Comparison spreadsheet programs

To date, Excel boasts a maximum cell count of a whopping 17,,, and offers more functions and features than any other spreadsheet software available on the market. While the Excel interface is simple enough for even elementary school students to use, the program has also pioneered cutting-edge filters to sift through massive data sets.

Add in the customizability of a Quick Access toolbar to pin your most-used functions and the availability to collaborate with other users seamlessly, and you can see why Excel is still so popular. A key factor that makes Numbers one of the best spreadsheet software options is its clean, modern interface. Unlike Excel, Numbers loads as an infinite blank canvas that allows you to place tables wherever you want, including side by side. Numbers comes equipped with templates to help you quickly execute common tasks.

What it lacks in features, such as data analysis and the ability to manage large data sets, it makes up in ease of use and how it syncs across devices.

Google Sheets is a free alternative to both Excel and Numbers. Sheets requires only a Google account to begin work which you already have if you use Gmail. Sheets offers real-time collaboration, commenting, and version history to accurately track all progress between contributors. It can also populate a spreadsheet with data pulled from Google Forms. If you use Jotform, you can use the Google Sheets integration for the same functionality.

In addition to its collaborative features, Google Sheets also comes equipped with a slew of traditional mathematical and logical functions. Quip is a unique productivity tool that combines spreadsheets, documents, and team chat all into one app. Founded in and later acquired by Salesforce in , the tool features the flexibility and customization most have come to love from Salesforce. For instance, you can toggle between document and spreadsheet layout as you work. Quip also boasts more than built-in functions and offers keyboard shortcuts for most menu items, such as Shift-Space to select a row and Ctrl-Space to select a column.

Plus, just like Excel, creating a graph or chart is as easy as selecting a data range and clicking a button in this case, Insert and Chart. Similar to Google Sheets, EtherCalc is free, web-based software.

Simply visit the EtherCalc website and click Create Spreadsheet in the top left corner. The site creates a new, unique URL for each sheet, which you can then copy, paste, and share. The one downside with this software is that it was created in The UI is a bit dated and lacks some features. Similar to Google Sheets, Zoho Sheets is another cloud-based spreadsheet software program. But Zoho far surpasses Google Sheets in terms of features, packing in over available functions to date. Some additional features include pivot tables, conditional formatting, and data validation.

You can even incorporate data from external sources with a click of a button. Zoho Sheets also supports 23 different languages. Zoho offers a limited free plan for teams of up to 25 users with 5 GB of storage per user. The UI is dated and cumbersome in places, but LibreOffice has about features, including the DataPilot tool, which allows you to aggregate raw data and repurpose it in your spreadsheets.

Initially released in , OpenOffice Calc was designed to become an open-source alternative to Microsoft Excel. It was donated to Apache in , and the company has recently made an effort to modernize their software. Some key features include the Scenario Manager and natural language formulas. This free software is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. Sign up for a free Jotform account to create powerful online forms in minutes — with no coding required.

Using one tool, you can customize an existing project management template to create time lines and Gantt Charts. Boasting seamless integration with other productivity-boosting apps like Google Suite, Dropbox, Slack, and OneDrive, as well as collaboration with external users like clients or investors, Smartsheet is a solid spreadsheet alternative.

Best Use Case: Home users and students will find the most value out of Numbers, and the ability to produce simple budgets, schedules, and friendly graphical reports with little effort or expertise. The simplicity of its drag-and-drop interface makes it a good place to import the end result of data from more robust spreadsheets for example, a PivotTable then add design elements like hero images and 3D charts to display the data to business users during a presentation.

About the Company: Lumiant specializes in lightweight apps specifically for iOS, and prioritizes touchscreen usability and pure utility. Their apps range from pedometers to painting, so they have no specific spreadsheet expertise. Instead, they work to translate the core functions of apps on other platforms to iPhones and iPads. Main Features: Free Spreadsheet is for core on-the-go number crunching, without any complex UI or unnecessary features cluttering your small touchscreen device.

It has a number of core mathematical and statistical functions that you can apply to simple tables, and you can drag formulas and equations across cells for quick data entry and calculations. It has limited graphing ability, consisting of line, bar, and scatter plots.

The free version has all features, and is ad-supported. Compatibility: It is compatible only with itself. You can share spreadsheets created with it via email as. Best Use Case: For personal use, whether casual or business-related, Free Spreadsheet is a lightweight app that allows you to keep track of daily calculations and data. Simple Spreadsheet. About the Company: The Tomahawk is a sole proprietorship of an Android developer, with a small library of simple apps.

