Spreadsheets are the most important part of any business especially the finance department, even an individual sooner or later needs Spreadsheet to work with them. However, even though tools providing spreadsheet facility comes with vast functions but we are usually limited to a minimum. The popular program & example is MS Excel, many of its users do not use many of the extensive functions at all or often do not know that they even exist. Thus, why do you want to spend your money on buying software when you’re not using half of it properly? Therefore, we have many alternatives to Excel spreadsheets that are available free of cost, and here we are listing the best ones.
Best alternatives to Excel Spreadsheets 2021
1. Google Sheets
Google Sheets is Google’s cloud-based alternative to Microsoft Excel. You just need a browser to use it, thus you can use your Excel sheets but without installing and consuming extra storage and CPU power. Being device and platform-independent we can use it on Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.
Key Features:
- Cloud-based, you will never lose your important calculations
- Accessible from any using internet
- Offline usage is possible
- Saves every change in Google Drive
- Google Sheets offers real-time collaboration in which multiple users can edit a document at the same time.
- Free of cost
Well, you will not find Excel-like advanced features, hence those who are common Spreadsheet users can easily switch to Google Sheets. Also, sometimes complicated excel formulas may not work in Sheets as we upload the file to Google Sheets.
2. LibreOffice Calc
Like OpenOffice, LibreOffice is a free office suite with its own Excel alternative, also called Calc. It has the same limitations as OpenOffice because LibreOffice does not have cloud support or real-time collaboration. What LibreOffice does offer, however, is a surprisingly robust list of features, well not even all of which are in Excel. It can even handle the import of older spreadsheets from older applications.
Key Features:
- Completely Free and Open Source
- Available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- Allow open, edit and save Excel files
- Dynamic Charts and Pivot Table
- Real-time data streams can now be integrated into sheets and reports.
- Calc save spreadsheets as PDF files
- OpenDocument (ODF), Excel (XLS), CSV, and several other formats
- Support for many functions including imaginary numbers statistical function
3. WPS Office Spreadsheets
WPS Office doesn’t need an introduction, it is a free office suite that comes with a Spreadsheet tool as well to compete with Excel. Moreover, WPS Office tables are a great alternative. It offers a full version free of cost with advertisements and to remove that the users need to buy the program. However, advertisements only appear when you want to print or save something or use some of the other specialized tools. WPS is 100% compatible with Excel.
Key Features:
- Support Excel file (.XLS and . XLSX) formats.
- Free of Cost
- Available to install for a wide range of operating systems including Linux.
- Allowing adding of photos, charts, tables, and graphs
- Worksheets support functions for finance, statistics, IT, engineering, and more
- Auto-fit cells to their contents
- Includes 100 common functions and formulas
- Auto-contract
4. Microsoft Office Excel Online
If you are not happy with Google Sheets, then use Microsoft Excel Online, it is an online version of Microsoft Office that includes a stripped-down version of Excel. Of course, this version is very similar to the Excel of the Office suite and uses OneDrive for automatic storage. It also has real-time collaboration tools.
Key features:
- Online Cloud solution
- Needs the only browser to run
- Offline usage is possible
- Similar to MS- Excel
- Automatica Data saving in OneDrive
- Access is possible from anywhere using an internet connection
- Free of cost
5. ONLYOFFICE Spreadsheet Editor
Onlyoffice is one of the best free alternatives to MS-Excel for creating and editing spreadsheets on Windows 10 and Linux. We can even install it on Docker running containers. The spreadsheet is a part of this free office suite called OnlyOffice Docs which also contains documents and presentation editors.
Key Features:
- Available in Cloud and Enterprise editions as well.
- Supports .xlsx, .xls, .ods, and .csv files, and can save spreadsheets as a PDF
- Allows creating colorful charts and informative graphics.
- Addition of equations, shapes, and images, and use Text Art or YouTube videos
- Create your own macros using JavaScript language syntax
- Extend the spreadsheet-editing capabilities with the help of plugins.
- Above 400 functions and formulas for mathematical calculations
- Pre-built table templates, Pivot tables, Quickly filter data, and more.
6. Zoho Sheet – free online office
Zoho is popular for proving enterprise software and one of them is the free online Office tool with SpreedSheet to replace Microsoft Excel without installing anything on PC or Laptop. Zoho Sheet is a cloud-based software that we can use online using any browser just like Google Sheets & online Office 365.
Key Features:
- Being an online tool, use it on any OS with the help of a browser
- Supports Microsoft Excel files xls, xlsx, xlsm,xltx and other formats, like .ods, .csv, and .tsv.
- Allow embedding entire file or certain rang of data on blogs/webpages
- Track your progress with checklists, create validations for data entry
- Offers over 350+ functions, or build customized functions
- Integrated with Zia to automat charts and pivot table creation.