Spreadsheets software offers some of the most advanced tools for calculating big numbers, and percentages, displaying visuals, and even project management and data validation. Of course, the most popular software is Excel, which boasts 750 million users around the globe. But do you know that there are many other alternatives to this Microsoft software? 

In this article, we’ll mention the Best Spreadsheet Software you can find on the web. Who knows? Maybe you will decide to change the old reliable software to a different one.

Below you find some of the best spreadsheet software currently available for both personal and business use. Read carefully to make a good decision about which is the best for your business plan.

Microsoft Excel is very likely the most famous spreadsheet software we’ll mention in this list. Microsoft Excel was designed for data management, including more than 400 functions to do different operations. Nowadays, Excel boasts a maximum cell count of 17,179,869,184 and offers more advanced features than any other software on the market.

Microsoft Excel allows you to organize data and create charts and tables easily. You can insert these graphs directly into the spreadsheet just by selecting the information and clicking on the right choice. All these options are customizable just by clicking on them. 

This spreadsheet tool learns your patterns, offering an organization of your data to save time and effort. Besides, it offers dozens of templates from where to start to create forms, data, and dozens of formulas to perform calculations.

You can share your books with members of your organization thanks to real-time collaboration. Besides, if you have Microsoft 365, you can work on your spreadsheet from mobile. 

One of the most interesting functions of Excel is that you can add data directly from a photo using the Excel app. To do this, just take a photo of a printed table on your iPhone or Android. The software will automatically convert the image into an editable Excel table. This is a very useful function when you need to enter hard copy data. 

Excel is the most famous spreadsheet software out there; hence it’s the easiest to learn due to the plethora of tutorials on Google or YouTube. There are also various courses you can complete to master the software. 

However, the biggest drawback of this app is the Microsoft Excel price (USD$159.99), which forces many users to look for alternatives. Still, you don’t have to purchase this software directly from Microsoft, as numerous third-party sellers offer Microsoft software keys at a fraction of the retail cost. For example, at RoyalCDKeys, you can get Microsoft Excel as part of the Microsoft Office suite at the starting price of around €3,50. 

Get a legit Office 2021 Pro Plus Key Bind Retail Global and start to use Excel.

Google Sheets is a free spreadsheet software designed by Google which includes several similar functions to Excel. It’s also a web based application, then all your projects will be supported in the cloud. 

When it comes to improved collaboration tools, Google Sheets is the leader in the market. It features tools for chat, real-time co-authoring, comments, simple sharing spreadsheets, and version history to track the progress between contributors. 

The best of Google Sheets is that it does not need to install on your computer. Every file you create is stored in the cloud. Additionally, Google Sheets features several spreadsheet software options through which you can organize data and perform basic tasks, not so much like Excel, but still an alternative worth considering if you have a small business. 

Just like Excel, one of the strongest points of this software of the Google suite is the possibility of creating graphs and charts just by selecting the data and the icon for those purposes. 

Google Sheets is the best free Excel alternative if you need basic tools, generate formulas to create visualizations to show profits, outflows, inflows, etcetera, of your business. Besides, as a plus, you can sync with Google Analytics, Google Forms, and Google Data Studio. 

Regarding the Google Sheets Price, it’s completely free, which turns it into a good option for those who do not want to pay for small calculations and data management.

If you do not want to purchase Excel because you want to try a different and free alternative, then this minimal coding software is perfect for you.

LibreOffice is a free, open-source productivity suite and the direct successor to OpenOffice (.org). Currently, this cal software has 10 million users worldwide, but this number is increasing day by day.

LibreOffice features dozens of rich tools that make it the most versatile spreadsheet program out there, including:

• Writer, for word processing,
• Calc, for spreadsheets,
• Draw, for graphics,
• Math, for formula application,
• Base, for databases.
• Impress, for visual basic.

This spreadsheet app provides a clean interface that performs great-looking documents. Whether you’re working on a financial report, a short story, a letter, a thesis, technical drawings, or whatever, your documents will look impressive and well-structured.

LibreOffice is compatible with several types of document formats, such as Excel (.xls, .xlsx), Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx) and Publisher. Additionally, LibreOffice supports its type of format, called Open Document Format (ODF). Thanks to this open standard file, you can access your documents wherever you are, no matter which type of device you’re using.

Calc, the spreadsheet software of LibreOffice, is free, but it does not have a good collaboration interface or tools. Besides, since it is open-source software, it is produced by a wide community of independent developers. For the same reason, real-time co-authoring isn’t supported.

Still, LibreOffice is a great alternative for beginners who are just starting in this type of software. The learning curve is small, and some helpful tools help new users get started. Finally, the LibreOffice Calc price is free. Then, you can start using it right now!

Zoho is a modern spreadsheet software completely based on web functions. Thanks to this, real-time collaboration, sharing permissions, chat, and co-authoring work smoothly. With Zoho, you can easily create custom functions and power them with AI-assisted data analysis and an automated data processor. 

Zoho allows you to generate work together with your teammates and comment, discuss, and make changes directly in the same file. 

Zoho works through any device, so you can create and edit spreadsheets from any computer browser, providing complete project management over your files. You can even access your data via Zoho Sheet’s iOS and Android apps and analyze data and collaborate wherever you are. 

This software also allows you to integrate Zoho Sheets with dozens of other cloud-based apps, such as Zoho CRM, to get the best of this free Excel alternative. You can also lock selected cells for specific collaborators, delegate control to contributors, and restore previous versions of the file. 

