Been dealing with this exact headache for years. The sync approach mentioned above works but gets messy fast when you scale.
Here’s what I actually recommend after trying everything - build a simple portal with something like Softr. I know it sounds like overkill but hear me out.
Last year we had 80+ external vendors who needed different access levels to our project database. Started with the usual Airtable workarounds - filtered views, interfaces, shared links. Spent more time managing permissions than actual work.
Softr changed everything. You connect it directly to your Airtable base and create custom user roles with exactly the permissions you want. Vendors log in through your branded portal, see only their data, edit only what they should. No Airtable licenses needed for external users.
Setup took me maybe 3 days including learning the platform. Now I just add new users and assign roles. Done.
The ROI was obvious after month one. We went from paying for 25+ extra Airtable seats to a single Softr subscription. Plus external users actually prefer the custom interface over raw Airtable views.
Only downside is you’re adding another tool to maintain, but honestly the time savings make it worth it.
