{"slug": "google-sheets", "name": "Google Sheets", "category": "databases", "category_name": "Databases", "description": "Google's browser-based collaborative spreadsheet application, part of Google Workspace.", "recommenders": 10, "commenters": 21, "warners": 3, "score": 8.045, "rising": -1.95, "first": "2025-11-02", "latest": "2026-10-18", "why": "HN commenters use it for personal tracking and work logs, as a free lightweight database or backend, and with Apps Script for automation and API calls.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 10, "neutral": 8, "compare": 0, "warn": 3}, "spark": [2, 3, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Personal tracking", "Lightweight database"], "caveat": "Outgrown", "short_quote": "I cannot overstate just how much I love working on stuff in Excel and Google Sheets.", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.google.com/sheets/about/", "pricing": "freemium", "aliases": ["Google Sheets"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters use it for personal tracking and work logs", "cites": [{"id": 739796096, "item_id": 46237256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237256", "by": "_spduchamp", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This has been a complete game changer for me.", "excerpt": "I use a google spreadsheet. Shortcut on my phone home screen so I can add items any time easily. I log all my lab work and how many hours I've worked in a day and it calculates my hours in a separate tab automatically. Items I need to follow up on are in bold, and get unbolded when I've followed up on them. When I have to write a report, everything is there in chronological order and it is super easy to take the rele", "context": "lab worker", "use_case": "lab work and hours log", "switched_from": "", "story": "My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)"}, {"id": 783450016, "item_id": 48965626, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48965626", "by": "humamf", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use a google sheet for this. It is accessible via different device.", "excerpt": "I use a google sheet for this. It is accessible via different device. I only add timestamps on it. But it is pure text only. Not suitable for equation or image capture. Been doing this for a year.", "context": "", "use_case": "timestamped note log", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Started a \"Dirt Notebook\""}, {"id": 765166449, "item_id": 47822903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47822903", "by": "zack-p", "date": "2026-04-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own.", "excerpt": "I've been lifting for 10+ years and I have never been truly happy with any workout tracker so I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own. Splitt is a native iOS app (SwiftUI + SwiftData) that does one thing: tracks your sets across training sessions. No account, no AI, no social. Your data stays on your device. The live activities are actually useful as you can log all your sets + see your rest timers direct", "context": "", "use_case": "workout tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Splitt \u2013 A gym set tracker that does nothing else"}, {"id": 735457812, "item_id": 45966113, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45966113", "by": "edferda", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google Sheets is what I use for my personal needs these days.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using Windows my entire life. In the past, I tried Linux without much success, switching back within a few weeks. However, Microsoft\u2019s software is just beyond bad these days. Simple actions take seconds, the UI/UX feels designed to make you waste time, and the fundamentals of what an OS should do feel broken. It\u2019s hard to overstate how bad quality has gotten. This motivated me to move to Linux and installed", "context": "lifelong Windows user, uses Windows at work", "use_case": "personal spreadsheets", "switched_from": "Excel", "story": "Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders"}]}, {"text": ", as a free lightweight database or backend", "cites": [{"id": 788579121, "item_id": 49286195, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49286195", "by": "tamimio", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used google sheet as a backend, it did the storing like a database", "excerpt": "It depends, excel is a powerful tool but in nowadays tech it is outdated. I remember years ago I used google sheet as a backend, it did the storing like a database, but also the auto web scrapping into that db after the filtration, everything was running on auto mode for free, and UI communicated through google API. Obviously nowadays it\u2019s not worth it with all these shiny tools out there.", "context": "", "use_case": "backend database with auto web scraping", "switched_from": "", "story": "My Rules for Using Spreadsheets"}, {"id": 755205155, "item_id": 47200322, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47200322", "by": "aggeeinn", "date": "2026-02-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It serves as a free, easily manageable, flat-file database", "excerpt": "Hey HN, OP here. I\u2019ve been frustrated by how difficult it is to track actual, kinetic events during modern conflicts without getting buried in algorithmic noise, propaganda, or Telegram spam. I wanted to build a purely automated, objective pipeline to map verifiable events as they happen. I built IranWarLive as a serverless OSINT dashboard. Here is how the stack works under the hood: The Architecture: The Edge: A Clo", "context": "", "use_case": "flat-file database", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: IranWarLive \u2013 Automated, serverless OSINT mapping engine"}, {"id": 758994400, "item_id": 47437150, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47437150", "by": "tmatsuzaki", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "manage those lists in Google Sheets and build an LLM-powered workflow for email outreach", "excerpt": "We replaced our CRM with an in-house solution. Since our main use case was simply sending emails to lists, it made more sense for us to manage those lists in Google Sheets and build an LLM-powered workflow for email outreach and nurturing.", "context": "", "use_case": "managing email lists", "switched_from": "a CRM", "story": "Ask HN: Have you cancelled any software subscriptions because AI replaced them?"