Spreadsheets are powerful tools for organizing, calculating, and visualizing all kinds of data. But with so many options out there, how do you know which spreadsheet software is right for you?
In this article, we’ll walk through 15 of the top spreadsheet packages and programs so you can find the perfect one to meet your needs. Whether you’re a numbers nerd who loves crunching data or you just need a basic app to manage your personal finances, we’ve got you covered. Read on to explore 15 spreadsheet software options ranging from good old Excel to newer tools designed for collaboration and automation.
What Are Spreadsheet Packages?
Spreadsheet software, like Excel or Google Sheets, gives you a digital ledger for organizing and calculating data. These powerful packages allow you to input, calculate, analyze, and graphically represent numbers and statistics.
Key Features
Spreadsheet software typically offers features like:
- Cells to enter data, numbers, dates, or text
- Formulas and functions to automatically calculate values
- Charts and graphs to visualize data
- Filters, sorts, and pivot tables to analyze data
- Macros and scripts to automate tasks
- Interconnectivity with other software like databases or statistical packages
Uses and Benefits of Spreadsheet
Spreadsheets have many practical uses for both businesses and personal finance. Some of the major benefits include:
- Budgeting and forecasting. Easily create budgets, track expenses, and model future costs.
- Data entry and storage. Input and organize large amounts of data in a structured format.
- Reporting and dashboards. Generate reports, KPI dashboards, and visuals to gain data insights.
- Project management. Use spreadsheets to create project plans, schedules, timelines, and resource allocation.
- Financial modeling. Build complex financial models to evaluate investments, project growth, or optimize costs.
- Data analysis. Filter, sort, and analyze raw data to uncover trends, patterns, and key metrics.
- Automation. Use macros to automate repetitive tasks like consolidating data, generating reports, or sending alerts.
Spreadsheet software provides a simple but highly useful tool for managing, manipulating, and understanding your data. The possibilities are nearly endless!
15 Examples Of Spreadsheet Packages
Spreadsheet software allows you to organize, calculate and analyze data efficiently. There are many options to choose from, whether you need a simple budgeting tool or a robust business solution. Let’s explore 15 of the most popular spreadsheet packages available today.
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is one of the most popular spreadsheet applications used by individuals and businesses. It allows you to organize, calculate, and analyze information efficiently.
Excel has a host of built-in formulas and functions that can perform complex calculations on your data. Functions like SUM, AVERAGE, and IF-THEN-ELSE allow you to quickly analyze and summarize your information. Excel also has statistical, engineering, and financial functions to handle specialized calculations. You can also create your own custom formulas and macros in Excel.
Excel provides many options for data visualization. You can create charts like column charts, bar charts, line charts, pie charts, scatter plots, etc. These help you get insights from your data and spot trends. You can customize charts by changing colors, fonts, adding labels, etc., to make them as informative and appealing as needed.
With Excel, multiple people can work together on the same spreadsheet at the same time. You can also share spreadsheets via email or store them on OneDrive for others to access. Spreadsheets can be password protected or have restricted editing permissions if needed.
Excel worksheets contain a huge number of rows and columns, over 1 million rows and more than 16,000 columns. This makes Excel suitable for storing and managing large amounts of data. You can also link data between worksheets and workbooks for easy access and organization.
In summary, with its powerful features, flexibility and availability across platforms, Excel is an excellent tool for managing and analyzing data of any size. It is a must-have application for any individual or business.
Google Sheets
Google Sheets is one of the most popular free spreadsheet software options available. As part of the Google Suite of products, Sheets provides a robust set of features for managing and analyzing data in a collaborative environment.
The best part about Google Sheets is that it’s completely free to use and access. All you need is a Google account to get started. Sheets works on Mac, PC, and the web, so you can access your spreadsheets from anywhere.
