Google Sheets

What hackers pick instead

• Microsoft ExcelThe business-standard spreadsheet that lets non-programmers build real tools fast, with powerful array formulas and stable shortcuts, though it is error-prone, can feel sluggish, and messy when shared.339recommend
• Lotus 1-2-3Recommended for keyboard-driven speed, fast performance on 486-era PCs, and an uncluttered interface suited to financial modeling; critics cite manual, keystroke-based workflows.34recommend
• LibreOffice CalcFree spreadsheet many people find good enough for most work and Excel files; critics say it is slower and lacks newer Excel features.32recommend
• Numbers by AppleFree Apple spreadsheet people find good enough, praised for movable tables and smooth scrolling. Critics cite weak keyboard support and nagging upgrade prompts.27recommend
• cell terminal spreadsheet editorQuick, low-latency spreadsheet in the terminal with Vim keybindings, so you can skip Google Sheets or Emacs org-table. Critics report doubled characters on input.12recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 154 comments. Each links to the original.

1. it's my favorite way to do financial calculations because you can easily customize contribution amounts or withdrawals in certain years by having different columns

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Show HN: I quit coding years ago. AI brought me back”

2. Google Sheets is nice for basic things but it somehow feels awkward to use a browser based app once things get complicated.

   Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Microsoft Excel Conquered Corporate America”

3. It's astounding how useful and intuitive they are, but my biggest gripe is how easy is for anyone to mess calculations

   Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?”

4. a Google Sheet is often the fastest way to handle CRUD without the friction of setting up a traditional database

   Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Show HN: Sheet Ninja – Google Sheets as a CRUD Back End for Vibe Coders”

5. Highlighted weekends and laid out with all days of the year. Export as PDF can fit on a single sheet of paper.

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Calendar”

6. For 99% of people (sometimes we let Finance folks have an Excel license), it's more than enough.

   Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “OpenAI Should Build Slack”

7. Google docs and sheets if you don't need Microsoft is also way better than Apple's free apps

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Apple Business”

8. if I have a bunch of data I need to go through and/or present, Sheets is usually my go-to

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “The difference between "today's task" and "accretive work"”

9. Google sheets is probably 99% and available to everyone and better in a lot of regards.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Kimi K3, Qwen 3.8, and Anthropic's (Potential) Unravelling”

10. it is pretty fast, but: multi-line outputs don't look good and there are no automation

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Ask HN: A software to track errors and group into root causes?”

11. Most of my use is incredibly simple and used for project planning, inventory counting

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “OpenAI Should Build Slack”

12. Use Google Sheets + Google App Scripts to make external API calls for each column!

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Ask HN: Alternatives to Clay for Enrichment?”

13. Google Sheets can do a lot, especially if you have automation tool like Zapier.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices”

14. Google sheets's programmability is way better (than the last time I used) Excel

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “I can't upgrade to Windows 11, now leave me alone”

15. Sheets for keeping quarterly snapshots(in case empower goes away like mint did)

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “10 years of personal finances in plain text files”

16. I think Google Sheets is the most pleasant to use of the options I've tried

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “LibreOffice blasts OnlyOffice for working with Microsoft to lock users in”

17. I really like the idea of using Google Sheets for quick prototyping

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Show HN: Sheet Ninja – Google Sheets as a CRUD Back End for Vibe Coders”

18. I find myself let down. I don't know what version of Gemini they're stuffing into Google products, but sheets, docs, and colab/data science agent are all bad experiences.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “I think nobody wants AI in Firefox, Mozilla”

19. When I load it, the first 100 rows appear pretty much instantly, but the following <100 rows take 9 seconds to load!

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Apple Business”

20. did not enjoy seeing one his formulas borked by a difference in how Excel and Sheets handles xlookup()

    Criticizes · Feb 2026 · in “CFO says "Everyone uses Excel, definitely not Sheets. Get over it". True?”

21. LibreOffice and Google Sheets are still quite far from everything that Excel is capabale of

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Why we can’t quit Excel”

22. Office/Google Spreadsheets seems to get more and more bloated, and subsequently slower.

    Criticizes · Dec 2025 · in “Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices”

23. try to parse a multi-million line orderlines extract in Google Sheets compared to excel

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Can Dutch universities do without Microsoft?”

24. Google Sheets has such poor AI integration and is outrageously tedious to edit.

    Criticizes · Apr 2026 · in “ChatGPT for Excel”

25. Did it work? Yes. Was it worth my time to maintain and scale the “platform” with the company rather than outsource all that to a CRM company? Not at all.

    Mixed · Feb 2026 · in “A16Z partner says that the theory that we'll vibe code everything is ' wrong'”

26. Given how well the API works, that we are discussing Googlers, my guess is that's how they dog food their services.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “ChatGPT for Excel”

27. it already solves all of the difficult problems and obviates the need to have an inhouse software development team

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Nobody Gets Promoted for Simplicity”

28. It is accessible via different device. But it is pure text only. Not suitable for equation or image capture.

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “I Started a "Dirt Notebook"”

29. Excel and Google Sheets are indeed where most non-programmers frequently come the closest to programming

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?”

30. it's useful for content to have a persistent ID in case you have to correct a typo or add new fields

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system”

31. it eliminates state and would be familiar to just about anyone that might need something like this

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Steam Machine”

32. Google Sheets is the design. The fact that it doesn't sound like engineering is the whole point.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Nobody Gets Promoted for Simplicity”

33. Spreadsheet masters can do very impressive things with what appears to be a simple tool.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Nobody Gets Promoted for Simplicity”

34. so impressive google docs/sheets has managed to stay largely the same for so long

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Event Sourcing in Go: From Zero to Production”

35. products like Sheets or Maps were amazing, and are still very much the best

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Google Antigravity”

36. No need for Hubspot when you have google sheets + AI-made plugin for this.

    Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “AI agents are starting to eat SaaS”

37. Obviously nowadays it’s not worth it with all these shiny tools out there.

    Mixed · Aug 2026 · in “My Rules for Using Spreadsheets”

38. A Google Docs spreadsheet would be a better tool for my specific needs

    Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Show HN: Micasa – track your house from the terminal”

39. It worked. I could access it programmatically, I had no complaints.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Nobody Gets Promoted for Simplicity”

40. given the current situation is the highest benefits/costs solution

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Nobody Gets Promoted for Simplicity”