10 Best Spreadsheet Software to Try in 2024
Spreadsheet software is one of the core tools any business needs for data analysis and visualization.
Finding the best spreadsheet software is time-consuming and a comprehensive process. You have to test out multiple platforms and see which one suits your business the best.
To make things easier for you, I have tried and tested 10 best spreadsheet software in the market so you don’t have to.
I have tested these tools based on multiple parameters, and in this article, I discuss their features, pricing, pros and cons.
Let’s start by discussing the factors you must consider when choosing a spreadsheet software for your business.
Factors to Consider Before Choosing the Best Spreadsheet Software
Apart from the obvious factors like availability of functions and formulas, good charts, and format compatibility, there are three other factors to consider when choosing a spreadsheet software in today’s context:
Data ingestion ability
Integration with AI
Data handling and visualization capabilities
1. Data Ingestion Ability
Data ingestion is the process of importing or processing data from multiple sources into a spreadsheet.
Modern teams’ tech stack includes tools that handle data from a variety of different sources. As an analytical tool, a spreadsheet must now fit the tech stack by being able to connect with other tools.
When choosing a spreadsheet software, ingestion is one of the most important factors to consider.
Any software you choose must be able to ingest data automatically, not just with copy/paste or import file functionality.
2. Integration with AI
Almost every spreadsheet software you try will integrate with data analysis, marketing, finance, etc. software, but it’s 2024; you need more.
With the AI revolution, the spreadsheet software you choose must integrate with AI natively so that artificial intelligence can help you with data analysis, cleaning, and visualization.
3. Data Handling and Visualization Capabilities
The spreadsheet software you choose must be able to handle mid-sized and big datasets, have sufficient functions and formulas to handle complex calculations, and allow you to onboard your team and work alongside them.
A spreadsheet isn’t just a tool for analyzing data but also for presenting data. This means that the spreadsheet is becoming more of a document (e.g., a dashboard) than just a math playground.
Therefore, the software must also let you convert data into charts, graphs, and tables so you can visualize the data better and make the right decisions.
The spreadsheet where data comes to life
Connected to your business data. Powered by AI. Delightful to share.
Try Rows for FreeWhat are the Best Spreadsheet Software to Try this Year?
1. Rows
Rows is a comprehensive spreadsheet for modern teams that offers better UX for data ingestion and has native AI capabilities (AI analyst, AI-generated subtitles, native AI functions) that Coefficient lacks.
The software makes it super easy for you to import data directly from tools like databases and ad platforms to a spreadsheet.
Feature 1. Data Ingestion
With Rows, it’s easy to get your data into a spreadsheet in just a few clicks. It integrates with 50 data sources, so you can pull data from all major sources.
The good thing about Rows data connectors is that all of them are built-in native features. You don’t need an external add-on to use AI in your analysis.
Curious about how Rows does it?
It handles JSONs in the grid and converts them into table format.
This feature helps you save time when building recurring reports or handling messy CSVs.
Some examples of data integration in Rows are:
Import Google Analytics 4 data to Rows and get key analytics and reporting. Pick one of the recommended reports or build your own custom view as follows:
Or you can:
Connect your LinkedIn page and track comments to your posts.
Connect Slack to Rows and set alert automation to your #social channel whenever a new comment appears on your social media posts. All from a spreadsheet.
Import a Notion database in Rows with a few clicks, enrich data, and send it back to Notion.
When the tool you’re working with isn’t listed in our catalog, use our HTTP tool to make GET, POST, PATCH, and PUT requests to any endpoint using basic or API token authentication methods.
💡 Try it yourself with our HTTP Tester.
Feature 2. Inbuilt AI to Solve Complex Problems
By integrating AI into its system, Rows has made data analysis comparatively easy, even for non-data-friendly users. The software lets you get answers to complex problems using natural language rather than formulas.
Also, you don’t need to install any third-party plugin to use AI in the process. Everything is in-built, leading to a seamless user experience.
When we talk about AI, Rows has three main components:
1. AI Functions
Rows integrates with Open AI for its 14 proprietary functions that automate prompts and address specific types of tasks.
Here’s one of the use cases of AI functions – EXTRACT_OPENAI in action:
Similarly, you can also execute sentiment analysis on a social media comment or product review using the function – SENTIMENT_ANALYSIS_OPENAI or clean up data using APPLY_TASK_OPENAI.
