xlwings Newsletter #35

xlwings now supports Google Sheets and Excel on the web

February 01, 2022

xlwings PRO is now free for noncommercial use

xlwings PRO is source-available and dual-licensed under one of the following licenses:

As a reminder, xlwings PRO offers additional features such as xlwings Reports, the flexible, template-based reporting system or the ability to embedded Python code in the workbook for easy deployment. And since today, it also supports Google Sheets and Excel on the web, see the next section.

Support for Google Sheets and Excel on the web

Finally, xlwings adds (experimental) support for the cloud, without the need to deploy Python on each user's machine! Here are a few points why this is helpful when compared with Google Apps Script and Microsoft Office Scripts, which are traditionally used to automate these cloud spreadsheets:

  • Work with the whole Python ecosystem: including pandas, machine learning libraries, database packages, web scraping, boto (for AWS S3), etc. This makes xlwings a great alternative for Power Query, which isn’t currently available for Excel on the web or Google Sheets.

  • Leverage your existing development workflow: use your favorite IDE/editor (local or cloud-based) with full Git support, allowing you to easily track changes, collaborate and perform code reviews. You can also write unit tests using pytest.

  • Remain in control of your data and code: except for the data you expose in Excel or Google Sheets, everything stays on your server. This can include database passwords and other sensitive info such as customer data. There’s also no need to give the Python code to end-users: the whole business logic with your secret sauce is protected on your own infrastructure.

  • Choose the right machine for the job: whether that means using a GPU, a ton of CPU cores, lots of memory, or a gigantic hard disc. As long as Python runs on it, you can go from serverless functions as offered by the big cloud vendors all the way to a self-managed Kubernetes cluster under your desk.

  • Headache-free deployment and maintenance: there’s only one location (usually a Linux server) where your Python code lives and you can automate the whole deployment process with continuous integration pipelines like GitHub actions etc.

  • Cross-platform: xlwings works with both Google Sheets and Excel on the web.