How to Back Up Airtable Bases Automatically

Airtable bases tend to become the system of record without anyone deciding they should. Then one day someone bulk-deletes a few hundred rows, an automation writes the wrong value into every record, or a workspace gets locked over a billing problem. That’s when you find out what your backup plan actually covers.

Airtable has some safety nets built in: snapshots, trash, revision history and CSV downloads. They’re useful. But all of them live inside Airtable, they have plan-based time limits, and none of them puts an automatic copy of your data and attachments somewhere you control.

Quick answer: For most teams, the simplest setup is native snapshots for “undo the whole base” situations, plus a third-party tool that runs daily off-site backups and can restore single records or tables. ProBackup does this for Airtable, including attachments and comments, and starts at $25/month billed annually. If you mainly want CSV files and attachments sent to your own Google Drive, Dropbox, Box or OneDrive, On2Air Backups is the closest alternative. If you’re comfortable with code, a scheduled script against the Airtable API is the free option.

What Airtable gives you natively

Airtable has four built-in recovery features. Here’s what each does, quoted from Airtable’s support docs.

Base snapshots

Airtable takes snapshots of a base automatically, and you can take manual ones too. How often depends on how much the base is used:

“If you use your base a lot, you’ll likely get at least one snapshot per day. If you use it less often, snapshots will happen less frequently.”

— Taking and restoring snapshots in Airtable

Restoring a snapshot doesn’t roll your base back. It creates a separate copy:

“No, snapshots create a new base. The existing base cannot be overwritten to be returned to a previous state.”

— Taking and restoring snapshots in Airtable

Snapshot retention depends on your plan: 2 weeks on Free, 1 year on Team, 2 years on self-serve Business and 3 years on Enterprise Scale, per the same article.

Trash

Deleted tables, fields, views and records go to a base-level trash. Deleted bases and workspaces go to a workspace-level trash. Per Airtable’s trash documentation, base trash covers items “deleted in a base in the past 7 days,” and workspace trash covers “bases or workspaces that have been deleted in the past 30 days.” Enterprise Scale admins can extend workspace trash retention.

Record-level revision history

Every record keeps a change log, again with plan-based limits (2 weeks on Free up to 3 years on Enterprise Scale). It’s helpful for seeing who changed a value, but it works one record at a time:

“No, revision history (and comment history) can be viewed only for a single record at a time.”

— Record-level revision history in Airtable

CSV download

You can download a grid view as a CSV file. That gives you a copy outside Airtable, but only one view at a time:

“No, exporting a full base as a single file is not supported. Each table in a base will need to be downloaded as its own CSV.”

— Getting started with Airtable views

Attachments don’t come along as files. The same page says attachment fields appear “as a filename and URL,” and those URLs don’t last:

“As of November 8th, 2022, attachment URLs obtained via the CSV export functionality will expire after a few hours”

— Getting started with Airtable views

Airtable’s attachment URL documentation adds: “We recommend downloading any attachments from the links in the exported CSV file before those links expire.”

What’s missing from the native options

• Nothing leaves Airtable automatically. Snapshots, trash and revision history all live in your account. Lose access to the account, and you lose them too.
• Retention is tied to your plan. On Free, snapshots and revision history only go back two weeks.
• Restores are all or nothing. A snapshot restore gives you a whole new base to reconcile with the live one. You can’t restore just the 40 records an automation broke.
• CSV export is manual and flat. One view at a time, linked records as text, attachments as expiring links.
• No scheduled export of a full base to storage you control.

Airtable backup tools compared

Prices and plan limits checked against each vendor's pricing page in October 2026. Plans change, so confirm on the linked pages before you buy.

All prices and limits come from each vendor’s pricing page. Check the linked pages before you buy.

ProBackup

What it is

ProBackup is a SaaS backup service that covers Airtable along with 20+ other apps, including Notion, Trello, monday.com and GitHub. One license covers every app you connect, and pricing scales with storage instead of seats.

How it works

You connect Airtable through OAuth and pick the workspaces or bases to include. ProBackup then takes a daily snapshot automatically, with no schedule to set up. Its Airtable page says the backup includes “Tables, records, comments, files and fields (including formulas).” The same page is clear about what it doesn’t cover: “Due to API limitations we cannot back up automations, forms and views.”

Backups are encrypted (AES-256 at rest, per the vendor) and stored on AWS. On the Pro and Premium plans, ProBackup can also sync your backups to Google Drive once a day as Google Sheets, with attachments as an opt-in. That gives you a second copy you fully control.

Restore

According to ProBackup’s Airtable restore guide:

• Records can be restored as copies in the original table, or written back over existing records with the fields you choose.
• Tables are restored as a duplicate table in the existing base, with a timestamp in the name.
• Fields, comments and files can be restored individually.

Some field types can’t be written back because of Airtable API limits. These include formula, rollup, lookup, count, auto number, created/modified time and AI fields. The guide also says that if the original base has been deleted, you should create a new base named “ProBackupRestore” and run the restore again.

Strengths

• Granular restore back into Airtable, not just a file dump.
• Fully automatic daily backups with no scheduling to maintain.
• One subscription covers other tools your team uses, if you also need Notion or Trello backups.
• Google Drive sync on Pro and up for an independent copy.

Limits

• Automations, forms and views aren’t backed up. Keep documentation of your automations separately.
• Computed fields (formulas, rollups, lookups) are backed up but not restored as working fields. You rebuild them.
• Backups run daily, not hourly.
• The Plus plan keeps 6 months of history. Two years or more requires Pro ($38/mo annual) or Premium ($69/mo annual).

