What is Google Sheets used for?

Google Sheets is Google's collaborative spreadsheet app, with formulas, charts and Gemini AI help, available in the browser and on mobile. It is a good fit for shared budgets and trackers, lightweight data analysis, and lists that feed Forms and AppSheet apps.

Is Google Sheets open source?

No. Google Sheets is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Google Sheets include Univer, CryptPad and EtherCalc.

What are some alternatives to Google Sheets?

Google Sheets competes with Airtable, Zoho Sheet and Apple Numbers. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Google Sheets alternatives.

Google Sheets: features, pricing and alternatives

About Google Sheets

Google Sheets is the spreadsheet application in Google Workspace. People use it to store and calculate data, build charts and share live workbooks with others who can edit at the same time from a browser or phone.

The vendor highlights Gemini in Sheets, which assists with making sense of complicated data, surfacing insights and building interactive mini-apps from sheet data. Sheets sits beside other Workspace products such as Gmail, Drive, Meet, Docs, Slides, Forms and AppSheet, so data can flow between tools. The Workspace site offers solutions for individuals, small businesses, enterprises, education and non-profits.

Google Sheets is a proprietary cloud service from Google and cannot be self-hosted. It is free with a personal Google account and included in paid Workspace plans for business use. It suits individuals, teams and schools that want shared spreadsheets without installing desktop software.

Key features

Real-time collaborative spreadsheets
Formulas, charts and pivot tables
Gemini AI for insights and analysis
Mini-apps built from sheet data
Integration with Google Workspace
Web and mobile access

Good fit for

→Shared budgets and trackers
→Lightweight data analysis
→Lists that feed Forms and AppSheet apps

Tags: spreadsheets; google; workspace; collaboration; data-analysis; ai

Google Sheets: questions and answers

What is Google Sheets used for?: Google Sheets is Google's collaborative spreadsheet app, with formulas, charts and Gemini AI help, available in the browser and on mobile. It is a good fit for shared budgets and trackers, lightweight data analysis, and lists that feed Forms and AppSheet apps.
Is Google Sheets open source?: No. Google Sheets is proprietary (closed-source) software and can't be self-hosted. Open-source alternatives to Google Sheets include Univer, CryptPad and EtherCalc.
What are some alternatives to Google Sheets?: Google Sheets competes with Airtable, Zoho Sheet and Apple Numbers. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source Google Sheets alternatives.