One of the biggest advantages of Sheets is the ability to share spreadsheets with others and collaborate in real time. You can invite specific people or share a link to your sheet publicly. See others typing in the sheet live and never worry about sending updated versions back and forth. Discuss and review data together in the built-in chat feature.
Sheets offers over 400 different functions to help you analyze and manipulate data. Calculate averages, sums, standard deviations, and more with a click. Built-in formula suggestions help take the guesswork out of developing formulas. Sheets handles even the most complex formulas and logic with ease.
With its combination of power, ease of use, and collaboration features, Google Sheets is an excellent choice for both personal and business use. Give it a try today and see how it can help you gain valuable insights from your data.
LibreOffice Calc
LibreOffice Calc is the spreadsheet component of the free and open-source LibreOffice software suite. It’s compatible with all major spreadsheet file formats, including Microsoft Excel. If you’re looking for a free alternative to Excel, Calc is a great option with a simple, easy-to-use interface and all the features you need for budgeting, data analysis, and more.
The Calc interface should look familiar to anyone who has used a spreadsheet program before. You’ll see cells organized into rows and columns, with tabs at the bottom to switch between sheets. Formulas and functions are entered into cells just like in Excel. The menu bar at the top provides access to all of Calc’s features and options. The sidebar on the right includes formatting options, cell styles, and drag-and-drop tools to quickly add charts, images, and other elements.
Calc includes all the functionality you expect in a spreadsheet, like filtering and sorting data, conditional formatting, pivot tables, and collaboration through the LibreOffice Online service. Calc’s charting features allow you to create 2D and 3D charts, including line, area, bar, pie, XY, stock, and net charts. Over 500 functions are built-in for analyzing and manipulating data.
Overall, LibreOffice Calc packs a punch as a free spreadsheet tool. For personal and business use, it has all the power and capabilities most users will ever need. And its full compatibility with Microsoft Excel file formats means you can easily import and export spreadsheets without losing formatting or functionality. For budget-conscious individuals and organizations, Calc is a spreadsheet solution that can’t be beat.
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a popular spreadsheet software used by over 10 million people worldwide. Unlike traditional spreadsheets, Smartsheet is collaborative, easy to use, and helps teams and businesses improve work management. With Smartsheet, you can plan, track, automate tasks, and gain real-time visibility into work.
Some of the key features of Smartsheet that make it a great choice are:
- Collaboration: Smartsheet makes it easy to collaborate with your team. You can share sheets, assign tasks, add comments, and get notifications when things change.
- Gantt charts and timelines: Easily create Gantt charts and timelines to visualize your schedules and stay on track. Smartsheet has powerful features for project management and scheduling.
- Automation: Set up automation to save time on routine and repetitive tasks. You can automate things like status changes, task assignments, approvals, and more.
- Reporting and dashboards: Gain insight into your work with interactive reports, charts, and dashboards. Smartsheet’s robust reporting features help you make data-driven decisions.
- Integrations: Smartsheet integrates with tools you already use like Microsoft Office 365, G Suite, Jira, and many more. Sync data between systems to optimize your workflow.
- Control and visibility: Get a single source of truth and full visibility into the status of all your work in one place. Maintain control and oversight over everything your team is managing.
Smartsheet is a great option for businesses and teams of all sizes.
Apple Numbers
Apple Numbers is a spreadsheet app developed by Apple Inc. for macOS and iOS. It is part of the iWork productivity suite. Numbers is a powerful yet easy-to-use spreadsheet app that lets you create stunning spreadsheets on a Mac, iPad, or iPhone. You can add tables, charts, graphics, and images to your spreadsheets, and the all-new Smart Categories feature automatically organizes your data to quickly summarize and visualize your information.
Numbers make it simple to create spreadsheets that look gorgeous and are easy to use. You can add pictures, videos, tables, charts, text boxes, and shapes to bring your data to life. With over 250 built-in functions, you can easily calculate averages, find maximum and minimum values, and more. With Numbers, you have access to over 250 functions that can help you calculate, organize, and visualize your data. Functions like SUM, AVERAGE, MAX, MIN, and COUNTIF allow you to gain quick insights into your information.