Main Features: Simple Spreadsheet, as the name implies, allows text and formula entry to handle lists and basic calculations. You can also format color of cells to help readability. Unlike many mobile spreadsheet apps, you can customize the width of your columns and the height of your rows, and autofit them as well. Compatibility: It is only compatible with itself.

You can save spreadsheets to be opened on the Android device they were created on, and share them as. Best Use Case: Simple Spreadsheet is best for personal, casual use to manage easy calculations and lists on your Android smartphone while on the go.

WPS Office - Spreadsheets. Their suite of apps are completely free without ads, though they do have more robust paid desktop versions of the same apps, including PDF editing capabilities. You can open multiple worksheets at once, and the product is as slick and fast as any desktop spreadsheet app.

It can import and export to all of these, and be accessed by the same apps on other devices, including desktop. For storage, it supports Google Drive and Dropbox. How to Set Up a Sheet: There are dozens of templates to choose from to get started.

To make your own, click Create a blank sheet. Enter or import data. Create charts and graphs, which can be dragged, dropped, and resized. Polaris Office - Spreadsheets. About the Company: Polaris Office makes productivity software for desktop and mobile, targeted both towards casual and business users. It features hundreds of formulas and dozens of 2D and 3D charts, compatibility with most other spreadsheet formats, and built-in cloud storage called Polaris Drive.

Additionally, the mobile versions of the app allow for hand drawn notes, lines and shapes for intuitive editing. You can share spreadsheets through unique URLs in emails, IM, or even Twitter and Facebook in order to view them in their most up-to-date version.

The mobile version also offers the ability to select and drag multiple objects at once. Documents can be saved in Polaris Drive and edited from multiple locations, so changes are kept intact. How to Set Up a Sheet: There are many templates to get started with.

OfficeSuite - Spreadsheet Editor. About the Company: MobiSystems is a creator of desktop-grade mobile productivity apps, and is fully-featured for anytime, anywhere use. Their focus is compatibility, so you can open any type of file without losing formatting. Their software comes preloaded on a number of tablets and Chromebooks. Main Features: Though it is a mobile-focused platform, OfficeSuite has nearly every feature that desktop spreadsheet apps have.

It can track changes with multiple authors, make real-time changes on-the-fly that affect your data and graphs, format, find and replace, and even text-to-speech.

All of its functionality - ike selection, editing, and highlighting - is mobile-friendly, though its upper ribbon is so fully-stocked that you must scroll through it on a small screen, and it can take time to remember the location of everything. The free version has ads, and strips out some important functionality like protecting and encrypting sheets, and creating tags for certain types of data.

Best Use Case: It is best for users who want to get the most formulas, functions, fonts, and even look of Excel without the price tag. How to Set Up a Sheet: OfficeSuite has just nine spreadsheet templates that are all for basic functions. Setting up sheets is identical to Excel. Quip Spreadsheets. About the Company: Quip is a subsidiary of Salesforce and is focused on collaborative productivity apps that include instant messaging and cloud storage.

The company began independently, so their focus is entirely on updating their productivity offerings. It functions like most spreadsheets, but on a white background with word processor-like text areas to add context to your sheets. These areas can contain linkable data, like values that update in real-time, or you can tag team members in the Quip ecosystem.

It can also use special column properties like Contacts and check boxes along with conditional formatting for tasks like project management. Any spreadsheet you create can be transformed into a table and inserted into a Quip document for easy presentation and sharing.

Automation: It can pull in contacts synced with its ecosystem, such as your Quip teams, or with Salesforce for enterprise users who also have Salesforce. Compatibility: Import spreadsheets from virtually any cloud storage service, and from Excel documents. Documents to Go - Sheets To Go. Main Features: Sheets To Go is a fairly complete free spreadsheet tool for simple calculations and access to most popular cloud drives for importing and exporting. It was built explicitly with touchscreens in mind, first for iPad.

It bills itself more as an Excel editing platform for mobile work and review than as a true generator itself. Its main differentiator is the use of a larger font for ease of reading. Mobility: It is available for Android and iOS devices, along with a desktop sync app that lets you store your documents there. About the Company: Savy Soda makes a variety of iPhone and iPad apps, all of which are lightweight with slick graphical presentation.

