- Best for offline editing and collaboration: Google Sheets
- Best for automation: Zoho Sheet
- Best for users who prefer Excel's interface: Microsoft Office Excel Online
- Best for customization: Apache OpenOffice Calc
- Best Excel alternative for features: LibreOffice Calc
- Best Excel alternative for ease of use: WPS Office Spreadsheets
- Best for UNIX-based operating system: Gnumeric
- Best for Apple device users: Apple Numbers
- Best for Building Databases: Airtable
- Best for project management: Smartsheet
The kinds of features you need from your spreadsheet application can vary, though many users never come close to needing the robust features of Microsoft Office’s Excel.
If you aren’t an accountant crunching numbers daily, Microsoft Office, including Excel, can be prohibitively expensive. You’re looking at paying at least $6 per month for one business license, paid in full for a year upfront; $6.99 a month for home use; or $159.99 for an Office Home and Student 2021 license.
SEE: Explore these free alternatives to Microsoft Word.
If you don’t have that kind of money, don’t need all of Excel’s features or simply want to save cash, there are plenty of viable alternatives to Microsoft Excel available in the cloud to be installed on your computer. Best of all, these alternatives to Excel are free.
Top free Microsoft Excel alternatives comparison
| Software | Best for | Online collaboration | Supported file formats | Offline editing | Standout feature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Sheets | Offline editing and collaboration | Yes | .xlsx, .xls, .xlsm, .xlt, .xltx, .xltxm, .ods, .csv and .tsv | Yes | Sharing and collaboration |
| Zoho Sheet | Automation | Yes | .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, .tsv, .csv, .ods and .sxc | No | AI-powered insights |
| Microsoft Office Excel Online | Users who prefer the traditional Excel desktop interface | Yes | .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb, .csv and .ods | Yes | Power BI integration |
| Apache OpenOffice Calc | Customization | No | .odf and .xlsx | No — users have to download it on their system manually | Natural language formulas |
| LibreOffice Calc | Broader features | No | .xls and .xlsx | Users can download and install it on their system | Scenario manager |
| WPS Office Spreadsheets | Ease of use | Yes | .lsm, .xltm, .xlsb, .ets, .et, .ett, .xls, .xlsx, .xlt, .xltx and .csv | Yes | Data analysis and visualization |
| Gnumeric | Unix-based system users | No | .xls (partially supports .xlsx), .csv, xml, tsv, .gnm, .tex, .html, .htm, .wk1/.wks and more | Users can download and install it on their system | Support for complex data manipulation tasks |
| Apple Numbers | Apple device users | Yes | xml (xlsx), csv, tsv and pdf | Yes | XLOOKUP functionality helps you find values in columns and rows or look for exact, approximate or partial matches |
| Airtable | Building databases | Yes | .csv, .xlsx, .doc, .pdf, .pptx, jpg | No | CRM |
| Smartsheet | Kanban or Gantt boards | Paid-tier only | .xlsx, .docx, .jpeg, and more | Limited - users can edit Forms offline but other features will not work | Project management |
Google Sheets: Best for offline editing and collaboration
Google Sheets is Google’s cloud-based answer to Microsoft Excel, and it’s capable of doing the vast majority of what the average Excel user needs. It’s also hosted in the cloud and runs in a web browser, so it’s platform independent and can be run on Windows, macOS and Linux systems.
You never have to worry about losing a single calculation, either — Google Sheets saves everything in Google Drive, making a crashed computer of no concern to your important data. As with Google’s other office tools, Sheets features real-time collaboration that allows multiple users to edit a document at the same time. Users can see the cursor position of other people in the document, see what they’re doing as they’re doing it and chat right in the document window.
Key features Google Sheets
- Offline editing capability.
- Support of file formats, including .xlsx, .xls, .xlsm, .xlt, .xltx, .xltxm, .ods, .csv and .tsv.
- Data analysis and visualization.
- Sharing and collaboration.
- Version history feature, which lets you see all the changes you and others have made to the spreadsheet or revert to previous versions.
