5 Best Alternatives to Microsoft Excel

The hunt for the best Excel alternative has never cooled down. Microsoft Excel has always been the number one name in the field of spreadsheet processing. But there are a few problems with Microsoft Excel, and the biggest of which is the price. A standalone copy of this software costs up to $129.99 (about 3,000,000 VND). And if you use Excel with Microsoft Office, the cost is $69.99 (VND 1,500,000)/year!

Thankfully, there are a few alternative spreadsheet software available for free that perform the same functions as Excel.

Google Sheets is Google’s response to the Microsoft Excel software. The cool thing is that you don’t need a special subscription to use Google Sheets. If you have a Google account, you can access and use this software.

Google Spreadsheets are hosted in the cloud but also have offline apps for both PC and mobile platforms. This feature means you can access your sheets anywhere and on any platform.

Google Sheets is essentially an effective collaboration tool. You can edit and review spreadsheets in real time with other team members. Google Sheets also allows writing additional Javascript code to extend its capabilities. Connecting to the web API is also very easy. This feature allows to get data and information from web pages directly.

With its rich user interface and powerful Excel data functions such as pivot tables and data visualization, you should consider switching to the Excel alternative. this strong.

This is another cloud-based alternative to Excel, built and managed by the “giant” of business software solutions – Zoho. At its core, Zoho Sheets is built on top of Zoho’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software solutions.

Zoho Sheets allows the freedom to switch between different spreadsheet extensions, such as .xls, .csv .xlsx, and .ods. Therefore, you don’t have to bother with data compatibility anymore.

Despite its simple interface, Zoho Sheets’ Excel functions, like pivot tables, charts, and data visualizations, are truly formidable. All these features are on par with Excel.

Also, if you are a young start-up who wants to save money, Zoho Sheets will be the best tool for you. The Zoho Excel app integrates seamlessly with CRM solutions and is free for teams of up to 25 people. Zoho Sheets deserves to be one of the best alternatives to Excel.

Libre Calc is the spreadsheet software in the LibreOffice suite of applications. This suite is considered as one of the best Excel alternatives thanks to its large and active community.

Libre Calc is completely open source. New features are always added and bug fixed in regular releases. It is not uncommon for most Linux distributions to choose Libre Calc as the default spreadsheet application.

However, this software is a function based application. Therefore, Libre Calc does not have the beautiful data visualization features like Excel. But this tool is extremely powerful, as it also supports all document formats as well as Excel Macros. Libre Calc supports extensions and programming in all major languages, such as C++, Java, CLI, Python, and LibreOffice Basic.

It is also important to note that Libre Calc is a cross-platform application that is compatible with programs written for Linux, Windows and macOS. Cloud support is now available, so collaboration issues are also solved.

If you want an elegant and stylish spreadsheet, look to PlanMaker.

The developers of Free Office PlanMaker call this tool the most effective Excel alternative available for free.

Another impressive feature is the wide range of beautiful templates to display data in 2D as well as 3D. Free Office PlanMaker boasts seamless compatibility with Excel 2016 and also provides essential functions like pivot tables and formulas.

PlanMaker comes with over 350 preconfigured formulas for math functions. This alone is enough to make PlanMaker highly regarded compared to other competitors on this list. Supported platforms are Windows and Linux.

WPS Office Spreadsheets supports all known sheet formats and integrates seamlessly with all previous Excel documents. In addition to the usual formulas, tables, and lists, the tool also supports pivot tables and advanced data modeling.

The data visualization features of WPS Office Spreadsheets are also top-notch. WPS Office Spreadsheets is currently available on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android. It’s also an efficient collaboration tool with support for a full-featured cloud service. WPS Office Spreadsheets is a worthwhile choice in the list of the best Excel alternatives.

The battle to find the best Excel replacement tool is not overnight but can be solved. Personal preference also plays a significant role as no solution is perfect. If you’re looking for the best Excel alternatives out there, try one of the choices in the list above.

Hope you find the right option!