# Gnumeric

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Gnumeric and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, lightweight spreadsheet that opens Office and OpenDocument files, handles large CSV files smoothly, and is preferred over LibreOffice Calc by several people.

## Why people recommend it

- Lightweight and fast on large files (4 comments): "super lightweight and retain the classic Office 97-style UI and support OOXML formats" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49230767)) "It's the only one that holds up with massive CSV files and remains snappy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47653083)) "Not great, but at least they're light on resources and easy to use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47505580))
- Opens Office and ODS files reliably (2 comments): "super lightweight and retain the classic Office 97-style UI and support OOXML formats" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49230767)) "Gnumeric was able to open the ODS files just fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47653429))
- Preferred over LibreOffice Calc (2 comments): "The fact is just that gnumeric is better than calc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47154865)) "it's a clear cut above everything else" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47100158))
- Stable and dependable for years (3 comments): "I've used gnumeric for at least 15 years when I've needed a spreadsheet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49421675)) "So I used Gnumeric instead and it worked fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49415788)) "That they're a ton more polished and stable than things like Abiword or Gnumeric" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47506167))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Microsoft Excel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-excel.md): 339 recommend
- [Google Sheets](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-sheets.md): 92 recommend
- [Lotus 1-2-3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lotus-1-2-3.md): 34 recommend
- [LibreOffice Calc](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libreoffice-calc.md): 32 recommend
- [Numbers by Apple](https://hackerapproved.com/p/numbers.md): 27 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Gnumeric", https://hackerapproved.com/p/gnumeric/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).