# Ratio vs a spreadsheet

Written on 15 October 2026 by Ratio.

Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets are great for tables. But most everyday sums aren't tables. A trip budget. A quote with VAT. A price in another currency. For those, a few lines in Ratio are quicker than laying out cells.

| | Ratio | Spreadsheet |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Getting started | Type a line, the answer appears | Pick cells, write formulas, format |
| Labels and notes | Write them on the same line as the number | A separate column |
| Currencies | Live, “84 eur in usd” | Functions or add-ons, varies by app |
| Units, dates, time zones | Built in, in words | Formulas |
| Loans and investments | Same `pmt`, `fv`, `pv`, `npv`, `irr` | Yes |
| Thousands of rows, pivots, charts | No | Yes |
| Editing together in real time | No (share as an image or link) | Yes |

## A budget in five lines

Labels are skipped, `sum` adds up the block above it, and currencies are converted for you.

| Flights 420 eur | €420 |
| --- | --- |
| Hotel 3 * 95 eur | €285 |
| Rail pass 120 usd | $120 |
| sum in eur | €811.96 |
| prev / 2 | €405.98 |

## The spreadsheet functions you already know

| pmt(5%/12, 360, 200000) | 1,073.64 |
| --- | --- |
| npv(10%, 100, 200, 300) | 481.59 |
| irr(-1000, 300, 400, 500) | 8.9% |
| mean(12, 15, 19, 22) | 17 |
| round(2.675, 2) | 2.68 |

## Use Ratio when

The calculation fits on one screen and you want the answer now: quotes, invoices, splitting a bill, converting a price, checking a loan.

## Use a spreadsheet when

You have rows of records, need charts or pivot tables, or several people edit the same file. Ratio can hand results over: `cat sheet.txt | ratio --csv` prints `line,result` rows you can paste into a spreadsheet.

[Try Ratio free for 7 days](https://useratio.app/download) · $14.99 once, updates included

## Questions

**Can Ratio replace Excel?** Not for large tables, charts or shared workbooks. For quick sums, budgets and conversions it is faster, because you just type.

**Does Ratio understand Excel functions?** The finance ones, yes: pmt, fv, pv, npv and irr take the same arguments. sum, mean, median and round work too.

Source: https://useratio.app/ratio-vs-spreadsheet