}]}, {"text": ", and with Apps Script for automation and API calls.", "cites": [{"id": 732684882, "item_id": 45792805, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45792805", "by": "AznHisoka", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Use Google Sheets + Google App Scripts to make external API calls for each column!", "excerpt": "Comen'n, you're a techie. Use Google Sheets + Google App Scripts to make external API calls for each column! Or just use N8N :) I feel like there are a lot of tools in this space, but they're all flawed, or they all defeat the purpose of Clay - which is having easy access to a lot of integrations with external data providers, and then falling back to their AI agent if you can't find a data provider. You're probably n", "context": "", "use_case": "DIY enrichment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Clay for Enrichment?"}, {"id": 781976944, "item_id": 48873559, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48873559", "by": "durovp", "date": "2026-07-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google sheets is my go-to assistant these days", "excerpt": "Yeah Google sheets is my go-to assistant these days Can't believe I used to ignore it before. Have even gotten better with add-on like AppScript and the rest. Even got a new tool called RowSink that helps me dump data easily into my sheets. So I'm kinda a maxed out Google sheets overlord right now.", "context": "", "use_case": "data work and spreadsheets", "switched_from": "", "story": "The difference between \"today's task\" and \"accretive work\""}, {"id": 777926353, "item_id": 48620397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48620397", "by": "erichuang16", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I eventually wrapped it into a Google Sheet with Apps Script", "excerpt": "Hi, I'm Eric. I built this because I wanted a free way to track my personal monthly expenses, easily. A few things bothered me about the options out there today: Inconsistent categories \u2014 every credit card defines spending categories differently, and not the way I actually want them grouped. Misaligned statement cycles \u2014 to see a true calendar-month summary, I had to manually stitch together pieces of multiple statem", "context": "", "use_case": "expense summary output", "switched_from": "", "story": null}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that people outgrow it and build dedicated apps or interfaces", "cites": [{"id": 741949776, "item_id": 46371861, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46371861", "by": "freedomben", "date": "2025-12-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love my sheets, but they could really stand to benefit from a UI around them.", "excerpt": "Dude, this is super neat and is very much in line with what I am looking for to replace my Google sheets. I love my sheets, but they could really stand to benefit from a UI around them. This looks like a great start. How much help and contributions are you looking for?", "context": "", "use_case": "gym lift tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stronk.app \u2013 open-source gym lifts journal"}, {"id": 765166449, "item_id": 47822903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47822903", "by": "zack-p", "date": "2026-04-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own.", "excerpt": "I've been lifting for 10+ years and I have never been truly happy with any workout tracker so I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own. Splitt is a native iOS app (SwiftUI + SwiftData) that does one thing: tracks your sets across training sessions. No account, no AI, no social. Your data stays on your device. The live activities are actually useful as you can log all your sets + see your rest timers direct", "context": "", "use_case": "workout tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Splitt \u2013 A gym set tracker that does nothing else"}, {"id": 742689825, "item_id": 46418114, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46418114", "by": "raptorraver", "date": "2025-12-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We used Google Sheets but it\u2019s easy to forget to update those.", "excerpt": "I started developing a SaaS for pasture poultry producers like me. We have laying hens and on summer we raise broilers and keeping records and organizing work was painful last season. We used Google Sheets but it\u2019s easy to forget to update those. I\u2019ve vibe coded it few evenings and gotten much further than I anticipated. My goal is to get some revenue from this during next year. But if I don\u2019t I still have one very h", "context": "pasture poultry producer", "use_case": "farm record keeping", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you building as a side-project or side-hustle in 2026?"}]}, {"text": ", with others citing limited automation and rendering bugs.", "cites": [{"id": 740689473, "item_id": 46293092, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46293092", "by": "theamk", "date": "2025-12-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google sheets: not enough automation.", "excerpt": "The process is pretty informal, so there are no hard requirements. that said: - Failures per day: let's say 0-100 - How long to retain records: no hard requirements? I guess a few months at least, some failures are pretty rare - What's the lifecycle of a failure? Scripts record it, team members investigate it and assign to \"root cause\". - Custom scripts: (1) create ticket per failure (2) create failure reports (to pr", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking failures", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: A software to track errors and group into root causes?"}, {"id": 782876992, "item_id": 48929812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929812", "by": "pfannkuchen", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Sheets had a weird rendering bug that was worse then I\u2019ve ever seen", "excerpt": "Google search keeps switching me to Spanish. One day recently I went on Reddit and it said \u201cnull\u201d after every username. Google Sheets had a weird rendering bug that was worse then I\u2019ve ever seen in google\u2019s office clone products. Anecdotally it does seem like more bugs. Can\u2019t imagine why!