Is Rows or Ulysses better?

Neither clearly leads. Rows starts at Free and Ulysses at $5.99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Rows or Ulysses?

Rows has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Rows and $5.99/month for Ulysses.

Does Rows or Ulysses run on more platforms?

Rows runs on Web. Ulysses runs on MacOS, IOS, IPadOS.

Can I use Rows for free?

Yes. Rows has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ulysses starts at $5.99/month.

What is Rows best used for?

Rows is most often used for a weekly marketing report that pulls analytics, advertising and crm figures into one refreshing sheet instead of three manual exports., agency client dashboards shared as a page, without handing over access to the underlying accounts., enriching a list of companies or contacts from inside the sheet rather than through a separate tool and a re-import., a small team that needs live numbers in a familiar grid and has nobody available to build a proper reporting stack.. Of those, a weekly marketing report that pulls analytics, advertising and crm figures into one refreshing sheet instead of three manual exports. and agency client dashboards shared as a page, without handing over access to the underlying accounts. are not what Ulysses is typically brought in for.

What can Rows do that Ulysses cannot?

Rows covers Integrations in formulas, Scheduled refresh, Publishable sheets, Cell enrichment. Ulysses covers Distraction-free writing, Markdown support, Syntax highlighting, Organization with sheets and groups.

Productivity · head to head

Rows vs Ulysses

Rows

Productivity

Browser spreadsheet whose formulas call live data from analytics, CRM and payment services

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Ulysses

Productivity

Distraction-free writing application for creative professionals

From: $5.99/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Rows has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Rows refresh frequency is the metered resource, so the free plan refreshes manually only and daily automation begins on the paid tier, which means the automatic reporting that justifies the tool is exactly what the free plan withholds.; Ulysses no free tier available
They diverge on capability: Rows covers Integrations in formulas, Ulysses covers Distraction-free writing.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Rows and Ulysses actually diverge.

Attributes where Rows and Ulysses differ
Attribute	Rows	Ulysses
Starting price	Free	$5.99/month
Pricing model	freemium	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web	MacOS, IOS, IPadOS
Founded	Unknown	2003

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Productivity).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Rows

Integrations in formulas
Scheduled refresh
Publishable sheets
Cell enrichment
AI tasks
Guests
API access
Version history

Only in Ulysses

Distraction-free writing
Markdown support
Syntax highlighting
Organization with sheets and groups
iCloud sync
Dark and light themes
Full-screen mode
Search and filter

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Rows

A weekly marketing report that pulls analytics, advertising and CRM figures into one refreshing sheet instead of three manual exports.not Ulysses
Agency client dashboards shared as a page, without handing over access to the underlying accounts.not Ulysses
Enriching a list of companies or contacts from inside the sheet rather than through a separate tool and a re-import.not Ulysses
A small team that needs live numbers in a familiar grid and has nobody available to build a proper reporting stack.not Ulysses

Ulysses

Writing and editing on Apple devicesnot Rows
Cross-device document synchronizationnot Rows
Markdown-based writingnot Rows

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Rows

Refresh frequency is the metered resource, so the free plan refreshes manually only and daily automation begins on the paid tier, which means the automatic reporting that justifies the tool is exactly what the free plan withholds.
Exports carry values rather than connections, so a downloaded file from Rows is a dead snapshot and anything you built has to be reconstructed from scratch elsewhere, which makes recurring reports quietly expensive to move.
Guests are capped by tier at three on free and ten on the entry plan, so sharing a report with a client's team or a group of stakeholders pushes you up a tier for people who only ever look at a page.
It is not Excel or Google Sheets, so the function library, add-ins, pivot behaviour, scripting and offline files people rely on are not all present, and it works as a reporting surface rather than as an organisation's general spreadsheet.
The Pro tier adds a fixed monthly platform charge on top of the per-user price, so moving from daily to intra-day refresh, or from ten guests to a real audience, is a step change in cost rather than an increment.

