Gnumeric
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 8 of 12 spreadsheets by recommenders
Free, lightweight spreadsheet that opens Office and OpenDocument files, handles large CSV files smoothly, and is preferred over LibreOffice Calc by several people.
Free, lightweight spreadsheet that opens Office and OpenDocument files, handles large CSV files smoothly, and is preferred over LibreOffice Calc by several people.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 92%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 11 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Lightweight and fast on large files
“super lightweight and retain the classic Office 97-style UI and support OOXML formats”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a, Native X64 Port” “It's the only one that holds up with massive CSV files and remains snappy.”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LibreOffice – Let's put an end to the speculation” “Not great, but at least they're light on resources and easy to use.”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Apple Business” - Comment from 27 Jun 2026 in “Linux on Older Hardware: The Complete Revival Guide”
Opens Office and ODS files reliably
“super lightweight and retain the classic Office 97-style UI and support OOXML formats”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a, Native X64 Port” “Gnumeric was able to open the ODS files just fine”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “LibreOffice – Let's put an end to the speculation” Preferred over LibreOffice Calc
“The fact is just that gnumeric is better than calc.”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “LibreOffice blasts OnlyOffice for working with Microsoft to lock users in” “it's a clear cut above everything else”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “LibreOffice blasts OnlyOffice for working with Microsoft to lock users in” Stable and dependable for years
“I've used gnumeric for at least 15 years when I've needed a spreadsheet”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “The Vibe Tax” “So I used Gnumeric instead and it worked fine.”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “Over 170k Nonprofits Lost All Their Data. Is Microsoft to Blame?” “That they're a ton more polished and stable than things like Abiword or Gnumeric”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Apple Business”
Other spreadsheets people recommend
The four most recommended other spreadsheets, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Excel | 339 | 292 | 54% | 12 | 30 yrs12 owners | — |
| Google Sheets | 92 | 54 | 63% | 12 | 1 yr3 owners | — |
| Lotus 1-2-3 | 34 | 2 | 94% | 8 | — | Approved |
| LibreOffice Calc | 32 | 18 | 64% | 10 | 2 yrs3 owners | — |
| GnumericThis page | 11 | 1 | 92% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
12 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I've used gnumeric for at least 15 years when I've needed a spreadsheet”
“So I used Gnumeric instead and it worked fine.”
“super lightweight and retain the classic Office 97-style UI and support OOXML formats”
“Chugs along nicely with Abiword, Gnumeric and Dillo.”
“Gnumeric was able to open the ODS files just fine”
“It's the only one that holds up with massive CSV files and remains snappy.”
“That they're a ton more polished and stable than things like Abiword or Gnumeric”
“Not great, but at least they're light on resources and easy to use.”
“The fact is just that gnumeric is better than calc.”
“Gnumeric rocks, even features Montecarlo built-in, I have it installed in my personal machine”
“your calculations will be correct unlike with Excel”
“it's a clear cut above everything else”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.