Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Grist
Score 9.9 out of 10
N/A
Grist combines the capabilities of spreadsheets, databases and app builders. Using a familiar spreadsheet interface, information can be organized as a relational database, and dashboards built using drag-and-drop. Solving spreadsheet problems Ensures data is well-structured and stored in one place with no duplication, no spreadsheet-wrangling, no merging documents. Collaboration on sensitive data Data is protected…
$8
per month per user
Microsoft Excel
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application available as part of Microsoft 365 (Office 365), or standalone, in cloud-based and on-premise editions.
$6.99
per month
Sequel Pro
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
Sequel Pro is a relational database software solution offered free and open source. It allows users to access any MySQL database through a Mac.
$0
Pricing
GristMicrosoft ExcelSequel Pro
Editions & Modules
Pro
$8
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Excel with Microsoft 365
$6.99
per month
Excel for 1 PC or Mac
$139.99
perpetual license
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GristMicrosoft ExcelSequel Pro
Free Trial
YesYesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesYesYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
GristMicrosoft ExcelSequel Pro
Considered Multiple Products
Grist
Chose Grist
Grist is easier to use, faster, and loads quicker with heavy data.
Microsoft Excel

No answer on this topic

Sequel Pro

No answer on this topic

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User Ratings
GristMicrosoft ExcelSequel Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
9.9
(2 ratings)
9.3
(76 ratings)
10.0
(13 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.8
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
8.4
(22 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
7.5
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
GristMicrosoft ExcelSequel Pro
Likelihood to Recommend
Grist Labs
This is well suited to someone (or a team) who are technically minded and have a dataset that they need to be able to use in many ways. It's less appropriate for a team who isn't technically minded and/or don't have the data they need to manipulate. It would be useful for things that you could use a database or spreadsheet for such as CRM, Advertising database, Business tracking, Health tracking etc.
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Microsoft
I don't really know another program as powerful as Excel. I've used Google Doc programs but do not feel they come close. So far, anytime I've needed a table of some sort for data, whether it's budget oriented or information off a survey, the best system has been Excel. We do web audits on occasion and we create an Excel worksheet featuring every URL of the pages we're auditing, notes, data about the content, information about files attached to the page and other information to help us determine what pages need updating, deleting or otherwise. We also use Excel primarily to export our Google Analytics to in order for us to create reports for clients that need to see specific information about their traffic.
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Open Source
It's a great tool when building the software, the ability to add SQL and No-SQL databases. Very convenient to write the queries and generate the filtered data we require. Gives the ability to export, import databases of various formats and generate reports from them. It might not be suitable if you want the data to be seen in a visualized manner
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Pros
Grist Labs
  • Provides amazing customer service, help, examples, and explains what they are having you do
  • The layout is easy
Read full review
Microsoft
  • It is very good at embedded formulas and tying cells to one another
  • It allows me to compare deals terms on a side-by-side basis and talk my clients through it easily.
  • It is very helpful as well in terms of allowing me to filter/sort results in many different ways depending on what specific information I am most interested in prioritizing.
Read full review
Open Source
  • Table filters are simple and easy to use
  • I love the ability to install plugins: Export tables to Laravel migrations is one of our most used plugins
  • Super easy to connect to local Docker containers, Vagrant and remote DBs through SSH
Read full review
Cons
Grist Labs
  • Making the user permissions more obvious on how to use them - They are highly adaptable, but hard to understand how to use them
  • Small changes such as auto colouring the choices/toggles options and being able to edit them once set.
  • Being able to copy the formatting from one column to the next
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Microsoft
  • Excel offers collaboration features that allow multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet, but managing changes made by different users can be challenging. Excel could improve its features by offering more granular control, better tracking of changes, and more robust conflict resolution tools.
  • Itcan be a barrier to productivity when importing and exporting data from other applications or file formats. To improve its features, it should offer better support for standard file formats and more robust error handling and reporting tools.
  • Excel can be challenging for finance students and working professionals, but it can be improved by offering more robust tutorials, better documentation, and more user communities and support forums.
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Open Source
  • It crashes CONSTANTLY. If you have more than one connection tab open and close one of them, it crashes. If you just have it open in the background, it randomly crashes. If you're using it, it randomly crashes. When you try to send a crash report, the CRASH REPORTER CRASHES.
  • Can be a bit slow.