Discover more about all possible use cases of AI in Rows.
2. AI Analyst
With the AI Analyst, you can ask AI to analyze, summarize, transform, and enrich your analysis. Click on the ✨ icon, at the top right corner of any table.
A chat interface will open on the right: you can ask a broad range of questions, from basic spreadsheet commands - plotting a chart or adding or formatting columns - to more complex tasks, such as slicing, pivoting, or computing metrics about your data.
For example, given a dataset with daily revenue and costs of various marketing campaigns, you can ask the Analyst to add a column with the profit margin. Watch the video below:
In addition, our AI Analyst is instructed to use our native OpenAI functions to perform data enrichment or extraction tasks.
For example, you can ask the AI analyst to run a sentiment analysis on a column with product reviews, or add a column that categorizes addresses into regions, see below:
Want to know more about how our Analyst works? Check out our guide or watch our demo.
3. AI Subtitles
Ask AI to generate subtitles for your tables and graphs that include key insights from the data displayed.
Feature 3. Embed Feature
Rows lets you embed tables and charts on a website, wiki, or other internal tools with ease.
It’s a simple 4 step process:
Choose Embed in the settings menu located in the right-hand corner of the element you want to embed.
Click the Share Privately toggle.
Click <> Copy code. You can use the Copy link to paste directly into tools that automatically embed via the link - e.g., Notion.
Paste the embed code on your website, wiki, or destination tool.
Learn how to use Embed in all the most recent documentation tools, like Notion, Confluence, and Slite.
Pricing
Rows offers a free forever plan that’s quite generous. It lets you onboard unlimited members, up to 10 guests, and execute up to 50 integration tasks per month.
If you want to get rid of these limits and want access to more premium features, Rows has three paid plans to choose from:
Plus: $15/month/member, up to 25 guests, unlimited integration tasks & daily data refresh.
Pro: $22/month/member, up to 100 guests, unlimited integration tasks & hourly data refresh.
Enterprise: Custom price for advanced API usage and workflows.
Pros and Cons
✅ Has more than 50 native integrations.
✅ Easy to analyze and visualize data, especially for non-data-friendly users.
❌ Doesn’t have an offline app.
The spreadsheet where data comes to life
Connected to your business data. Powered by AI. Delightful to share.
Try Rows for Free2. Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is powerful and one of the first spreadsheet software on the market. It's popularly used for large databases and complex calculations.
Features
Excel has more than 500 formulas and the ability to combine formulas to form functions for advanced analysis.
Its AI Copilot lets you analyze data for trends, propose what-if scenarios, and generate formulas and functions for data harmonization via simple text-based commands.
Has built-in optical character recognition (OCR) technology to convert data stored in physical documents into a fully editable Excel table.
You can create Macros in Excel to automate repetitive tasks such as auto-filling cells, updating cell values, and applying auto-formatting.
Pricing
Microsoft Excel is free to use online and available (paid) as part of the Microsoft 365 product suite for on-premise usage. It has two subscription categories:
Personal: $6.99 per month
Family: $9.99 per month
For Business
Basic: $6 per user per month
Standard: $12.50 per user per month
Premium: $22 per user per month
Pros and Cons
✅ It has an extensive catalog of formulas and functions.
✅ Integrated AI capabilities for data analysis and forecasting.
✅ Better at handling large datasets and complex projects.
❌ Excel's on-premise app faces versioning issues, making it hard for teams to collaborate.
3. Google Sheets
Google Sheets is a free-to-use online spreadsheet software. Consider it the modern version of Excel, which is more connected to your business apps and helps you create and collaborate on spreadsheets in real time.
Features
Google Sheets offers assistive AI features, like smart fill, formula suggestions, automatic data cleaning, and duplicate data removal, to help in data harmonization.
Sheets integrates with other Google apps such as Google Forms, Slides, and Docs. You can also reply to peer comments directly from Gmail and easily present your spreadsheets on Google Meet.
Real-time versioning and co-editing makes it easy to review data changes in specific cells or entire spreadsheets as they happen.
Has an extensive gallery of formulas and functions, data visualization elements, and templates to help you with data analysis and reporting.
Pricing
Google Sheets is free for individual use. However, it is available as part of Google Workspace for businesses.
