2 Best Spreadsheet Software in 2026

Updated today (Mar 29, 2026)

See how our top 2 picks compare across the 2 spreadsheet software we evaluated.

Explore what each does best, where it falls short, and why it earned a spot on our 2026 list.

Alex Bass

Andra Vomir

Best Spreadsheet Software at a Glance

2 apps and 1 deal

1
Google Sheets
Recommended
Non-structured spreadsheet
Non-structured spreadsheet
2
Airtable
Recommended
Best for powerful spreadsheet-like databases
Best for powerful spreadsheet-like databases

How We Evaluate Spreadsheet Software

We score each spreadsheet software across multiple criteria, and hands-on expert evaluation

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Expert Evaluation
Curated by
Alex
and
Andra
, our rankings reflect in-depth testing, industry insights, and hands-on experience.

Google Sheets

Non-structured spreadsheet

Google Sheets works for basic, non-structured spreadsheet tasks but completely fails if you need database-style relationships or want to use it as a CRM. If you care about connecting data across companies, people, opportunities, or tasks, skip Google Sheets and look at something built for that instead.

Go to Google Sheets site

What is Google Sheets?

Google Sheets is great as a flexible and non-structured spreadsheet, but pales in comparison to other tools which are more database-focused.

You should never attempt to use Google Sheets as a CRM because it has no structural relational capabilities. For example, tying in the relationship of how a company connects with the people at the organization, connected opportunities and tasks is just not possible in a scaleable way.

We often recommend a tool like Airtable over Google Sheets in most cases, unless it is for purely financial information, and have almost entirely eliminated the need for Google Sheets across our entire team.

If you're tempted to use Google Sheets as your CRM and don't want a more fully-fledged CRM like Copper, you might want to try out folk instead.

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Airtable

Best for powerful spreadsheet-like databases

Airtable gives you a flexible, user-friendly database that easily replaces Google Sheets and form tools for almost any business use, especially if you need structure, automation, or to connect data between apps.

Avoid the urge to use it as a CRM or project management software.

Go to Airtable site

What is Airtable?

Airtable is an incredibly flexible tool that can be used from something as simple as a Google Sheets replacement, all the way up to a no-code builder.

At a core, it's really just a user-friendly database, similar to that of Coda and even Notion (although those 2 apps both started as more of knowledge base tools first, whereas Airtable has always been first-and-foremost a user-friendly database).

If your team is still using Google Sheets (for things outside of company finance reporting like balance sheets, etc.), then we fully encourage you to check out Airtable and to give it a try. In most cases, it will completely replace the need for Google Sheets, Google Forms, Typeform, Jotform, and other Form software.

Believe it or not, over the past 8+ years, we've actually entirely replaced every single internal Google Sheet with Airtable alternative. Sometimes the structure needs to change slightly, but doing so unlocks so much additional functionality.

Key Features

API

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We love working with the Airtable API. It just does most everything you could want it to do, and it incredibly flexible and easy to work with.

You can simply create a new view within an Airtable Base, add filtered logic to it, and set it up so when a new record enters that view, an automation can be triggered. This allows it to be incredibly flexible.