11 BEST Free Excel Alternatives Software in 2024 (2024)

Excel is a spreadsheet software included in the Microsoft office suite. It widely is used to create grids of numbers and formulas that specify calculations, inventory tracking, and accounting, and more.

However, it has some limitations like a lack of security, and controlling different versions of the same file is also very difficult. Here is a curated list of Top tools that are capable of replacing Microsoft Office Excel. The list contains both open source(free) and commercial(paid) software.

Best Alternative to Excel: Open Source (Free) & Paid

Name	Smartsheet	Google Spreadsheet	Monday	OpenOffice
Features	✔️ Helps you to simplify budget and planning. ✔️ It offers powerful analytics and reporting.	✔️ Everyone can work on the same spreadsheet. ✔️ It automatically saves changes.	✔️ You can collaborate with other people. ✔️ It can automate your daily work.	✔️ It offers an intelligent sum button. ✔️ It supports multiple users.
Price	Free Forever Plan	30-Days Free Trial	Free	Free
Review/Rating	4.9	4.7	4.6	4.4
Link	Get Free Now >>	Get Free Now >>	Get Free Now >>	Get Free Now >>

1) SmartSheet

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet application for businesses managing multiple projects. It helps organizations to manage workflows and helps them improve team collaboration.

Smartsheet allows you to automate actions using simple rules. It is one of the best alternatives to Microsoft that works as per your requirement to manage your project and collaborate with your team.

Features:

• Project management: Smartsheet offers solution building to meet your unique needs. It provides customizable templates and seamlessly connects to your enterprise ecosystem.
• Security: This tool offers security, user management, and single sign-on capabilities for team and project management.
• Planning and reporting: SmartSheet helps you simplify budget and planning. It is one of the best free alternatives to Excel that offers powerful analytics and reporting.
• Other features: This Excel alternative provides automation, input from web forms, proofing, Gantt Charts, and approvals.

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30-Day Free Trial

2) Google Spreadsheet

Google Spreadsheet is a popular cloud-based application that enables you to create, update, delete, and share data online. This Ajax-based application is compatible with CSV (Comma-separated values) files.

It is a free spreadsheet software application that is accessible from both your phone and computer.

Features:

• Project management: It has built-in formulas, a range of conditional formatting options, and pivot tables. Google sheets provides an explore panel, which gives an overview of data and generates pre-populated charts.
• Collaboration: Everyone can work on the same spreadsheet, and you can easily share and make real-time edits.
• Integrations: This alternative to Excel seamlessly connects with other Google Apps.
• Security: You get encryption in transit, and at rest, it is secure by default and supports necessary compliance.

Link: https://www.google.com/sheets/about/

3) Monday

Monday is one of the best Excel alternatives software that enables you to analyze your performance and manage the team in one place. It comes with a flexible dashboard for easy visualization of data.

This tool helps you plan, manage, and collaborate on any type of project from a centralized location. Monday increases the efficiency and productivity of your team with its customizable workflow management.

Features:

• Streamline your work: You can centralize all work processes and tools in one work OS. It helps you connect with your teams, bridge silos, and keep a single source of truth throughout the organization.
• Collaboration: Monday helps you collaborate easily with the help of easy-to-use automation and real-time alerts.
• Track progress: It offers a customizable dashboard that helps you view the entire project’s progress and your organization. You can use its dashboard to scale workflows as you require as it is one of the best free alternatives to Excel.
• Integrations: Monday integrates with Azure DevOps, Google Sheets, DocuSign, SuperMail, Teleboost, PhoneBurner, Aircall, and many other applications.
• Other features: It offers project management, task management, resource management, request and approval, business operations, and more.

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Forever Free Plan

4) OpenOffice

Apache OpenOffice Calc is a tool that helps you calculate, analyze, and present your data in reports. It assists you in exporting spreadsheets directly as PDF files, and it supports multiple users.

Features:

• Data management: Apache OpenOffice Calc lets you pull data easily from your corporate databases and convert them into valuable information. You can calculate cell value based on constraints given in other cells.
• Formatting: It provides cell formatting options for templates, borders, backgrounds, and more.
• Analysis: This tool has a scenario manager that enables you to perform a what-if analysis of data with the touch of a button.
• Formats: You can save spreadsheets in XML-based format. You can use a Portable Document Format (.pdf) to send the output to other people.

Link: https://www.openoffice.org/product/calc.html

5) ClickUp

ClickUp is a management application that enables you to organize your tasks, docs, chat, goals, and more with ease. This application allows you to assign work and resolve comments in tasks. It helps you set priorities for the work without any hassle.

Features:

• Project management: It allows you to filter and search for the desired task with ease. This tool enables you to assign multiple tasks with just one mouse click.
• Collaborate: It is one of the best alternatives to Excel that helps you collaborate with other people, allowing you to chat, comment, and assign tasks.
• Sort tasks: ClickUp is one of the best free alternatives to Excel that enables you to sort tasks by project and lets you sync it with Google Calendar.
• Track progress: You can add visual widgets for team members. It includes time tracking, work statuses, docs, embeds, and other features.

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Forever Free Plan

6) WPS Office Spreadsheets

WPS Office Spreadsheets is an effective tool that includes hundreds of most commonly used functions and formulas. This software can run on Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android devices and is a free alternative to Excel.

