5 free Excel analogues for working with spreadsheets

Google Sheets

• Platform: Android, iOS, Web.

A free cloud-based spreadsheet editor that not only provides the user with most of the capabilities of Excel, but also has its own unique features. For example, integration with other Google services, group chat and co-authoring mode.

The service has many built-in formulas, pivot tables and ready-made templates. And the version control system will help you roll back unwanted changes if your table suddenly stops working as expected.

Google Sheets →

iWork Numbers

• Platform: macOS, iOS, Web.

An Excel alternative available to all macOS users. In general, in the browser Numbers can be used on any system if you have an iCloud account, but the mobile version is only for iOS. Numbers supports real-time collaboration and lets you import and export spreadsheets in Excel formats. If you have an Apple Pen and iPad, you can take notes directly on the sheet of the table by hand.

Numbers has over 700 customizable forms used to visualize data, and a fair amount of customization for labels and cells. Formation of pivot tables and data analysis function are also present.

iWork Numbers →

LibreOffice Calc

• Platform: Windows, Linux, macOS.

Calc is part of the LibreOffice office suite, free and open source. This set of programs comes with most Linux distributions, but you can also install it on Windows with macOS.

Calc supports the Excel format, so you can open and edit existing files. Its interface is notable for its enviable flexibility - the buttons on the panels can be sorted as you like, removing unnecessary ones and adding the necessary ones. There are a lot of possibilities for formatting tables. For those who work with a large amount of data, the DataPilot tool is useful - it allows you to import numbers from external databases into a table.

LibreOffice Calc →

WPS Office Spreadsheets

• Platform: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS, Web.

Spreadsheet editor included in the Chinese WPS Office suite. Of all the listed alternatives, it is most similar to Excel in appearance, so you don't have to spend time retraining with it. It also works well with Excel files - XLS, XLSX, and CSV.

The editor supports collaboration, it has more than a hundred formulas, the function of creating pivot tables and data analysis. The only annoying thing about WPS is advertising, but you can put up with it.

WPS Office Spreadsheets →

Zoho Office Sheet

• Platform: Android, iOS, Web.

This free application is useful for those who analyze relatively large amounts of data. Zoho allows 25 users to work on one table at a time. You can rollback unwanted changes using version control and protect the most important cells in the table with a password.

Zoho supports pivot tables and conditional formatting. The application has the ability to automate certain tasks, such as collecting data and checking the contents of cells. The program can import data from external sources such as web pages, RSS feeds or external tables. Zoho also allows you to create custom functions and record macros.

Zoho Office Sheet →

Do you use any Excel alternative? Let us know in the comments.