Main Features: iSpreadsheet is an iOS-exclusive app that allows a wide range of arithmetic calculations and the ability to import and export your Excel and Numbers projects via any cloud storage for editing on the go. Mobility: It is mobile only, and can save files to most cloud drives. Compatibility: iSpreadsheet is compatible with all types of Excel and Apple Numbers files. It also supports real-time document syncing with Google Sheets. Best Use Case: This app is best if you simply want to open, review, and make small edits to spreadsheets on a mobile device, or just use it for simple home budgeting and lists.

Calc XLS. It has no visualization features, but allows for intuitive cell formatting and row and column resizing to create functional sheets and lists. Mobility: It is mobile-only, and can save to DropBox to keep your phone and tablet storage freed up. Best Use Case: This app is best if you simply want to open, review, and make small edits to spreadsheets on-the-go, or just use it for simple home budgeting and lists.

How to Set Up a Sheet: It has a similar process to other spreadsheet apps. Citrix QuickEdit. About the Company: Citrix is a producer of primarily cloud and network solutions, so ease of uploading, editing, and access is their main focus for productivity apps.

Main Features: Citrix QuickEdit is a highly-compatible spreadsheet app, and can be saved with nearly every cloud drive solution on the market.

It has an Excel-like formula editor, basic cell formatting options for readability, and over functions including string and logical varieties for complex calculations on the go. Mobility: It is mobile only, but you can also save files to DropBox to free up your phone and tablet storage.

About the Company: This software is designed for collaboration as part of the Free Software Foundation, and seeks to bring high quality software to the masses and maintain transparency. Main Features: EtherCalc is a free, open source web app accessible on any platform with a browser that supports javascript. It is clean and visually appealing, with the ability to quickly add and edit data with a number of handy contextual shortcuts. For example, if you select a cell, hold and left-click, and then move your mouse a little to the side, a circular menu appears with options to move or slide the cell, or fill an area with its value or function.

The app can also create simple charts and forms, and supports instance-based commenting and simultaneous editing with multiple users. Mobility: Theoretically, any browser can access it, but you cannot begin working on a sheet on one device and pick it up again on another. LibreOffice Calc. About the Company: LibreOffice is a maker of community-driven software for non-profits under open source licenses.

They provide their source code and only make money through donations. Main Features: LibreOffice Calc is a full-featured desktop spreadsheet app with tons of downloadable templates and in-app guides, so anyone from a novice to an expert can get the full range of use. Mobility: There are standalone apps for Android and iOS that allow you to view your LibreOffice documents, but not edit them.

Automation: LibreOffice Calc can pull in raw data and spit out meaningful analysis, and also take real-time data streams that persist into other sheets and create reports referencing the information. Compatibility: It normally saves files in OpenDocument Format. Best Use Case: For users who need complete spreadsheet computational ability and strong in-app automation features without the price tag or need for slick graphics. Since the app is open source, it also is constantly supported despite having no profit.

Though their ecosystem has a wide range of capabilities, nearly every app has an additional monthly cost. Main Features: Zoho Sheet is one of the browser-based spreadsheet apps most similar to Excel. Its main draw is the speed and slickness of navigating and calculating with it. Another benefit is that it comes with a VBA Editor and Macro Recorder, so you can get the full range of spreadsheet functionality.

It also includes everything from formulas to charts and PivotTables. The collaboration features are also robust, and allow for live IM discussions in the sheet, comment trees and notifications, real-time co-authoring, external publishing and embedding, and sharing with customized permissions to users on and off your team. The sheet also allows for publishable and live forms to feed in new data, like a CRM.

The Zoho suite does have a limited project management tool, but you have to pay extra to create more than 20 projects. There is also a desktop sync client, which lets you manage your Zoho cloud as offline files more easily.

All editing is done in the cloud, so most mobile and tablet browsers can access your cloud account and edit them. Automation: In addition to the ability to record and write your own macros for infinite custom automation, there are intuitive automation functions.

It has its own cloud infrastructure, which can draw from Dropbox, or from other clouds for paid users. The real value of Zoho comes from combining its many services, so be prepared to pay for the complete functionality. About the Company: Airtable is dedicated to its core product, with the goal of organizing anything and creating the friendliest databases ever. Main Features: Airtable adds context to your data to make it easy to organize and reference. While seemingly simple, the spreadsheets can contain references within references to other spreadsheets to essentially create lightweight apps covering functions from CRMs to Project Management.

It uses unique field types like attachments, checkboxes, drop downs, and links to records. All collaboration occurs in real time.