The Excel alternative that does the work between opens
Switch when a workbook has become an operation: a tracker someone keeps current by hand, a file with four versions, columns nobody has time to fill. Cheqq turns it into records that run on their own and still makes an .xlsx for anyone who wants one. Stay with Excel for modelling, analysis and anything you need offline.
Updated
What Excel is forThe most capable calculation tool ever built, and not close to replaceable. Excel is where financial models, ad-hoc analysis and forty years of institutional formula knowledge live — offline, on your machine, answering to nobody.
A workspace for the spreadsheets that stopped being calculations and became operations. Typed records instead of a grid, columns that fill themselves, workflows that run without anyone opening a file, and .xlsx out of the other end.
Why people move from Excel
Nothing here is a knock on Excel. These are the points at which a tool stops being the right shape for the job, whichever tool it is.
It only runs when you open it
A tracker is only current if somebody remembered. Everything the file is supposed to do waits on a person having a spare hour.
There are now four versions of it
final, final_v2, the one Priya has, and the one attached to an email in March. Nobody can say which is right, which means none of them is.
The judgement columns stay empty
No formula can research a supplier, read a sentiment or decide a category. Those columns are filled by a person, one row at a time, or not at all.
Sharing it means emailing it
The moment someone outside needs to see or submit something, the file gets sent — and the copy you were maintaining stops being the only one.
Cheqq vs Excel, row by row
In plain terms. Where Excel is the stronger answer, the row says so.
| Capability | Cheqq | Excel |
|---|---|---|
| Calculation depthExcel | Cheqq Formula, lookup and rollup fields over typed records, plus sandboxed code in a workflow when a calculation gets serious. | Excel Unmatched. Hundreds of functions, pivot tables, Power Query, solver, VBA and decades of accumulated technique. |
| Works offline, on your machineExcel | Cheqq Web-based; needs a connection. | Excel A local file that opens on a plane and does not depend on anyone's service being up. |
| Columns that fill themselvesCheqq | Cheqq Describe the column and it runs on every row — researching the web with sources attached, scoring, classifying — priced before it runs, with your typed values protected. | Excel Formulas compute from what is in the workbook. Copilot in Excel builds and edits workbooks when asked, and the in-cell COPILOT() function was retired on September 14, 2026. |
| Running without youCheqq | Cheqq Schedules, webhooks, inbound email and record changes all start workflows. They run whether or not anyone opens anything. | Excel Macros run when someone opens the workbook. Power Automate flows with standard connectors come with Microsoft 365 business plans; its Excel connector reads 256 rows at a time unless you page it, and writes can take 30 seconds to land. |
| One version of the truthCheqq | Cheqq One set of records everyone with access works on, with roles and a record of who last changed each row. There is no second copy to reconcile. | Excel Files copy, fork and diverge, which is the nature of files. |
| Letting outsiders inCheqq | Cheqq Publish a form or a lookup page at its own address, restricted to the fields you list, without giving anyone the sheet. | Excel Send the file, or a link to it. |
| Handing over an .xlsxEven | Cheqq Cheqq makes an .xlsx from the records whenever someone needs a spreadsheet: the file is an output, not the system. | Excel It is already an .xlsx. |
| The deck built on the numbersCheqq | Cheqq The same records also generate decks, reports and dashboards — edited directly, versioned, and exported as .pptx or .docx without retyping a figure. | Excel Charts reach PowerPoint by copy-paste, and drift the moment the sheet changes. |
Excel’s column checked against its own site on .
Both products move fast. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
What you would build instead
Sentences you could type on your first afternoon, and what comes back.
Ask for judgement, get it on every row.
Research the supplier, read the tone, work out the category, estimate the risk. Say what the column should contain and it fills the whole sheet, showing where each answer came from.
Stop being the reason it is up to date.
The file only reflects reality because you keep making it. Describe how it should stay current and that becomes a workflow — running nightly, on an email arriving, or the moment a record changes.
Keep the .xlsx. Lose the maintenance.
Your accountant wants a spreadsheet and that is fine. Export one on demand, formatted properly, from records that were current a second ago — instead of maintaining the file as the system itself.
Moving from Excel
Upload the workbook
Cheqq reads each sheet, proposes a field type per column and lets you correct it. The rows become records with real types instead of formatted text.
Say what the empty columns were for
The ones nobody had time to fill. Describe them and they fill for the whole backlog, with sources you can check.
Give it a reason to run
A schedule, an email address of its own, a webhook. From then on the sheet is current because something keeps it current, not because you do.
Once Cheqq has built it, you can ask someone on our team to check it.
When to stay with Excel
Modelling and analysis
Financial models, scenario analysis, anything where the formula grid is the thinking tool. Excel is the right instrument and Cheqq is not trying to replace it.
You need it offline
A local file works with no connection and no dependency on a service. That is a genuine advantage, not a legacy detail.
One-off calculations
If the sheet exists for an afternoon and then stops mattering, building a system around it is the wrong amount of effort.
Deep Microsoft 365 workflows
If your organisation runs on Excel, Power BI and Power Automate together, that integration is tight and worth respecting.
Switching from Excel
Can I still export to Excel?
Yes. Cheqq makes an .xlsx from your records whenever you need one, records download as CSV, and reports come as .pdf or .docx. The file becomes something you produce on demand rather than the thing you maintain.
Do my formulas come across?
Formula, lookup and rollup fields cover most of what an operational tracker uses. Deep modelling with pivot tables, Power Query or VBA is Excel's territory and we would not pretend otherwise — plenty of people keep both.
Is this just an online spreadsheet?
No. Underneath it is typed records with relations, so a column can be a link to another table rather than a pasted value. That is what makes automations, permissions and published apps possible on top of it.
What if the team only knows Excel?
The grid view will look familiar, and the part that is new — describing what you want instead of building it — tends to be easier than the thing it replaces rather than harder.
Sources
Comparing something else?
vs Google Sheets
vs Make
vs n8n
vs LovableThe tracker that updates itself
Upload one workbook and describe the column nobody had time to fill. Free to start.