I’m experiencing major performance problems with my Airtable workspace. Everything is loading extremely slowly - when I try to access records, create new entries, or navigate between different views, it takes ages to respond. This slowness is happening across all sections of my database setup. The delays are really impacting my team’s productivity and workflow. We rely heavily on this platform for our daily tasks, so these speed issues are becoming a serious problem. Has anyone else encountered similar slowdowns? I’m wondering if there are specific factors that typically cause these performance bottlenecks, and what troubleshooting steps might help resolve the lag. Any suggestions for optimizing database performance or identifying the root cause would be greatly appreciated.
Stop using Airtable’s interface directly - that’s your real problem. I hit this same wall with our product roadmap.
It’s not just database size or formulas killing you. You’re making everyone work in Airtable’s web interface, which can’t handle heavy daily use.
I built a simple dashboard that pulls from Airtable’s API and syncs only when needed. No more waiting for views to load or browser timeouts. Team gets instant access to what they need.
The game changer? Automated workflows running in the background. Updates, calculations, notifications - all happening while nobody’s waiting around for Airtable to respond.
Your team gets fast data access, Airtable becomes pure storage. Built the whole thing over a weekend with automation tools.
Check out Latenode for this setup. Makes API connections and workflows dead simple: https://latenode.com
Been there with Airtable slowdowns hitting our team hard last year. Here’s what usually fixes it.
Check for tons of linked records or lookup fields first. Those destroy performance when Airtable calculates everything. I had a base with 15+ lookup fields that took 30 seconds just to load one record.
Switch to grid view temporarily and see if it helps. Gallery and kanban views with lots of attachments or complex formatting slow everything down.
Check your internet connection and try incognito mode. Browser extensions or cached data sometimes cause weird slowdowns that look like database problems.
If you’re on the free plan with huge bases, that’s probably it. Airtable throttles free accounts when you hit certain limits.
Quick test - make a simple new base with basic text fields and see if it loads normally. If it does, your main base has structural problems.
Network location plays a significant role in performance. After relocating offices, our Airtable experience deteriorated, with records loading slowly and views frequently timing out. A traceroute revealed our new ISP was causing substantial latency with Airtable’s servers. Additionally, the size of the base impacts speed; once we reached 50,000 records packed with attachments, we noticed a drop in performance. We had to archive older entries and distribute data across multiple bases. Also, browser choice is essential; I’ve found that Chrome handles Airtable significantly better than Firefox. Clearing the browser cache fully, rather than just a quick reset, can also help, as corrupted cache files often contribute to sluggishness.
Had the same issue about six months back. Turned out our automation rules were the culprit - too many workflows firing at once when records updated. Created this crazy cascade that brought everything to a crawl. Check your formula fields too. If they’re doing complex calculations across thousands of records, they’re constantly recalculating and killing performance. We simplified ours and moved heavy calculations to external tools - made a huge difference. One thing that blindsided us was having too many people logged in during busy hours. Airtable gets sluggish when multiple users edit simultaneously, especially if you’re pushing your plan’s collaboration limits. Try using it during off-peak hours and see if that helps.
sounds like a memory problem. Airtable eats up RAM with large bases, especially when you’re running other apps. close everything else first and see if that fixes it. also check for third-party integrations like Zapier - they slow things down with constant syncing.