Alternatives to Microsoft Excel
By App Store Tracker Editorial · Updated — live App Store data verified
The short version
Google Sheets is the strongest Excel alternative, offering free cloud spreadsheets with formulas, charts, and real-time collaboration on a massive base. Apple Numbers is the best fit for iPhone owners who want a polished, free spreadsheet built into the ecosystem. For pure XLSX editing without a subscription, lightweight apps like Spreadsheets and XLSX Sheets get the job done. Each shares Excel's core: build, edit, and analyze spreadsheets on your phone.
The app you searched for
Microsoft Corporation
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People look for Excel alternatives when the Microsoft 365 subscription requirement bites, when they want free collaboration, or when they need a lighter tool just to open and edit a file. The apps below all share its core job: create and edit spreadsheets, run formulas, build charts, and work with XLSX files on a phone. Some are full rival suites from Apple and Google, others are no-subscription XLSX editors, and a couple are companion or learning tools. We ranked them using embedding similarity against Excel's spreadsheet model, then weighed live App Store ratings and how many people use each one. The top picks mirror Excel's edit-and-analyze flow most closely. Pricing and ratings beside each app come straight from the live store.
Why it's similar
This Microsoft Excel listing is Excel itself, with the same formatting, formulas, and charting you'd expect from the main app.
How it differs
It requires a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription rather than offering free basic editing, so it's the paid-tier version. With no ratings yet, it's essentially the same Excel gated behind a subscription rather than a different alternative.
Why it's similar
Numbers matches Excel's core: build spreadsheets with formulas, tables, and charts, formatted the way you want.
How it differs
It's Apple's free spreadsheet app with a design-forward, template-heavy approach rather than Excel's dense grid power. With a strong rating and large base, it's the top pick for iPhone owners who want a polished, no-cost alternative.
Why it's similar
The Spreadsheet App covers Excel's basics: work with data, run calculations, present results, and export to Excel, CSV, and PDF.
How it differs
It's a lightweight indie tool aimed at simple spreadsheet tasks rather than Excel's deep feature set. With a decent rating and small base, it's a no-subscription alternative for light work.
Why it's similar
XLSX Sheets matches Excel's file focus: create, edit, and manage Excel-friendly spreadsheets directly on mobile.
How it differs
It's a focused XLSX editor without Excel's full analysis depth or Copilot AI, but it skips the subscription. With limited rating data, it's a lightweight alternative for opening and editing Excel files on the go.
Why it's similar
Spreadsheets offers Excel-compatible editing with core formulas and table tools on iOS.
How it differs
It's a mobile-first XLSX app aimed at quick editing rather than Excel's full desktop-grade capabilities. With a solid rating and modest base, it's a no-subscription alternative for everyday spreadsheet tasks.
Why it's similar
Tutorial for MS Excel ties directly to Excel, teaching spreadsheets, formulas, charts, and functions.
How it differs
It's a learning app, not a spreadsheet editor, so it can't create or edit your files. It complements Excel by helping you use it rather than replacing it.
Why it's similar
Google Sheets does everything Excel does: create and edit spreadsheets with formulas, charts, and full collaboration. The grid-and-formula experience closely matches.
How it differs
It's free and cloud-first with real-time co-editing, versus Excel's subscription gate for premium features. With a high rating and a massive base, it's the strongest full-featured alternative.
Why it's similar
Table Notes matches Excel's job of organizing data in tables and sheets, with editing and collaboration for everyday productivity.
How it differs
It's a simpler, mobile-focused tool aimed at small businesses and students rather than Excel's heavy analysis. With a good rating and small base, it's a streamlined alternative for lighter needs.
Why it's similar
XLSX Editor matches Excel's file handling: create, edit, and share XLSX spreadsheets directly on iPhone or iPad.
How it differs
It's a focused mobile editor without Excel's depth or AI features, but it's free to use. With only a few ratings, it's an unproven yet handy alternative for editing Excel files on the go.
Why it's similar
Microsoft 365 Copilot shares Excel's Microsoft ecosystem and the Copilot AI that powers Excel's smart features.
How it differs
It's an AI productivity hub for chatting, creating content, and finding files rather than a dedicated spreadsheet editor. With a strong rating and large base, it complements Excel rather than replacing the spreadsheet itself.
Every app in our database carries a dense vector embedding derived from its title, subtitle, full description, and category metadata. To find apps similar to Microsoft Excel, we compute cosine distance against every other app and surface the closest 60 candidates. The similarity score shown on each pick is 1 - distance/2 clamped to [0,1] — 100% means the embedding spaces are identical, 0% means orthogonal.
We then re-rank the candidate set using current App Store rating and review-count signals so a 4.8-star app with 100,000 reviews ranks above a 4.5-star app with 200 reviews even when their embedding distance is similar. Apps that haven't shipped an update in 12 months are filtered out before re-ranking.
The similarity cache is recomputed weekly. Live App Store data (rating, review count) is verified every 6 hours.
No paid placements. No affiliate links. No sponsored picks. Read our full methodology.
More popular iPhone apps with curated alternative lists, each ranked by embedding similarity, rating, and category fit.