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Is it just me, or is software buggier across the board?"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Personal tracking", "summary": "Commenters use it to log work hours, workouts, expenses and other personal records.", "quotes": [{"id": 739796096, "item_id": 46237256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237256", "by": "_spduchamp", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This has been a complete game changer for me.", "excerpt": "I use a google spreadsheet. Shortcut on my phone home screen so I can add items any time easily. I log all my lab work and how many hours I've worked in a day and it calculates my hours in a separate tab automatically. Items I need to follow up on are in bold, and get unbolded when I've followed up on them. When I have to write a report, everything is there in chronological order and it is super easy to take the rele", "context": "lab worker", "use_case": "lab work and hours log", "switched_from": "", "story": "My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)"}, {"id": 765166449, "item_id": 47822903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47822903", "by": "zack-p", "date": "2026-04-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own.", "excerpt": "I've been lifting for 10+ years and I have never been truly happy with any workout tracker so I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own. Splitt is a native iOS app (SwiftUI + SwiftData) that does one thing: tracks your sets across training sessions. No account, no AI, no social. Your data stays on your device. The live activities are actually useful as you can log all your sets + see your rest timers direct", "context": "", "use_case": "workout tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Splitt \u2013 A gym set tracker that does nothing else"}, {"id": 735457812, "item_id": 45966113, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45966113", "by": "edferda", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google Sheets is what I use for my personal needs these days.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using Windows my entire life. In the past, I tried Linux without much success, switching back within a few weeks. However, Microsoft\u2019s software is just beyond bad these days. Simple actions take seconds, the UI/UX feels designed to make you waste time, and the fundamentals of what an OS should do feel broken. It\u2019s hard to overstate how bad quality has gotten. This motivated me to move to Linux and installed", "context": "lifelong Windows user, uses Windows at work", "use_case": "personal spreadsheets", "switched_from": "Excel", "story": "Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders"}]}, {"label": "Lightweight database", "summary": "It serves as a free flat-file database or backend for small projects and workflows.", "quotes": [{"id": 788579121, "item_id": 49286195, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49286195", "by": "tamimio", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used google sheet as a backend, it did the storing like a database", "excerpt": "It depends, excel is a powerful tool but in nowadays tech it is outdated. I remember years ago I used google sheet as a backend, it did the storing like a database, but also the auto web scrapping into that db after the filtration, everything was running on auto mode for free, and UI communicated through google API. Obviously nowadays it\u2019s not worth it with all these shiny tools out there.", "context": "", "use_case": "backend database with auto web scraping", "switched_from": "", "story": "My Rules for Using Spreadsheets"}, {"id": 755205155, "item_id": 47200322, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47200322", "by": "aggeeinn", "date": "2026-02-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It serves as a free, easily manageable, flat-file database", "excerpt": "Hey HN, OP here. I\u2019ve been frustrated by how difficult it is to track actual, kinetic events during modern conflicts without getting buried in algorithmic noise, propaganda, or Telegram spam. I wanted to build a purely automated, objective pipeline to map verifiable events as they happen. I built IranWarLive as a serverless OSINT dashboard. Here is how the stack works under the hood: The Architecture: The Edge: A Clo", "context": "", "use_case": "flat-file database", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: IranWarLive \u2013 Automated, serverless OSINT mapping engine"}, {"id": 758994400, "item_id": 47437150, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47437150", "by": "tmatsuzaki", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "manage those lists in Google Sheets and build an LLM-powered workflow for email outreach", "excerpt": "We replaced our CRM with an in-house solution. Since our main use case was simply sending emails to lists, it made more sense for us to manage those lists in Google Sheets and build an LLM-powered workflow for email outreach and nurturing.", "context": "", "use_case": "managing email lists", "switched_from": "a CRM", "story": "Ask HN: Have you cancelled any software subscriptions because AI replaced them?"}]}, {"label": "Apps Script automation", "summary": "Apps Script and add-ons extend it with scripting and external API calls.", "quotes": [{"id": 732684882, "item_id": 45792805, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45792805", "by": "AznHisoka", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Use Google Sheets + Google App Scripts to make external API calls for each column!", "excerpt": "Comen'n, you're a techie. Use Google Sheets + Google App Scripts to make external API calls for each column! Or just use N8N :) I feel like there are a lot of tools in this space, but they're all flawed, or they all defeat the purpose of Clay - which is having easy access to a lot of integrations with external data providers, and then falling back to their AI agent if you can't find a data provider. You're probably n", "context": "", "use_case": "DIY enrichment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Clay for Enrichment?"