{"slug": "ironcalc", "name": "IronCalc", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 3.921, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2026-02-21", "latest": "2026-10-21", "why": "IronCalc looks better than LO Calc performance wise", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "IronCalc looks better than LO Calc performance wise", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "ironcalc.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.ironcalc.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["IronCalc"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 803025522, "item_id": 50189095, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50189095", "by": "anthk", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "IronCalc looks better than LO Calc performance wise", "excerpt": "There's RustPython and far more compatible than IronPython back in the day. C++ is NOT an extension of C, they diverged a lot. >Codex CLI, uv, ripgrep, and what else? RustDesk, Servo/Firefox, tons of gtk4-rs on Gnome and extra tools, Librsvg, CosmicDE (Fedora Atomic with Cosmic can be slightly faster than vanilla Gnome Silverblue), Ruffle, Gopher64, ArtCraft (both the vibecodec cr*p and the AI powered magical multime", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rust Style Guide"}, {"id": 775169680, "item_id": 48448105, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48448105", "by": "olejorgenb", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "And the project looks interesting and worthy to me.", "excerpt": "> throwing shitload of money to the big actors of a field My reply was directed at this part. Based on my memory seeing ironcalc specifically getting funding. Unless they hide it well they are not a big actor. And the project looks interesting and worthy to me. (I see I should have omitted the nextgraph link as I'm not familiar at all with that project) Few of the projects listed here seems to be big actors: https://", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The EU Open Source Strategy"}, {"id": 775109281, "item_id": 48444330, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48444330", "by": "olejorgenb", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "eg.. https://www.ironcalc.com/", "excerpt": "One counter example: https://nextgraph.org/elfa-consortium-encrypted-local-first-applications/ (eg.. https://www.ironcalc.com/)", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The EU Open Source Strategy"}, {"id": 766921296, "item_id": 47932581, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47932581", "by": "akshayKMR", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Reminded me of ironcalc - rust based project that aims to have full excel parity.", "excerpt": "Looks cool! Reminded me of ironcalc - rust based project that aims to have full excel parity. Linking it in case you might want to reuse/contribute to that engine. - https://www.ironcalc.com - Also found a tui interface for it - https://github.com/zaphar/sheetsui", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings"}, {"id": 753609024, "item_id": 47100564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47100564", "by": "fschuett", "date": "2026-02-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "IronCalc to the rescue?", "excerpt": "IronCalc to the rescue? https://www.ironcalc.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "spreadsheet engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreOffice blasts OnlyOffice for working with Microsoft to lock users in"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["xlsx parsing", "spreadsheet engine", "spreadsheet calc engine"], "compared": [{"slug": "microsoft-excel", "name": "Microsoft Excel", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "nextgraph", "name": "NextGraph", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "libreoffice", "name": "LibreOffice", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 787761424, "item_id": 49235089, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49235089", "by": "nhatcher", "date": "2026-08-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "working on an open source spreadsheet engine called IronCalc", "excerpt": "As per usual for the last two years I'm working on an open source spreadsheet engine called IronCalc. It is super exciting. We have a proof of concept at https://app.ironcalc.com In the last couple of months my partner and myself quit our jobs to work on that. I am pretty sure that in a year from now the world is going to have a fairly competent spreadsheet alternative. My capacity is fairly limited but I am trying t", "context": "quit jobs to work on it", "use_case": "spreadsheet engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)"}, {"id": 761905632, "item_id": 47619102, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619102", "by": "nhatcher", "date": "2026-04-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I am working on IronCalc[1]. A spreadsheet engine.", "excerpt": "I am working on IronCalc[1]. A spreadsheet engine. We are not an alternative yet. As it is not a finished product. But, if we are successful, we should be a good alternative to traditional spreadsheet software. [1] https://wwww.ironcalc.com", "context": "", "use_case": "spreadsheet engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: European Tech Alternatives?"}, {"id": 757168112, "item_id": 47323007, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47323007", "by": "nhatcher", "date": "2026-03-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We will start working on it by July according to the plan.", "excerpt": "I think charts is one of those few things I won't implement from scratch, as there are already fantastic libraries out there: https://github.com/ironcalc/IronCalc/issues/348 We will start working on it by July according to the plan. (This will add a lot if value to the project BTW)", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)"}, {"id": 756903872, "item_id": 47306492, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47306492", "by": "nhatcher", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "First we got a grant from the NLnet[1], which I highly recommend as a first step of any project. Single best thing I could have done. That wasn't enough money for me to quit my job. Also I didn't have any _evidence_ that IronCalc was a good idea or that there was a market for it. Then evidence started pouring and I kept working. I started talking to different folks, lots of people many of those were contacts through ", "context": "founder seeking grant funding", "use_case": "spreadsheet engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)"}, {"id": 756899024, "item_id": 47306189, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47306189", "by": "nhatcher", "date": "2026-03-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I just