You can also create interactive charts and graphs, like column, bar, line, pie and scatter plots to help visually represent your data. Add filters, labels, trendlines and more to customize your charts and provide context for your readers. Numbers includes high-quality templates to help you get started, with options for budgets, invoices, statistics, and student reports. You can also download additional templates to suit your needs.
With iCloud, you can keep your spreadsheets up to date across all your devices. So you can start a spreadsheet on your Mac, then continue editing it on your iPad, and even make a quick change on your iPhone if you need to. Your changes are automatically saved and up to date wherever you access Numbers.
Quip
Quip is a spreadsheet app that provides a simple and intuitive interface for creating and editing spreadsheets. It has a minimal design and focuses on collaboration and sharing.
Quip spreadsheets have a simple grid layout with letters for columns and numbers for rows. You can enter data, formulas, and functions just like you would with other spreadsheet software. Formulas start with an equals sign (=), and you can reference cells using the column letter and row number (A1, B12, etc.).
Quip has many useful features for collaboration. Multiple people can edit a spreadsheet at once, with changes synced in real-time. You can tag people (@mention) to get their input or assign them tasks. Spreadsheets also have a chat window where you can discuss the document and ask questions.
Quip has strong sharing and permission controls. You can share spreadsheets with specific people or groups and set permissions for who can view, comment, or edit. This makes Quip useful for teams and businesses that need to securely share and collaborate on data.
While Quip lacks some of the advanced features of spreadsheets like Excel, it provides a simple and user-friendly experience for most everyday needs. It’s a great free option for personal use or collaboration in small teams and businesses. If you’re looking for an easy way to create, share, and edit spreadsheets with others, Quip is worth trying out.
Zoho Sheet
Zoho Sheet is a free online spreadsheet software that lets you create and edit spreadsheets right in your browser. No need to download any software just sign up for a free Zoho account and you can access Zoho Sheet on any device with an internet connection.
Zoho Sheet has a simple, intuitive interface that will feel familiar to anyone who has used Excel or Google Sheets before. You can enter data, create formulas, sort and filter information, generate charts, and more. Zoho Sheet includes over 400 functions to help you analyze and calculate data. It has strong capabilities for managing and manipulating large data sets.
Some of the key features in Zoho Sheet include:
- Unlimited spreadsheets: Create as many spreadsheets as you need to store data and information.
- Share and collaborate: Share spreadsheets with colleagues and collaborate in real time. View who else is in the spreadsheet and see edits and comments as they’re made.
- Advanced data tools: Use tools like pivot tables, conditional formatting, data validation, and macros to gain valuable insights from your data. Zoho Sheet has a powerful formula builder to help you create complex formulas.
- Beautiful charts: Turn your data into professional charts and graphs to visualize insights and trends. Zoho Sheet includes line, bar, pie, scatter, radar, and more.
- Import/Export: Easily import data from CSV, TXT, and other file types. Also export your Zoho Sheet data to PDF, XLSX, CSV, and Image formats.
- Apps and integrations: Connect Zoho Sheet to a variety of other Zoho apps as well as third-party services like Quickbooks, Toggl, and Google Analytics. Build custom apps and workflows using Zoho’s Deluge scripting language.
- Data security: Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Zoho Sheet is ISO 27001 certified and follows strict security and data privacy standards.
For small businesses, students, and personal use, Zoho Sheet packs a lot of power and utility into a free spreadsheet tool if you need advanced collaboration, automation, and enterprise features.
WPS Office Spreadsheets
WPS Office Spreadsheets is a free spreadsheet software by Kingsoft Office Software. It offers a simple and intuitive interface with various features for managing and analyzing data.
Some of the main features of WPS Spreadsheets include:
- Over 300 functions: WPS Spreadsheets provides a wide range of functions for data analysis and calculations like SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, IF, VLOOKUP, etc. It supports both simple and complex functions to cater to users at all levels.
