# Airtable Was Acquired by Bending Spoons: What to Do First

Bending Spoons agreed in early August 2026 to buy Airtable, and announced the completed purchase on 4 September. In mid-October it said it was parting ways with a large portion of Airtable's pre-acquisition team. If your company runs on Airtable, you have probably heard some version of "prices are going up" or "everyone is leaving". The layoffs are confirmed; a price rise is not. This is a calm, practical plan for the first step, which is not leaving. It is making sure that whatever happens next, your data is safe, portable, and yours.

## Key takeaways
- Bending Spoons has cut a large portion of Airtable's pre-acquisition team. Airtable says customers' plans, prices, and service offerings will not change, and no price change has been announced. Planning is reasonable; panic is not.
- Bending Spoons has been reported to cut staff and raise prices at some companies it has bought, so a prudent team prepares before it needs to.
- Phase 0 is insurance, not an exit: audit what you depend on, test your export, and get a copy of your data you control.
- A CSV export loses linked records, formulas, rollups, and lasting attachment links. Test it now, while nothing is on fire.
- Decide your trigger for moving in advance, so a future price email is a checklist item and not a crisis.

## What actually happened
Bending Spoons, which listed on Nasdaq in July 2026, agreed to acquire Airtable for about $1.285 billion in enterprise value, roughly $2.25 billion once Airtable's cash is counted ([TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/04/bending-spoons-to-buy-airtable-for-1-28b/)). It bought 100% of the company in cash, and announced the completed purchase on 4 September ([Bending Spoons release](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/bending-spoons-completes-acquisition-airtable-123000421.html)). Bending Spoons has said it plans to invest in the product, customer support, and go-to-market. In mid-October, Bending Spoons [announced on X](https://x.com/fedesimio/status/2109713695165329511) that it was laying off a large part of the Airtable team, and Airtable told staff it was parting ways with a large portion of the pre-acquisition team, with substantial separation packages. Airtable had roughly 800 employees before the deal ([Hoodline](https://hoodline.com/2026/10/airtable-guts-pre-acquisition-staff-weeks-after-1-3b-san-francisco-sale/)), and neither company has said how many people are going. Airtable has said, in its ["Back to bases" update](https://www.airtable.com/newsroom/back-to-bases), that customers' plans, prices, and service offerings will not change. As of this writing, Airtable's published pricing, plan limits, and product availability have not changed because of the deal.

## Why people are nervous anyway
The worry started with precedent, and the first part of it has now shown up at Airtable. Bending Spoons also owns Evernote, WeTransfer, and Vimeo. Press coverage reports staff cuts at [WeTransfer](https://techcrunch.com/2024/09/08/bending-spoons-plans-to-lay-off-75-of-wetransfer-staff-after-acquisition) and [Vimeo](https://engadget.com/big-tech/vimeo-lays-off-most-of-its-staff-just-months-after-being-bought-by-private-equity-firm-184556023.html), and price rises at [WeTransfer and Evernote](https://ftm.eu/articles/wetransfer-owner-buys-up-apps-then-makes-them-more-expensive). Bending Spoons says the user bases of its companies are stable or growing, and it does not publish per-company figures, so outsiders cannot verify either story. For many teams an Airtable base is the system of record, so a price or packaging change, if one ever came, would be harder to absorb than for a simple app.

## Phase 0: protect your data before anything changes
1. **Take an inventory.** List every base that matters, how many tables and records it holds, who owns it, and what outside Airtable depends on it.
2. **Map your dependencies.** Write down the automations, scripts, interfaces, and integrations attached to each base.
3. **Test your export path.** In a CSV, linked records arrive as plain text, formulas, rollups, and lookups arrive as values with the logic gone, and attachment links are temporary.
4. **Measure how complex your base is.** Use the free complexity check at https://www.atmigrator.com/#complexity-check.
5. **Get a copy of your data you control.** A faithful PostgreSQL copy, with linked records as foreign keys and formulas rebuilt as SQL, is the strongest insurance. Try it on a slice of one base with the free trial.
6. **Set your trigger in advance.** Agree what would make you move: a price increase above a number you choose, a removed plan feature, an API change, or degraded support.

## What would change the picture
Watch for a change to published pricing or plan limits, a change to API access or rate limits, slower or thinner support, and any announcement that retires a feature you depend on. With much of the team gone, support and the pace of fixes are the ones to watch first. No pricing, plan-limit, or API change has been announced.

## If it starts affecting your business
Match the response to the signal, and start with the cheapest fix. Moving is the last step, not the first.

**If pricing or plan limits change.** Start with your number: seats × price per seat × 12. Check whether everyone with an editor seat actually edits, and whether your plan is the plan you need. Ask your Airtable contact when your plan renews and whether the price can be held for the term. Only if the new number crosses the line you set in advance does moving become worth the work.

**If API access or rate limits change.** List every integration that calls the API and check logs and failed runs first. Caching and queuing can buy time. If an application depends on the API, a copy of your data outside Airtable pays off most here.

**If support slows or fixes stall.** Keep a record of tickets and response times, and write a short runbook for each important base: who owns it, what is attached to it, how to restore it.

**If a feature you rely on is retired.** Find out exactly what depends on it, then look for a workaround inside Airtable before looking outside it.

## Your options if you decide to move
1. **Stay and adjust.** Trim seats, right-size the plan, renegotiate. Best when the problem is cost, not capability. Trade-off: you stay dependent on one vendor.
2. **Another Airtable-style app.** Tools such as Baserow, NocoDB, and Teable give you a familiar grid. Trade-off: coverage varies, so check how each handles linked records, formulas, rollups, and attachments.
3. **A database you own, plus an interface.** PostgreSQL with an admin tool or app builder on top. Best when Airtable is the backend of an application, you need reporting, or you want ownership. Trade-off: more setup and someone to look after it.
4. **A hybrid.** Keep editing in Airtable and keep a PostgreSQL copy for reporting, applications, and insurance. Trade-off: two systems to keep in step.

### Questions to ask any alternative
What happens to linked records, formulas, rollups and lookups, and attachments? What happens to views, permissions, and automations? Can you get your data out again, in a format you can use? What does it cost and who hosts it at your size? How long would a move take for a base as complex as yours?

## FAQ
**Has Airtable raised prices since the acquisition?** Not as of this writing. Airtable's published pricing and plan limits have not changed because of the deal.

**Did Bending Spoons lay off Airtable staff?** Yes. In mid-October 2026 it announced cuts to a large portion of Airtable's pre-acquisition team. Airtable had roughly 800 employees before the deal and the number cut has not been disclosed. Airtable says customers' plans, prices, and service offerings will not change.

**Should I leave Airtable now?** Not necessarily. Prepare first: inventory your bases, test your export, and set a trigger for moving.

**What are my options if Airtable gets more expensive or less reliable for us?** Four paths: stay and adjust your plan, move to another Airtable-style app, move to a database you own with an interface on top, or keep Airtable for editing and hold a PostgreSQL copy alongside it. Check how any alternative handles linked records, formulas, rollups, and attachments.

**Can I just export a CSV as a backup?** A CSV is a snapshot of values. It drops linked-record relationships, formula logic, and lasting attachment links.

**Do I have to stop using Airtable to get a PostgreSQL copy?** No. You can keep working in Airtable and hold the PostgreSQL copy as your safety net.

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*Worried about the acquisition? Book a free discovery call with AT Migrator: https://www.atmigrator.com/airtable-acquisition*