Airtable Interface Designer Guide 2026: How to Build, Share and Secure Interfaces, With 7 Examples Worth Copying
Airtable’s Interface Designer lets you build screens on top of a base so people can work with the data without touching the tables underneath. A manager gets a dashboard, a reviewer gets an approval queue, and a requester gets a form and a list of their own requests. It’s available on every plan, including Free, but sharing an interface with people who don’t have access to the base requires a paid plan.
This guide covers how to build one, how sharing and billing work, the limits to know about, and seven interfaces that most teams can use. Details come from Airtable’s Interface Designer getting-started guide and sharing documentation, checked October 1, 2026.
What an interface is (and isn’t)
An interface is a set of pages built on one base. Each page uses a layout and shows records from the base’s tables. When someone edits a record in an interface, they edit the real record in the base, so there’s no syncing to manage.
What it isn’t: a separate database or a full custom app. It can’t hold its own data, and everything it shows is limited by the base’s own permissions. If a field is locked to Creators in the base, an interface editor can’t change it either.
The layouts you can choose
Airtable groups layouts into two kinds, per its layout guide:
- Visualization layouts: list, gallery, kanban, calendar and timeline, plus an optional grid. These work like views with a tidier design and record detail pages. Timeline needs a paid plan.
- Form: collects new records. Useful when you want submissions to land in the right table with the right defaults.
- Dashboard: numbers, charts and filters for people who need an overview rather than individual records.
- Overview: a landing page with bookmarks and links that points people to other pages. It can’t be shared publicly.
- Legacy layouts such as Record review and Blank still exist for older interfaces and more custom builds.
In AI-enabled workspaces you can also ask Omni, Airtable’s AI assistant, to draft an interface from a description. It’s a fast starting point, but you’ll still want to check filters, editable fields and sharing by hand.
How to build an interface, step by step
- Prepare the base. Interfaces expose your data model’s problems. Make sure each table holds one kind of thing, linked records are used instead of duplicate text, and fields use the right types. For deeper help, see our Airtable views guide.
- Add an interface. Open the base, click Interfaces at the top, and either start building or ask Omni. For an existing interface, hover over its name and click + to add a page.
- Pick the data. Choose the source table, then set filters and sorts. A filter on the current user (“assigned to me”) is what turns one page into a personal task list for everyone.
- Set field access. On record detail pages, choose which fields appear and which are editable. Show less than you think: every extra field is something people can change by mistake.
- Preview and publish. Preview the page as a specific user to check what they’ll see. Collaborators without Creator permission only see published pages, so an unpublished interface is invisible to them.
- Share it the right way. Use Share interface inside Interface Designer. The Share button in the top-right corner of the base shares the whole base, including all its data and automations.
Sharing, permissions and billing
There are three ways people reach an interface:
- Base collaborators see published interfaces at the same permission level they have on the base.
- Interface-only collaborators can use the interface without any access to the base underneath. This is available on Team, Business and Enterprise Scale.
- Public pages: on paid plans, a Creator can share an individual page as a read-only link, similar to a shared view, or embed it on a website.
Interface-only collaborators can be viewers, commenters or editors. Viewers can see records, commenters can also comment, and editors can edit and, when allowed, create and delete records. Only editors can submit forms inside an interface.
Billing is where teams get surprised. According to Airtable’s plans overview, interface-only viewers are free, but on the Team plan interface-only editors and commenters are billed like any other collaborator. On self-serve Business, commenters are free and editors are billed. If a group of people only needs to look at a dashboard, make them viewers.
Business and Enterprise Scale add group sharing and a general-access setting that opens an interface to your whole organization. They can also add the Portals add-on to give external users access. On Free and Team, interfaces can only be shared with people who have a verified Airtable account.
Limits and security to plan for
- 50 interfaces per base and 50 pages per interface. Use separate interfaces for separate audiences instead of one huge interface.
- 5,000 collaborators per interface. A user group counts as one entry.
- 200 search results in layout interfaces such as list and calendar, even if more records match. Encourage specific searches or add filters.
- Three levels of nested record pages for interface-only collaborators. Deeper paths that work for base collaborators won’t open for them.
- Public pages can leak hidden data. Airtable warns that a technically skilled visitor may be able to see some hidden data that powers elements on a publicly shared page. Don’t publish pages built on tables with sensitive fields.
- Filters are for convenience, not security. A current-user filter decides what someone sees on a page. It doesn’t replace permissions. Check what each role can reach from record links and test with a non-admin account before rolling out.
7 interfaces worth building
- My work. A list filtered to the current user, grouped by status, with only status and notes editable. It’s the single most-used interface in most bases.
- Request intake and tracker. A form page for new requests plus a list of “my requests” so requesters can check progress without emailing you.
- Approval queue. A list of records where Status is “Needs review”, with approve and reject buttons that update the status. It works well for content, purchases and time-off.
- Manager dashboard. Counts by status, overdue items and a chart by owner, with filters for team and date. Share it with viewers so it costs nothing extra.
- Content calendar. A calendar layout on publish dates with the brief, draft link and owner on the detail page. Our Airtable automations guide shows how to send reminders as dates approach.
- Client or vendor portal. A filtered page per partner showing only their orders or deliverables. Use interface-only access, or Portals on Business for external users at scale.
- Sales pipeline. A kanban by deal stage with value and next step on each card. See our Airtable CRM guide for the base setup behind it.
Common problems and fixes
People can’t see my interface. It’s probably unpublished, or you shared the base instead of the interface. Publish it, then use Share interface.
Someone can’t add records. They need editor permission on the interface, record creation must be turned on for that page, and table permissions in the base must allow it.
An interface-only user can’t edit a field. Check field permissions in the base. If the field is limited to Creators, interface editors can’t change it.
My bill went up after sharing an interface. On Team, interface-only commenters and editors are billable. Change people who only look to viewers.
If you need more than layouts can offer, the Interface Extensions SDK lets developers build custom React components inside interfaces. For plan costs, see our Airtable pricing guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is Interface Designer available on the free plan?
Yes. You can build and publish interfaces on Free, but only base collaborators can use them, and the timeline layout isn’t available.
Can I share an interface without sharing the base?
Yes, on Team, Business and Enterprise Scale. Invite people as interface-only collaborators using Share interface.
Are interface-only users free?
Viewers are free on every paid plan. Editors are billed. Commenters are billed on Team and free on self-serve Business.
How many interfaces can a base have?
Up to 50 interfaces per base, each with up to 50 pages.
Can people outside my company use an interface?
Yes. They need a verified Airtable account on Free and Team. Business and Enterprise Scale can add Portals for external users, and any paid plan can share individual pages publicly as read-only links.
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