4 Free Excel Alternatives
Google Docs Spreadsheet
You can save Google Docs spreadsheets online and download them to your local disk, and you can collaborate with others on them. If you have a fast Internet connection, then Google Docs Spreadsheet is a worthy alternative to using Excel.
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org is an open source office application, and it is available for a range of operating systems including Linux, Mac and Windows. This makes it attractive for a small business that uses a mix of operating systems. The program includes a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentations tool, as well as a drawing tool.
The spreadsheet component of OpenOffice.org is called Calc. Like Google Docs Spreadsheet, it provides most of the tools that you would need in a spreadsheet program including charts, DataPilot (the equivalent of PivotTables) and macros. OpenOffice.org is popular with organizations seeking quality small business software with built-in Microsoft compatibility but without the high price of licensing actual Microsoft products.
OpenOffice.org is a downloadable program that you install on your local computer, although there is a pocket version that you can load onto a Flash drive and take it with you.
Because Calc runs locally, you don’t need an Internet connection to access the spreadsheet. It supports up to 1,024 columns of data; it can save worksheets as .pdf files and Excel 2003 compatible formats; and it can open the newer .xlsx format files.
While charts in Calc don’t have the look of Excel’s, more sophisticated formatting options — including plotting charts using two axes — are available for them than for the other applications in this roundup.