What's a good alternative to Google Sheets for planning a trip?

If you like planning in a spreadsheet, pick a trip planner that works the same way but is easier to share. WanderCrew's planner is a grid: days across the top, rows for transit, activities, where you stay, and cost per person down the side. The difference is what the rest of your crew gets: the same trip on their phones, one day at a time, with a route map and a Today screen that works with no signal.

Can I keep using Google Sheets too?

Yes. Paste cells from Google Sheets into WanderCrew's web planner or import an Excel file, and export the trip back out to a spreadsheet whenever you want one. Plenty of planners will keep a sheet for budgeting and use WanderCrew for the trip itself.

Does WanderCrew do formulas?

No. The cost-per-person row keeps a running total across the trip, and that's the only math it does. If your sheet splits costs by person or converts currencies, keep that part in the sheet.

Is WanderCrew's spreadsheet on my phone?

The same rows are, one day at a time, which is easier to read and edit on a small screen. The full grid with every day side by side is on the web. The web planner needs an account, which comes with the Crew plan or with an invite to someone's trip.

Can several people edit at once, like in Google Sheets?

Everyone on the crew works on the same trip, and each edit saves one field at a time, so two people changing different parts of a day don't affect each other. It isn't live co-editing with cursors like Google Sheets. If two people change the same field, the later edit is kept and recent changes shows the earlier value with who wrote it.

Yes, on your phone: unlimited trips and every planning screen, with no account. The Crew plan is the one paid tier. The host subscribes and gets the web planner, sync across their devices, and room for up to 20 people on a trip, who join with free accounts. The price will be announced at launch.

Google Sheets and Excel alternative

A Google Sheets alternative that's just as familiar and easier to share.

WanderCrew plans a trip the way your spreadsheet already does, with days across the top and the details down the side. What changes is sharing it. Your friends and family get the same trip on their phones, one day at a time, with a route map, a Today screen, and access with no signal. The beta opens in fall 2026.

By Fisherbird Software, the studio behind WanderCrew · Updated September 2026

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The short answer

Keep the sheet if you're planning alone, you lean on formulas, or your crew is happy reading a grid.
Try WanderCrew if you love the grid but the rest of the crew won't open it, can't read it on a phone, or keeps texting you to ask where you're sleeping tonight.
Or use both. Paste your sheet in, and export the trip back out to a spreadsheet whenever you want.

Where Google Sheets and Excel win

A spreadsheet is a good way to plan a trip, and we planned our own that way for years. It's free. Everyone already has it. Formulas split costs any way you like, convert currencies, and count down the days. You can add a tab for the budget and another for the packing list, and Google Sheets lets the whole group type in it at once.

Nobody has to install anything, either. If your crew is happy opening a grid, a shared sheet may be all you need.

The grid you already know

WanderCrew plans a trip the way your sheet does. On the web, the planner is a grid: one column per day, and rows for wake location, transit, activities, hotel or stay, sleep location, cost per person with a running total, and links. Add your own rows for text, longer notes, money, links, or places. Insert a day in the middle and every later date moves with it.

Here's what happens to one day of our own Vegas to Denver trip:

In the planner, it's a column.: Day 1, Vegas to Hoover Dam to Zion. Transit: land around 10am, pick up the car, 35 minutes to Hoover Dam, then about 2.5 hours to Springdale. Activities: the Hoover Dam walk and Canyon Overlook Trail. Stay: Springdale, Utah.
In the itinerary, it's a day card.: The drive note at the top, Bonrue Bakery in Hurricane as a stop along the way, Canyon Overlook Trail marked quiet, and where the crew sleeps, on a route map colored by stretch of the trip.
On a passenger's phone, it's the Today screen.: What's up next, where you're sleeping tonight, and one tap to open any stop in their maps app. It works in airplane mode.

A shared sheet and WanderCrew, from the crew's side

For the planner, both are a grid. The differences show up for everyone else.

