If you arrived here searching for "Base vs Knack," you have run into one of the more common naming mix-ups in the no-code world. There is no standalone database product called "Base" competing with Knack. A base is simply what Airtable calls each individual database you build on its platform. The comparison people actually mean — and the one worth making — is Airtable vs Knack: two established no-code database platforms that take very different approaches to custom app development and regulated data.
Both let non-developers structure data into linked tables and build working software on top without writing code. Where they split is in who the finished product serves, how pricing scales, and how each vendor handles sensitive information such as protected health information (PHI). Everything below comes from the vendors' own published pricing and compliance documentation, checked in July 2026.
Airtable vs Knack at a glance
Airtable is a collaborative cloud database with a spreadsheet-familiar grid, an interface designer for building internal tools, and automation features. It charges per seat: according to Airtable's pricing page, there is a Free plan for individuals, a Team plan at $20 per user per month billed annually, a Business plan at $45 per user per month billed annually, and a custom-priced Enterprise Scale tier that requires a sales conversation.
Knack flips that model. It is built for shipping user-facing web apps — portals, directories, booking systems — on top of its own database, and it prices by app capacity rather than headcount. Per Knack's pricing page, the Starter plan runs $59 per month with 20,000 records and 2 GB of storage, Pro is $130 per month with 50,000 records, Corporate is $300 per month with 125,000 records (scaling to 2.5 million), and a custom Enterprise tier goes beyond that. Every Knack plan includes unlimited users, which matters enormously when your app faces customers, patients, or the public.
Is Airtable or Knack better for HIPAA compliance?
Both platforms can legitimately support HIPAA workloads, but the entry points differ sharply — in price transparency, in packaging, and in how much of the compliance stack is bundled in.
Airtable: HIPAA on Enterprise Scale only
Airtable states plainly that HIPAA is available on its Enterprise Scale plan, and covered entities must sign Airtable's Business Associate Addendum. The same page lists the security capabilities that back this up: Enterprise Key Management (encrypting your organization's applications with keys you own), data loss prevention APIs for plugging in DLP providers, enterprise single sign-on, and enterprise audit logs. Airtable says its product adheres to the HIPAA Privacy Rule, Security Rule, and Breach Notification Rule.
Signing the BAA is not the finish line, though. Airtable's HIPAA support documentation assigns ongoing duties to the customer: regularly reviewing user access in the admin panel, downloading and monitoring usage reports, deliberately allowing or disabling third-party integrations after a compliance assessment, and enabling SSO. Because Enterprise Scale has no published price, budgeting requires talking to sales.
Knack: published HIPAA pricing through Knack Health
Knack's standard Enterprise tier has long listed HIPAA and GovCloud hosting options, but in March 2026 the company went further and launched Knack Health, a dedicated HIPAA-compliant edition of the platform, announced on March 3, 2026 via PR Newswire. CEO Derek Hutson framed it as removing the tradeoff between team-controlled workflows and enterprise-grade security.
The pricing is unusually transparent for this category. Per the Knack Health pricing page, the HIPAA Core plan starts at $625 per month and includes HIPAA-ready hosting with a signed BAA, encryption in transit and at rest, record change logs, role-based access control, two-factor authentication, advanced SSO, and access to Knack's SOC 2 Type II report under NDA. Capacity covers 125,000 records, 50 GB of storage, 10,000 daily API calls, and unlimited users and builders. A custom-priced HIPAA Enterprise tier adds dedicated or isolated infrastructure, IP blocking, priority support with SLAs, and security documentation for vendor reviews.
How much do Airtable and Knack cost in 2026?
| Factor | Airtable | Knack |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid plan | Team, $20/user/month (annual billing) | Starter, $59/month flat |
| Mid tier | Business, $45/user/month (annual billing) | Pro $130/month; Corporate $300/month |
| User model | Priced per seat | Unlimited users on every plan |
| HIPAA option | Enterprise Scale only, custom pricing | Knack Health HIPAA Core from $625/month |
| BAA | Business Associate Addendum on Enterprise Scale | Signed BAA included on every HIPAA plan |
| Compliance controls | Enterprise Key Management, DLP APIs, SSO, audit logs | Encryption, record change logs, RBAC, 2FA, SSO, SOC 2 Type II report under NDA |
The structural difference is the story here. Airtable's per-seat pricing is cheap for a five-person team and expensive for a five-hundred-user portal. Knack's flat pricing is heavier at the entry level but does not grow with your user count — and its HIPAA tier is a number you can put in a budget today rather than a quote you have to request.
Custom app development: who builds what?
Knack's whole design assumes the app is the product. You define a database, then build pages with forms, searches, logins, and user roles that outsiders can use. Pro and higher plans add custom branding, e-commerce payments, scheduled tasks, and custom domains; Corporate adds app restores and audit logs. For a patient intake portal, a member directory, or a permit-tracking system exposed to the public, this is the shorter path.
Airtable is strongest as an internal operations hub. Its grid is friendlier for teams migrating from spreadsheets, its interface designer produces polished internal dashboards, and its automation and integration options are broad. But the per-seat model means every collaborator costs money, which makes genuinely external-facing apps awkward — and on HIPAA workloads, Airtable's own guidance puts the burden on admins to gate third-party integrations carefully.
The bottom line
Choose Airtable if your custom app is really an internal workflow tool, your team already lives in collaborative databases, and you have the organizational weight to negotiate an Enterprise Scale contract — its key management and DLP integrations are the deeper enterprise security stack.
Choose Knack if you are building apps for people outside your org chart, you want unlimited users without per-seat math, or you need HIPAA compliance at a published price without an enterprise sales cycle. At $625 per month, Knack Health's HIPAA Core plan is one of the few compliance-ready no-code offerings you can actually price from a public web page.
Whichever you pick, remember that a signed BAA does not make you compliant by itself. Access reviews, integration controls, and incident response processes stay on your side of the shared-responsibility line on both platforms.