}, {"id": 781976944, "item_id": 48873559, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48873559", "by": "durovp", "date": "2026-07-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google sheets is my go-to assistant these days", "excerpt": "Yeah Google sheets is my go-to assistant these days Can't believe I used to ignore it before. Have even gotten better with add-on like AppScript and the rest. Even got a new tool called RowSink that helps me dump data easily into my sheets. So I'm kinda a maxed out Google sheets overlord right now.", "context": "", "use_case": "data work and spreadsheets", "switched_from": "", "story": "The difference between \"today's task\" and \"accretive work\""}, {"id": 777926353, "item_id": 48620397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48620397", "by": "erichuang16", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I eventually wrapped it into a Google Sheet with Apps Script", "excerpt": "Hi, I'm Eric. I built this because I wanted a free way to track my personal monthly expenses, easily. A few things bothered me about the options out there today: Inconsistent categories \u2014 every credit card defines spending categories differently, and not the way I actually want them grouped. Misaligned statement cycles \u2014 to see a true calendar-month summary, I had to manually stitch together pieces of multiple statem", "context": "", "use_case": "expense summary output", "switched_from": "", "story": null}]}, {"label": "Accessible anywhere", "summary": "Users can reach their sheets from different devices, including a phone home-screen shortcut.", "quotes": [{"id": 783450016, "item_id": 48965626, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48965626", "by": "humamf", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use a google sheet for this. It is accessible via different device.", "excerpt": "I use a google sheet for this. It is accessible via different device. I only add timestamps on it. But it is pure text only. Not suitable for equation or image capture. Been doing this for a year.", "context": "", "use_case": "timestamped note log", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Started a \"Dirt Notebook\""}, {"id": 739796096, "item_id": 46237256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237256", "by": "_spduchamp", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This has been a complete game changer for me.", "excerpt": "I use a google spreadsheet. Shortcut on my phone home screen so I can add items any time easily. I log all my lab work and how many hours I've worked in a day and it calculates my hours in a separate tab automatically. Items I need to follow up on are in bold, and get unbolded when I've followed up on them. When I have to write a report, everything is there in chronological order and it is super easy to take the rele", "context": "lab worker", "use_case": "lab work and hours log", "switched_from": "", "story": "My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)"}]}, {"label": "Intuitive", "summary": "Spreadsheets are praised as intuitive for all experience levels, with instant feedback.", "quotes": [{"id": 781333889, "item_id": 48833368, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48833368", "by": "pavel_lishin", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I cannot overstate just how much I love working on stuff in Excel and Google Sheets.", "excerpt": "I cannot overstate just how much I love working on stuff in Excel and Google Sheets. It's the most popular programming language because it's incredibly intuitive to people at all levels of programming experience (especially the \"none\" level), it offers instant feedback, and in many cases, the results are trivially verifiable. It does have its flaws, that you've pointed out - there's no good way to write tests, I'm no", "context": "", "use_case": "data analysis and presentation", "switched_from": "", "story": "The difference between \"today's task\" and \"accretive work\""}, {"id": 738561312, "item_id": 46160082, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46160082", "by": "JaumeGreen", "date": "2025-12-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I even have done this first day's advent of code, and the first part of day two, in a Google sheet.", "excerpt": "Spreadsheets are the killer apps. Since I became pointy haired sheets and documents are the fuel of most what I do. Even things like Jira we use them only for the bare minimum and we refer to sheets to see how things are going. Not that I think it's sane, but it's what works. I even have done this first day's advent of code, and the first part of day two, in a Google sheet. Formulas only, so no scripting needed.", "context": "manager", "use_case": "Advent of Code with formulas", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why we can\u2019t quit Excel"}]}, {"label": "Reliability", "summary": "One commenter ranks it among the few services that just work.", "quotes": [{"id": 754277794, "item_id": 47142362, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47142362", "by": "brendanmc6", "date": "2026-02-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I put them in an exclusive S-Tier with, surprisingly, Chase Mobile (in recent years), Signal, Google Sheets", "excerpt": "1password is by far my most recommended subscription to friends and family. In a world where almost every single app or service I use has thrown me into a rage from enshittification or show-stopping bugs or both, where I can hardly even type this message because even iOS keyboards have regressed\u2026 1password is actually a great service that makes my life objectively better. I put them in an exclusive S-Tier with, surpr", "context": "", "use_case": "spreadsheets", "switched_from": "", "story": "1Password Raising Prices ~33%"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Outgrown", "summary": "Some users replaced their sheets with custom apps, wanting a better UI or fewer forgotten updates.", "quotes": [{"id": 741949776, "item_id": 46371861, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46371861", "by": "freedomben", "date": "2025-12-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love my sheets, but they could really stand to benefit from a UI