Zoho features over 350 functions and a basic formula builder with interesting descriptions about how to use it. You can also link external data, such as RSS feed or CSV file. 

One of the disadvantages of Zoho is that it features many advanced features hidden in menus and just a few chart types. 

The Zoho Sheet price starts at USD$5 per month for the Standard version.

OnlyOffice features a self-hosted cloud environment and robust compatibility with computers, tablets, and smartphones, which is great for sharing different types of info and files, such as raw data, pivot tables, graphs, and performance reports. 

Thanks to its cloud-hosted nature, OnlyOffice is great for collaboration, featuring excellent support. Besides, it allows choosing between real-time editing or save-to-sync formats. This way, you can work on files alone or with many other multiple users. 

OnlyOffice is one of the few software that can compete directly with Excel in similar conditions since it features more than 400 advanced functions. Among these, Text to Columns, filtering, and pivot tables. And just like most spreadsheet software, this application features an easy-to-use, clear, and minimalistic spreadsheet interface. Due to this, it’s effortless to create custom workflows and functions. 

All the tools are available in ribbons, and creating graphs and charts is equally easy. Finally, this software shares many aspects with the Microsoft software, but, unlike Excel, OnlyOffice just features the basics.

As you can imagine when reading the name of this software, Apple Numbers is a product for the Mac user. One of the strongest points of this tool compared to other spreadsheet software is that Apple Numbers stands out for its clean, modern, and simple user interface.

Unlike Excel and Google Sheets, Numbers features an infinite blank canvas that allows you to insert tables wherever you want. Thanks to this intuitive interface, you can create your space work that fits your style and projects. In other words, you can set charts and graphs and place them freely on the canvas to generate a good reading for your team workers or clients.

Apple Numbers brings numerous templates which are very useful to start learning the main functions of the software. Besides, you customize an existing project management template to create your personal space with timelines, charts, graphs, and more. 

In comparison to Excel and OnlyOffice, Apple Numbers lacks features such as the possibility to manage large amounts of data. But, on the other hand, it makes it easier to use the software and synchronize across multiple devices.

If you’re just an occasional spreadsheet software user, then EtherCalc may fit you. This is a cloud-based spreadsheet application, just like Google Sheets. Such as, it’s less cumbersome and easier to use than other great spreadsheet software, like Excel or OnlyOffice. 

The best of this robust tool is that you can use it freely, and an account isn’t required to use it. Just head to the EtherCalc website and click on the “Create Spreadsheet” button located in the bottom left corner. This way, the site will create a unique sheet with a unique URL. You’ll be able to copy, paste and share this URL.

Your data will be saved on the web, and specific people can work on the same document at the same time. Such as, it’s a productivity tool that can enhance your teamwork regarding basic functionality.

The only disadvantage of this application is that it lacks relevant collaboration features as it was created in 2006. Still, it’s easy to access, not like other apps, and easy to share, which is relevant if you’re going to use for your organization or share it with other users and/or external users.

If you’re looking for the best alternative in terms of spreadsheet collaboration and project management, then SmartSheet is the product launch you're looking for. With this tool, you can manage projects, automate processes, and scale up to business-level portfolios and programs, everything in a familiar interface. SmartSheet allows you to toggle between document and spreadsheet layout as you work.  

You can also track the status of specific projects and use the Alerts & Actions tools to nudge members to edit a piece of work. 

SmartSheet provides great integration with other productivity apps, even other Google apps, such as OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Suite, Google Docs, and even Excel files. Furthermore, with SmartSheets, it incorporates data from external users and clients.

Airtable is a modern, well-structured software designed to improve productivity and create custom workflows within familiar templates. This app offers several features that include a project tracker, product planning, a content calendar, and a sales CRM.

But Airtable brings even more easy-to-use logical functions, just like those you can find in other spreadsheet applications. With Airtable, you can create graphs, and pivot tables, integrate natural language formulas, summarize values, and more advanced project management features and conditional formatting features.

Thanks to Airtable, you can unite your stream of work and create a single source that tailors your teamwork. Besides, unlike Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc, and other spreadsheet software, Airtable allows you to create custom interfaces to provide just the relevant information for each participant.

This is a great alternative to fulfill common tasks that provides powerful solutions for more functions to accelerate your work and unlock the potential to incorporate data and teams.

While Airtable has a free plan available, pricing for business packages begins at $10 per user per month.

Stackby is a platform that helps you to keep your data together and sync workflows and team workers in one space with flexible spreadsheets. Stackby provides many functions very similar to others you can find in programs such as Asana, Trello, or Monday.

With Stackby, you can be part of any project by creating spreadsheets, collaborating with other team members, and automatizing functions, no coding or training is needed. Due to this, you can turn spreadsheets into databases to improve the data range and create your custom solutions. 

Just like other software, such as the aforementioned Trello and some functions on Google Workspace calendar, Airtable works through columns, and boards, in which you get and drop elements. You can also set up to display information and track projects. Airtable has 25 column types that provide visual basics to build your solution according to your team or business needs. 

Furthermore, suppose you’re tired of manually updating your spreadsheets. In that case, you’ll be happy to know that you can connect columns to services and pull data automatically in your table as well as refresh data in real-time. In a few words,  Stackby is a great app for Windows, Mac, and other OS.

Microsoft Excel, introduced in 1987, will continue to be one of the most relevant spreadsheet software on the market for managing massive data sets. But, since then, much alternative software has been released, allowing users to create HTML information portals, forms, graphs, tables, and other data media. Many of them even provide a better service than the service offered by the Microsoft app. So the only thing left is to read this and other reviews and try to make an informed decision.