# Numbers by Apple Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/numbers/ 23 people recommended Numbers by Apple in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 20 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 12 months, in 16 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free Apple spreadsheet people find good enough, praised for movable tables and smooth scrolling. Critics cite weak keyboard support and nagging upgrade prompts. Summary written by Claude from 43 comments. ## Why people recommend it - Free and good enough (4 comments in the sample): "dropped the desktop Office suite in favour of Pages and Numbers, which are both free and absolutely working fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47509636)) "Apple suite (Pages, Numbers etc) works well, has good mobility to mobile, and is free." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699375)) "Plus Pages, Numbers and Keynote are free on Macs, minus the new paid features." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47505248)) - Multiple freely movable tables (2 comments in the sample): "Its main innovation is creating multiple tables in a single visible sheet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49286735)) "Numbers is brilliant simply because of independent freely-movable tables" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46602119)) - Powerful and steadily improving (2 comments in the sample): "both Pages and Numbers are pretty powerful in their modern incarnations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47506667)) "it’s been slowly improving over the years and is pretty good now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49186181)) - Smooth and fast compared to Excel (2 comments in the sample): "I have simple needs, and I much preferred the smooth inertial scrolling compared to running Excel in a VM" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46609160)) "Fast like Numbers.app, not sluggish like Excel is." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47084712)) ## What people warn about - Nags and upgrade prompts (3 comments in the sample): "forced upgrade of Numbers/Pages/Keynote with annoying nags that can't be turned off" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846370)) "Selecting "Not Now" still results in the nag appearing every. single. day." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49802917)) "they keep pushing the Creator Bundle when I open up the Numbers.app" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48367620)) - Behind Excel and Sheets for serious work (3 comments in the sample): "no one who is serious is doing their data work / anything else in Numbers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49286916)) "Numbers is so much worse than Excel or even Google Sheets" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49172800)) "Apps like Numbers are chaotic in the face of Excel." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47513857)) - Weak keyboard support and navigation (2 comments in the sample): "it severely lacks in keyboard use and keyboard navigation when compared to Excel" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46194390)) "A lot of menu options don’t seem to have keyboard shortcuts." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47527083)) - Weak CSV, date and filter handling (2 comments in the sample): "I never liked how Numbers handles filters, sorting, and views all different" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48899825)) "convert date formats, which Numbers refused to do" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46613330)) ## Other spreadsheets people recommend - [Microsoft Excel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-excel/): 195 recommend, 114 mixed, 256 criticize - [Google Sheets](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-sheets/): 70 recommend, 14 mixed, 51 criticize - [Lotus 1-2-3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lotus-1-2-3/): 28 recommend, 6 mixed, 2 criticize - [LibreOffice Calc](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libreoffice-calc/): 25 recommend, 5 mixed, 18 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Numbers by Apple", https://hackerapproved.com/p/numbers/ (23 recommend, 4 mixed, 20 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.