I'm not a Notion booster, and I know there are many other solutions with similar tools/features.
But I'd argue that Notion databases are a very good balance of all of these things. It can be raw CRUD if you want it to be, but it's easy to create custom views that accomplish often exactly what you need.
Not exactly sure what you mean by "looks and works different every time" w.r.t. web apps.
In my experience this is a good example of where the UX details matter significantly. Yes, Airtable exists. But a Notion database row being its own first-class "Page" is a *massive* deal for me. (Again: I'm aware Notion is not the only thing)