An Excel alternative that opens your Excel files

Free and open source.

Native for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

No account, no subscription, works offline.

Open an .xlsx file, work in it with 123 formula functions, and save it back as .xlsx for whoever sent it. A sheet holds the same 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns Excel does.

The spreadsheet, without the subscription.

macOS · Windows · Linux · AGPLv3

Most Excel alternatives want you to move into a browser

The usual options are a cloud spreadsheet that needs an account and a connection, or a full office suite measured in hundreds of megabytes that you install to open one file.

Neither is what you asked for. You wanted the spreadsheet part: a grid, formulas, and a file you can send back in the format everyone else reads.

A spreadsheet should open the file, do the arithmetic, and get out of the way.

VisiGrid is a native application, under 30 MB, that starts in about the time it takes to let go of the mouse. Your files stay on your machine.

Your files open, and they go back as .xlsx

Opens .xlsx, .xls, .xlsb, .ods, .csv, .tsv, .json, and .parquet. Import keeps every sheet, and brings across formulas, number formats, fonts, fills, borders, merged cells, conditional formatting, and data validation.

Exports to .xlsx, .csv, .tsv, and .json. Formulas are written as formulas rather than pasted values, so the next person can still see how a number was calculated.

The .xlsx it writes is a presentation snapshot, not a full round trip: formulas, formatting, merges, frozen panes and validation come through, but anything VisiGrid does not model — charts and macros above all — does not survive a trip through it. It reads OpenDocument and Parquet without writing either.

The same grid, and the everyday tools

A sheet holds 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns — the same limits as Excel, so a file that fits there fits here.

Sorting, autofilter, frozen panes, data validation with dropdowns, conditional formatting, named ranges, find and replace, and dynamic arrays with FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE and XLOOKUP are all here, spill errors included.

Scrolling is rendered on the GPU, using the same framework as the Zed editor, so a large sheet moves at the speed of the scroll rather than the speed of the redraw.

Free, offline, and yours

Free and open source under AGPLv3, with nothing held back for a paid tier. A commercial licence is available for organisations that cannot use AGPL code.

No account, no sign-in, and no telemetry in the desktop app. It works with the network off, on a machine that will never be licensed for Office.

Install it with Homebrew, winget, the AUR, or a direct download.

Where Excel still wins

The desktop app has no pivot tables and no chart engine. Not simplified versions — they do not exist. If your monthly work ends in a chart or a pivot, Excel is the right tool and this is not. (The browser app does draw charts; the desktop app does not.)

There is no printing or page layout: no print preview, no print area, no headers and footers. There is no VBA and no macro recorder either — VisiGrid scripts in Lua, which runs headlessly in the CLI as well, so existing macros need rewriting rather than porting.

123 functions cover everyday spreadsheet work, but Excel has hundreds. LAMBDA, LET, XIRR, FORECAST, TREND and much of the statistical and financial library are absent, as are cell comments and images in cells.

When it fits

A file someone emailed you

Open the .xlsx, check the numbers, change what you need, and send it back in the same format.

Linux, where Excel does not run

A native Linux build in beta, not a compatibility layer and not a browser tab.

A machine without an Office licence

A spare laptop, a server, a new hire on day one. Free, and no account to create.

Work you would rather script

The vgrid CLI runs the same engine with no window, so the same calculation runs in a terminal or in CI.

Common questions

Can VisiGrid open Excel files?
Yes. It opens .xlsx workbooks, including every sheet, their formulas and their formatting, and it also reads the older .xls and .xlsb files, plus .ods, .csv, .tsv, .json, and .parquet. Open one the same way you would in any spreadsheet.
Can I save back to .xlsx?
Yes. Export to .xlsx, .csv, .tsv, or .json. Formulas are written as formulas rather than flattened to values, so the file stays useful to whoever opens it next. It does not write .ods or .parquet files.
Is VisiGrid really free?
Yes. The desktop app is free and open source under AGPLv3, and nothing is held back for a paid tier. The paid products are the iPhone and iPad apps at $9.99 once, and the Mac App Store build, which is a paid convenience beside the same free download. A commercial licence is available for organisations that cannot use AGPL-licensed code.
Does it have pivot tables and charts?
The desktop app has neither: there is no pivot table feature and no chart engine. The browser app at app.visigrid.app does draw charts. If your work depends on pivot tables, Excel or LibreOffice Calc does them and VisiGrid does not.
Can I print a sheet?
Not from the desktop app. There is no print preview, print area, or page setup. Export to .xlsx or .csv and print from there.
Will my Excel macros work?
No. There is no VBA and no macro recorder. VisiGrid scripts in Lua instead, which has the advantage of running headlessly in the CLI and in CI, but existing macros have to be rewritten.
How big can a sheet be?
A sheet holds 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns, the same limits as Excel.
How many formula functions are there?
123. That covers everyday spreadsheet work — lookups, text, dates, maths, logic, and the common statistical functions — but Excel has hundreds, and LAMBDA, LET, XIRR, FORECAST and TREND are among those VisiGrid does not have.
Does it run on Linux?
Yes, natively. macOS, Windows, and Linux all have builds, installable via Homebrew, winget, the AUR, an AppImage, or a direct download. The macOS and Linux builds are in beta and the Windows build is still alpha.
Does it need an account or an internet connection?
Neither. The desktop app has no sign-in and no telemetry, and it works entirely offline. There is a separate web app if you want your sheets in a browser, and that one does need an account.
Can several people edit the same sheet at once?
Only in the browser app, which supports live collaboration. The desktop app is single-user, local-first, and does not sync while you type.

Want the side-by-side against Excel, Numbers, LibreOffice Calc and Google Sheets, including where VisiGrid is the wrong choice? Read the comparisons.

Coming from a data pipeline instead? VisiGrid opens Parquet files too.

Open your spreadsheet

Free and open source (AGPLv3) for macOS, Windows, and Linux, under 30 MB. No account, and it works offline.

brew install --cask visigrid/tap/visigrid

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