Who it’s for

Teams running real operations on Airtable who want to undo specific mistakes quickly, especially if they also need backups for other SaaS tools.

On2Air Backups

What it is

On2Air Backups is a backup app built specifically for Airtable. It exports your data and attachments to cloud storage you already use.

How it works

You create a backup project, choose bases, tables and fields, and set a schedule. Per its pricing page, monthly schedules start on Starter, weekly on Essentials, daily on Professional ($49.99/mo) and hourly on Premium ($79.99/mo). Data is saved as CSV files, with attachments kept in their original format, in Google Drive, Dropbox, Box or OneDrive.

On2Air can also restore. According to its restore documentation, data goes into new tables in the same base or into a new base, never over existing records. Attachments come back as links to the files in your storage, not as Airtable attachments, and some field types need to be converted back by hand.

Strengths

• Backups land in storage you own.
• Hourly schedules on the top plan.
• Low entry price if monthly backups are enough.

Limits

• Daily backups start at the Professional tier.
• Each plan has a monthly restore quota (1 to 10 bases per month, depending on plan).
• Restored attachments are links, not re-uploaded files.

Who it’s for

Airtable-only teams that want CSV and file copies in their own Drive or Dropbox and rarely expect to restore.

Make or Zapier (no-code DIY)

Make has an Airtable “Search Records” module that can return all records from a table, which you can schedule and send to a sheet or file. Make’s free plan includes up to 1,000 credits a month with a 15-minute minimum interval, per its pricing page. Zapier can build similar flows; see the Zapier pricing page for current limits.

This works for small tables. With many tables and attachments it gets awkward: every file must be copied before its URL expires, each step uses credits, and there’s no restore.

How to choose

• You want to undo mistakes inside Airtable quickly: ProBackup. Record- and table-level restore is the main difference.
• You want files in your own Drive or Dropbox and rarely expect to restore: On2Air Backups.
• You need backups more than once a day: On2Air Premium (hourly), or a DIY script.
• You’re on Airtable’s Free plan: Native snapshots only go back two weeks, so an external backup matters more for you, not less.
• You have a developer and want $0 software cost: An API script (see below).
• You need backups for several SaaS tools: ProBackup covers several platforms under one license.

Whichever you pick, keep native snapshots too. They cover automations and interfaces, which third-party tools can’t.

How to set up automatic Airtable backups with ProBackup

These steps follow ProBackup’s own setup docs. The interface may have changed since.

1. Start the trial. Go to ProBackup, start the 7-day free trial (no credit card required), and select Airtable as the app to back up.
2. Create your account. Enter your email and name, then verify your email address.
3. Connect Airtable. Click “Sign in with Airtable.” You’ll be sent to Airtable’s authorization screen.
4. Choose the scope. On Airtable’s screen, either add all workspaces or add specific bases, then click “Grant Access.” Include every base you can’t afford to lose, not just the main one.
5. Start the first backup. Back in ProBackup, click “Start Backup.” Later backups run automatically once a day.
6. Add bases later as needed. New bases aren’t covered unless they’re in scope. In Airtable, go to your avatar, then Integrations, then Third-party integrations, then ProBackup, then “Add a base” (guide).
7. Optional: add a second copy. On Pro or Premium, turn on Google Drive sync so a daily copy also lands in your own Drive.
8. Test a restore. Before you need it, restore a single record and a small table from the backup. Check the result, especially attachments and linked records.

If your organization doesn’t allow OAuth apps, ProBackup also supports connecting with a personal access token, which its support team configures for you.

The free DIY option: an Airtable API script

If you can write a bit of code, the Airtable Web API gives you what you need for a free scheduled backup:

• The base schema endpoint “Returns the schema of the tables in the specified base,” so you can save field types and table structure along with the data.
• The list-records endpoint returns every record, page by page, as JSON. Linked records come back as record IDs, so you keep the structure that CSV export loses.
• Attachment fields include download URLs. Download the files right away, because the URLs expire.

Run the script daily from cron, GitHub Actions or a small server, and write the output to cloud storage. Use a personal access token with read-only scopes. Stay under the rate limits of “5 requests per second per base.”

The tradeoff: you own failures, monitoring, retention and, above all, restore. Practice rebuilding a table from your JSON before you rely on it.

FAQ

Does Airtable back up my data automatically?

Yes, inside Airtable. It takes automatic snapshots based on usage and keeps them 2 weeks (Free) to 3 years (Enterprise Scale). They aren’t exported anywhere you control, and restoring one creates a new base.

Can I export an entire Airtable base at once?

Not natively. Airtable says each table must be downloaded as its own CSV from a view. Backup tools and API scripts pull every table automatically.

Are attachments included when I download a CSV from Airtable?

No. Attachment fields appear in the CSV as a filename and URL, and Airtable says those URLs expire after a few hours. To keep the actual files, download them before the links expire or use a backup tool that saves files, such as ProBackup or On2Air Backups.

Can I restore just a few records instead of the whole base?

Not with native snapshots, which always restore a whole new base. Trash can bring back records deleted in the past 7 days, but it can’t undo edits. ProBackup can restore individual records, either as copies or by overwriting selected fields on the existing records.

Do backup tools back up Airtable automations and interfaces?

Generally no. ProBackup says that due to API limitations it can’t back up automations, forms and views. Airtable’s native snapshots do include automations and interfaces, which is a good reason to keep using them alongside an external backup.

How often should I back up Airtable?

Daily is a reasonable default. If automations write to the base constantly, consider an hourly option such as On2Air Premium or your own script. Either way, test a restore at least once a quarter.

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Need documents generated from your Airtable records? See generating documents from Airtable.