Visuals let you see data at a glance and are a must-have item for presentations.

Dynamic Visuals: Not that looking at thousands of cells of text and numbers isn’t a ton of fun, but charts and graphs are a little easier on the eyes.

Basic options for simple math are a given, but if you need something more advanced like statistical or logical functions, or the ability to create a custom function, the software should be able to handle those as well.

Powerful Functions and Formulas: Whether you’re tracking warehouse inventory, handling accounting for your department, or creating charts from data for an upcoming presentation, your spreadsheet software has to have a wide variety of formulas at the ready.

It should also let you set the spreadsheet as read-only and enable other permissions for users.

Likewise, the program should also be able to track who makes what change when, and to allow you to lock down individual cells (or the whole document) so no unwanted changes can be made.

Live Collaboration Support: If your team needs to work together through a spreadsheet, it’s imperative that the software supports simultaneous collaboration.

The software should also have cross-platform support, so you can access them anywhere. The best Excel alternatives have a clean modern look and smart tool organization, and are stocked with a ready artillery of built-in formulas, functions, and templates.

An Intuitive Interface: Spreadsheets are designed to handle complex tasks, but that doesn’t mean that the software itself should be clunky or difficult to use.Here are the most important features good spreadsheet software should offer, and why they’re important:

What to Look for in a Microsoft Excel Alternativeīest Cloud-Based Alternative: Google Sheetsīest for Apple Users: Apple iWork Numbersīest Open-Source Alternative: LibreOffice CalcĬlosest to Microsoft Excel: WPS Office Spreadsheetsīest for Serious Data Analysis: Zoho Office Sheetįree spreadsheet software should be just as powerful as paid options and come stocked with all the tools you need to spreadsheet your heart out.

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