- Charts and graphs: Transforming your data into insightful charts and graphs is made easy with WPS Spreadsheets. It offers bar charts, line charts, pie charts, scatter plots, bubble charts, and more. You can customize the charts with different styles, colors, and layouts.
- Pivot tables: Pivot tables are a powerful way to summarize and analyze large amounts of data. WPS Spreadsheets allow you to create pivot tables to uncover relationships and insights in your data. You can drag and drop fields to rearrange the pivot table as needed.
- Templates: WPS Spreadsheets comes with many useful templates to help you get started like budgets, invoices, calendars, schedules, etc. You can also download additional templates to suit your needs. The templates can be edited and customized.
- Compatibility: Files created in WPS Spreadsheets can be opened in Microsoft Excel and vice versa. This compatibility allows you to easily share and collaborate on spreadsheets with others.
- Additional features: Some other useful features in WPS Spreadsheets include data sorting and filtering, conditional formatting, table styling, comments, freeze panes, spell check, and more.
WPS Spreadsheets is an excellent free alternative to Microsoft Excel. It is simple to use yet provides powerful features for managing and gaining insights from your data. For both personal and professional use, WPS Spreadsheets have all the necessary tools to get the job done.
Airtable
Airtable is a spreadsheet-database hybrid that offers the features of a database but with the familiar interface of a spreadsheet. It gives you the power to organize your work in a flexible way.
Airtable works like a spreadsheet but has the power of a database. You can create different views of your data, like a grid, calendar, gallery, timeline, or Kanban, and easily switch between them. It allows you to link records together, attach files, and filter and sort your data.
The basic components of Airtable are:
- Bases: A base is like a database and contains all your data and records. You can have multiple bases for different areas of work or projects.
- Workspaces: A workspace contains multiple bases and allows you to organize your data. You can have separate workspaces for work, personal, etc.
- Tables: A table contains records and fields, similar to a sheet in a spreadsheet. A base can have multiple tables.
- Records: A record contains data similar to a row in a spreadsheet.
- Fields: A field stores a specific piece of data, similar to a column in a spreadsheet. Each field has a name and type, such as text, number, checkbox, etc.
Some of the key benefits of Airtable are:
- Flexibility: You can organize your data in the view that suits your needs – grid, gallery, calendar, etc. You can link records between tables and filter and sort data.
- Collaboration: Airtable allows you to share bases and tables with your team members so you can collaborate efficiently.
- Integrations: Airtable integrates with many popular tools like Gmail, Slack, GitHub, etc. So you can automate workflows and save time.
- Automation: You can set up automation in Airtable using Zapier, Workato, or native Airtable automation. This allows you to automatically sync data between Airtable bases or other tools.
- Affordable pricing: Airtable has a generous free plan and affordable paid plans for teams and enterprises.
In summary, Airtable is a very flexible and collaborative spreadsheet database tool that can help organize and manage all kinds of information and workflows for both personal and business use. With an easy-to-use interface and powerful features, Airtable is a great productivity tool for any team.
OnlyOffice Spreadsheet
OnlyOffice Spreadsheet is a free, open-source spreadsheet software with a clean and intuitive interface. It has all the standard spreadsheet features like data entry, formatting, calculations, charting and more.
Unlike other desktop spreadsheet software, OnlyOffice Spreadsheet is entirely cloud-based. This means your spreadsheets are accessible anywhere on desktop, mobile, or tablet and fully compatible across platforms. Any changes you make are automatically saved in real-time, so you’ll always have the latest version.
OnlyOffice Spreadsheet allows for seamless collaboration. You can share spreadsheets with colleagues and work on them together in real-time. See who else is editing the file and view all changes, comments, and chat messages in the built-in editor. Permissions and access levels can be set for each collaborator to control what they can do.
