - add, modify or delete Webflow CMS records with byteDB's out-of-the-box integration.
While byteDB connects seamlessly with multiple Byteline and third-party services, including Webflow, its integration with Byteline's Web Scraper is particularly useful in competitive analysis. Let us consider a use-case to understand byteDB's benefits and features better.

### byteDB Use Case ###
*Let us consider a scenario where a product owner intends to keep track of his competitors pricing.* 

As explained in an [earlier article](https://www.byteline.io/blog/2-steps-to-no-code-web-scraping-into-webflow-cms-2020/?utm_source=Dev&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=byteDB), Byteline's Web Scraper is a useful tool that helps to crawl and mine data from single or multiple web sources. With mined data in hand, the Byteline Web Scraper offers you endless possibilities of analysis, quick projection, or simply leveraging the information for your user's interest.

Using Byteline's Web Scraper, the product owner can schedule automatic data-scrap from multiple competitor websites to fetch competitor deals and pricing. This data, when synced with byteDB and a Webflow CMS, provides crucial business intelligence. Through byteDB, the product owner can easily maintain historical data of deals and pricing changes to develop a competitive advantage. 

byteDB is offered as an inclusive service when you opt for a Byteline subscription. To know more about Byteline's multiple service offerings and pricing, visit this [link](https://www.byteline.io/?utm_source=Dev&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=byteDB).

## Conclusion ##
Whether it is a small, medium or large enterprise, No-Code's benefits are a dime a dozen. With its efficient use, organizations can eliminate formal development efforts to build-up applications and underlying databases almost instantly. In this article today, we explored use cases of Airtable, and how byteDB acts as a handy Airtable alternative when integrated with a Webflow CMS or Byteline's comprehensive services. 

Let us know if you have a No-Code database use case to share and how it helped you achieve business goals. 

*This article was originally published on https://www.byteline.io/blog/exploring-bytedb-as-an-airtable-alternative and has been authorized by Byteline for a republish.*