- Template gallery.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Ability for users to download their files in different formats, including .pdf, .html, .ods, .xlsx and .tsv | Lags when working on large data |
| Ability for users to automate repetitive tasks with macros | Difficult to pinpoint who edited the spreadsheet |
| Real-time collaboration |
Why we chose Google Sheets
Google Sheets allows multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet simultaneously. This makes it easy to collaborate with colleagues, classmates or friends in real time without the need to email multiple versions back and forth.
Zoho Sheet: Best for automation
Zoho Sheet is a spreadsheet software that includes collaboration, data visualization and automation features that help teams get work done faster. Zoho Sheet supports several file types, including Excel (.xls), .csv, .ods and .tsv formats to move your existing sheets into Zoho Sheet easily.
Collaboration in Zoho Sheet is easy, with real-time updates at the sheet level for any users in the document. You can use macros and even VBA code to automate updates and speed up work.
Collaborators can use data cleaning to catch mistakes quickly or roll back to a previous iteration with version history. Additionally, Zoho Sheet can easily be used via the mobile app or published to the web with granular controls over embedded data manipulation.
Key features Zoho Sheet
- Multi-language support, including Polish, Bulgarian, Dutch, Chinese (Simplified), German, English, Spanish, French, Croatian, Turkish, Japanese, Hungarian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish and Italian.
- Support for over 350 predefined functions.
- Ability for users to export .html and .pdf formats.
- Custom and user-defined functions.
- Image-to-sheet feature, which allows users to scan books, receipts and invoices and automatically convert them to spreadsheets.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| AI-powered insights. | Lacks data connections, analysis and modeling capability. |
| Data cleaning — duplicates, inconsistencies and missing value removal. | Lacks offline support. |
Why we chose Zoho Sheet
We chose Zoho Sheet due to its extensive automation capabilities and data processing features, such as data cleaning and AI-powered analysis. The tool enables users to analyze their data, create charts and pivots, automate data processing and build interactive spreadsheets with ease.
Microsoft Office Excel Online: Best for users who prefer Excel's interface
Not to be outdone by Google, Microsoft has created its own online version of Office, which includes a stripped-down version of Excel that’s closer to Google Sheets than to the desktop version of Microsoft Office’s Excel. It’s not to say that Excel Online is unusable or not worth your time — it’s definitely more like Excel than Google Sheets, so if you prefer a familiar interface, you may opt for Excel Online instead of going the Google route.
Recommending Excel Online to the average Excel user is fine: It does all the basics of the desktop version while adding automatic cloud saving in OneDrive, and it has real-time collaboration tools that Office 365 and Office 2019 lack.
Excel power users may want to steer clear of Excel Online. Many of the features Excel power users rely on are gone, restricted or read-only — there’s no VBA scripting, no creating external data connections, no find and replace and no advanced charting features. All of those capabilities exist in Excel Online, but they’re read-only.
Key features Microsoft Office Excel Online
- Power BI integration.
- Support of many file formats, including .docm, .docx, .pptm, .pptx, .xlsm and .xlsx.
- Copilot in Excel, which works with you to analyze and explore your data.
- Ability for users to visualize data in charts and graphs.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Extensive range of functions and formulas, which enable users to perform complex calculations and data analysis easily. | Gets slow when working with large data sets. |
| Macros to automate regular tasks. | Requires internet connectivity. |
| Collaboration capability. |
Why chose Microsoft Office Excel Online
Excel Online includes many of the same features as the desktop version of Excel, such as formulas, charts and formatting options. Users can also work on Excel documents simultaneously with others in real-time, making it a useful tool for teamwork and collaboration.
Apache OpenOffice Calc: Best for customization
When I talk to Windows users who hate the look of Microsoft Office’s post-2007 interface, I always recommend Apache OpenOffice. Calc, OpenOffice’s Excel alternative, looks and feels like Office 2003, which is great if you’d prefer a time before the Office ribbon. Prior to the advent of the cloud and the dominance of Google’s online office tools, OpenOffice reigned supreme among those looking for a free Microsoft Office alternative.