Ulysses

No free tier available
Only subscription model, no one-time purchase option
Family Sharing limited to 5 additional members (6 total users)

Pricing, plan by plan

Rows

Free

FreeFree
- 5 AI Tasks per month
- Manual data imports
- 10 integration accounts
Plus$8/month
- 200 AI Tasks per month
- Daily data table automation
- 10 integration accounts
Pro$79/month
- 1,000 AI Tasks per month
- Per-minute data automation
- 100 integration accounts
Enterprise$null/mo
- Unlimited AI Tasks
- Custom integrations and API endpoints
- Unlimited guest members

Ulysses

$5.99/month

Annual Subscription$39.99/year
- Ulysses on all Macs, iPads, and iPhones
- Full iCloud synchronization
- Frequent improvements and updates
Monthly Subscription$5.99/month
- Ulysses on all Macs, iPads, and iPhones
- Full iCloud synchronization
- Frequent improvements and updates

Which should you pick?

Choose Rows if

You need integrations in formulas.
You want to start without paying.
You also want scheduled refresh.

Rows review

Choose Ulysses if

You need distraction-free writing.
You work on MacOS, IOS, IPadOS.
You also want markdown support.

Ulysses review

Questions people ask

Is Rows or Ulysses better?: Neither clearly leads. Rows starts at Free and Ulysses at $5.99/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Rows or Ulysses?: Rows has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Rows and $5.99/month for Ulysses.
Does Rows or Ulysses run on more platforms?: Rows runs on Web. Ulysses runs on MacOS, IOS, IPadOS.
Can I use Rows for free?: Yes. Rows has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ulysses starts at $5.99/month.
What is Rows best used for?: Rows is most often used for a weekly marketing report that pulls analytics, advertising and crm figures into one refreshing sheet instead of three manual exports., agency client dashboards shared as a page, without handing over access to the underlying accounts., enriching a list of companies or contacts from inside the sheet rather than through a separate tool and a re-import., a small team that needs live numbers in a familiar grid and has nobody available to build a proper reporting stack.. Of those, a weekly marketing report that pulls analytics, advertising and crm figures into one refreshing sheet instead of three manual exports. and agency client dashboards shared as a page, without handing over access to the underlying accounts. are not what Ulysses is typically brought in for.
What can Rows do that Ulysses cannot?: Rows covers Integrations in formulas, Scheduled refresh, Publishable sheets, Cell enrichment. Ulysses covers Distraction-free writing, Markdown support, Syntax highlighting, Organization with sheets and groups.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Rows: Can it replace Excel or Google Sheets?

Not for general spreadsheet work. It is for reports and sheets that pull live data, and most teams end up running it alongside a conventional spreadsheet rather than instead of one.

Ulysses: What are Ulysses pricing options?

Ulysses costs $39.99 per year (annual) or $5.99 per month (monthly). Student discounts are available. Volume licensing is available for businesses through their licensing portal.

Source

Rows: What can I actually do on the free plan?

Real building: unlimited members, ten integration accounts, five AI tasks a month, 1 MB imports, three guests and seven days of version history. What you cannot do is schedule a refresh.

Ulysses: Does Ulysses include Family Sharing?

Yes, both annual and monthly Ulysses subscriptions include Apple Family Sharing, allowing up to five additional family members to use Ulysses on their devices at no extra cost.

Source

Rows: Does the data stay live after I export?

No. Exports contain values only, so the connections and the scheduling do not travel and the file stops updating the moment it leaves.

Ulysses: Can I get Ulysses through a subscription service?

Yes, Ulysses is available through the Setapp subscription service as an alternative to direct subscription. Volume licensing is also available for businesses and organizations through their licensing portal.

Source

Rows: Is pricing per user?

Yes on the paid tiers, with a fixed platform fee added at Pro. Guests are counted and capped separately from members.

Ulysses: Does Ulysses pricing vary by location?

Prices listed apply to the U.S., and local pricing may differ in other regions. Check your regional App Store for exact pricing.

Source

Rows vs Ulysses

Rows

Ulysses

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Rows

Only in Ulysses

What people use each for

Rows

Ulysses

Where each one falls short

Rows

Ulysses

Pricing, plan by plan

Rows

Ulysses

Which should you pick?

Choose Rows if

Choose Ulysses if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Rows

More on Ulysses

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Other head to heads