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A Google Sheets alternative for people who want the file on their own disk
TableDI is a desktop spreadsheet workspace that runs entirely on your machine. Google Sheets is a collaborative spreadsheet that lives in Google's cloud. If you are here because you want the second thing without the cloud part, this page is the honest version of that comparison — including the cases where Sheets is still the right answer.
The honest summary is that these are different shapes of tool, not better and worse versions of one tool. The table is the short answer; the sections under it are where the trade-offs live.
| Google Sheets | TableDI | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the file lives | Google Drive | A folder on your disk |
| Account needed | A Google account | None — the app has nobody to sign you in as |
| Works with no network | Offline mode, set up in advance, in a supported browser | Always — it is a desktop application |
| Real-time collaboration | Yes, and it is the best in the category | No. Single-user by design |
| Share a link with anyone | Yes | No. You send a file |
| Size ceiling | A published per-spreadsheet cell limit (10 million cells at the time of writing) | Millions of rows in one table; the limit is your machine |
| AI | Google's own, running in Google's cloud | Your API key, your provider, request sent from your machine |
| Cost | Free with a Google account; paid through Workspace | Free tier is not a trial; paid tier is one-time or yearly |
| Scripting / extensibility | Apps Script and a large add-on marketplace | No scripting language. Formula-level web and AI functions instead |
| Getting your data out | Export to xlsx, csv, pdf | Exports, plus a full encrypted backup of the whole workspace |
The real difference: a document in someone's cloud, or a file on your disk
Google Sheets is a service. The spreadsheet is a record in Google's storage that your browser draws; that is what makes the collaboration work, and it is also what makes the compliance conversation happen. Whether that matters depends entirely on what is in the sheet. A conference schedule: no. A payroll run, a patient list, a client's financials, an unannounced acquisition model: often yes, and sometimes the answer is a policy rather than a preference.
TableDI is a desktop application. It opens files from your disk, keeps its workspace in a folder you can back up or move to another machine, and works on a plane. There is no account because there is nothing to sign in to.
What you give up, stated plainly
Collaboration. Two people cannot edit a TableDI workspace at the same time, and there is no share link. This is a design decision, not a roadmap item: the app has no server behind it, so there is nowhere for a second cursor to come from. If your spreadsheet is a shared surface that three people touch on a Monday morning, Google Sheets is better at your job than TableDI is, and switching would be a downgrade.
Apps Script. Sheets has a real scripting language and a marketplace of add-ons built on it.
TableDI has no equivalent. What it has instead are formula-level functions that reach the network —
web.crawl, google.search, http.request,
ai.generate — which cover a good share of what people write Apps Script for, without
being a programming environment.
A link you can send. Distribution is a file, an export or a PDF, not a URL that is always current.
What you get that a browser tab cannot give you
- Size. Google publishes a cell ceiling per spreadsheet, and long before you reach it a large sheet becomes slow to open and painful to filter. TableDI holds millions of rows in one table because it is a desktop application with its own data engine, not a document being rendered over a network.
- Real data connections. Sheets reaches other data through
IMPORTRANGE,IMPORTHTMLand add-ons. TableDI connects to HTTP endpoints, MQTT, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, SAP HANA, MongoDB and mailboxes, and on the paid tier it can write back to them. - AI without handing over the data. AI in TableDI uses your own API key, and the request goes from your machine straight to your provider. TableDI never sees the key or the data. How to set that up.
- Guided formulas. Eight step-by-step panels — Vlookup, Match, Split, Merge, Summarize, Dedupe and others — write the formula for you and leave it visible and editable. How the formula panel works.
When to choose each
Stay with Google Sheets
- More than one person edits the same sheet.
- You need a link that is always current, for a dashboard on a wall or a form response sheet.
- Your workflow is built on Apps Script or specific add-ons.
- You work across several machines and a browser is the only thing they have in common.
- The data is not sensitive and the convenience is worth more than the location.
Move to TableDI
- The data should not be in a cloud account — policy, contract, or your own judgment.
- You are the only person who edits it, and sharing means sending a file anyway.
- The sheet has grown past the point where a browser is comfortable with it.
- You want AI on the data without the data going to whoever provides the AI.
- You would rather own the tool than rent it, and want the file to still open in ten years.
Moving a Google Sheet into TableDI
File → Download → Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) in Sheets, then Upload file on the TableDI home screen. Values, multiple sheets and dates come across. Formulas do not: TableDI has its own formula engine with 82 functions, and Google's formulas are not translated, so calculated columns get rebuilt once on the way in. For a sheet with a handful of formulas that is a five-minute job; for one with hundreds of hand-written formulas it is a real migration, and worth an honest hour of estimating before you start. More on importing.
Questions people ask
What is the best Google Sheets alternative that works offline?
If offline is the requirement, you want a desktop application rather than a web app with an offline mode. TableDI, LibreOffice Calc and Excel all qualify. TableDI is the one built around a data workspace — linked tables, pivots, dashboards and connectors — rather than around a single grid of cells.
Can I use TableDI with my team like I use Google Sheets?
No. The desktop app is single-user by design and has no sync or share link. If several people need the same tables, that is a different product shape — the team edition on the Chinese-language site is server-based; the desktop app is not going to grow collaboration.
Is TableDI free like Google Sheets?
There is a free tier and it is not a trial: no cap on rows, sheets, file size, imports, formulas or views, and a full encrypted backup export so your data can always leave. The cap is on exporting — 1,000 rows per sheet — and the AI plugins, automations, write-back and extra dashboards are paid. The full split.
Does TableDI work on Mac and Windows?
Yes — macOS on both Apple silicon and Intel, and Windows. The macOS build is signed and notarized by Apple and the Windows build is code-signed, so neither one triggers an unidentified-developer warning. Downloads.
How is this different from Airtable or Notion databases?
Those are collaborative databases with a shared workspace, permissions and an API — a team product. TableDI is a single-user desktop application for doing data work on files you hold. If what you want is a shared base that several people write to, Airtable is the right category and TableDI is not a substitute for it.
Can I still open my files if I stop paying?
Yes. The free tier keeps working — it does not expire and there is no read-only lockout — and the full encrypted backup export is available on the free tier too, so the whole workspace can be taken out at any point.
Related
Do this on your own machine instead
TableDI is a desktop spreadsheet workspace that runs entirely on your machine. Import the file, fix it, chart it — nothing is uploaded, and there is no account to create.
Free forever, not a trial — no account, no card. macOS and Windows. What the paid tier adds.
Last reviewed 2026-09-01 by the TableDI team. Something wrong on this page? Tell us — it is one inbox, read by the people who build TableDI.