Apache OpenOffice’s Calc serves various userbases, including freelancers, large enterprises, midsize businesses, non-profits, public administrations and small businesses.
Key features Apache OpenOffice Calc
- Natural language formulas, which allow users to create formulas using words.
- Ready-made templates repository.
- Scenario manager with support for “what if” analysis.
- Ability for users to export documents in various formats, including ​​.pdf, .odt, .doc and .html.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Available as open source. | Lacks real-time online collaboration. |
| Custom backgrounds to enable users to create spreadsheets according to individual preferences. | Needs to be updated more frequently. |
Why we chose Apache OpenOffice Calc
Apache OpenOffice Calc is similar to Microsoft Excel and offers a range of features, including formulas, charts and functions. It provides users with the ability to create and manipulate spreadsheets for tasks such as budgeting, financial analysis and data organization.
LibreOffice Calc: Best Excel alternative for features
Like OpenOffice, LibreOffice is a free office suite that includes its own Excel alternative, also called Calc. It has the same restrictions as OpenOffice in that LibreOffice’s Calc lacks cloud support and real-time collaboration. What LibreOffice does have is a surprisingly robust list of features, many of which aren’t present in Excel.
LibreOffice has more functions than Excel, can compare two separate spreadsheet files, has more cell formatting options and can even handle imports of legacy spreadsheets from retired applications formerly available on Windows and macOS (Microsoft Works, Lotus 1-2-3, BeagleWorks, Claris Resolve, etc.).
Key features LibreOffice Calc
- Scenario manager that allows “what if …” analysis.
- Ability for users to export to .pdf.
- Desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Open source. | Has limited macro recording abilities. |
| Ability to read .xlsx files created with Microsoft Office for Windows and macOS. | Lacks the ability to display many advanced types of charts. |
Why we chose LibreOffice Calc
We selected the tool due to its advanced features and cross-platform compatibility. LibreOffice is available on multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS and Linux, making it a versatile option for users of different platforms.
WPS Office Spreadsheets: Best Excel alternative for ease of use
When it comes to robust features that are a true competition for Excel, WPS Office Spreadsheets cannot be beaten, and with good reason: It’s the only freemium product on this list. WPS Office is a paid product, but it comes with a fully featured free version with one catch — it’s ad-supported.
Don’t let that turn you off from giving WPS Spreadsheets a try. The ads are quick, generally lasting about 10 seconds and only pop up when you try to print, save to PDF or use some of its other more specific tools. Once you watch an ad, that feature is unlocked for 30 minutes. If you decide you want to get rid of the ads in WPS Office, you need to pay $5.99 for one month, $9.99 for three months or $29.99 a year.
Key features of WPS Office Spreadsheet
- Data analysis and visualization.
- Templates to manage charts, track budgets and analyze personal or business finances.
- Compatibility with common file formats such as .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlt and .csv.
- Ability for users to edit Excel files on mobile devices, computers or web pages.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Compatibility with office suites such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc and OpenOffice Calc. | Free version has ads. |
| Support for 13 languages on PC and 46 languages on mobile. | Infrequently freezes. |
Why we chose WPS Office Spreadsheet
WPS Spreadsheets offers features that are not available in Excel, such as protection at different levels, allowing you to secure your spreadsheets with passwords and encryption to ensure data privacy and security, OCR (converting text in pictures to editable text) and multiple tabs for working on different sheets within the same window.
Gnumeric: Best for UNIX-based operating system
Gnumeric is a free and open-source spreadsheet program similar to Microsoft Excel. It is part of the GNOME office suite and is designed to provide advanced data analysis and manipulation features.
Gnumeric offers a wide range of features for creating, editing and analyzing spreadsheet data and supports various file formats for compatibility with other spreadsheet software. It is known for its mathematical functions, statistical analysis tools and support for complex data manipulation tasks.