OnlyOffice Spreadsheet has a number of handy features for data analysis and visualization. It offers several chart types like bar, line, pie, scatter and radar charts to transform your data into easy-to-understand graphics. You can also create dashboards by linking multiple data sources and charts together on one sheet.
With its clean interface, collaborative features and Excel-like functionality, OnlyOffice Spreadsheet is a great free alternative for both personal and business use. For small teams, it’s an easy way to ditch desktop software and spreadsheets via email in favor of real-time collaboration in the cloud. If you’re looking for an open-source spreadsheet package that won’t break the bank, OnlyOffice Spreadsheet is worth a try.
Gnumeric
Gnumeric is a free, open source spreadsheet program that is simple yet powerful. It has a clean and intuitive interface, so you can easily enter data, create charts, and analyze information. Entering data into Gnumeric is straightforward. You can simply start typing into any cell, and the program will automatically move to the next cell.
Gnumeric supports all the standard data types, text, numbers, dates, times, etc. It has useful features like data validation to ensure you enter the correct type of data into each cell. You can also format cells to change the font, color, size, and alignment of text.
You can easily reference cells in formulas by clicking on them with your mouse. Gnumeric will automatically add the cell reference to your formula. Visualizing your data using charts and graphs is a key feature of any spreadsheet program. Gnumeric supports all the major chart types like bar charts, line charts, pie charts, scatter plots, stock charts, etc.
Creating a chart is very intuitive just highlight the data you want to plot, click the chart wizard button and select your chart type. Gnumeric will instantly generate the chart, which you can then customize by adding titles, legends, gridlines, etc.
Gnumeric is a hidden gem offering all the power and functionality the average user needs. And the fact that it’s free open source software makes it an attractive alternative.
EtherCalc
EtherCalc is an open-source spreadsheet software that lets multiple users collaborate on the same spreadsheet in real-time. With EtherCalc, you get all the basic functionality of a typical spreadsheet like data entry, calculations, charts and pivot tables.
The interface is clean and simple, with a familiar grid layout. Formulas use the same syntax as Excel, so if you’ve used spreadsheets before, you’ll feel right at home. You can easily add rows, columns, and sheets and share your spreadsheet with others.
EtherCalc’s main strength is its real-time collaboration feature. Multiple people can edit the same spreadsheet at once and see each other’s changes instantly. You’ll see colored cursors showing where others are working, and any updates are highlighted so you don’t lose track of changes. This can be hugely useful for teams working on budgets, schedules, inventories, or any other collaborative task.
Although EtherCalc is web-based, it stores all data locally in your browser. This means you can continue editing your spreadsheets even when offline, and your changes will sync once you’re back online. You can also export your spreadsheets to Excel, CSV, and OpenDocument formats for offline and backup use.
With real-time collaboration, an intuitive interface, and offline access, EtherCalc is a great free alternative to traditional spreadsheet software. Next time you need to work with others on a spreadsheet task, give EtherCalc a try!
Thinkfree Office Calc
Thinkfree Office Calc is a spreadsheet software similar to Microsoft Excel. It allows you to create and edit spreadsheets, perform calculations, analyze data, and generate charts and graphs. The interface is simple to navigate with an uncluttered toolbar and menu. For basic needs, Thinkfree Office Calc works great and the best part is it’s completely free to use.
Some of the main features in Thinkfree Office Calc include:
- Support for common spreadsheet functions like sum, average, count, min, max, etc.
- Ability to create charts and graphs like bar charts, line charts, pie charts, etc. to visualize your data
- A formula bar to enter and edit formulas
- Cell formatting options to customize the look of cells, including fonts, number formats, borders, etc.
- Support for common keyboard shortcuts to quickly navigate and edit your spreadsheets
- Ability to sort, filter, and find data in your spreadsheets
- Options to freeze panes, split windows, and zoom in and out
- Support for common spreadsheet elements like rows, columns, cells, sheets, and workbooks
While Thinkfree Office Calc works great for basic needs, it does have some limitations compared to more advanced spreadsheet software. Some of the main limitations include:
- A limited number of spreadsheet functions. It only supports the most common functions.
