These 6 spreadsheet apps put Microsoft Excel to disgrace

If you happen to’ve ever needed to calculate, arrange, visualize, or kind by way of giant swaths of numerical information units, then there is a good likelihood that you have relied on Microsoft Excel to do a lot of the heavy lifting. As one of many first mainstream digital spreadsheet applications to hit the PC world, Excel has change into a ubiquitous utility throughout the productiveness world.

Through the years, Microsoft has bolstered the capabilities of Excel, whereas additionally introducing it to competing platforms like Mac, iPadOS, and Android. That being mentioned, the standard Excel program has change into more and more bloated as a result of characteristic creep, and Microsoft’s perpetual subscription-based enterprise mannequin is much less pro-user than ever earlier than.

Fortunately, there are a selection of stellar spreadsheet program choices out in the marketplace, a few of that are totally free and open-source (FOSS), and a few of which deal with offering a cleaner consumer interface or superior digital collaboration flows. Listed here are six Excel alternate options that give Microsoft’s iconic spreadsheet app a real run for its cash.

LibreOffice Calc

A free and open-source lover’s dream

LibreOffice is a free and open-source suite of applications that features the whole lot you should get began with a productive workplace circulate. Included throughout the package deal is Calc, a spreadsheet app that provides huge functionality with out the huge price ticket to match. Calc is full-featured, with tons of styling choices, a complete repository of customized templates, a Situation Supervisor for analyzing information, and a solver element for figuring out optimum values inside a dataset. When it comes to UI, Calc is considerably dated with its cluttered toolbar, but it surely manages to maintain important instruments effectively organized and simply accessible.

Apache OpenOffice Calc

Spreadsheeting with out the subscription charges

Apache OpenOffice is just like LibreOffice in that the 2 share a typical ancestry within the digital productiveness world. Each workplace applications are free and open-source, with the previous being maintained by the Apache Software program Basis and the latter by The Doc Basis. OpenOffice’s Calc program options wonderful compatibility with spreadsheet file codecs, and it is no-nonsense strategy to quantity crunching is appreciated. The app’s interface is fairly dated, with icons that seem like they have not been touched in years, however the strip of choices alongside the highest make for a handy and highly effective setup total.

WPS Workplace Spreadsheet

A go-to cross-platform various

The cross-platform WPS Workplace suite is pretty well-known, coming pre-installed on most Amazon Hearth tablets. The app’s Spreadsheet element is fashionable and approachable, with a Microsoft Workplace-style ribbon UI close to the highest that may be collapsed to extend vertical display actual property. Spreadsheet itself is free to obtain and set up, although a recurring subscription payment is required to unlock superior enhancing options. As a primary various to Excel, Spreadsheet is competent, with broad file format compatibility and a presence on practically each PC and smartphone platform out in the marketplace.

Polaris Workplace Sheet

Spreadsheets, with a pinch of synthetic intelligence

Polaris Workplace is one other common assortment of workplace productiveness apps, with availability throughout each PC and cellular. This system’s Sheet element is a stable substitute for Excel, with a cellular interface that I discover to be well-optimized for the small, tall screens all of us carry round in our pockets. Sheet is totally appropriate with Microsoft Workplace file codecs, coming in a package deal that’s light-weight and non-resource-intensive. The app’s built-in NOVA AI assistant can faucet into numerous giant language fashions (LLMs), together with from OpenAI, Perplexity, and different main gamers within the house. Sheet is free to get began with, although it presents a paid subscription choice for unlocking additional options and cloud storage.

Google Sheets

Digital collaboration made straightforward

In some ways, Google Sheets is the anti-Microsoft Excel. The place Excel was born in the course of the native PC program paradigm period, Sheets is a element of Google Workspace (previously GSuite), which was designed from the bottom up for the trendy web age. As such, Sheets is primarily accessible through the online and thru a devoted cellular app, with tightly-integrated on-line options optimized with real-time collaboration in thoughts. Sheets additionally advantages from Gemini AI integration, which places it forward of different spreadsheet applications from a cutting-edge software program standpoint. Whereas it is true that Microsoft presents its personal web-based variant of Excel with Copilot AI integration, Google Sheets stays the de facto customary for a lot of workplace employees.

Apple Numbers

Quantity crunching with Apple’s signature match and end

If you happen to personal an Apple gadget, then you could have out-of-box entry to the corporate’s proprietary iWork suite of workplace functions. Numbers is Apple’s equal to Excel, and it focuses on offering an intuitive consumer interface that slots seamlessly throughout the firm’s ecosystem. Numbers encompasses a ton of templates to select from, information filtering choices, Good Classes for fast numerical group, and a handy desk summarization utility. Whereas the app does embody its personal in-house file format, it is easy to export spreadsheets for viewing and enhancing on PC, Linux, Android, and different platforms.