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Nightclerk vs AirBackups
AirBackups prices each Airtable base separately and keeps thinned-out copies for as long as you subscribe. Nightclerk charges one price for up to 10 bases and tells you what changed. Both only read your base.
Last updated October 20, 2026
The short answer
Neither tool writes records back into Airtable. Pick AirBackups if you have one or two bases and want record comments copied, attachment files with no stated size limit, and quarterly copies kept for as long as you subscribe. Pick Nightclerk if you have several bases, or want a receipt saying what changed, alerts when records vanish, and search across past values. AirBackups is $15 a month per base; Nightclerk Keeper is $10 a month for 10.
Side by side
| Nightclerk | AirBackups | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (1 base), Keeper $10/mo (10 bases), Vault $15/mo (50 bases) | $15 per base per month, or $150 per base per year |
| 3 bases | $10/mo (Keeper) | $45/mo |
| 10 bases | $10/mo or $100/yr | $150/mo or $1,500/yr |
| Free option | Free plan for 1 base; 14-day trial with no card | None listed |
| How often | Weekly, daily or every 12 hours by plan, plus Back up now | Daily, plus unlimited manual runs |
| Where the copy lives | With Nightclerk; browse or download any day's copy | With AirBackups, on Google Cloud Storage, encrypted with AES-256 |
| Download format | CSV and JSON per table, plus a STRUCTURE.md of fields, options, formulas and links | XLSX or JSON; attachments as a ZIP |
| History kept | 30 days (Free), 1 year (Keeper), 3 years (Vault) | While subscribed, no age limit: thinned to one per quarter after a year |
| Attachment files | 100 MB, 5 GB or 25 GB by plan | Every backup; no limit stated |
| Record comments | Not yet | Yes |
| Put records back into Airtable | No; an import-ready CSV of the deleted rows | No; download and import by hand, with support's help |
| Airtable access | Read scopes only | OAuth, read access only |
| Emails | A receipt after each backup naming the records added, edited and deleted | Success, warning and failure alerts about the backup run |
| Alert when many records vanish | Keeper and Vault | Not stated |
| Search past values | Yes, including deleted records | Not stated |
| SOC 2 | Not yet | Not stated |
Where AirBackups is the better choice
- You want old backups kept with no end date. As long as you subscribe, AirBackups keeps the latest backup of every calendar quarter with no age limit. Our longest is 3 years, on Vault.
- You keep comments in Airtable. AirBackups includes record-level comments in its backups. We don't copy comments yet.
- You have a lot of attachment files. AirBackups includes attachments in every backup and doesn't state a size limit. Ours are capped at 5 GB on Keeper and 25 GB on Vault, and single files over 250 MB are kept as names only.
Where Nightclerk is the better choice
- You have more than one base. AirBackups is priced per base, so 3 bases are $45 a month and 10 are $150. Keeper covers 10 for $10, and Vault covers 50 for $15.
- You want to hear about your data, not just the backup job. AirBackups emails when a backup succeeds, warns or fails. Our receipt names the records added, edited and deleted, and Keeper and Vault alert when 10 or more vanish at once, while Airtable's 7-day trash can still bring them back.
- You want to look things up without downloading anything. Search past values, including deleted records, see every version of a record, and browse any day's copy of a table in the browser.
- You want to try it free. Free covers 1 base weekly, and the trial covers 10 bases for 14 days with no card. AirBackups lists no trial.
Before you cancel AirBackups
AirBackups' retention promise applies while your subscription is active, so download any old copies you want to keep before you cancel. We can't import them, so our history starts from your first backup. Both tools only read, so you can also run them side by side for a while: AirBackups for its long-kept copies and comments, Nightclerk for the receipt and alerts.
To put rows back from either tool's files, see restoring Airtable from a CSV. To see what our copy looks like first, run the free one-time export.
Questions
How much does AirBackups cost for 10 bases?
AirBackups charges $15 per base per month, or $150 per base per year, so 10 bases come to $150 a month or $1,500 a year. Nightclerk's Keeper plan is $10 a month ($100 a year) for 10 bases backed up daily.
Does AirBackups restore into Airtable?
Not automatically. AirBackups lets you download a backup as XLSX or JSON, and its FAQ says restoring into Airtable is a manual process that its support can guide you through. Nightclerk doesn't write to Airtable either; it gives you an import-ready CSV of the deleted rows.
How long does AirBackups keep backups?
While your subscription is active, AirBackups keeps every backup for 30 days, the latest of each week for 12 weeks, the latest of each month for 12 months, and the latest of each calendar quarter after that with no age limit. It says it never deletes a backup because it is old.
Does AirBackups back up comments and attachments?
Yes. AirBackups says record-level comments are backed up and attachment files are included in every backup, exported as a ZIP. Nightclerk copies attachment files but not comments yet.
Is there a cheaper alternative to AirBackups?
For one base, AirBackups is $15 a month and Nightclerk's Free plan backs up the base weekly at no cost. From two bases up, Nightclerk Keeper at $10 a month for 10 bases costs less than AirBackups' per-base price.
Sources, checked October 20, 2026: AirBackups: home and FAQ · AirBackups: pricing · AirBackups: retention · Airtable: trash. Nightclerk is not affiliated with Airtable. Compare backup options.