Spreadsheets · alternatives
Alternatives to Rowy
21 spreadsheets tools sit alongside Rowy in this directory. Below is what separates each from Rowy on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 21
- With a free tier
- 15
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Rowy starts at
- Free
Why people look past Rowy
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Rowy entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is only one tier
Rowy publishes a single plan, Open source self hosted at Free. There is no smaller tier to drop to if the fit is wrong or the budget moves.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Open-source no-code database platform
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where Rowy does not.
- Sold on a freemium model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 4 tiers to Rowy's 1.
The rapid internal tool platform
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where Rowy does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 4 tiers to Rowy's 1.
The open-source low-code framework
- Publishes an entry price of Free, where Rowy does not.
- Sold on a subscription model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 3 tiers to Rowy's 1.
Cloud spreadsheet, free for a personal Google account and bundled into paid Google Workspace for organisations
- Sold on a Free personally, bundled into paid Google Workspace for organisations model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 2 tiers to Rowy's 1.
Apple spreadsheet, free on Apple hardware, now with an optional Apple Creator Studio subscription for AI features
- Sold on a Free with Apple hardware, optional Apple Creator Studio subscription for AI features model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 2 tiers to Rowy's 1.
Free standalone cloud spreadsheet from Zoho, also bundled into the low-cost Zoho Workplace suite
- Sold on a Free standalone, bundled into paid Zoho Workplace for organisations model rather than Open source, no licence fee.
- 3 tiers to Rowy's 1.
Every Rowy alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rowy (this page) | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | |
| BaserowA general open source spreadsheet database when you are not tied to Firestore | Free | Freemium | 4 | vs Rowy |
| RetoolBroader internal tool builder if you need custom interfaces over several data sources, not just a grid | Free | Subscription | 4 | vs Rowy |
| AppsmithOpen source internal tooling over arbitrary databases and APIs, at the cost of building each screen | Free | Subscription | 3 | vs Rowy |
| Google Sheets | Free | Free personally, bundled into paid Google Workspace for organisations | 2 | vs Rowy |
| Numbers | Free | Free with Apple hardware, optional Apple Creator Studio subscription for AI features | 2 | vs Rowy |
| Zoho Sheet | Free | Free standalone, bundled into paid Zoho Workplace for organisations | 3 | vs Rowy |
| APITable | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Rowy |
| Mathesar | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Rowy |
| SeaTable | Free, then €7/month | Per user per month | 5 | vs Rowy |
| Quadratic | Free, then $18/month | Per user per month | 4 | vs Rowy |
| Teable | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Rowy |
| Redash | Free | Freemium | 2 | vs Rowy |
| Fibery | Free | Subscription | - | vs Rowy |
| Metabase | Free, then $90/month | Freemium | 4 | vs Rowy |
| Apache Superset | Free | Open-source | 1 | vs Rowy |
| Coefficient | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Rowy |
| Sigma Computing | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Rowy |
| Equals | $24000/year | Per year by connector count and refresh frequency | 4 | vs Rowy |
| Cube Software | On request | Quote | 3 | vs Rowy |
| Tableau | $70/month | Subscription | 3 | vs Rowy |
| Looker | On request | - | - | vs Rowy |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Rowy badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (15)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- Baserow , Free
- Retool , Free
- Appsmith , Free
- Google Sheets , Free
- Numbers , Free
- Zoho Sheet , Free
- APITable , Free
- Mathesar , Free
What you would be giving up
Rowy is most often brought in for a firebase application that needs an internal admin interface without building one, operations staff correcting production records in firestore without developer involvement, attaching a small transformation or notification function to a field change without a full deployment pipeline, a content team populating documents that a mobile application reads directly from firestore. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Rowy is broadly right and the question is cost, the Rowy pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Spreadsheets category lists everything the directory holds, and best spreadsheets tools ranks them.
Rowy runs on web. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Rowy alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Rowy?
- 21 other spreadsheets tools are listed in this directory, led by Baserow, Retool, Appsmith, Google Sheets. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Rowy?
- 15 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Baserow, Retool, Appsmith, Google Sheets, Numbers.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Rowy?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: there is only one tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Rowy?
- Rowy is most often brought in for a firebase application that needs an internal admin interface without building one, operations staff correcting production records in firestore without developer involvement, attaching a small transformation or notification function to a field change without a full deployment pipeline, a content team populating documents that a mobile application reads directly from firestore. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Rowy?
- Apache Superset is recorded with an open-source licence model.
- How were these Rowy alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Spreadsheets, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Rowy against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Rowy covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every spreadsheets tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Spreadsheets category, 21 tools beside Rowy. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.