A hot trend in tech these days is coming up with the next great “spreadsheet killer”—the dazzling app that’ll make us all abandon Excel and Google Sheets in favor of some newer, sleeker, and more versatile alternative. From Notion and Coda to Airtable and its rivals , there’s no shortage of alluring services trying to remake the tired old spreadsheet and trade it in for something more modern. Grid is not one of those services. Yes, it’s Yet Another New Spreadsheet App—but unlike most such creations, its aim isn’t to replace your tried-and-true spreadsheet setup. Instead, it wants to work alongside that environment and add an extra layer on top of it to make it even more empowering. “We are very much building for someone that is already a spreadsheet user, has already built spreadsheets, and wants to do something more with them,” says Hjalmar Gislason, the founder and CEO of the Reykjavik, Iceland-based startup. The service—which launched last week—lets you inject a dash of web-based interactivity and a pinch of presentation polish into your existing spreadsheets. And instead of requiring you to import your data and then work within an entirely new structure, Grid syncs with your Excel or Google Sheets setup, allowing you to keep working within the app you already know while simultaneously getting a whole new set of tools to complement it. For anyone who’s ever shared a spreadsheet or used one as part of a presentation, it might be just the finishing touch that’s long been missing. Evolution, not substitution Before we dive deeper into Grid’s philosophy, let’s address the basics: Anyone can use the full set of Grid spreadsheet-enhancing tools for free. The service is open and available right now, and it takes all of two seconds to sign up . The only real catch is that if you stick with Grid’s default, free plan, you’ll end up with a small watermark at the bottom of any presentations you embed within another website. A $348-per-year (or $35-a-month) Professional plan eliminates that watermark and adds custom branding options along with advanced statistics into the equation. As for the driving philosophy behind Grid, it’s really quite simple: Practically everyone uses spreadsheets. And practically everyone’s invested a lot of time and energy in learning how to make the most of them. We are meeting people where they’re already comfortable.” Hjalmar Gislason, CEO, Grid But capable as they may be, spreadsheets are woefully lacking in one increasingly important area: the ways in which they can be shared and presented. And that’s where Gislason sees an opportunity to do something special—and something that doesn’t force everyone to start over entirely.
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This clever app turns your spreadsheets into slick interactive web tools