Airtable Export Limits: Rows, API, Attachments

Updated 24 October 2026

Airtable lets you get data out in several ways, and each one has its own ceiling. Some limits are documented numbers, such as 100 records per API page. Others are behaviors, such as a CSV that follows the view's filters and leaves attachments as links. This page collects the ones that cause real surprises, says where Airtable documents each, and gives a workaround for each. It was checked against Airtable's help and API documentation in October 2026; Airtable can change these, so confirm anything that matters to you.

The limits at a glance

Route	Limit or behavior	Workaround
Download CSV (grid view)	Only the view's records and visible fields; web and desktop only; one table at a time	Unfiltered view with all fields, or the base-to-CSV tool
Interface export	Only if the builder enabled it for the page	Export from a grid view instead
Web API	100 records per page; 5 requests per second per base	Follow the offset, back off on 429
Records per base	1,000 Free, 50,000 Team, 125,000 Business, 500,000+ Enterprise Scale	Archive or split across bases
Attachments	CSV holds name and URL; API URLs expire after 2 hours	Download the files, not the links
Automation email	A list or grid shows at most 100 records; no file is built	Batch, link to a view, or use a scheduler

Download CSV from a grid view

Click the arrow next to a view's name and choose Download CSV. Airtable documents these boundaries:

View level, not base level. The option sits on the view, so a filter in that view leaves records out. To get a whole table, use a view with no filters and all fields visible.
One table at a time. Exporting an entire base as a single file isn't supported. You repeat it for each table.
Web and desktop apps only. It is not available in the iOS or Android app.
Visible values only. Record comments, field descriptions, base guide content and data held only in extensions are not included.
Admins and share links can switch it off. Enterprise admins can restrict downloads, and the owner of a shared view can turn off copying data out of it.
Large views load in a preview. A view with more than 5,000 visible records first loads 1,000 records. Airtable doesn't say how Download CSV behaves during the preview, so click Load all records first and compare the row count in the file.

When the option is missing altogether, see Airtable Download CSV missing or not working. For every table at once, the free base to CSV tool runs in your browser and returns one CSV per table in a ZIP, and the Excel export and JSON export cover those formats.

Interface pages

Interface pages don't use the view menu. A builder has to switch on Allow users to export data as CSV for the page; users then open the ... menu and choose Download data. Interface search results in layout interfaces are capped at 200 records, which is a limit on browsing, not on the export setting. Details and fixes are in how to download a CSV from an Airtable Interface.

Web API paging and rate limits

Scripts and no-code tools read Airtable through the Web API, and three rules shape every integration:

100 records per page. The list records endpoint returns up to 100 records per request (pageSize defaults to 100 and can't exceed it). If more exist, the response has an offset; send it back as a query parameter to get the next page, and stop when no offset is returned. maxRecords caps the total.
5 requests per second per base, on every plan, plus 50 per second for all traffic using tokens of one user or service account. Beyond that you receive a 429 and Airtable says to wait 30 seconds. Back off and retry instead of hammering.
Monthly API calls. Free workspaces have 1,000 calls a month and Team 100,000; Business and Enterprise are unlimited, still subject to the per-second limits.

Passing view=viewId returns only that view's records, in its sort order. A table with 10,000 records takes 100 requests, so about 20 seconds at the maximum rate, before any other traffic on the base. The script guide shows the full loop. A scheduler does this for you: ViewCourier pages through the API and emails the CSV, Excel or PDF file.

Records per base and per plan

Airtable's workspace settings help gives these limits, which apply to the total across all tables in a base:

Plan	Records per base	Attachment storage per base	API calls per workspace per month
Free	1,000	1 GB	1,000
Team	50,000	20 GB	100,000
Business	125,000	100 GB	Unlimited
Enterprise Scale	500,000+	1,000 GB	Unlimited

Two tables of 25,000 records each count as 50,000. To see where a base stands, the free record counter lists records per table against these limits. Exports are bounded by what the base can hold, and your export tool has its own row limit on top. ViewCourier allows 1,000 rows per export on Free, 5,000 on Starter and the trial, and 50,000 on Pro; a PDF report holds at most 5,000 rows whatever the plan. If a view is larger than your limit, filter it by date or status and send two exports.

Attachments

A CSV exports an attachment field as file name plus URL, and the files themselves are not in the CSV. Airtable's API documentation states that attachment URLs expire 2 hours after being returned, and Airtable's help says download URLs stay active for at least 2 hours. A link in a file you saved yesterday may not open today.

To keep the files, download them. The free attachment downloader saves every file from a table or view into a ZIP, one folder per record.
For stable links in a report, use an external host or an integration that copies the file, as Airtable recommends.
If a scheduled CSV carries old links, this guide explains why and what to do.

ViewCourier is no exception: attachments in its CSV, Excel and PDF files appear as names and links, not embedded files.

Automation emails

The Send email action can insert a list or grid of records into the body, but Airtable limits that to 100 records. When a Find records step returns more, the extra records are dropped, and Airtable suggests batching in groups of 100 or linking to a shared view. The action can attach files that already sit in an attachment field, but it can't build a CSV from records. How to email more than 100 records from Airtable goes through the options, and a scheduled export tool is the alternative that sends a real file.

What ViewCourier does and doesn't do about these

It reads one view through a read-only token, pages through the API for you, and emails the file on a schedule. It does not export a whole base in one run, and it does not export interfaces.
Row limits per export: 1,000 (Free), 5,000 (Starter and trial), 50,000 (Pro).
It cannot change what Airtable stores: attachments stay as links, and the file is limited by your plan's row count.

FAQ

How many records can I download from Airtable in one CSV?

Airtable's help does not publish a separate row cap for Download CSV. What limits you is the view: only the records matching its filters and the visible fields are exported, and a view with more than 5,000 visible records first loads a 1,000-record preview. Load all records, download, then compare the row count in the file with the count Airtable shows.

What are the Airtable record limits per plan?

Per base, cumulative across tables: 1,000 on Free, 50,000 on Team, 125,000 on Business and 500,000 or more on Enterprise Scale, according to Airtable's workspace settings help. Attachment storage is 1 GB, 20 GB, 100 GB and 1,000 GB per base respectively.

Why does the Airtable API only return 100 records?

The list records endpoint returns pages of up to 100 records (pageSize defaults to 100 and cannot go higher). When more records exist, the response includes an offset that you pass to the next request. Keep going until the offset is missing.

How fast can I call the Airtable API?

Airtable documents 5 requests per second per base, plus 50 per second across all traffic of a user's or service account's tokens. Go over and you get a 429 and must wait 30 seconds. Free workspaces also have 1,000 API calls a month and Team 100,000.

Do exported attachments keep working?

In a CSV, an attachment field is exported as a file name and a URL, and the URL is not permanent. URLs returned by the API expire 2 hours after being returned, so download the files soon after exporting or use the free attachment downloader, which saves them into a ZIP.

Get a view as a file without the limits dance

ViewCourier reads a view through a read-only Airtable token, pages through the API for you, and emails the result as CSV, Excel or PDF on a schedule. Free plan for one weekly or monthly export of up to 1,000 rows; Starter and Pro raise the row limits and add daily schedules; the 14-day trial needs no credit card.

Start free trial