around them.", "excerpt": "Dude, this is super neat and is very much in line with what I am looking for to replace my Google sheets. I love my sheets, but they could really stand to benefit from a UI around them. This looks like a great start. How much help and contributions are you looking for?", "context": "", "use_case": "gym lift tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stronk.app \u2013 open-source gym lifts journal"}, {"id": 765166449, "item_id": 47822903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47822903", "by": "zack-p", "date": "2026-04-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own.", "excerpt": "I've been lifting for 10+ years and I have never been truly happy with any workout tracker so I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own. Splitt is a native iOS app (SwiftUI + SwiftData) that does one thing: tracks your sets across training sessions. No account, no AI, no social. Your data stays on your device. The live activities are actually useful as you can log all your sets + see your rest timers direct", "context": "", "use_case": "workout tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Splitt \u2013 A gym set tracker that does nothing else"}, {"id": 742689825, "item_id": 46418114, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46418114", "by": "raptorraver", "date": "2025-12-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We used Google Sheets but it\u2019s easy to forget to update those.", "excerpt": "I started developing a SaaS for pasture poultry producers like me. We have laying hens and on summer we raise broilers and keeping records and organizing work was painful last season. We used Google Sheets but it\u2019s easy to forget to update those. I\u2019ve vibe coded it few evenings and gotten much further than I anticipated. My goal is to get some revenue from this during next year. But if I don\u2019t I still have one very h", "context": "pasture poultry producer", "use_case": "farm record keeping", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you building as a side-project or side-hustle in 2026?"}]}, {"label": "Limited automation", "summary": "One commenter found it lacked enough automation for tracking failures.", "quotes": [{"id": 740689473, "item_id": 46293092, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46293092", "by": "theamk", "date": "2025-12-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google sheets: not enough automation.", "excerpt": "The process is pretty informal, so there are no hard requirements. that said: - Failures per day: let's say 0-100 - How long to retain records: no hard requirements? I guess a few months at least, some failures are pretty rare - What's the lifecycle of a failure? Scripts record it, team members investigate it and assign to \"root cause\". - Custom scripts: (1) create ticket per failure (2) create failure reports (to pr", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking failures", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: A software to track errors and group into root causes?"}]}, {"label": "Bugs", "summary": "A commenter reported an unusually bad rendering bug.", "quotes": [{"id": 782876992, "item_id": 48929812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929812", "by": "pfannkuchen", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Sheets had a weird rendering bug that was worse then I\u2019ve ever seen", "excerpt": "Google search keeps switching me to Spanish. One day recently I went on Reddit and it said \u201cnull\u201d after every username. Google Sheets had a weird rendering bug that was worse then I\u2019ve ever seen in google\u2019s office clone products. Anecdotally it does seem like more bugs. Can\u2019t imagine why!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Is it just me, or is software buggier across the board?"}]}, {"label": "No tests or versioning", "summary": "Spreadsheets lack good testing, source control and modularity.", "quotes": [{"id": 781333889, "item_id": 48833368, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48833368", "by": "pavel_lishin", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I cannot overstate just how much I love working on stuff in Excel and Google Sheets.", "excerpt": "I cannot overstate just how much I love working on stuff in Excel and Google Sheets. It's the most popular programming language because it's incredibly intuitive to people at all levels of programming experience (especially the \"none\" level), it offers instant feedback, and in many cases, the results are trivially verifiable. It does have its flaws, that you've pointed out - there's no good way to write tests, I'm no", "context": "", "use_case": "data analysis and presentation", "switched_from": "", "story": "The difference between \"today's task\" and \"accretive work\""}]}, {"label": "Text-only content", "summary": "One user notes it is unsuitable for equations or image capture.", "quotes": [{"id": 783450016, "item_id": 48965626, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48965626", "by": "humamf", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use a google sheet for this. It is accessible via different device.", "excerpt": "I use a google sheet for this. It is accessible via different device. I only add timestamps on it. But it is pure text only. Not suitable for equation or image capture. Been doing this for a year.", "context": "", "use_case": "timestamped note log", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Started a \"Dirt Notebook\""}]}, {"label": "Excel entrenchment", "summary": "Companies standardized on Excel may not consider it a viable option.", "quotes": [{"id": 802217970, "item_id": 50138623, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50138623", "by": "remuskaos", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Sheets is not a viable option: Everyone in the company knows Excel.", "excerpt": "Google is completely out of the question. As I said, we cannot switch away from Excel, whether I like it or not. Google Sheets is not a viable option: Everyone in the company knows Excel. Network shares aren't bad per se, but they encourage people to place multiple files with the same name and then a V4, V5, V6 etc suffix. People have to download or check out the Excel files if they want to work with