netclariq vs. Excel and Google Sheets
Most people start with a spreadsheet, and it's a reasonable way to learn: it forces you to understand your own numbers. The friction shows up over time, once you're maintaining formulas, amortization tables and market prices by hand every month.
No formulas to maintain
Every entry updates net worth, budget and portfolio automatically, checked with simplified double-entry bookkeeping.
No bank credentials required
No open banking or standing permissions: you log entries manually or import a CSV, and your bank login stays with your bank.
One consolidated figure
Accounts, debts, property and investments in the same view, with a monthly net worth history.
| Criterion | Excel / Google Sheets | netclariq |
|---|---|---|
| Bank independence | Complete, but every entry is manual with no assistance | Your bank credentials stay yours: manual entry or CSV import in seconds |
| Accounting accuracy | Depends on your formulas: easy to double-count an investment | Simplified double-entry bookkeeping, so amounts can't be counted twice |
| Getting started | Fast with a template, slow if you build it yourself | Accounts and first entries set up in minutes with guided steps |
| Net worth | A manual formula that needs updating every month | Calculated automatically with monthly history and an asset/liability breakdown |
| Mortgages and loans | A homemade amortization table, hard to redo after a prepayment | Generated schedule, real outstanding balance and prepayment support |
| Investments | Prices pasted in by hand and FIFO cost estimated roughly | Market prices, FIFO cost basis, IRR and realized gains by year |
| Shared use | One shared file, without real roles or an audit trail | Shared spaces with members and edit or view-only permissions |
| Cost | Free, but with substantial ongoing maintenance time | Paid subscription with a free trial |
When a spreadsheet is still enough
If you have one or two accounts, no debt and no investments, a simple sheet works fine. A dedicated tool starts to pay off once a mortgage, a portfolio or several accounts enter the picture, because that's when manual upkeep starts costing more time than it saves.
What carries over from a spreadsheet
netclariq keeps what works about spreadsheets: full control over your data, categories you define, and no mandatory bank connection. What it removes is the repetitive work of recalculating everything by hand.
- You decide what to record and how to categorize it
- No bank credentials required
- Full data export whenever you want it
When netclariq isn't your tool
We'd rather tell you now than after your 30-day trial.
- If you enjoy building your own formulas and that's part of the appeal
- If you need fully custom dashboards pulling in external data
- If your use case is business accounting rather than personal net worth
Frequently asked questions
- Can I import my spreadsheet?
- You can import transactions from a file and record the rest of your balances as a starting point.
- What if I want to go back to my spreadsheet?
- You can export all your data from your profile at any time, so there's no lock-in.