Key features of Gnumeric
- Import and export support for the OpenDocument Format (ODF) and Office Open XML (OOXML).
- Capable of handling large datasets and complex calculations.
- It’s compatible with various file formats, including Microsoft Excel files and OpenDocument.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Handles large spreadsheets with ease. | Some users may find the user interface of Gnumeric less intuitive or polished compared to other spreadsheet software like Excel. |
| Gnumeric supports a wide range of file formats for importing and exporting data . | Initial learning curve. |
Why we chose Gnumeric
Gnumeric offers many features and functions, including support for complex mathematical formulas, data analysis tools and advanced graphing capabilities. Users can easily perform calculations, manipulate data and create professional-looking charts and graphs.
Apple Numbers: Best for Apple device users
Apple Numbers is a spreadsheet application developed by Apple as part of their iWork productivity software suite. It is available for iOS, iPadOS and macOS and allows you to create and edit spreadsheets.
Apple Numbers provides you with predesigned templates to help you get started quickly. It offers a variety of tools for organizing and analyzing data, including charts, graphs and tables. You can also add text, images and multimedia to your spreadsheets to create more engaging and informative documents.
Key features of Apple Numbers
- It enables users to find trends with pivot tables.
- Users can highlight comparisons with radar charts.
- XLOOKUP functionality helps you find values in columns and rows or look for exact, approximate or partial matches.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Intuitive and modern interface design. | Limited to the Apple ecosystem. |
| Easy to use. | Limited features. |
Why we chose Apple Numbers
Apple Numbers is designed to work seamlessly with other Apple products and services, such as iCloud, iWork and Apple Pencil. This integration allows easy sharing, syncing and accessibility across different devices and platforms.
Airtable: Best for Building Databases
Although Airtable is technically a free database and application-building platform, its spreadsheet-like functionality often leads to comparisons to Excel. Spreadsheets can be imported into Airtable and converted into workflows, allowing information to be more easily organized by factors such as timing or the step in a process where an item resides.
Airtable might be appropriate for your business if you want a database-style structure with which to organize information you might otherwise keep in spreadsheets. Individual cells in Airtable tables are called fields, and employees can leave comments or attachments in them. This makes it possible to collaborate in Airtable in a way Excel can’t.
Airtable does have paid plans; you’ll need to pay if you want to collaborate with other people or set up an account with administrator privileges. The team plan, which allows collaboration, costs $20 per seat per month billed annually. The business plan, billed annually at $45 per seat per month, brings more records, automation runs, and space for attachments, as well as an admin panel. Enterprise customers can inquire for custom pricing.
Key features of AirTable
- Airtable can help create apps based on your organization’s databases with an AI assistant.
- It lets you choose different workflow templates for whatever your organization needs to do.
- Users can visualize data in different views and formats.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Cross-reference and correlate information with the database format. | Lacks some of Excel’s formula capabilities and advanced features. |
| Build workflows and apps. | Doesn’t have Excel’s flexibility in linking or performing operations on individual cells as opposed to entire tables. |
| Good all-in-one solution for both product tracking and holding information in a spreadsheet. | |
| Includes templates for CRM tools, applicant tracking, and other business use cases. |
Why we chose Airtable
Airtable makes organizing information easy, and many of the planning, project tracking, and organizing aspects can be performed on the free plan. Its interface is clean and customizable. You can export spreadsheets from Google Sheets or Excel to Airtable to transform the information in them into product timetables or manipulatable lists.
Smartsheet: Best for project management
Like Airtable, Smartsheet has collaboration features Excel doesn’t have, but Airtable’s tools can’t dive as deeply into formulas and functions. Technically, Smartsheet is a project management tool. Users can view projects as Gantt tables, a Kanban view, or a calendar view — each of which you can choose when creating your account, or you can change it later. Smartsheet is fully online, so team members can collaborate more quickly than they could by sending an Excel document.
I really like Smartsheet’s setup process, which allowed me to specify what projects I was working on ahead of time instead of filling in placeholders like Airtable did. You can also specify up front what types of reports you’d like, such as task summary reports and overdue project reports, Smartsheet should automatically generate those reports.
