Excel has become the most practical work tool for our day to day. With them we save many hours of work when doing the accounting, creating graphs or keeping track of our business, but if you are not convinced by this program, you can opt for other free alternatives to Excel.
On the internet we can find different spreadsheet options, from basic versions to much more advanced. Some have even been considered tools similar to or better than the famous Microsoft Excel.
If you are a worker or a student and you are looking for free alternatives to Excel, we have taken the task of creating this guide, where we compile the best calculation programs of today.
What are spreadsheets?
Spreadsheets are a very popular computer software, which is based on a system of vertical and horizontal cells, which are perfectly ordered and that make up a series of rows and columns.
One of the leading spreadsheet programs is the famous Excel, one of the most popular members of the Office package. Today, this tool is widely used in business management and business.
Spreadsheets are perfect for organizing and calculating the value attributed to cells. It even has a large number of formulas that will help us to perform:
- Accounting
- Creation of reports and graphs
- arithmetic calculation
- Database creation
- dynamic models
Without a doubt, spreadsheets have become the most known and useful in the world of office automation, being the most used worldwide.
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Free Alternatives to Excel – Updated List
Even though Excel has become one of the most widely used spreadsheet programs in the world. If you want to enjoy all its functions without interruptions, you will have to pay for its certification.
Therefore, if you do not have money or do not want to spend acquiring Excel, you can opt for other free alternatives to Excel. Don't know which alternatives to use? Here we compile the most popular and used by netizens around the world.
Google Drive Spreadsheets
This is one of the best alternatives to Excel which can be used by anyone who has a Gmail account. One of its most notable advantages is that it allows us to enjoy options such as automatic saving in the cloud, which allows us to keep our document safe from any unexpected closure.
Being a Google tool, it has integrated tools such as the Google translator or the fabulous option "Import feed" which will help you to export data directly from the url of a web page.
In addition, it offers us the possibility of working simultaneously on the documents, which makes it easier for us when working in a group.
Zoho Sheets
This is another of the most used alternatives for Excel, you can use this tool both offline and online, in a very similar way to Google Drive. However, this Zoho has much more limited features as compared to Excel, but it also has its unique features.
Also, it allows you to save and sync sheets in the Zogo cloud. Although, if you only access its free version it will be much more limited, with this version you will only be able to enjoy 1 GB of free storage.
Do you need more space? If you want to access more space in the cloud, you will have to pay for its full version. Zoho has a cost of $5 per month for 50 GB of storage Y $8 per month for 100GB of storage and all its features unlocked.
LibreOffice Calc
This is another of the most widely used free and open source tools as an alternative to Excel. It has the same source code as OpenOffice, it also has a Excel alternative called Clac.
At first glance this tool is very similar to Microsoft Office 2003, but its features are much more powerful to compete with the latest versions. In addition, it incorporates unique functions that allow us to import and export documents in almost any format.
Among its highlights we find the portable version, different language frameworks, extensions, cross-platform support and graphics import formats.
Best of all, you can access all the features of LibreOffice Calc without spending a single penny.
BIRT
This is another of the free alternatives to excel most notable for its good performance and design. The BIRT spreadsheet is automated and focused on providing the best experience for users.
Its creators are The Eclipse Foundation and you can download the program for free from the official BIRT portal. This app is cross-platform so you can easily use it on Windows, Linux or Mac.
The only unfavorable thing is that this tool is only available in English, so you should keep this in mind before downloading it.
Office 2018
This is a tool available on Windows and Linux, which is perfect for both personal and commercial use. It is very similar to Excel, it has dynamic tables, formats and compatibility with Microsoft Office products.
Unlike other alternatives to Excel, Free Office offers us a completely clean and intuitive design, as well as being completely user friendly.
Best of all, it is completely free software but for a limited time, as well as being available in Spanish. If you access the payment plan, you will be able to have more comforts and very interesting functions, but nothing that is essential for daily work.
OnlyOffice
This is a completely open source office suite, which is compatible with Office tools. You can access its free version, which is focused on less demanding users.
On the other hand, it has a paid version if you are looking for advanced features within spreadsheets. Among its highlights we find data protection, document management and a large number of productivity features.
To download this tool, you just have to go to its official site and choose the version that suits you best.
Alternatives to Excel for Mac
If you have a Mac device and you're not yet ready to buy microsoft office, you should know that there are also alternatives that you can use on your computer. Among them we find:
Numbers or Numbers
Designed for Mac users, this is a powerful tool very similar in design and options to Excel. It even offers you the possibility to share files to Excel without problems, so people with Windows computers can open documents.
Among its features, its graphics and the possibility of drawing or organizing data as you want stand out. This application, you can download it from the Mac Store without problems.
Apache OpenOffice
This is another open source product, which already has more than 50 million downloads and it is increasing. This suite of tools is available in several languages, it offers us a free software with spreadsheets.
In addition, it allows us to download the program to use it offline whenever you want. The best thing about this tool is that, being open source, it allows companies to modify the programs to their needs.
microsoft excel online
This is a tool created as an alternative to traditional Excel, but with some limited functionality. However, it is still one of the better alternatives to spreadsheets.
Its interface is very simple and has all the excellence of the Microsoft product, allowing you to save documents in the OneDrive cloud. However, as it is an online version, advanced Excel users may dismiss it.
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Which of all is the best?
all these free alternatives to excel that we collect for you, were carefully chosen, with the aim of bringing you the best on the internet. Telling you which is the best of all can be impossible, since each tool has its pros and cons.
You just have to take the time to analyze and try the different alternatives, so you can choose the one that best suits your needs. Also, if you have a Mac device, you can analyze the options that we have collected here and find an ideal substitute for Excel.
With this we end today's article, we hope it will be of your help and you can find the ideal tool to carry out work or study actions.
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