Spreadsheets have accompanied us in our daily professional life for many years, exactly since 1978 with Visicalc, the first spreadsheet software. Since then, many other applications have passed. These include Google Sheets from G Suite and Excel from Office. Do you want to know which one is more suitable for the job?
What do both share?
Although they have many differences, certain characteristics are similar or the same. Some are:
- A MBAs applications are compatible with Chrome OS, Windows, Android, iOS and Mac OS. Although some believe that Office cannot be opened on a Chrome device, it is fully supported thanks to the Office Online extension .
- Possibility to use formulas and auto-complete.
- Use of downloadable templates to work faster.
- Autosave : in the case of Google Sheets, because it is cloud-based and automatic syncing. Excel does an autosave on your computer every few seconds.
What is the difference between them?
1. Price
One of the most significant differences for your business may be the price of each one. On the one hand, Excel prices are around € 100 , while Google Sheets with a Gmail account is free . In the case of having a professional G Suite account, it will be included in the price of your plan.
2. Ease of use
If you are regular users of Google and its applications, you will know that all of them are characterized by ease of use and by being intuitive . The intrinsic fact of simplicity in its reason for being, makes the whole set very simple to use and easy to learn. This is why Google Sheets becomes a good option even though it is newer than Excel and has been used for fewer years.
3. Level of collaboration
In the professional field, having a good collaboration with your team is essential. This is why Google Sheets and the entire suite of professional G Suite applications are your best option if you want to improve it. Sheet is ideal for teamwork thanks to its automatic synchronization , the possibility of working remotely and adding comments . In this way, you can work at the same time as other members of your team, and they can see the changes you add. In addition, reviewing some content will be very easy by adding specific comments anywhere on the sheet.
This is one of the features that Excel cannot compete with , although it has a Microsoft cloud version that can be compared to Google sheets, it does not reach the same level of collaboration.
4. Synchronization and versions
One of the things that makes Google Sheets auto sync easy is remote collaboration. As we’ve already said, at this point Sheets wins. However, you may think that synchronized and remote work causes versions to be lost, which in Excel is basic. Still, if there is a version history in Sheets , which you can use to retrieve or view previously edited data. This can make it easier for you to access your changes without having to have multiple versions of the document.
5. Access from any device
Finally, it is important to highlight the possibilities of accessing a sheet from other devices. Both have applications adapted to different devices . However, in the case of Excel you will only be able to access the documents that belong to your user . Instead, since Google Sheets is integrated with Google Drive, you can also access all the spreadsheets that have been shared with you or that are in your team drive .
Google Sheets or Excel?
Now that we have compared both applications, which one do you prefer? If you have decided on Google Sheets, and want to go a step further, you can get a G Suite plan. If you want to know more, we explain it in this next post .