them, delete the", "context": "company entrenched in Excel", "use_case": "spreadsheets", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Teams is a red flag"}]}], "who": [{"by": "raptorraver", "context": "pasture poultry producer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46418114", "date": "2025-12-28"}, {"by": "_spduchamp", "context": "lab worker", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237256", "date": "2025-12-11"}, {"by": "JaumeGreen", "context": "manager", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46160082", "date": "2025-12-05"}, {"by": "edferda", "context": "lifelong Windows user, uses Windows at work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45966113", "date": "2025-11-18"}], "tags": ["for personal tracking", "as a lightweight backend", "for non-programmers", "for email list management"], "use_cases": ["spreadsheets", "group chat among friends", "backend database with auto web scraping", "timestamped note log", "data work and automation", "data work and spreadsheets"], "compared": [{"slug": "microsoft-excel", "name": "Microsoft Excel", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "whatsapp", "name": "WhatsApp", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "jira", "name": "Jira", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "rowsink", "name": "RowSink", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48761868", "title": "The difference between \"today's task\" and \"accretive work\"", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50130228", "title": "Microsoft Teams is a red flag", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49879697", "title": "Kids turned low-traffic NPR Spotify comments into a secret group chat", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49285268", "title": "My Rules for Using Spreadsheets", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48954149", "title": "I Started a \"Dirt Notebook\"", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48920698", "title": "Ask HN: Is it just me, or is software buggier across the board?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 3, "warn": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 3, "warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"warn": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 802217970, "item_id": 50138623, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50138623", "by": "remuskaos", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Sheets is not a viable option: Everyone in the company knows Excel.", "excerpt": "Google is completely out of the question. As I said, we cannot switch away from Excel, whether I like it or not. Google Sheets is not a viable option: Everyone in the company knows Excel. Network shares aren't bad per se, but they encourage people to place multiple files with the same name and then a V4, V5, V6 etc suffix. People have to download or check out the Excel files if they want to work with them, delete the", "context": "company entrenched in Excel", "use_case": "spreadsheets", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Teams is a red flag"}, {"id": 798176880, "item_id": 49886055, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49886055", "by": "nerevarthelame", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It was a lot more fun than Discord, Slack, or any other dedicated chat client.", "excerpt": "As an adult, I used Google Sheets as a group chat among my friends. We had different employers with different internet restrictions. Before that we used a self-hosted Telnet chat server, until someone's employer blocked that. It was a lot more fun than Discord, Slack, or any other dedicated chat client. With Sheets, we'd do fun little gags and bits in the spreadsheets. Everything ended up being really personalized an", "context": "", "use_case": "group chat among friends", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kids turned low-traffic NPR Spotify comments into a secret group chat"}, {"id": 788579121, "item_id": 49286195, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49286195", "by": "tamimio", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used google sheet as a backend, it did the storing like a database", "excerpt": "It depends, excel is a powerful tool but in nowadays tech it is outdated. I remember years ago I used google sheet as a backend, it did the storing like a database, but also the auto web scrapping into that db after the filtration, everything was running on auto mode for free, and UI communicated through google API. Obviously nowadays it\u2019s not worth it with all these shiny tools out there.", "context": "", "use_case": "backend database with auto web scraping", "switched_from": "", "story": "My Rules for Using Spreadsheets"}, {"id": 783450016, "item_id": 48965626, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48965626", "by": "humamf", "date": "2026-07-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use a google sheet for this. It is accessible via different device.", "excerpt": "I use a google sheet for this. It is accessible via different device. I only add timestamps on it. But it is pure text only. Not suitable for equation or image capture. Been doing this for a year.", "context": "", "use_case": "timestamped note log", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Started a \"Dirt Notebook\""}, {"id": 782876992, "item_id": 48929812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929812", "by": "pfannkuchen", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google Sheets had a weird rendering bug that was worse then I\u2019ve ever seen", "excerpt": "Google search keeps switching me to Spanish. One day recently I went on Reddit and it said \u201cnull\u201d after every username. Google Sheets had a weird rendering bug that was worse then I\u2019ve ever seen in google\u2019s office clone products. Anecdotally it does seem like more bugs. Can\u2019t imagine why!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Is it just me, or is software buggier across the board?"