Quadraticvs
Hex
Hex: Better when the work is genuinely a notebook shared with a data team rather than a grid
Quadratic
Infinite-canvas spreadsheet that runs Python, SQL and formulas in the same grid
As of 30 August 2026, Quadratic has a free plan and paid plans start at $18/month. A browser spreadsheet where any cell can hold a formula, a Python block, a SQL query against a live database, or an AI prompt, laid out on an infinite canvas rather than in numbered sheets. Softwr lists it under Spreadsheets. Quadratic is available on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux.
Overview
What Quadratic does
Quadratic is a spreadsheet application that compiles to WebAssembly and runs in the browser. Cells accept spreadsheet formulas, Python, JavaScript and SQL, and results spill into the grid as ranges that other cells can reference. Data connections are made directly to Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server, Snowflake and BigQuery, so a query result can sit next to a chart and a set of manual assumptions in the same file. The canvas has no fixed sheet boundary, so blocks of work are placed spatially rather than stacked down one column. What separates it commercially is that the AI feature is metered in currency rather than in seats or messages. Paid plans include a fixed allowance of AI credits per user per month, 20 USD on Pro and 40 USD on Business, and heavy prompting consumes them. That makes the real monthly bill a function of how much the team leans on the agent, not simply how many people have logins, which is a different budgeting exercise from any traditional spreadsheet licence and one that finance teams are not used to modelling. The buyers are data-literate teams at startups and analytics functions who already write Python and are tired of exporting CSVs into Excel to share results. The trade-off is maturity and reach: it is a young product with no meaningful offline story, no mobile editing, a short list of database connectors, and self-hosting available only on the Enterprise plan, so a regulated organisation that cannot send data to the vendor cloud has to negotiate rather than download.
What people use it for
- An analyst who wants a SQL result, a Python transformation and a set of manual assumptions visible in one file instead of three tools
- Ad hoc modelling where part of the logic is genuinely code and part is a judgement call typed into a cell
- Sharing a reproducible analysis with a colleague who will only ever open a spreadsheet, not a notebook
- Prototyping a data pull against a warehouse before committing it to a scheduled pipeline
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Quadratic.
- AI usage is metered as a dollar allowance rather than a flat entitlement, so a team that adopts the agent enthusiastically will exhaust 20 USD per user per month quickly and the true cost per seat becomes unpredictable.
- Self-hosting is available only on the Enterprise plan, so an organisation that cannot send data to the vendor cloud has to enter a sales negotiation rather than run a container.
- Excel and Google Sheets compatibility is partial, so files with heavy conditional formatting, pivot tables or macros do not survive a round trip and have to be rebuilt.
- The product is young and the connector list is short, covering the main relational databases and two warehouses, so anything else has to be reached through Python code you write and maintain yourself.
- There is no real mobile editing experience, which matters more than it sounds for a spreadsheet because approvals and quick checks routinely happen on a phone.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Quadratic
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- QuadraticvsRows
Rows: A closer fit if you want a conventional spreadsheet with API and data connectors and no code cells
- QuadraticvsMetabase
Metabase: The right tool if the output is a dashboard other people read rather than an analysis you are writing
Pricing
What Quadratic costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Personal
Free
- Limited AI usage
- Limited files and connections
- Limited sharing
- Community support
Pro
$18 /mo
- Billed annually
- 20 USD of AI credits per month
- Unlimited files
- Team sharing
Business
$36 /mo
- Billed annually
- 40 USD of AI credits per month
- Advanced permissions
- Priority support
Enterprise
On request
- Quoted
- Self-hosting option
- Custom AI usage
- SSO and security review
Capabilities
Features
Multi-language cells
Formulas, Python, JavaScript and SQL evaluate in the same grid and reference each other
Infinite canvas
Blocks of analysis are positioned freely instead of being confined to sheet grids
Direct database connections
Queries run against Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server, Snowflake and BigQuery and spill results into cells
AI agent in the sheet
Generates code and formulas, metered against a monthly credit allowance denominated in dollars
WebAssembly engine
The calculation engine runs client side, so large grids stay responsive in the browser
Python package support
Standard analysis libraries such as pandas and numpy are available inside cells
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Do I need to know Python to use it?
No, formulas work on their own, but the reason to choose Quadratic over Google Sheets is the code cells, so a team with no Python will not get the value.
What happens when the AI credits run out?
Prompting stops until the next monthly reset or until you move up a plan; the spreadsheet itself keeps working normally.
Can it replace a BI tool?
Not for scheduled distribution or governed metrics. It is for exploratory work by one person or a small team, not for dashboards a hundred people read.
Is my database query sent to the vendor?
Connections run through the vendor service on all plans except Enterprise self-hosting, which is the option to take if that is unacceptable.
Keep looking
Where to go from Quadratic
- Quadratic alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Quadratic pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Quadratic badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Spreadsheets softwareThe full category
- Best Spreadsheets softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Spreadsheets software for
Compare Quadratic with
- Metabase
- Equals
- Redash
- Coefficient
- Cube Software
- Rowy
- Zoho Sheet
- Sigma Computing
- Teable
- Tableau
- Looker
- Fibery
- Mathesar
- SeaTable
- Cube Software
- Rowy
- Sigma Computing
- Teable
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Quadratic, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Quadratic
Quadratic alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Quadratic pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Quadratic
Put it head to head with anything we hold
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Best Spreadsheets software alternatives
Free standalone cloud spreadsheet from Zoho, also bundled into the low-cost Zoho Workplace suite
Free standalone, bundled into paid Zoho Workplace for organisations
Apple spreadsheet, free on Apple hardware, now with an optional Apple Creator Studio subscription for AI features
Free with Apple hardware, optional Apple Creator Studio subscription for AI features
Cloud spreadsheet, free for a personal Google account and bundled into paid Google Workspace for organisations
Free personally, bundled into paid Google Workspace for organisationsFP&A layer that connects Excel and Google Sheets to source systems without asking finance to leave the spreadsheet
quoteSpreadsheet interface over real PostgreSQL tables, so the data stays queryable by anything that speaks SQL
Open source, no licence feeA real spreadsheet with SQL result sets landing in its cells, now sold only on annual contracts starting at 24,000 USD
Per year by connector count and refresh frequencySpreadsheet style interface that edits an existing PostgreSQL database directly, with no schema of its own
Open source, no licence fee