- Basic charting and graphing features. The options for customizing and formatting charts are limited.
- No support for macros, pivot tables, or data validation.
- Limited cell and worksheet formatting options. There are not as many options for customizing the look and layout of your spreadsheets.
- No support for worksheet collaboration or online file storage and sharing. All files are stored locally.
For more advanced spreadsheets with complex functions, charts, and workbooks, you may need to consider an alternative like Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice Calc, or Google Sheets. But for simple personal or small business spreadsheets, Thinkfree Office Calc works perfectly well, and being free is an added bonus.
Kingsoft Spreadsheets
Kingsoft Spreadsheets is a free spreadsheet software by Kingsoft Office. It has an intuitive interface and powerful calculation functions suitable for both personal and business use. Kingsoft Spreadsheets has a simple and easy to use interface. It supports many common spreadsheet operations like cell editing, formatting, sorting, filtering and charting.
Some of the main features include:
- Over 300 functions for data calculation and analysis. Functions include math, statistics, logic, date and time, financial, and more.
- Create complex formulas by linking values between worksheets and workbooks.
- Add comments or notes to selected cells. Comments can help document your spreadsheet and provide extra details about inputs or outputs.
- Protect sheets or the entire workbook to prevent accidental changes. You can set a password and select which actions are allowed or prohibited.
- Create charts and graphs to visualize your data. Choose from column, bar, line, pie, scatter, and other chart types.
- Import and export files in XLS, XLSX, CSV, and other formats. Easily share your spreadsheets with Excel users.
- Spell check to review your spreadsheet for any spelling errors.
On the plus side, Kingsoft Spreadsheets is free to download and use. It offers good functionality for most common spreadsheet tasks. However, it lacks some of the advanced features found in paid software like Excel. The interface can also seem basic. For casual or personal use, though, Kingsoft Spreadsheets works well as a free alternative to Microsoft Excel.
iWork Numbers
Numbers is Apple’s spreadsheet app and part of the iWork productivity suite. It has a simple, intuitive interface that makes it easy to organize, calculate and analyze data. Numbers comes free with every new Mac, and you can also download it onto your iPad or iPhone.
Like any spreadsheet, Numbers lets you enter data into a grid of cells organized into rows and columns. You can format cells to display numbers, text, dates, times, currencies, percentages, etc. It has all the formulas you’d expect: add, subtract, multiply, divide, sum, average, min, max, count, etc. You can also create your own formulas using Numbers’ formula editor.
One of Numbers’ biggest advantages is how attractive you can make your spreadsheets look. You have access to many fonts, text sizes, and cell styles and can add shapes, charts, images, and videos to your spreadsheets. You can create custom cell styles, apply table styles, and even add interactive controls like sliders, steppers, and pop-up menus. Numbers make data analysis and visualization easy.
If you have an iCloud account, you can store and sync your Numbers spreadsheets across all your Apple devices. You can also share and collaborate on spreadsheets with others in real-time. Multiple people can work on the same spreadsheet simultaneously and see each other’s changes instantly. This allows for seamless collaboration whether you’re in the same room or different countries.
Conclusion
So there you have it, over a dozen options for spreadsheet software to consider. While Excel may still reign supreme for many, the diversity of choices out there means you’re bound to find one that aligns with your needs and preferences. And who knows, you may just discover an underdog spreadsheet that becomes your new go-to. The key is to keep an open mind, try out a few contenders, and let your own experience be the judge. Don’t be afraid to switch things up if your current spreadsheet setup isn’t cutting it. A little trial and error could unlock major productivity gains. And with so many powerful yet user-friendly options now available, spreadsheets don’t have to be a source of frustration. Instead, they can become one of your most valuable work tools.