Smartsheet has a free tier, and starting a new account activates a 30-day free trial of the Business plan. You’ll need to pay $9 per member per month for the Pro plan, which adds collaboration for up to ten people, the Gantt view, grid board, and calendar views, formulas, and more. The Business plan at $19 per member per month adds unlimited seats for Guests (users without a Smartsheet account who can edit and comment on sheets), admin capabilities, more storage, and other perks. Business users who need more can inquire about the Enterprise or Advanced Work Management plans, which add AI, integrations, and other perks.
Key features of Smartsheet
- Create a dashboard by dragging and dropping widgets to track projects.
- Collaborate online.
- Integrate with Salesforce, Jira, DocuSign, Google, Box, or Dropbox.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Automated workflows can be applied to individual rows in the sheet to add conditions or specify how cells should relate to each other. | Lacks the analysis capabilities of Excel. |
| Ability to set admin roles and lock certain cells. | Lacks many functions integral to Excel. |
| Versatile project planning and scheduling tools. | Formulas work across columns, not in individual cells. |
| The paid tier system is the major cap on collaboration, with only the $19 per member per month plan allowing guests to edit or comment on sheets. | |
| Similarly, Salesforce and Jira integration is only available at the most expensive tier. |
Why we chose Smartsheet
Smartsheet is quite different from Excel, to the point that it’s difficult to recommend them for the same use cases. However, they are often discussed in the same breath because Smartsheet has a spreadsheet functionality. Both can be used to keep track of business data such as sales or KPIs. We chose Smartsheet because it offers a lot of functionality and ease of use for free, even if it doesn’t do exactly what Excel can do.
Choosing a free alternative to Microsoft Excel
While all the tools outlined in this guide are note-worthy free alternatives to Microsoft Excel, the best option for you depends on your specific needs and preferences. If you need a solution to enable you and your team to seamlessly collaborate on sheets, choose Google Sheets. If you’d like to automate repetitive processes, Zoho may be your best option.
Those looking to customize their sheets and integrate them via API with their existing system fare would benefit from Apache OpenOffice calc. WPS Office Spreadsheet is ideal for individuals or companies more interested in usability, while LibreOffice is the best option for those looking for a feature-rich solution. If you are a huge Microsoft Excel fan and only need cloud capability or prefer the desktop Excel interface, Microsoft Excel Online is the best option for you.
To select the best option for you, consider your needs, select the top three tools that stand out for you, evaluate their features and capabilities and choose the tool that fulfills your needs and use cases.
Which is the best free spreadsheet?
It’s hard to beat Google Sheets for ease of access, a wide range of features, and its ability to handle large amounts of data (up to 10 million cells). Here at TechRepublic, we use Google Sheets for content planning. Collaboration is easy and free. Google Sheets is especially effective as a free spreadsheet you can use to determine exactly what your business needs are, so that you can seek out other functionality if needed while not spending any money in the meantime.
Plus, Google Sheets files are compatible with many other services, including Excel. Google Sheets can also be used to create tables and charts, so it’s the best of both worlds when it comes to spreadsheet and project management functionality.
Which free alternative is easiest for beginners to use?
Keeping in mind that ease of use can sometimes translate to simpler, less complex capabilities, Google Sheets is versatile and easy to use. Straightforward tutorials are available to walk users through how to create tables and work with functions.
Methodology
To determine the best free Excel alternatives, we compiled a list of popular spreadsheet software available for free. We assessed each alternative based on key criteria such as user interface, features, compatibility with Excel files, collaboration tools and customization options. We also considered factors like ease of use, speed, reliability and customer support.
We then test each spreadsheet software by creating and editing sample spreadsheets, importing and exporting Excel files and exploring advanced features such as macros and pivot tables. We gathered and analyzed user reviews and ratings from reputable sources to gain insights into the overall user satisfaction and feedback on each Excel alternative.