  • No way that I'm aware of to query multiple databases in the same query.
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Likelihood to Renew
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Excel remains the industry standard for spreadsheets and has maintained simple and straight-forward formula writing methods. Although there is a learning curve to do more complex calculations, there are countless help sites and videos on the Internet for almost any need.
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Usability
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I'm giving it a 7 because it is my go to. But the fact other prefer Google Sheets when working with a team does get irritating. I've used the online version of Microsoft Excel that other teams can get into and it still seems behind Google Sheets. It's a little clanky and slow? If that's even a term.
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Open Source
It is easy to use, but the design could use updating as it's very dated.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I have rarely, if ever, had issues with its availability.
Read full review
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Performance
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Excel load and performs calculations immediately. It integrate well with all Microsoft Office applications and does not slow them down.
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Open Source
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
I have not had to use it often, but it is good.
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Open Source
It's open-source and very convenient to work with. I can easily import any database I want using a data dump and runt the queries on them to derive the data insights on the data. I might want to use Excel to visualize that, that might be one of the disadvantages.
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Alternatives Considered
Grist Labs
Grist is easier to use, faster, and loads quicker with heavy data.
Read full review
Microsoft
Out of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, IBM SPSS, and Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel is by far the most common tool used for anything data-related across organizations. Accordingly, our organization has also implemented Microsoft Excel as a first-step tool. We recently adopted Microsoft Power BI (the free version), and use it occasionally (mostly for creating dashboards), but it is less commonly understood by stakeholders across our organization and by our clients. Accordingly, Microsoft Excel is more user-friendly and because of its popularity, we can easily look up how to do things in the program online. Google Sheets is a comparable alternative to Microsoft Excel, but because it's cloud-based and we have sensitive data that needs to be protected, we chose against using this software. Finally, a few users (including myself) have access to and utilize IBM's SPSS. For my role, it's a helpful tool to do more rigorous analyses. However, because of its cost and limited functionality as a simple spreadsheet, we only use it for more complex analyses.
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Open Source
MySQL Workbench is a wonderful tool, but the routine editing of existing data is note nearly as straightforward as it is in Sequel Pro. The ability to sort a data view with a single click makes Sequel Pro my definite choice. phpMyAdmin is pretty ubiquitous, but the routine editing of existing data is much more cumbersome than it is in Sequel Pro.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
N/A I was not involved in this process.
Read full review
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Grist Labs
No answers on this topic
Microsoft
Each user can use it to whatever level of expertise they have. It remains the same so users can contribute to another's work regardless of whether they have more or less expertise
Read full review
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Grist Labs
  • It's saved a lot of time in both creating an advertising database and managing it week to week effectively. I had previously created in others that haven't worked, and this does, saving me a good 1 hour weekly, and 5 hours or more each time I had problems with the last ones
  • Being able to stay on track with this has meant I'm following up at the right time (advertisers) and keeping a professional manner and not losing business due to missed communication
  • Saving me $ from buying a program like Access (or Airtable monthly) and then the learning curve that that has. This has a much easier learning curve to say the least.
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Microsoft
  • Excel has positively impacted the business as it has increased our efficiency.
  • It also saves us the time that we would have spent on making the calculations that it does for us.
  • Since it works on all devices and is compatible with both Windows and Mac, we do not have to invest in any other alternative.
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Open Source
  • The user interface is great. Since all of our computers are macOS based, we can all use it and share knowledge with our colleagues
  • It enables me to make things in such a faster way that it enables us to spend our time with coding and providing more solutions to our clients
  • The workflow is much improved with the import and export feature, so we don't waste time with that kind of work.
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ScreenShots

Grist Screenshots

Screenshot of the drag and drop dashboard editor used to build layouts.Screenshot of the custom user permissions that determine who can see what, down to each column and row.Screenshot of dynamic charts and reports that update with the click of a mouse.Screenshot of Grist's formula support for Excel-like functions or Python formulas. Technical users can drill into database structure in code view.