	Google Sheets or Excel	WanderCrew
On a phone	The whole grid, pinched and scrolled	One day at a time, and a Today screen during the trip
With no signal	Only if offline access was set up ahead of time	The whole trip is saved on the phone
Map	A separate Google My Maps, if someone makes one	A route map built from the same trip
Directions	Copy an address into a maps app	Tap a stop to open it in your maps app
Packing list	A tab of checkboxes, with no one's name on them	Shared gear with who's bringing it, plus a private list each
Who changed what	Version history for the whole file	Each edit, with who made it and what it replaced
Following along	Share access to the file	A read-only link, no app or account needed
Formulas	Anything you can write	A running total for cost per person, nothing more
Cost	Free	Free on your phone; the host pays for the Crew plan to share

Google Sheets plus My Maps

Plenty of planners pair the sheet with a Google My Maps full of pins. It's a thorough setup, and it's two things to keep in step. Move a hike to Thursday in the sheet and the map doesn't know. One traveler on Reddit summed up the pair: "comprehensive but neither are good to navigate on mobile, so not great on the go."

In WanderCrew the map comes from the plan. Every stop and stay sits on its day, so the route map and the Today screen change when the plan does.

Bringing your sheet with you

Copy cells from Google Sheets and paste them into the web planner, or import an Excel file. Dates should run across the first row with row names down the first column. WanderCrew matches common names like "Lodging" to its own rows, and anything it doesn't recognize comes in as a custom row. The full walkthrough, including how to flip a sheet whose days run down the side, is on our spreadsheet trip planner page.

Starting fresh? Our free road trip itinerary template uses the same rows, so it imports cleanly later.

What to know before you switch

The full grid is on the web. Phones show the same rows one day at a time.
The web planner needs an account, which comes with the Crew plan or with an invite to someone's trip.
Imports expect days across the top. Some sheets need flipping or a little row mapping first.
No formulas. Keep complicated cost splitting in a sheet or an app like Splitwise.
It isn't live co-editing. Edits save field by field and recent changes shows who changed what.

Google Sheets and Google My Maps are trademarks of Google LLC. Excel is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. WanderCrew is an independent product of Fisherbird LLC and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by either company.

Quick answers

Questions about leaving the trip spreadsheet

What's a good alternative to Google Sheets for planning a trip?: If you like planning in a spreadsheet, pick a trip planner that works the same way but is easier to share. WanderCrew's planner is a grid: days across the top, rows for transit, activities, where you stay, and cost per person down the side. The difference is what the rest of your crew gets: the same trip on their phones, one day at a time, with a route map and a Today screen that works with no signal.
Can I keep using Google Sheets too?: Yes. Paste cells from Google Sheets into WanderCrew's web planner or import an Excel file, and export the trip back out to a spreadsheet whenever you want one. Plenty of planners will keep a sheet for budgeting and use WanderCrew for the trip itself.
Does WanderCrew do formulas?: No. The cost-per-person row keeps a running total across the trip, and that's the only math it does. If your sheet splits costs by person or converts currencies, keep that part in the sheet.
Is WanderCrew's spreadsheet on my phone?: The same rows are, one day at a time, which is easier to read and edit on a small screen. The full grid with every day side by side is on the web. The web planner needs an account, which comes with the Crew plan or with an invite to someone's trip.
Can several people edit at once, like in Google Sheets?: Everyone on the crew works on the same trip, and each edit saves one field at a time, so two people changing different parts of a day don't affect each other. It isn't live co-editing with cursors like Google Sheets. If two people change the same field, the later edit is kept and recent changes shows the earlier value with who wrote it.
Is WanderCrew free?: Yes, on your phone: unlimited trips and every planning screen, with no account. The Crew plan is the one paid tier. The host subscribes and gets the web planner, sync across their devices, and room for up to 20 people on a trip, who join with free accounts. The price will be announced at launch.

Beta opens fall 2026

As familiar as your sheet. Easier to share.

Join the waitlist and we'll email you when your beta invite is ready. iOS and Android, fall 2026.

Join the beta waitlist