}, {"id": 781977008, "item_id": 48873563, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48873563", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-07-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "> This is about gender, not sex, and that's not the definition I used for \"gender\" that you agreed with. You agreed with this definition of \"gender\": \"female gender refers to the social roles and norms associated with being a woman\". According to the definition you used, if a woman likes doing masculine things, does that automatically make her a man? I presume not. There is another part of the definition which you om", "context": "", "use_case": "data work and automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Grok 4.5"}, {"id": 781976944, "item_id": 48873559, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48873559", "by": "durovp", "date": "2026-07-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google sheets is my go-to assistant these days", "excerpt": "Yeah Google sheets is my go-to assistant these days Can't believe I used to ignore it before. Have even gotten better with add-on like AppScript and the rest. Even got a new tool called RowSink that helps me dump data easily into my sheets. So I'm kinda a maxed out Google sheets overlord right now.", "context": "", "use_case": "data work and spreadsheets", "switched_from": "", "story": "The difference between \"today's task\" and \"accretive work\""}, {"id": 781333889, "item_id": 48833368, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48833368", "by": "pavel_lishin", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I cannot overstate just how much I love working on stuff in Excel and Google Sheets.", "excerpt": "I cannot overstate just how much I love working on stuff in Excel and Google Sheets. It's the most popular programming language because it's incredibly intuitive to people at all levels of programming experience (especially the \"none\" level), it offers instant feedback, and in many cases, the results are trivially verifiable. It does have its flaws, that you've pointed out - there's no good way to write tests, I'm no", "context": "", "use_case": "data analysis and presentation", "switched_from": "", "story": "The difference between \"today's task\" and \"accretive work\""}, {"id": 777926353, "item_id": 48620397, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48620397", "by": "erichuang16", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I eventually wrapped it into a Google Sheet with Apps Script", "excerpt": "Hi, I'm Eric. I built this because I wanted a free way to track my personal monthly expenses, easily. A few things bothered me about the options out there today: Inconsistent categories \u2014 every credit card defines spending categories differently, and not the way I actually want them grouped. Misaligned statement cycles \u2014 to see a true calendar-month summary, I had to manually stitch together pieces of multiple statem", "context": "", "use_case": "expense summary output", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 765166449, "item_id": 47822903, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47822903", "by": "zack-p", "date": "2026-04-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own.", "excerpt": "I've been lifting for 10+ years and I have never been truly happy with any workout tracker so I have been using Google Sheets until I made my own. Splitt is a native iOS app (SwiftUI + SwiftData) that does one thing: tracks your sets across training sessions. No account, no AI, no social. Your data stays on your device. The live activities are actually useful as you can log all your sets + see your rest timers direct", "context": "", "use_case": "workout tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Splitt \u2013 A gym set tracker that does nothing else"}, {"id": 758994400, "item_id": 47437150, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47437150", "by": "tmatsuzaki", "date": "2026-03-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "manage those lists in Google Sheets and build an LLM-powered workflow for email outreach", "excerpt": "We replaced our CRM with an in-house solution. Since our main use case was simply sending emails to lists, it made more sense for us to manage those lists in Google Sheets and build an LLM-powered workflow for email outreach and nurturing.", "context": "", "use_case": "managing email lists", "switched_from": "a CRM", "story": "Ask HN: Have you cancelled any software subscriptions because AI replaced them?"}, {"id": 755205155, "item_id": 47200322, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47200322", "by": "aggeeinn", "date": "2026-02-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It serves as a free, easily manageable, flat-file database", "excerpt": "Hey HN, OP here. I\u2019ve been frustrated by how difficult it is to track actual, kinetic events during modern conflicts without getting buried in algorithmic noise, propaganda, or Telegram spam. I wanted to build a purely automated, objective pipeline to map verifiable events as they happen. I built IranWarLive as a serverless OSINT dashboard. Here is how the stack works under the hood: The Architecture: The Edge: A Clo", "context": "", "use_case": "flat-file database", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: IranWarLive \u2013 Automated, serverless OSINT mapping engine"}, {"id": 754277794, "item_id": 47142362, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47142362", "by": "brendanmc6", "date": "2026-02-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I put them in an exclusive S-Tier with, surprisingly, Chase Mobile (in recent years), Signal, Google Sheets", "excerpt": "1password is by far my most recommended subscription to friends and family. In a world where almost every single app or service I use has thrown me into a rage from enshittification or show-stopping bugs or both, where I can hardly even type this message because even iOS keyboards have regressed\u2026 1password is actually a great service that makes my life objectively better. I put them in an exclusive S-Tier with, surpr", "context": "", "use_case": "spreadsheets", "switched_from": "", "story": "1Password Raising Prices ~33%"}, {"id": 742689825, "item_id": 46418114, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46418114", "by": "raptorraver", "date": "2025-12-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We used Google Sheets but it\u2019s easy to forget to update those.", "excerpt": "I started developing a SaaS for pasture poultry producers like me. We have laying hens and on summer we raise broilers and keeping records and organizing work was painful last season. We used Google Sheets but it\u2019s easy to forget to update those. I\u2019ve vibe coded it few evenings and gotten much further than I anticipated. My goal is to get some revenue from this during next year. But if I don\u2019t I still have one very h", "context": "pasture poultry producer", "use_case": "farm record keeping", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you building as a side-project or side-hustle in 2026?"