Can I get a signed DPA / AVV?

Yes. We sign a standard German GDPR DPA (Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag) on request - reach out from /sales. The text is the standard form most customer DPOs already know, no surprise clauses; we also accept your own paperwork if your legal team prefers their template. Reply time is within a working day. Most teams under 50 seats don't need one (the standard plan terms cover the legal posture); larger setups get a short signed addendum alongside.

How do I export my data?

Account settings → export. Returns a JSON archive containing every record you own, every file you uploaded, and the relevant audit-log entries. No support ticket, no waiting period, no fee. Same export shape works on every plan.

How do I delete my account?

Account settings → delete. Confirms once, then removes records, files, embeddings, and audit-log entries within 30 days. Stripe payment metadata stays as long as German tax law requires it (10 years), in line with §147 AO; everything else is gone.

Who are your subprocessors?

Two: Stripe (payment processing only, transferred under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) and our transactional mail relay (EU-hosted). Neither sees your records. The full list and what each one is allowed to touch lives at /privacy and /security.

Does Contact Book use Google Analytics or Meta Pixel?

No. No third-party analytics at all. Device + session metrics live in our own Postgres + Redis. The cookie banner that GA / Meta require doesn't apply because we don't load them - one fewer dialog between a visitor and the page they came for.

Contact Book

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Contact Book: the GDPR-friendly alternative to Airtable

Plain-language privacy notice, standard German GDPR DPA available on request, self-serve export + delete.

GDPR alternative

Personal CRM

Airtable

Finn GlasCo-Founder + Engineering

·March 31, 2026·

1 min read

GDPR isn't a checkbox - it's a posture. If you're moving off Airtable because their AVV / DPA is opaque, Contact Book is what a clean alternative looks like: subprocessor list of two (Stripe + mail relay), self-serve export + delete from account settings, and a standard German GDPR DPA on request when your procurement team needs one.

At a glance

Airtable is the most flexible CRM you can build - because it's not a CRM, it's a database. The flexibility is its strength and its trap. Past 500 rows the UI gets sluggish, custom views proliferate, and what was a tidy template becomes a junk drawer. Contact Book is purpose-built and stays fast at scale; the trade-off is you can't add a totally custom field type whenever you want. If you're currently in a spreadsheet and weighing the move, see our guide to migrating from a spreadsheet to a personal CRM.

GDPR posture

GDPR is a posture, not a checkbox

Three things matter under GDPR for a tool like this: (1) lawful basis for processing, (2) data subject rights (export, delete, port), and (3) the auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag / DPA chain. Contact Book treats them as engineering invariants, not legal optics. Lawful basis is the contract you sign with us. Subject rights are self-serve from your account settings - no support ticket required. The subprocessor list has two entries (Stripe + mail relay). A standard German GDPR DPA is available on request from /sales whenever your procurement team needs one - we don't charge for it and don't gate it behind a plan tier. Where Airtable sits on each of these is the rest of this page.

Contact Book vs Airtable: GDPR comparison

	Ours Contact Book	Theirs Airtable
Custom fields	Constrained
Speed past 500 rows
Live multi-tab
Mobile UX (contact-shaped)
Cadence reminders		DIY
Hosted in Germany
Free tier

When to pick which

Pick Contact Book when

You've already built an Airtable contact base and watched it slow down.

Reminders that *fire on time* matter more than infinite custom fields.

Pick Airtable when

You enjoy building your own database and the building is part of the value.

Total field freedom is non-negotiable for your use case.

GDPR questions

What customer data-protection teams typically ask before signing a DPA.

Start with Contact Book

Free plan, no credit card. We host in Germany. Export + delete are self-serve.

Written by

Finn Glas

Co-Founder + Engineering

Finn is one of the Co-Founders. He owns the engineering side, the infrastructure, and most of the late-night fixes that ship before anyone notices.

finn.glas at aicuflow dot comLinkedIn Website