jumped full time on IronCalc[1] a fully open source, light and fast spreadsheet engine", "excerpt": "Well, I just jumped full time on IronCalc[1] a fully open source, light and fast spreadsheet engine designed and build from the ground up. I have been working on it as side project for over two years and now, with funding from the EU for the next 2.5 years, I hope I can make of it a real product for everyone to use that can compete with the likes of Excel and Googl;e Sheets. I can oly say, I am overly, off the Moon e", "context": "", "use_case": "Spreadsheet engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)"}, {"id": 740959056, "item_id": 46309941, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46309941", "by": "nhatcher", "date": "2025-12-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We have IronCalc[1].", "excerpt": "I was hesitant to add my own but I think you might find it interesting as we make money not from clients but from grants. We have IronCalc[1]. We don't make money from customers as we don't have a finalized product yet. But we have an ongoing grant from the NLnet[2]. You can have a look at the kind of projects they are granting money. It's always a source of inspiration. That being said IronCalc takes a lot of time f", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2025 \u2013 Show and tell"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48442503", "title": "The EU Open Source Strategy", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303111", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45812454", "title": "Understanding Financial Functions in Excel", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50186010", "title": "Rust Style Guide", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49233423", "title": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48478469", "title": "Show HN: Extend UI \u2013 open-source UI kit for modern document apps", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803025522, "item_id": 50189095, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50189095", "by": "anthk", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "IronCalc looks better than LO Calc performance wise", "excerpt": "There's RustPython and far more compatible than IronPython back in the day. C++ is NOT an extension of C, they diverged a lot. >Codex CLI, uv, ripgrep, and what else? RustDesk, Servo/Firefox, tons of gtk4-rs on Gnome and extra tools, Librsvg, CosmicDE (Fedora Atomic with Cosmic can be slightly faster than vanilla Gnome Silverblue), Ruffle, Gopher64, ArtCraft (both the vibecodec cr*p and the AI powered magical multime", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Rust Style Guide"}, {"id": 775776960, "item_id": 48486060, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48486060", "by": "nhatcher", "date": "2026-06-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We wrote (should say are writing) our own xlsx parser in Rust on IronCalc", "excerpt": "First of all thanks for the great library. It is so much more thay an UI kit! We wrote (should say are writing) our own xlsx parser in Rust on IronCalc: https://github.com/ironcalc/IronCalc/tree/main/xlsx", "context": "", "use_case": "XLSX parsing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Extend UI \u2013 open-source UI kit for modern document apps"}, {"id": 775169680, "item_id": 48448105, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48448105", "by": "olejorgenb", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "And the project looks interesting and worthy to me.", "excerpt": "> throwing shitload of money to the big actors of a field My reply was directed at this part. Based on my memory seeing ironcalc specifically getting funding. Unless they hide it well they are not a big actor. And the project looks interesting and worthy to me. (I see I should have omitted the nextgraph link as I'm not familiar at all with that project) Few of the projects listed here seems to be big actors: https://", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The EU Open Source Strategy"}, {"id": 775149697, "item_id": 48446856, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48446856", "by": "greatgib", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Is it really a counter example? \"Gathering 12 partners for at least 3 years, towards a suite composed of 16 apps!\" Read the About page and tell me what is it exactly that you will be paying for? https://nextgraph.org/introduction/ I mean we all agree of how good are the values posted on these page, but what are we paying for? Oh I see: https://nextgraph.org/roadmap/ This is the new roadmap for 2025, established thank", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The EU Open Source Strategy"}, {"id": 775109281, "item_id": 48444330, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48444330", "by": "olejorgenb", "date": "2026-06-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "eg.. https://www.ironcalc.com/", "excerpt": "One counter example: https://nextgraph.org/elfa-consortium-encrypted-local-first-applications/ (eg.. https://www.ironcalc.com/)", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The EU Open Source Strategy"}, {"id": 766921296, "item_id": 47932581, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47932581", "by": "akshayKMR", "date": "2026-04-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Reminded me of ironcalc - rust based project that aims to have full excel parity.", "excerpt": "Looks cool! Reminded me of ironcalc - rust based project that aims to have full excel parity. Linking it in case you might want to reuse/contribute to that engine. - https://www.ironcalc.com - Also found a tui interface for it - https://github.com/zaphar/sheetsui", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: A terminal spreadsheet editor with Vim keybindings"}, {"id": 753609024, "item_id": 47100564, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47100564", "by": "fschuett", "date": "2026-02-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "IronCalc to the rescue?", "excerpt": "IronCalc to the rescue? https://www.ironcalc.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "spreadsheet engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "LibreOffice blasts OnlyOffice for working with Microsoft to lock users in"}, {"id": 734032113, "item_id": 45877007, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45877007", "by": "nhatcher", "date": "2025-11-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "This is my implementation:", "excerpt": "Nice! This is my implementation: https://github.com/ironcalc/IronCalc/blob/main/base/src/functions/financial_util.rs#L8-L47 although at this moment would only pass some \"smoke\" tests RowZero is great!", "context": "", "use_case": "Spreadsheet calc engine", "switched_from": "", "story": "Understanding Financial Functions in Excel"}]}