Here are its four annual plans to choose from:
Business Starter: $6 per user per month
Business Standard: $12 per user per month
Business Plus: $18 per user per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Pros and Cons
✅ Access to Google Workspace Marketplace, which offers hundreds of free and paid add-ons for Sheets.
✅ Offers real-time collaboration.
❌ AI integrations aren’t as good as other spreadsheet software.
4. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is project management software with a spreadsheet-like interface. It’s similar to traditional spreadsheet software but offers dynamic and integrated features to manage projects, automate processes, and collaborate on the go.
Features
Smartsheet offers seven views, including Grid, Gantt, Timeline, Kanban, and Calendar, to visualize data your way.
Has a visual automation builder that lets you drag and drop triggers, conditions, and action blocks to set up workflows across data sheets and apps like MS Teams and Slack.
Like a project management tool, you can create task cards, assign them to team members, and monitor progress in real time.
Use Data Shuttle to create automated CSV and XLSX data imports from systems like SAP, Workday, Jira, and more into Smartsheet.
Smartsheet AI provides instant data insights, analyzes sentiments, answers ad hoc questions via charts, drafts descriptions, generates formulas, and translates and summarizes text.
Pricing
Smartsheet offers a free forever plan limited to a single user and three sheets. Other than that, it has three premium plans:
Pro: $9 per user per month
Business: $32 per user per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Pros and Cons
✅ Real-time collaboration features like in-app chat and comment.
✅ Shared files don’t require the recipient to have a Smartsheet account to open the file.
❌ Offers limited rows and columns.
❌ Limited data visualization capabilities.
5. Equals
Equals is a flexible spreadsheet and reporting software trusted by growing startups like Notion, Intercom, Descript, and more to make the most out of raw data.
Features
Ingest data directly from PostgreSQL, Stripe, QuickBooks, and 20+ other sources using native connectors or build custom queries using the no-code query builder.
Equals allows you to use Excel formulas and keyboard shortcuts, making it an easy-to-use tool for those familiar with Excel.
Use AI to write, summarize, or debug formulas or create an entire dashboard with AI-generated charts and summaries within clicks.
Set up reports and dashboards for auto-distribution via Slack, emails, and smart links based on scheduled intervals.
Pricing
Equals offers seat-based pricing at $39 per month per seat. In addition, it has three other connector plans to choose from:
Essential: $99 per month per connector
Standard: $299 per month per connector
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Pros and Cons
✅ Comes with integrated AI capabilities.
✅ Support Excel formulas, functions, and shortcuts, leading to a minimal learning curve.
❌ You must pay for each connector separately, making it an expensive tool.
6. Gigasheet
Gigasheet is powerful spreadsheet software designed for big data analysis. Its user-friendly, spreadsheet-like interface makes it easy to explore and analyze large datasets.
Features
Use Gigasheet Filters to build nested queries using AND/OR, IF/ELSE conditioning, and wildcard and regex matching.
Use Gigasheet's cross-file VLookup function to correlate data between multiple sheets simultaneously.
Gigasheet's AI Sheet Assistant helps with data harmonization and cleaning. It automatically filters, groups, aggregates, or removes duplicate data via simple text-based prompts.
Offers version control features, allowing you to review or restore previous versions of your sheets if necessary.
Pricing
Gigaset offers a free forever plan with 500 MB of data storage, AI assistance, and basic data analysis features. Alongside, it has three paid plans:
Premium: $95 per user per month
Business: $4,950 per year
Enterprise: Custom Pricing
Pros and Cons
✅ Gigasheet can handle and analyze large datasets.
✅ Supports various file formats, including CSV, JSON, HTML, and more.
❌ Lacks granular features like in-cell editing.
7. OnlyOffice
Similar to Google Workspace, OnlyOffice features a range of online products like OnlyOffice docs, spreadsheets, presentations, and PDF Creator to assist you with office work. Its spreadsheet editor lets you create, edit, and collaborate on Excel sheets online.
Features
OnlyOffice Spreadsheet editor has an extensive catalog of 450+ available functions and formulas with special syntax tips.
Use features such as Trace Precedents and Trace Dependents to display the relationships between formulas and cells within clicks.
It features built-in tools for data validation, organization, and management, and a duplicate remover to make your calculations more precise.
Supports adding charts, sparklines, graphics, videos, images, and freehand drawings to illustrate your data using visuals.
Create macros using JavaScript to automate repetitive tasks, or use the ChatGPT plugin to answer questions, find information, generate texts, build your code, etc., right in the editor.
