IronCalc
Ranked 11 of 12 spreadsheets by recommenders
People recommend IronCalc as a free, open source spreadsheet engine that is light and fast, with a low barrier to try it.
People recommend IronCalc as a free, open source spreadsheet engine that is light and fast, with a low barrier to try it.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 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
Light and fast performance
“fully open source, light and fast spreadsheet engine”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)” “IronCalc looks better than LO Calc performance wise”
Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “Rust Style Guide” “It's extremely light and fast”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)” Promising spreadsheet alternative
“I am pretty sure that in a year from now the world is going to have a fairly competent spreadsheet alternative.”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)” “This is a rabbit hole and a nightmare in Excel, so a big opportunity for us to get this right.”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (December 2025)” “Looking at it and very excited.”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)” Fully open source
“I think TironCalc is a great open source project to work with Rust and Ratatui.”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “Ratatui – App Showcase” “fully open source, light and fast spreadsheet engine”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)”
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 | — |
| IronCalcThis page | 8 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“IronCalc looks better than LO Calc performance wise”
“The demo was written by an LLM, so I have no idea if the code is any good or not, but it seems to work!”
“It's extremely light and fast”
“I am pretty sure that in a year from now the world is going to have a fairly competent spreadsheet alternative.”
“Looking at it and very excited.”
“have been considering it for a side-project”
“fully open source, light and fast spreadsheet engine”
“The friction to try it out is already really low, I like that!”
“This is a rabbit hole and a nightmare in Excel, so a big opportunity for us to get this right.”
“I think TironCalc is a great open source project to work with Rust and Ratatui.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.