Features:

• Exquisite charts: This tool provides customizable charts, including line, scatter, column, pie, bar, and more. It also includes a built-in table and cell styles.
• Analysis: WPS Office supports advanced pivot tables, allowing you to analyze and summarize your data. You can forecast and find solutions for intricate issues using its What-If analysis.
• Ease of use: WPS Office Spreadsheets allows you to open and edit multiple documents. It has more than 50 keyboard shortcuts and supports track change comments.
• Formats: This tool supports formats like .xls, .xlsx, .xlt, .csv and .xlsm.

Link: https://www.wps.com/office/spreadsheet

7) LibreOffice

LibreOffice Calc is an easy-to-use free and open source software product. It helps you to calculate, analyze, and manage data. This tool has numerous statistical and banking functions to create formulas and perform complex calculations on data.

Features:

• Ease of use: You can arrange, filter, and store your data. It helps you drag and drop tables from any database to a sheet.
• Dynamic charts: This free Excel program alternative provides dynamic charts that automatically update altered data. It provides real time data sheets that can be integrated into sheets and reports.
• Collaboration: Libre is one of the best free alternatives to Excel that that helps you perform collaborative work on spreadsheets.
• Navigation: It includes navigation panels to switch the slides while you are viewing a presentation.

Link: https://www.libreoffice.org/

8) Numbers

Numbers can create a beautiful spreadsheet that includes tables and images. You can collaborate with your team on PC, iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

It includes functions such as BITAND, SWITCH, TEXTJOIN, CONCAT, and more.

Features:

• Easy table management: Numbers support numerous functions and provide ready-to-use templates. This Excel alternative allows you to summarize your tables.
• Data visualization: You can sketch a diagram and add notes to visualize your data.
• Collaboration: This alternative to Microsoft enables you to work with your team in real time on spreadsheets stored on Box or iCloud.
• Other features: With Numbers, you get easy updates, highlight comparisons with radar charts, powerful RegEx features, and more.

Link: https://www.apple.com/numbers/

9) Hancom Office

Hancom Office is an application that enables you to edit and view spreadsheets. This tool helps you to insert and calculate data or format the cells.

It can create documents from any device and is compatible with all the latest technologies.

Features:

• Work management: Hancom Office lets you work and collaborate from anywhere. It offers an AI-assisted work experience to boost your productivity.
• Scribble pad: It enables you to draw an object on the scribble pad and insert it into the sheet.
• Formatting: You can change the cell formatting, like number format, indentation, text wrapping, and borders.
• Easy search: It provides functions for finding the value or reference location of a particular cell.

Link: https://office.hancom.com/

10) PlanMaker

PlanMaker is a spreadsheet software that is available on Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, and Linux. This free Excel alternative has numerous design features that allow you to create presentation-quality worksheets.

This software lets you insert more than 80 varieties of charts, and they can be rotated in a 3D space.

Features:

• Ease of use: It helps you exchange worksheets between any version of PlanMaker. You can select and format more than one worksheet simultaneously.
• File creation: PlanMaker creates attractive worksheets using headers, footers, and borders. It allows you to fill drawing with images, gradients, colors, and patterns.
• Data analysis: This tool includes Pivot tables, lets you create database ranges, has 64 columns, special filters, data grouping, and more.
• Other features: PlanMaker is fully Unicode-enabled, allows zoom and scroll, spell check in 85 languages, auto-hyphenation in 35 languages, and more.

Link: https://www.freeoffice.com/en/features/freeoffice-planmaker

11) SSuite Axcel Professional

SSuite Axcel Professional is spreadsheet software that helps you to calculate, analyze, and summarize your important data in charts or reports.

It offers a completely integrated system that simplifies entering complex data.

Features:

• Dynamic charts: It provides a chart wizard to select from 8 categories of 2D and 3D charts.
• Customization: You can reorganize spreadsheets to show or hide specific data ranges or format ranges according to conditions.
• Auto-updates: This alternative to Microsoft Excel automatically updates the dynamic data presented in the chart.
• Analysis: This tool has a scenario manager that enables you to perform a What-If analysis of data with the touch of a button.

Link: https://www.ssuiteoffice.com/freedownloads.htm

12) Zoho Sheet

Zoho Sheet is a spreadsheet management application that allows easy collaboration. It has 350+ functions that assists you in performing complex and basic calculations without any problem.

Features:

• One-click action: You can record macros of a job or use VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) code to trigger an action with a single click.
• Security: Zoho Sheet is one of the best alternatives to Excel that can publish a spreadsheet and decide who can see formula cells.
• It also automatically detects and removes data related to anomalies.
• Data management: This software helps you to collect your data with forms. You can also highlight parts of data with conditional formats.
• Formats: Zoho Sheet allows you to export sheets in various file formats, such as .pdf and .html.

Link: https://www.zoho.com/sheet/

FAQs:

Best Alternative to Excel: Open Source (Free) & Paid

Name	Smartsheet	Google Spreadsheet	Monday	OpenOffice
Features	✔️ Helps you to simplify budget and planning. ✔️ It offers powerful analytics and reporting.	✔️ Everyone can work on the same spreadsheet. ✔️ It automatically saves changes.	✔️ You can collaborate with other people. ✔️ It can automate your daily work.	✔️ Offers easy-To-Use Drawing and Diagramming Tools ✔️ It supports multiple users.
Price	Free Forever Plan	30-Days Free Trial	Free	Free
Review/Rating	4.9	4.7	4.6	4.4
Link	Get Free Now >>	Get Free Now >>	Get Free Now >>	Get Free Now >>