Numbers vs Google Sheets

Numbers

• Mac, iPad and iPhone owners who want a spreadsheet at no cost
• Home budgets, invoices and checklists started from a template
• Laying out several tables and charts on one sheet

Google Sheets

• Teams that edit and review the same spreadsheet together in a browser
• Organizations that already pay for Google Workspace
• Analysts pulling BigQuery or Looker data into a spreadsheet

Numbers

• There are no Windows or Android apps; on a PC, Numbers is available only in a browser through iCloud.com.
• Magic Fill, premium templates and the Content Hub need an Apple Creator Studio subscription at $12.99 per month or $129 per year.
• Apple's compatibility list marks Excel macros, data validation, external data and slicers as not supported when a workbook is imported.

Google Sheets

• There is no standalone paid Sheets plan; the business version comes only as part of Google Workspace, with Gmail, Drive and Meet.
• Gemini in Sheets is not in Business Starter; it starts at Business Standard, $14 per user / month on a 1-year commitment.
• A spreadsheet created in or converted to Google Sheets is capped at 20 million cells or 100 MB.
• Google's help lists Sheets for computer browsers, Android, iPhone and iPad; no Windows or Mac desktop app is listed.

Numbers

Flexible canvas

Tables, charts, text and images can be placed anywhere on a sheet, so one page can hold several separate tables alongside the charts that draw on them.

Functions, pivot tables and categories

Hundreds of functions, including XLOOKUP and RegEx, with a built-in function browser. Pivot tables and categories group and summarize a table's data.

Charts

2D and 3D charts including bar, column, line, area, pie, donut and radar, plus interactive column, bar, scatter and bubble charts that animate data.

Real-time collaboration

Share a spreadsheet publicly or with specific people through iCloud or Box and see their changes as they happen. Collaborators can join from a Mac, iPad, iPhone or a PC browser.

Excel and CSV files

Imports and edits Microsoft Excel and CSV files and exports to Excel, CSV, TSV and PDF. Apple publishes a feature-by-feature list of what carries over from Excel.

Magic Fill and premium content

For Apple Creator Studio subscribers, Magic Fill suggests contents or formulas for empty cells from patterns in nearby data. Subscribers also get premium templates and the Content Hub's photos and graphics.

Google Sheets

Co-editing and revision history

Several people can work in one spreadsheet at the same time. Sharing settings control who can view, comment or edit, and revision history restores earlier versions.

Gemini in Sheets

Builds and edits spreadsheets from a prompt, writes and repairs formulas, and fills table columns with summarized or categorized data. Among Business editions it starts at Business Standard.

Sheets canvas

Turns the data in a sheet into interactive mini-apps such as dashboards, heat maps and Kanban boards from a text prompt, without writing code.

Connected Sheets and data connectors

Connected Sheets analyzes BigQuery or Looker data from the grid without SQL, and connectors bring in data from sources such as Asana, HubSpot, QuickBooks and Salesforce.

Excel files

Microsoft Excel files can be edited directly without making a copy, or converted to Sheets format. Gemini features such as Sheets canvas need the file converted first.

Offline editing

Spreadsheets can be created, viewed and edited without a connection. On a computer this requires Chrome or Microsoft Edge with the Google Docs Offline extension.

Numbers

• Numbers$0

  Create, view and edit spreadsheets on Mac, iPad, iPhone and iCloud.com, with real-time collaboration, pivot tables, charts and Excel import and export.

• Apple Creator Studio$12.99

  per month, or $129 per year

  Adds premium templates, the Content Hub media library, Magic Fill and image generation in Numbers, plus Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Pixelmator Pro.

Google Sheets

• Personal Google Account$0

  Create, edit and share spreadsheets in a browser or the mobile apps, with co-editing, revision history and offline access.

• Business Starter$7

  per user / month, 1-year commitment ($8.40 flexible)

  Google Workspace with Sheets and 30 GB of pooled storage per user. Gemini in Sheets is not included.

• Business Standard$14

  per user / month, 1-year commitment ($16.80 flexible)

  2 TB of pooled storage per user. The lowest Business edition that includes Gemini in Sheets.

• Business Plus$22

  per user / month, 1-year commitment ($26.40 flexible)

  Everything in Standard with 5 TB of pooled storage per user, plus Vault, eDiscovery and advanced endpoint management.

• EnterpriseCustom

  No minimum or maximum user count, with data loss prevention, context-aware access and data regions; priced through Google sales.

Numbers

• Annual discount

  About 17% less on the yearly plan

  Apple Creator Studio is $129 per year or $12.99 per month. Twelve monthly payments come to $155.88, so the yearly plan costs about 17% less.

• Education

  Students and educators: $2.99 a month

  Verified college students and educators pay $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year for Apple Creator Studio. Apple calls it a limited-time offer, and it cannot be shared through Family Sharing.

• Other savings

  3 months free with a new Mac or iPad

  Buyers of an eligible new Mac or iPad can try Apple Creator Studio free for 3 months, claimed within 3 months of activating the device.

Google Sheets

• Annual discount

  Save 16% with a 1-year commitment

  Business Starter is $7 per user per month on the Annual/Fixed-Term Plan against $8.40 on the Flexible Plan. Standard drops from $16.80 to $14 and Plus from $26.40 to $22.

• Nonprofit

  Google Workspace for Nonprofits at $0

  Eligible nonprofits get Google Workspace for Nonprofits at $0, or Business Standard at $3.50 and Business Plus at $6.16 per user per month on a 1-year commitment.

• Education

  Education Fundamentals at no charge

  Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, which includes Sheets, is available at no charge to qualifying institutions.