The 7 Best Spreadsheet Software Tools for Teams of All Sizes
If you’ve ever needed to organize information, you’re probably familiar with spreadsheets.
These grid-style documents are crucial for many different professionals, from accountants to salespeople to engineers.
But today, spreadsheets are digital! Thanks to the magic of software, modern spreadsheets are living, collaborative documents that can calculate all on their own.
If you’re looking for new spreadsheet software, you have plenty of wonderful options. Here are a few of the best.
Microsoft Excel: best spreadsheet software for formulas
Microsoft Excel is the spreadsheet go-to for many people, and it’s one of the most powerful options out there. It can really slice, dice, and crunch those numbers however you need to.
Thanks to Excel’s many formulas and tooltip functions, it’s fairly simple to do powerful calculations with your data such as what-if analysis. Excel also makes it easy to generate and then customize graphs and charts, so you can make all those numbers nice and visual.
Because it’s part of the Office 365 suite, it integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft apps, and it offers a decent amount of third-party integrations, too.
Drawbacks
Excel is all about powerful functionality, and that comes with some trade-offs around simplicity and ease of use. It also works best in tandem with the rest of the Microsoft ecosystem.
Pricing
While it’s often thought of as part of the Microsoft suite, you can purchase Excel on its own — it’s $149.99 for a single software license.
But to collaborate with others, you’ll need an Office365 subscription. Prices start at $69.99 annually.
Google Sheets: spreadsheet software for Google Suite users
Google Sheets gives Excel a run for its money. First of all, it’s (mostly) free — in fact, you already have it if you’re using any of Google’s other work apps, including Gmail.
Unlike Excel, Google Sheets is a web-based application, meaning you won’t need to download anything and all your data lives in the cloud. That makes it amazing for collaboration, especially since all your shared Sheets will update in real-time.
Overall, Google Sheets offers an excellent balance between power and ease of use. It offers plenty of templates, and can easily cooperate with other Google apps like Google Forms, and Google Analytics.
Drawbacks
Google Sheets doesn’t offer the same kind of advanced formulas as Microsoft Excel, and it can’t handle super-large datasets — but again, the tradeoff here is much better collaboration.
Pricing
Google Sheets is free for personal use, and you’ll get up to 15GB of storage.
If you want to use it as part of a Google Workspace subscription, which includes Gmail, GCal, and more, you’ll need a subscription. That will cost you between $5 and $10 per month.
Curious how the two titans stack up?
Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel are easily the two most popular spreadsheet tools. But which one should you be using with your team?
Apple Numbers: spreadsheet software for Mac users
This sleek and minimal spreadsheet app comes ready to use on all Mac computers! Users Apple Numbers’ clean, flexible interface — it’s formatted as a totally open document that you can add tables to wherever you like.
Apple Numbers offers 262 functions compared to Excel’s 400. It also comes with a good number of templates, and automatic syncing across Apple devices.
Basically, it’s not among the most advanced tools on this list. But if you’re a Mac user who just needs to whip up a spreadsheet, it could be exactly the right solution.
Drawbacks
Apple Numbers isn’t meant for complicated or demanding tasks. It can’t do advanced calculations, and it can’t handle very large datasets.
Pricing
Apple Numbers is totally free and pre-loaded on all Mac computers.
Zoho Sheet: best spreadsheet software for simplicity
Zoho Sheet could be described as the love child of Google Sheets and Excel. It’s web-based and collaborative like Google, but like Excel, it’s super-powerful, with over 250 functions.
Notably, you can easily link to and analyze data from an external source, like a .csv file, or even directly from Excel! It’s also a no-brainer if you’re using Zoho One or any of its apps, like Zoho CRM or Zoho Notebook.
Users also found Zoho Sheet more intuitive, and easier to get used to than Microsoft Excel. It’s commonly used by small businesses and solo entrepreneurs.
Drawbacks
Some of Zoho Sheet’s advanced functions are tricky to find, nested with multiple dropdown menus. It can also get expensive quickly if you have multiple users on a premium plan.
Pricing
Zoho Sheet is free to use. However, Zoho’s full suite of apps, called Zoho One, does require a subscription. Prices range from $37 to $90 per employee, per month.
LibreOffice Calc: best budget spreadsheet software
LibreOffice Calc is perfect for people who work independently and need Excel-like capabilities, but can’t justify paying for software.
LibreOffice is a completely free, open-source software package, and LibreOffice Calc is its native spreadsheet tool.
Unfortunately, Calc doesn’t support collaboration. But it can handle large amounts of data, just like Excel. It even outstrips Excel in some ways — for example, Calc lets you open multiple spreadsheets at the same time. Conveniently, it’s also web-based, so you won’t need to download anything. It’s solid for generating graphs and charts, and offers a decent user experience as well.
Drawbacks
LibreOffice’s interface is a bit dated, and there’s no good way to use it on mobile. And as we mentioned, it’s not set up for collaboration.
You should also be aware that you cannot work with most Microsoft Excel sheets in this program. LibreOffice Calc governs its functions and formulas differently, so the data displayed will be incorrect.
Pricing
Drumroll, please — Calc, just like the rest of LibreOffice, is totally free!
Smartsheet: best spreadsheet software for PMs
Smartsheet is what happens when you combine a spreadsheet with a project management tool. It’s an extremely flexible and versatile tool that can be used for many different things, like task tracking, budget management, or team scheduling.
Smartsheet is highly collaborative. You can monitor, manage, and oversee all the progress happening across your Smartsheets. It also offers plenty of automations and integrations to make your life easier.
Smartsheet is a step up from your basic Excel, and their client list speaks for itself — this tool is used by 90% of Fortune 500 companies.
Drawbacks
Smartsheet is expensive, and because it’s so versatile, it does come with a bit of a learning curve. If you need its capabilities, plan to invest some time up-front into getting really familiar with the platform and what it can do.
Pricing
Smartsheet’s Pro plan costs $9 monthly per user. To get the most functionality, the Business plan is a better bet, but it’s a lot more expensive, at $33 per user, per month. They offer custom-priced Enterprise plans, too.
EtherCalc: best spreadsheet software for one-off tasks
If you’re looking for the ultimate in simplicity, EtherCalc is the spreadsheet tool for you.
Like other options on this list, it’s free and web-based, but you don’t even need an account to use it. Literally all you need to do is visit the website and hit ‘Create Spreadsheet’ to access a familiar, Excel-style interface. You can also drop a .csv, .ods, or .xlsx file into the tool.
Once you’re done, your spreadsheet will have its own URL so that it’s easy to edit and share. If you’re not usually a spreadsheet person but you need to whip something up quickly, it really couldn’t be easier.
Drawbacks
EtherCalc was created in 2006, so its interface is pretty dated, though still perfectly usable! And obviously, EtherCalc is not intended for collaborative work, or to integrate with other apps.
Pricing
EtherCalc is totally free!
Crunch those numbers
If you’re working with data in the 21st century, you’re using spreadsheet software.
We’ve come a long way from the calculators and graph paper of decades ago. From running the numbers to sharing with colleagues, these are sophisticated tools designed to make your life easier.
Whatever you need from your spreadsheets, the perfect software solution is out there. We hope that today, we’ve helped you discover it!