When it comes to working with spreadsheets, the Microsoft Excel tool is usually the best known. It is widely used by both individuals and companies, due to its many functionalities and all the possibilities it offers. However, as with other programs present in the Microsoft Office suite, such as Word or PowerPoint, Its main problem for many users is that except in some cases it is paid.
That is why there are those who try to find alternatives to Excel for freeSince, except in very specific cases, most of the programs designed to create spreadsheets will be able to meet the needs generated by Microsoft Excel.
The best free alternatives to Microsoft Excel
As we mentioned, currently there are many alternatives to Microsoft Excel. In order to facilitate decisions, we will summarize them in four possibilities: Microsoft Excel Online, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc, and Zoho Sheet, for being the most used and with the most functions available.
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Excel Online, Microsoft’s free option with reduced functions
Apart from the desktop versions, Microsoft also has the possibility of using Office in the cloud, something that can be very useful on many occasions. In this case, by the simple fact of having a Microsoft account created you will be able to access whatever you need, including the online version of Excel.
In this case, the files that you create or edit with Excel Online will be saved in the OneDrive storage, and the Excel functions will not be as complete as those of the desktop version, in addition to that you should take into account that you will need a connection to Active Internet to be able to access correctly, but for a basic spreadsheet creation it may be more than enough.
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Google Sheets, ideal for group collaboration
Another option, in this case also well known by many people, is Google’s own office suite. As with Microsoft Office Online, is ready to work on computers with an Internet connection, as it is an online portal.
In this case, in order to use it, it is necessary have a Google account, and the documents will be saved in a space in the Google Drive cloud. This can be a disadvantage in some cases, but the strong point of the Google suite is collaboration: you will be able to easily share the Sheets spreadsheets with anyone, who will be able to access and see the changes that you do in real time, in addition to helping you with them.
It is a far superior tool to Excel Online, and stands out mainly for its own extensions and characteristicsIt is easy to integrate spreadsheets with Google technologies, such as the translator.
LibreOffice Calc, the solution for those who prefer everything offline
Another option as an alternative to Microsoft Excel goes through LibreOffice. In this case, it is a legacy version of OpenOffice with improved features, which can be very useful in many cases, because in addition to supporting its own free extensions, it can also be used to open Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access documents and much more.
The main advantage over the rest of the alternatives is that you don’t need an internet connection. In this case, it is software that you must download and install on your Windows computer, and you can take it wherever you need to with you.
The design is somewhat different from that used by Excel, which can cause some headaches for users who are very accustomed to that program, but after all, the operation is practically the same, so it can be a quite attractive solution for many.
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Zoho Sheet, the tool that succeeds in large companies
In the last place, Zoho Sheet is an alternative solution created primarily for businesses. Although it is possible to use it by individuals, its ideal use is with personalized emails for each member of the company, using their own domain.
Thus, Your most basic plan can include teams of up to 25 members to collaborate on documents, who will have the possibility to make changes to the spreadsheets in real time. Also, like Office Online or Google Docs, it has more collaboration tools that can be useful in certain circumstances.