}, {"id": 741949776, "item_id": 46371861, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46371861", "by": "freedomben", "date": "2025-12-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love my sheets, but they could really stand to benefit from a UI around them.", "excerpt": "Dude, this is super neat and is very much in line with what I am looking for to replace my Google sheets. I love my sheets, but they could really stand to benefit from a UI around them. This looks like a great start. How much help and contributions are you looking for?", "context": "", "use_case": "gym lift tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Stronk.app \u2013 open-source gym lifts journal"}, {"id": 740689473, "item_id": 46293092, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46293092", "by": "theamk", "date": "2025-12-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Google sheets: not enough automation.", "excerpt": "The process is pretty informal, so there are no hard requirements. that said: - Failures per day: let's say 0-100 - How long to retain records: no hard requirements? I guess a few months at least, some failures are pretty rare - What's the lifecycle of a failure? Scripts record it, team members investigate it and assign to \"root cause\". - Custom scripts: (1) create ticket per failure (2) create failure reports (to pr", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking failures", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: A software to track errors and group into root causes?"}, {"id": 739796096, "item_id": 46237256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237256", "by": "_spduchamp", "date": "2025-12-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This has been a complete game changer for me.", "excerpt": "I use a google spreadsheet. Shortcut on my phone home screen so I can add items any time easily. I log all my lab work and how many hours I've worked in a day and it calculates my hours in a separate tab automatically. Items I need to follow up on are in bold, and get unbolded when I've followed up on them. When I have to write a report, everything is there in chronological order and it is super easy to take the rele", "context": "lab worker", "use_case": "lab work and hours log", "switched_from": "", "story": "My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)"}, {"id": 739188000, "item_id": 46199250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46199250", "by": "hinkley", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "His first example, Google Sheets, does well by this metric IMO", "excerpt": "There was a comic artist I used to follow when I was doing more front end work, who would blog about his craft. One of the things he said that really hit me was talking about silhouettes. The visual noise in certain eras of comics make them very unapproachable. If you repainted your strip by flood filling everything with black, would people have any clue what's going on? One of the things I'm seeing in some of these ", "context": "", "use_case": "icon design in menus", "switched_from": "", "story": "Icons in Menus Everywhere \u2013 Send Help"}, {"id": 738561312, "item_id": 46160082, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46160082", "by": "JaumeGreen", "date": "2025-12-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I even have done this first day's advent of code, and the first part of day two, in a Google sheet.", "excerpt": "Spreadsheets are the killer apps. Since I became pointy haired sheets and documents are the fuel of most what I do. Even things like Jira we use them only for the bare minimum and we refer to sheets to see how things are going. Not that I think it's sane, but it's what works. I even have done this first day's advent of code, and the first part of day two, in a Google sheet. Formulas only, so no scripting needed.", "context": "manager", "use_case": "Advent of Code with formulas", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why we can\u2019t quit Excel"}, {"id": 735457812, "item_id": 45966113, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45966113", "by": "edferda", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Google Sheets is what I use for my personal needs these days.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been using Windows my entire life. In the past, I tried Linux without much success, switching back within a few weeks. However, Microsoft\u2019s software is just beyond bad these days. Simple actions take seconds, the UI/UX feels designed to make you waste time, and the fundamentals of what an OS should do feel broken. It\u2019s hard to overstate how bad quality has gotten. This motivated me to move to Linux and installed", "context": "lifelong Windows user, uses Windows at work", "use_case": "personal spreadsheets", "switched_from": "Excel", "story": "Windows 11 adds AI agent that runs in background with access to personal folders"}, {"id": 732684882, "item_id": 45792805, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45792805", "by": "AznHisoka", "date": "2025-11-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Use Google Sheets + Google App Scripts to make external API calls for each column!", "excerpt": "Comen'n, you're a techie. Use Google Sheets + Google App Scripts to make external API calls for each column! Or just use N8N :) I feel like there are a lot of tools in this space, but they're all flawed, or they all defeat the purpose of Clay - which is having easy access to a lot of integrations with external data providers, and then falling back to their AI agent if you can't find a data provider. You're probably n", "context": "", "use_case": "DIY enrichment", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to Clay for Enrichment?"}]}