Opens Excel files
Reads and writes .xlsx with formatting, charts, pictures, comments and validation. Opens .xls, .xlsb, .xlsm, .ods, .csv and .tsv too.
Free · Open source · Native macOS
The free spreadsheet for Mac that opens your Excel files
Foglio is a free spreadsheet app for Mac: small, fast and native, made for everyday spreadsheets. It opens and saves .xlsx, opens .xls, .ods and .csv, and speaks ~500 Excel functions. No subscription, no account, no ads.
- Free forever, MIT / Apache-2.0
- 7.5 MB download, launches in 0.24 s
- Native Swift/AppKit, no Electron
- Download size
- 7.5 MB
- Launch to first frame
- 0.24 s
- Memory with an empty sheet
- 58 MB
- Price, forever
- $0
Everything you need for everyday spreadsheets
Foglio covers the work most people actually do in a spreadsheet: lists, budgets, invoices, reports, data from other people's Excel files. It feels like Excel and behaves like a Mac app.
~500 Excel functions
SUMIFS, XLOOKUP, FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, LET, LAMBDA, dates, text, statistics and finance. 191 of 195 audited functions match Excel on every test case.
Formulas in your language
On an Italian Mac type =SOMMA(A1:A10) or CERCA.VERT with ; and decimal commas. Also German, Spanish and French. Files stay standard Excel.
A real Mac app
Written in Swift and AppKit: Open Recent, window tabs, dark mode, Print and Export PDF, pinch to zoom, Excel for Mac keyboard shortcuts.
Charts and pictures
Column, bar, line, pie, doughnut, area and scatter charts, saved to .xlsx. Insert, crop and compress pictures; even old EMF/WMF clip art renders.
Data tools
Sort, AutoFilter, Find & Replace, Remove Duplicates, Text to Columns, data validation dropdowns, conditional formatting and a light pivot (Summarize by).
Opens
- .xlsx
- .xlsm
- .xls
- .xlsb
- .ods
- .csv
- .tsv
- .txt
Small enough to forget it is there
Foglio is built without a browser engine, a Java runtime or a bundled framework. That is why it downloads in seconds and opens before you can move the mouse.
- 1.1 sOpen a 100,000-row xlsx
- 16 msEdit + recalculate 300k formulas
- 1.3 ms1,000 VLOOKUPs over 10,000 rows1.7 seconds in the original engine: about 1,300× faster
Tested on a Mac with an M4 processor, macOS 27.
A free spreadsheet app for Mac, and it stays free
Foglio has no price, no trial, no subscription and no paid tier. You do not need an Apple ID, a Microsoft account or a Google account to use it, and there are no ads.
The source code is on GitHub under the MIT and Apache-2.0 licenses, so anyone can read it, build it, fix it or fork it. Your spreadsheets are standard .xlsx files that open in Excel, Numbers, LibreOffice and Google Sheets: no lock-in.
We are not trying to be Excel
Excel does a thousand things, and some of them (macros, Power Pivot, real-time co-authoring) Foglio will probably never do. That is fine: copying Excel feature by feature is not the goal.
The goal is a spreadsheet that feels like part of your Mac: native, fast, tiny, gentle on memory and battery, and able to open practically every Excel file you receive (we aim for 99 out of 100) without breaking it when you save it back.
- NativeA real Mac app in Swift and AppKit. No browser engine inside, no runtime to install.
- Fast and small7.5 MB to download, open in a quarter of a second, about 58 MB of memory with a sheet open.
- CompatibleReads and writes standard
.xlsx, keeps your formulas in Excel's own form, so the file opens anywhere.
