European alternatives to Microsoft Excel are spreadsheet programs that open and save .xlsx files. The directory lists LibreOffice Calc and PlanMaker from SoftMaker Office (both Germany), the ONLYOFFICE spreadsheet editor (Latvia) and the browser-based editors in Collabora Online (UK), Nextcloud Office (Germany), CryptPad (France), Infomaniak kSuite (Switzerland) and MobiOffice (Bulgaria). Excel is the spreadsheet application of Microsoft in the USA. This page is only about spreadsheets; the whole suite is covered under European alternatives to Microsoft Office.
Why people look for an Excel alternative
Excel is usually bought as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription, and files often end up in a US cloud. Teams that want a one-off licence, a free program, an own server or a European provider look at the tools below instead.
Which spreadsheet fits which job
Compatibility with .xlsx and macros
Plain tables, formulas and charts usually transfer well, while pivot tables, conditional formatting and very large workbooks need a test. Macros are the main hurdle. LibreOffice supports VBA only in part, according to its help, so macros often have to be rewritten in LibreOffice Basic. PlanMaker offers BasicMaker for VBA-like macros on Windows, and ONLYOFFICE uses JavaScript macros. Excel-specific features such as Power Query or Office add-ins have no direct equivalent in most of these tools.
Switching checklist
- List the formulas, macros and add-ins that are really used.
- Open copies of the most important workbooks in the new program and compare the results.
- Keep .xlsx as the exchange format with customers and colleagues who still use Excel.