Google Sheets vs Excel: which one should you open?

Every tracker on this site ships twice: an Excel file and a Google Sheets file. Buyers ask which one they should open, as if one must be the real one. Neither is. They are the same workbook in two formats, and the math in both was checked against an independent recomputation before either shipped. Here is how to choose, and what actually differs.

Choose by where your life already is

• Open the Google Sheets file if you live in a browser, share a budget with a partner who should see the same numbers, or want the file on your phone without thinking about it. Download the Sheets file, import it into Google Sheets, then File → Make a copy and work in your copy.
• Open the Excel file if you already use Microsoft Excel, prefer files that live on your own computer, or keep your money records offline.

What is the same

The tabs, the formulas, the locked cells, and the numbers. These workbooks use only the plain functions both apps share — sums, lookups, rounding, dates — and no macros and no app-only functions, so a formula cannot quietly mean two different things in the two apps. The demo totals printed on each product page are the totals of both demo copies, because both were recalculated and compared.

What differs, honestly

• Sheets keeps your file in your Google account and saves as you type; Excel keeps a file you save where you put it. Pick the habit you will actually keep.
• Colors and print fit can render a touch differently between the two apps. The numbers do not change; the look can shift slightly.
• On a phone, both apps open these files. The wide tabs are easier on a bigger screen in both.

One rule in both apps: keep the clean copy untouched. Work in a copy, type only in the pale cells, and your backup is always one file away.