Pricing
OnlyOffice DocSapce for business offers a generous free version. Additionally, it has a flexible pricing structure:
OnlyOffice DocSpace
Startup: Free
Business: $20 per admin/month
Enterprise: $6550 per server/Lifetime
OnlyOffice Docs Enterprise
Cloud-hosted: $8 per user/month
On-premises: $1500
Pros and Cons
✅ Allows editing Excel files.
✅ Advanced security features such as cell lock-ins and role-based permissions.
✅ Excellent data presentation and visualization capabilities.
❌ Lacks native AI integration.
8. Airtable
Airtable is a database-oriented project management software. It offers multiple views and ways to manage and automate your data while keeping AI by your side.
Features
Airtable offers seven distinct views – List, Grid, Timeline, Gantt, Gallery, Calendar, and Form views — to organize and manage data across departments and roles.
Use the drag-and-drop interface designer to fully design your app interface to create bite-sized custom apps for different departments and purposes.
Has a visual automation builder that lets you create automated, multi-step workflows between data and apps using trigger and action logic.
Airtable's gallery view helps add context to data by showcasing images, designs, and creativity more effectively and in a comprehensive, organized format.
Pricing
Airtable offers a free forever plan, limited to 1,000 records. Other than that, it has three paid plans:
Team: $24 per seat per month
Business: $54 per seat per month
Enterprise: Custom pricing
Pros and Cons
✅ Airtable excels at real-time collaboration.
✅ It has robust reporting capabilities.
❌ Airtable lacks built-in visualization elements and relies on extensions for data visualization.
❌ The free plan is limited to 1,000 rows, which means using Airtable for a large database would be costly.
9. Zoho Sheet
Zoho Sheet is an online spreadsheet application that incorporates AI to assist you with small and mid-sized data analysis.
Features
Zoho Sheet offers 30+ functions with other functionalities like Deluge for creating custom functions, Goal Seek for goal tracking, and Solver for linear programming.
Get a better grip on your spreadsheet with features like permission-based access, cell lock-ins, checkouts, audit trials, versioning, and more.
Visualize spreadsheet data with over 35 different chart types, pivot tables, sparlines, and more visualization elements.
Ask Zia, Zoho's proprietary AI, to recommend charts, create pivot tables, generate formulas, and answer questions about your data.
Pricing
Zoho doesn’t reveal its pricing on the website. You can get started for free, and when you want to extend limits and get access to premium features, contact Zoho’s sales team to enquire about pricing.
Pros and Cons
✅ Has integrated AI capabilities.
✅ Supports 20+ different languages.
✅ Lets you collaborate with your team in real time.
❌ At times, data rendering is slow and laggy.
10. LibreOffice Calc
LibreOffice Calc is a free, open-source spreadsheet app with comprehensive data analysis functions that benefit professional data analysts.
Features
LibreOffice Calc offers an extensive catalog of functions and formulas for various purposes, like mathematical, statistical, and financial calculations.
Has a function wizard that lets you create formulas and explain how a particular formula was composed.
Use Scenario Manager to perform a 'What if' analysis, run different cell values in your calculations, and compute results for predictive forecasting.
LibreOffice's Math formula editor lets you create and edit sophisticated mathematical and scientific formulas using elements like fractions, exponents, integrals, and matrices.
Advanced DataPilot tech makes it easy to load data from corporate databases and cross-tabulate, summarize, and convert it into meaningful information.
Pricing
LibreOffice Calc is a free open-source software.
Pros and Cons
✅ LibreOffice Calc is free to use.
✅ Ability to open and save files in Microsoft Excel format (.xls, .xlsx).
✅ You can expand LibreOffice capabilities with extensions and software plugins from the LibreOffice Extension Center.
❌ Calc doesn't work online.
The spreadsheet where data comes to life
Connected to your business data. Powered by AI. Delightful to share.
Try Rows for FreeWrapping Up
There you have it – the 10 best spreadsheet software that you can try and finalize the one that suits your business needs.
Remember that there’s no one best spreadsheet software for everyone; different businesses have different needs and thus require different solutions.
But how do you find out which spreadsheet software is right for you?
Well, there’s no better way than signing up for free trials and judging products for yourself.
If you or your team don’t have the time to try every product on our list, go to Rows.com, import data, automate your report, and see if it's the right match!
