Google Sheets vs Dedicated Software: When a Spreadsheet Is Enough

The Great Debate: Spreadsheet or Software?

At some point, every growing business faces the same question: should we keep running this process in Google Sheets, or should we buy dedicated software? It happens with CRM, project management, inventory tracking, HR processes, and just about every other business function.

The SaaS industry would have you believe the answer is always "buy the software." But the honest answer is more nuanced. Sometimes a spreadsheet is genuinely the right tool. Sometimes it is not. And sometimes the best option is a spreadsheet that has been automated to behave like software.

When Google Sheets Is Enough

Spreadsheets work well under specific conditions. Here are the scenarios where Google Sheets is a perfectly good — and often better — choice than dedicated software:

Small Teams (Under 15 People)

Most dedicated software is designed for scale. Their pricing, features, and complexity reflect that. If you have a team of five to ten people, you do not need a tool designed for organizations with hundreds of users. A well-organized Google Sheet with clear column headers and a few data validation rules handles most workflows just fine.

Simple, Linear Processes

If your workflow is essentially a list — leads to follow up with, tasks to complete, expenses to approve, inventory to track — a spreadsheet is a natural fit. Rows are records, columns are fields, and you can sort, filter, and search instantly. Dedicated software adds value when processes branch, have complex dependencies, or require multi-step automation. For linear processes, that complexity is overhead.

When You Need Flexibility

Dedicated tools force you into their data model. A CRM decides what a "contact" looks like. A project manager decides what a "task" contains. If your process does not fit neatly into their structure, you spend more time fighting the tool than using it. In Sheets, you define your own structure. Need an extra column? Add it. Need to restructure your data? Just do it. There is no migration, no admin settings, no "please contact support to add a custom field."

Budget Constraints

Google Sheets is free with a Google account. Most SaaS tools charge $10 to $30 per user per month for mid-tier plans. For a team of ten, that is $100 to $300 per month — $1,200 to $3,600 per year — for a single tool. If you need CRM, project management, and HR tools, you are looking at $5,000 to $10,000 annually. For many small businesses, that budget simply does not exist.

When Google Sheets Is Not Enough

Spreadsheets have real limitations. Here is when you should seriously consider dedicated software:

Complex Permissions and Access Control

Google Sheets has basic sharing controls — view, comment, or edit. If you need different team members to see different data, or if you need to restrict who can modify specific rows or columns, Sheets quickly becomes unmanageable. Dedicated tools like CRMs let you set granular permissions per user, per role, and per data type.

Large Data Sets (10,000+ Rows)

Sheets slows down noticeably once you pass a few thousand rows, especially with formulas, conditional formatting, and scripts. If your data set is large and growing, a real database behind a dedicated application will perform significantly better.

Real-Time Multi-User Editing at Scale

Google Sheets handles a handful of simultaneous editors well. But when 20 people are working in the same sheet at the same time, things get messy — accidental overwrites, formula conflicts, and sync issues. Dedicated tools are built for concurrent usage with proper conflict resolution.

Complex Reporting and Analytics

You can build charts and pivot tables in Sheets, but the analysis capabilities are limited compared to tools like Tableau, Metabase, or even built-in reporting modules in modern SaaS applications. If your decisions depend on complex data analysis, a dedicated tool will serve you better.

Audit Trails and Compliance

If your industry requires audit trails, version history at a granular level, or compliance reporting, dedicated software provides this out of the box. Sheets has version history, but it is not designed for regulatory compliance.

The Middle Ground: Automated Google Sheets

There is an option most businesses overlook. Between a plain spreadsheet and expensive dedicated software sits the automated Google Sheet — a standard spreadsheet enhanced with Apps Script to handle the repetitive, error-prone parts automatically.

An automated sheet can:

Send email notifications when a row changes status
Enforce approval workflows with one-click approve and reject buttons
Generate formatted reports on a schedule and email them to stakeholders
Validate data on entry and reject invalid inputs
Sync data between multiple sheets automatically
Create calculated dashboards that update in real time

This gives you 80 percent of the functionality of dedicated software at a fraction of the cost and complexity. You keep the flexibility and familiarity of Sheets while eliminating the manual busywork that makes spreadsheets painful at scale.

Google Sheets vs CRM

A plain spreadsheet falls apart as a CRM because you have to manually track follow-ups, there is no activity logging, and nothing reminds you to reach out to a stale lead. An automated CRM sheet solves all three: it sends follow-up reminders, logs activity timestamps, and flags deals that have not moved in a set number of days. For teams under 15 with straightforward sales processes, this is often all you need.

Google Sheets vs Project Management Software

The main advantage of tools like Asana or Monday.com over a spreadsheet is automation — deadline reminders, status change notifications, and visual timelines. An automated Google Sheet with Apps Script can generate Gantt-style timelines, send deadline alerts, and notify team members when tasks are assigned to them. It is not as polished, but it is free and fully customizable.

Google Sheets vs HR Software

Small businesses rarely need full HRIS platforms. What they need is leave tracking, onboarding checklists, and employee records. An automated sheet handles all three with approval workflows, automated balance calculations, and checklist generation for new hires.

How to Decide

Ask yourself three questions:

How many people will use this daily? Under 15, Sheets is probably fine. Over 30, consider dedicated software.
How complex is the workflow? If it is linear (list-based), Sheets works. If it has branching logic, dependencies, or multi-step approvals across departments, dedicated software handles it better.
What is your budget? If dedicated software costs more than the time you would spend on manual spreadsheet work, it is worth it. If not, automate the sheet instead.

Start With Sheets, Upgrade When It Hurts

The best approach for most small businesses is to start with an automated Google Sheet and upgrade to dedicated software only when you hit a genuine limitation. This way, you are not paying for features you do not use, and you are not locked into a vendor before you understand your own processes.

At Refitted, we build automated Google Sheets systems that serve as that middle ground. Our CRM pipeline tracker, project management sheet, expense tracking system, and HR tools come with Apps Script automation built in — giving you the convenience of a spreadsheet with the power of software. When you outgrow them, you will know exactly what features to look for in a dedicated tool, because you will have used them in practice.