How it compares
Excel has more features, Google Sheets has live collaboration, Numbers has beautiful templates. Foglio is the free, light, native option that still opens Excel files properly. See the full comparison for the details, including where the others win.
| FoglioOpen source | Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft | Apple NumbersApple | LibreOffice CalcThe Document Foundation | Google SheetsGoogle | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price & license | |||||
| Price | Free | Microsoft 365 Personal $99.99/yr, Family $129.99/yr, or Office Home 2024 $179.99 one-time | Free; optional Apple Creator Studio ($12.99/mo) for premium templates and AI | Free | Free with a Google account; paid Workspace plans for business |
| Open source | MIT / Apache-2.0 | No | No | MPL-2.0 | No |
| Account needed | No | Microsoft account and a subscription or license to edit | No (Apple Account only for iCloud sharing) | No | Google account required |
| Size & speed | |||||
| Download size | 7.5 MB (universal) | 1.2 GB (Excel alone, Mac App Store) | 661 MB (App Store listing) | ≈ 300 MB (Apple silicon disk image) | Nothing to install (runs in a browser) |
| Disk space | 19 MB | Over 1 GB | Hundreds of MB | Up to 800 MB (official requirements) | Browser cache only |
| What it is built with | Swift/AppKit + Rust, no bundled runtime | Native Mac app (Microsoft Office codebase) | Native Mac app | Cross-platform C++ suite with its own UI toolkit | Web app |
Built like a Mac app should be
A Swift/AppKit interface with a custom grid, on top of a Rust calculation engine (a patched fork of IronCalc) linked in as a plain static library. Read how Foglio is built and why that makes it small and fast.
Read moreSwift · AppKitWindows, menus, documents and a custom grid view drawn with AppKit
C ABI
Rust coreWorkbook model, IronCalc formula engine (patched fork), xlsx / xls / ods / csv
Switching from something else?
Honest notes for people coming from Excel for Mac, Numbers, LibreOffice Calc or Google Sheets, including when you should keep using them. All of them are on the alternatives page.
Free Excel alternative for Mac
Open and save xlsx files without a Microsoft 365 subscription, and know exactly what you give up.
Read moreNumbers alternative for Excel files
Edit xlsx files in place, with Excel's grid, function names and shortcuts, instead of converting them.
Read moreLighter LibreOffice Calc alternative
A native 7.5 MB Mac spreadsheet for everyday Excel files, and when LibreOffice is still the better tool.
Read moreOffline Google Sheets alternative
A free desktop spreadsheet with no account and no cloud, and when Google Sheets is still the right tool.
Read moreFrequently asked questions
Is Foglio really free?
Yes. There is no price, no trial period, no subscription, no in-app purchase and no ads. Foglio is open-source software under the MIT and Apache-2.0 licenses.
Can Foglio open and save Excel files?
Yes. It reads and writes .xlsx with formatting, charts, pictures, comments, data validation and conditional formatting. It also opens .xls, .xlsb, .xlsm and .ods, and CSV/TSV text files. It saves as .xlsx, and exports CSV and PDF.
Is it a full replacement for Microsoft Excel?
For everyday spreadsheets, often yes. For some work, no: Foglio does not run macros (VBA), has no real pivot tables (it offers a lighter Summarize by instead), skips shapes and SmartArt, and cannot open password-protected files. The comparison lists the differences.
Which Macs does it run on?
Any Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel. It is a single universal app.
Why does macOS say Foglio is from an unidentified developer?
Foglio 1.0 is not signed with a paid Apple Developer ID, so the first time you open it macOS asks for confirmation. On macOS 15 or later go to System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway; on macOS 14 right-click the app and choose Open. The download page explains each step.
Does Foglio collect data or need an account?
No. There is no account, no sign-in, no analytics and no telemetry. Foglio makes no network connections of its own; it only opens a web link when you click a hyperlink in a cell.
Can I type formulas in Italian, German, Spanish or French?
Yes. Foglio follows your Mac's language and region: on an Italian Mac you type =SOMMA(A1:A10;B2) with semicolons and decimal commas, just like Excel in Italian. Files always store the standard English form, so they open correctly everywhere. See the Italian–English function list.
Is Foglio finished?
Foglio 1.0 handles everyday spreadsheets end to end and is covered by 69 automated UI tests, but it is a first release. Keep backups of important files and report problems on GitHub.
Try it on your own spreadsheets
It is a 7.5 MB download and it costs nothing. Foglio 1.0 is a first release, so keep backups of important files while you try it.