Comparison
Your project overview lives in Excel. When is a board better?
Etapo is a project board for agencies and freelancers: all your client projects with deadline, status and owner on one screen. Excel and Google Sheets are spreadsheets: you can build the same overview in them, and many agencies do. The difference is not what fits, but what happens when three people work in it at once and twenty projects are running.
What Excel and Google Sheets and Etapo have in common
- One row per project, with client, description, deadline and who is on it.
- You decide the layout: sections in Etapo, columns in Excel.
- Google Sheets and Excel Online run in the browser; so does Etapo, nothing to install.
- No lock-in: everything in Etapo exports to CSV at any time, with or without a subscription, and that file opens in Excel.
The differences
What it is
Etapo: A project board: every project has a client, a description, a deadline, a status and an owner, and sits in a section.
Excel and Google Sheets: A spreadsheet: cells and formulas, and whatever you build on top.
Who it is for
Etapo: Agencies and freelancers doing client work.
Excel and Google Sheets: Anyone. It is a blank sheet.
Deadlines
Etapo: An overdue deadline turns red on the board and shows under Overdue on Today, without any setup.
Excel and Google Sheets: Only if you set up conditional formatting yourself, and maintain it per file.
Status
Etapo: Four fixed statuses with a fixed colour: Started, Running, Waiting and Done. Finished work leaves the board for Completed.
Excel and Google Sheets: A text column that everyone fills in slightly differently.
Working together
Etapo: When a colleague changes something, you see it straight away. Owner, Admin and User roles; Activity shows who did what.
Excel and Google Sheets: Working in one file together is possible in Excel Online (with a Microsoft 365 subscription) and in Google Sheets. Who changed what lives in the file’s version history.
Clients
Etapo: A client list, with each client’s running projects.
Excel and Google Sheets: A column of names. A per-client overview is a filter or a pivot table you build yourself.
Amounts and hours
Etapo: Deliberately not. Per project only the invoice status: To invoice, Pro forma, Sent, Paid or N/A. Amounts belong in your accounting software.
Excel and Google Sheets: Exactly what a spreadsheet is good at.
Where your data lives
Etapo: In Frankfurt (EU), walled off per workspace, with a Dutch company.
Excel and Google Sheets: Wherever your Microsoft or Google account puts it. That is yours to arrange, per subscription.
Price
Etapo: €12.00 per month for one workspace, plus €4.00 per extra user. No minimum, 30-day free trial.
Excel and Google Sheets: Included in your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace subscription; Google Sheets is also free with a personal account.
When you are better off staying with Excel and Google Sheets
- You track hours and amounts in the same sheet and calculate with them. Etapo deliberately does not.
- You work alone and the overview is small: ten rows you keep yourself are fine in Excel.
- You need pivot tables or charts on your project data.
- Your work has no clients. Etapo is about client work; without clients you miss half the point.
Moving from Excel and Google Sheets to Etapo
Save your overview as CSV and import it under Settings: you point out what each column is (client, description, deadline, status, section) and see beforehand what lands on the board. Start with the running projects; the archive can stay behind.
The other way always works. Export to CSV works with or without a subscription, and that file opens in Excel or Google Sheets. You can keep your old overview, and you can always get your new one back out.
Hosted in Frankfurt, made in the Netherlands
Etapo runs on servers in Frankfurt (EU), is made by a Dutch company in Leeuwarden, and support is in Dutch via support@etapo.io. A European alternative is not an extra option here, it is how it is built.
Frequently asked questions
Can I import my Excel file?
Yes, as CSV (in Excel: Save As, CSV UTF-8). You map the columns to the fields on the board, see a preview, and import. Amounts and hours do not come along: they do not belong on the board.
Can I track amounts in Etapo?
No. Etapo tracks per project whether an invoice is needed and whether it has been sent or paid, not for how much. Amounts belong in your accounting software.
Does Etapo work with Excel?
Through CSV. You export your projects and clients and open them in Excel or Google Sheets, for a report or a pivot table for example.
What does it cost after the trial?
You then pick a plan; the pricing page says what it costs. If you pick nothing, you can still view and export your board, but no longer edit it.
Sources
- Microsoft Support: Collaborate on Excel workbooks at the same time with co-authoring
- Google Docs Editors Help: Find what’s changed in a file
Written by Etapo. The facts about Excel and Google Sheets come from Excel and Google Sheets’s own website. Spotted a mistake? Email support@etapo.io.
See for yourself?
Put your first projects on the board and see whether it fits.
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