Cénacle or Airtable and Notion
Build a tailor-made tool or adopt one already designed for a club: two approaches, each with its advantages.
In short
Airtable and Notion are flexible databases and documents: you build exactly the tool you have in mind, then maintain it. Cénacle is already built for a club, with registrations, payments, memberships and CRM connected to one another. If you enjoy designing your own tools and have time to maintain them, the first approach remains a valid one.
| Criterion | Cénacle | Airtable and Notion |
|---|---|---|
| Approach | Ready to use for a club; you configure it, you do not build it. | To be built and maintained yourself, with a great deal of freedom. |
| Event registrations | A public registration page for each event, linked to the attendee list. | Forms to create and connect to your tables. |
| Payments | Payment through Stripe at registration, with the status updated automatically. | To be wired up through third-party integrations or automations. |
| Membership tracking | Plans, dates and remaining dinners handled, including the one-dinner-a-month rule. | Fields and formulas to design, rules you enforce yourself. |
| Seating plan | Assisted guest seating, exportable to Excel. | A view you design yourself, with seating still done by hand. |
| Member area | A private portal where each member sees their events, the directory and their profile. | Shared pages to organise, with the tool's own sharing settings. |
| Personal data | Data separated by club at the database level, permissions by role. | Depends on how you have organised sharing. |
Stay with Airtable or Notion if…
- Your organisation is highly specific and does not look like a club of dinners and memberships.
- You enjoy designing your own tools and have the time to keep them evolving.
- Your main need is documentation: minutes, a wiki, shared notes.
Move to Cénacle if…
- Your home-made database depends on a single person who knows how everything works.
- You glue payments, registrations and memberships together with fragile automations.
- You would rather spend your time on members than on the tool.
Moving from Airtable or Notion to Cénacle
- 01
Export your tables as CSV
Import your members (profile, company, social links, photo) and your prospects into the CRM.
- 02
Recreate your events
Create your upcoming events; each one gets its own registration page.
- 03
Invite your team
Add your colleagues and choose which pages each of them can access.
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep Notion for documentation?
Yes. Nothing stops you from keeping internal documents in Notion and running the club in Cénacle.
Can I get my data back out of Cénacle?
Yes, through CSV, XLSX or PDF exports, and through the read-only API on the Scale plan.
Are profile photos carried over on import?
Yes, if your file contains the photo's address in an avatar_url column.
Other comparisons
Your circle deserves better than a spreadsheet
Applications, dinners, payments and memberships in one place. Start with a free trial, or see the platform on your own club with the team.