Microsoft excel al­tern­at­ives: 5 premium free-of-charge ap­plic­a­tions

When it comes to pro­cessing and planning texts and image content, there’s a wide array of freeware options to consider before pur­chas­ing the fee-based Microsoft Office options. Apache Open­Of­fice, formerly known as Open­Of­fice.org, is the most commonly used al­tern­at­ive to Microsoft Office. Lib­reOf­fice, which was also a spin-off from the Open­Of­fice package and has been con­tinu­ally developed. Both office packages are similar to one another, and are easy to use for ex­per­i­enced Microsoft users. As a spread sheet cal­cu­la­tion tool by Apache Open­Of­fice and Lib­reOf­fice, the open source tool Calc is one of the best Microsoft al­tern­at­ives. In terms of looks and func­tion­al­ity, Calc is quite similar to Excel. Just as with Excel, Calc offers a large rage of functions, like complex cell format­ting options, the ability to adopt source data into cross tables, fil­ter­able pivot tables, different format­ting templates, flexible and rotatable content, back­grounds, frames and sum buttons. Fur­ther­more, it also offers users the ability to sim­ul­tan­eously access documents. Tables are saved in XML-based Open­Doc­u­ment formats (.ods), which can be opened via other Open­Doc­u­ment-capable software. There is, however, one certain lim­it­a­tion in terms of the software’s com­pat­ib­il­ity with Excel: while Apache Open­Of­fice Calc can open the current Microsoft file format, .xlsx, it’s only able to save documents in the older .xlsx format. Lib­reOf­fice’s Calc programme, on the other hand, is able to save the .xls format and can even be viewed in an Android viewer, giving the Berlin-based software company the edge in terms of com­pat­ib­il­ity. Both Open­Of­fice options are com­pat­ible with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. An overview on ad­di­tion­al practical and free office al­tern­at­ives can be found here.

Search engine giant, Google, also offers its users a free tool for creating and pro­cessing spread­sheets. By using Google sheets logged-in users can generate texts, formulas, present­a­tions, and spread­sheets via the browser-based office tool by Google docs. For those looking to free them­selves from the tra­di­tion­al desktop version, this tool is available free of charge in mobile versions as well. In addition to typical functions, like pivot tables as well as a wide arrange of format­ting options, Google Sheets also offers a clear advantage when compared to Excel: col­lect­ive and mobile access to documents. Because it’s a web-based ap­plic­a­tion, the tool is very quick, and enables multiple mobile users to com­fort­ably access documents via app. Con­ven­tion­al spread­sheets with different format templates can be easily created in the browser. Com­pat­ib­il­ity isn’t a problem: Excel files and Google spread­sheets can be easily saved, processed, and converted. The practical ‘Revision History’ function makes it possible to get a quick overview of the status of each project, which is also auto­mat­ic­ally saved. With a storage space of 15 GB on Google Drive, each account allows users to save a large number of spread­sheets. Sheets, however, is much more modestly designed than Excel, and requires a personal account to be set up prior to use.

Born out of the Linux GNOME project, the free open source software Gnumeric, is also a decent Excel al­tern­at­ive for more complex cal­cu­la­tions. Because it tends to use less resources, this programme is also re­com­men­ded for slower computers. Diagrams, graphics, finance formulas, and stat­ist­ic­al analyses can all be easily processed in Gnumeric and its re­spect­ive plugins. Like Open­Doc­u­ments, Gnumeric is also able to process and save .xls and .xlsx files. However, the somewhat min­im­al­ist­ic freeware isn’t always the easiest to use, and it doesn’t have the same range of functions as Excel. What the version does offer, however, is a portable version for mobile devices. A further dis­ad­vant­age: the user language is only offered in English and the programme is mainly available for Linux. There aren’t any official Windows versions, and Mac users are com­pletely left out to dry when it comes to Gnumeric.

Apple’s spread­sheet program, Numbers is a web app es­pe­cially optimised for Mac computers and laptops, iPhones, and iPads. As a part of the iWorks suite for iColoud, its browser-based set-up allows multiple users to access in­di­vidu­al projects sim­ul­tan­eously. Numbers can be used by many different devices and these can access the spread­sheets from any location with a secure and reliable internet con­nec­tion. All that’s needed is to register with the iCloud platform

Numbers can import tables and save them in Excel format. Fitting to Apple’s creative design, the programme offers a diverse array of design options for animated diagrams and graphics. This makes Numbers the most stylish and modern spread­sheet tool on offer. Unlike Excel’s somewhat con­ser­vat­ive approach, Numbers’ icon-heavy user interface has been set up more for looks than it has been for per­form­ance reasons. And while this may not be ap­pro­pri­ate for every industry, Numbers’ sharp looks makes the programme es­pe­cially well-suited to creative in­dus­tries.

Spread32, offered by the company ‘Bye Design’ Ltd., offers a sleek, portable spread­sheet programme that supports all common file formats. From lists and filters, to complex cal­cu­la­tions and macros, this programme will have you covered with its over 300 basic functions. What’s more, Spread32 also processes and stores .xls and .csv files. Those who aren’t too bothered about design will find that Spread32 is a very compact tool for devices running on Windows and Android. A further practical point: the .exe file only needs a bit of storage space, and can be easily started via your own hard drive or via portable storage media, such as USB sticks.