Comparison

Numbers vs Google Sheets

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Numbers

Design impressive spreadsheets with a flexible canvas, interactive charts, and powerful functions. Collaborate with others and access your work across devices. Includes tools for data analysis and text composition.

Highlights
  • Apple-designed templates
  • Flexible canvas for layout
  • Interactive charts and pivot tables
  • Hundreds of powerful functions
  • Cross-device compatibility via iCloud
  • Collaboration and real-time editing
  • Import/export Excel and CSV files
Features
Read full description

Numbers is now part of Apple Creator Studio, an amazing collection of Apple’s most powerful creative apps designed to help you bring your ideas to life. The suite includes Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage — plus premium content and intelligence features in Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform, all in one simple plan. Creating, viewing, and editing spreadsheets in Numbers, as well as collaborating in real time, does not require a subscription. Create gorgeous spreadsheets with Numbers on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Get started with Apple-designed templates for everything from a home budget to an invoice. Add tables, charts, text, and images anywhere on the flexible canvas. Animate your data with interactive charts, find patterns with pivot tables, and use hundreds of powerful functions. Get Started Quickly • Work from iPhone, iPad, Mac, or even a PC with iCloud.com • Select from a wide variety of Apple-designed templates • Add from a library of shapes, tables, and charts with pre-defined styles • Import and edit Microsoft Excel and CSV files Create Beautiful Spreadsheets • Place tables, charts, text, and images anywhere on the flexible canvas • Create a form on iPhone or iPad to quickly enter data on the go • Draw or write with Apple Pencil on iPad Formulas for Everyone • Choose from hundreds of powerful functions, including XLOOKUP and RegEx • Search the integrated function browser for built-in help and sample formulas • Easily add stock information to spreadsheets • See results from a single formula across multiple cells using spilling arrays Everything Adds Up Beautifully • Use pivot tables and categories to see your data in a whole new way • Quickly organize and summarize tables to gain new insights • Insert gorgeous 2D and 3D charts, including bar, column, line, area, pie, donut, and radar charts • Animate data with interactive column, bar, scatter, and bubble charts • Easily filter through large tables for specific values, text, or duplicate entries • Change values in cells using sliders, steppers, checkboxes, pop-ups, and star ratings Share with Anyone • Share your spreadsheet publicly or collaborate with specific people using iCloud or Box • Make changes from any device and see a list of changes from others in real-time • Export your spreadsheet in CSV, TSV, PDF, and Microsoft Excel Apple Intelligence • Use Writing Tools to proofread, rewrite, summarize, and compose text • Create your own fun images with Image Playground based on a description Some features of Apple Creator Studio require an Apple Intelligence–capable device. For full system requirements and usage limits for Apple Creator Studio intelligence features, see Apple Support article 125029.

About

Google Sheets

Create, edit, and collaborate on spreadsheets from anywhere, anytime. Work offline, format cells, insert formulas, and view charts. Seamlessly edit Excel files and enjoy automatic saving of your work.

Highlights
  • Create and edit spreadsheets
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Offline access
  • Format cells and insert formulas
  • View charts
  • Edit Excel files
Read full description

Create, edit, and collaborate on spreadsheets with the Google Sheets app. With Sheets you can: * Create new spreadsheets or edit existing ones * Share spreadsheets and collaborate with others in the same spreadsheet at the same time * Work anywhere, anytime - even offline * Format cells, enter/sort data, view charts, insert formulas, use find/replace, and more * Never worry about losing your work -- everything is automatically saved as you type * Open, edit, and save Excel files Google Sheets is part of Google Workspace: where teams of any size can chat, create, and collaborate. Google Workspace subscribers have access to additional Google Sheets features, including: * Easily add collaborators to projects, see changes as they occur, receive notifications for edits that happen while you’re away, and chat with colleagues in the same spreadsheet. All changes are automatically saved as you make them. And with offline access, you can create, view, and edit files wherever and whenever * Get insights fast, powered by Google AI * Work seamlessly across Sheets and Excel * Maintain control with enterprise-grade security * Analyze data from other business-critical tools * Build custom solutions

Screenshots

Numbers4 screens
Google Sheets3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Google Sheets at weekly against Numbers's every 3 months. Google Sheets also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.6) and chart position (#13 vs unranked). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Google Sheets holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Google Sheets has 1.8M ratings behind it against 215K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of Numbers's written reviews are positive against 54% of Google Sheets's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Numbers ships an update every 3 months, Google Sheets weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
Numbers versus Google Sheets: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNumbersGoogle Sheets
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (215K ratings)4.8 (1.8M ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.1% of reviews54.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings215K1.8M — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
Best chart rank—#13 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size620 MB422 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAppleGoogle

Customer experience

Numbers

All ratings215,159 ratings
Positive91.0%
Neutral3.5%
Negative5.5%
Written reviews4,879 reviews
Positive50.1%
Neutral9.6%
Negative40.3%

Google Sheets

All ratings1,847,054 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral1.8%
Negative2.3%
Written reviews2,065 reviews
Positive54.3%
Neutral9.2%
Negative36.4%

User reviews

Numbers

From 215K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Intuitive interface
  • 🚀 Seamless integration with Apple ecosystem
  • 🚀 Great for basic spreadsheet needs
  • 🚀 Visually appealing charts and formatting

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • 🐛 Compatibility problems with Excel files
  • 🐛 Limited functionality compared to Excel
  • 🐛 Frustrating editing experience on mobile
  • 🐛 Disappearing spreadsheets after updates

Google Sheets

From 1.8M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Convenient mobile access
  • 💡 Collaborative features
  • 🔒 Secure cloud storage
  • 📈 Useful for business/personal organization

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 📱 Limited functionality compared to desktop version
  • 🔍 Difficult to navigate and find features
  • 🖋️ Cumbersome editing experience on mobile
  • 🗓️ Inconsistent date/time formatting

Bugs and requests

Numbers

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Frozen headers issue
  • Keyboard and text editing problems
  • Spreadsheet data loss after updates
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
  • Slow performance and loading times

Requested features

6 requests
  • Ability to lock individual cells
  • More advanced formula and function support
  • Improved collaboration and sharing options
  • Better mobile interface and keyboard integration
  • Customizable templates and formatting options
Show 1 more
  • Pivot table and data analysis features

Google Sheets

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Spreadsheets not saving properly
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between devices
  • Formatting issues when printing or exporting
  • Glitches when working with large or complex spreadsheets

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more advanced formatting and editing options
  • Improve search and navigation
  • Allow offline editing and syncing
  • Provide better integration with other Google apps
  • Add password protection or biometric security

In-app purchases

None

Numbers

No in-app purchases

None

Google Sheets

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Numbers free?
Numbers is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Google Sheets free?
Google Sheets is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Numbers or Google Sheets?
Google Sheets is rated higher. Numbers averages 4.6 out of 5 from 215K ratings, while Google Sheets averages 4.8 from 1.8M ratings.
Do Numbers or Google Sheets have ads?
Neither Numbers nor Google Sheets shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Numbers or Google Sheets?
Numbers ships an update every 3 months, and Google Sheets weekly. Most recently, Numbers was updated on September 25, 2026 and Google Sheets on September 24, 2026.

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