Trunao Alternatives: Free Excel-to-Web Tools vs Owning Your App
"Convert Excel to a web app free" is Trunao's headline pitch — and for simple record-keeping it delivers. Here's an honest breakdown of what the free conversion actually produces, where it stops, and what to use when you need more.
What Trunao Does Well
Trunao converts a spreadsheet into an online database with forms, searchable views, reports, and charts. The free personal plan is genuinely usable — up to 1,000 records with unlimited forms and screens for a single admin — and the paid Corporate tier is unusually cheap for the category at roughly $120/year with unlimited records.
If your spreadsheet is a list — inventory, contacts, registrations, log entries — and you want it collected and viewed through web forms instead of a shared file, Trunao gets you there for free or nearly free, with less setup than Knack or Caspio.
Where It Falls Short
"Web app" means database, not calculator. Trunao converts your data into records, forms, and reports. Your formulas — the calculation engine that makes an Excel tool valuable — don't become an interactive calculator. If people type inputs into your spreadsheet to get answers out, that's not what you'll get back.
VBA and complex logic don't transfer. Macros don't run, and multi-sheet formula architectures have no equivalent. Like every platform in this category, the harder your workbook works, the less of it survives conversion. See our page on converting Excel VBA to a web application for what macro conversion actually requires.
The interface is functional, not branded. Forms and tables render in the platform's house style. For an internal tool that's fine; for anything client-facing that should look like your business, you'll hit the ceiling quickly.
Free still means platform-dependent. Your tool lives on Trunao's infrastructure under Trunao's terms. There's no source code to export, and a free tier that changes its limits — as free tiers across this industry regularly do — can strand your workflow overnight.
The Alternatives
1. Excel for the web (free embed)
If the goal is simply "my spreadsheet, online, free," Microsoft's own route is the most faithful: upload to OneDrive and embed the workbook in any page. Formulas keep working — but visitors see a spreadsheet, not an app, and there's no lead capture or branding.
2. Sheetcast (free tier, then ~$12/user/mo)
A stronger free-tier option when your workbook's formulas matter: it publishes your Excel file as a web app with the spreadsheet staying the calculation engine, and the single-user free tier allows unlimited anonymous visitors. Full breakdown on our Sheetcast alternatives page.
3. Knack or Caspio (from ~$49–300+/mo)
The grown-up versions of what Trunao does: proper online databases with user portals, relationships, and compliance options. The step up costs real money — see our Knack and Caspio alternatives pages.
4. Custom development ($500–$5,000 one-time — what we do)
A developer translates your workbook's actual logic — every formula, every macro — into JavaScript, verified against the original, wrapped in a branded interface you own outright. This is the route when the spreadsheet computes rather than stores, when the tool faces clients, or when you're done depending on platforms. Our guide on converting Excel to a web application compares every option, including a full section on the free routes.
To see the difference between a converted database and a converted calculator, browse a few real conversions: a UK corporation tax calculator with multi-band rate logic, a work-from-home tax allowance calculator used by accountants' clients, and a cross-stitch fabric calculator serving a craft community — each one formula-verified against the original Excel file.
| Option | Cost model | Complex formulas | VBA | Own the result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trunao | Free (1k records), ~$120/yr Corporate | Data only — no calculator | No | No |
| Excel for the web | Free | Yes, as a spreadsheet | No | No |
| Sheetcast | Free (1 user), then ~$12/user/mo | Via Excel engine | No | No |
| Knack / Caspio | ~$49–300+/mo | Rebuilt, limited | No | No |
| Custom development | $500–$5,000 one-time | Exact replication | Converted to JS | Yes |
Vendor pricing is published starting pricing as of August 2026 — check each vendor's site for current plans.
Common Questions
The personal plan is genuinely free: up to 1,000 records, one admin account, unlimited forms and screens. The catch is what "web app" means — Trunao produces an online database with forms and reports, not an interactive calculator. If your spreadsheet stores records, free Trunao may be all you need; if it computes answers, the conversion won't carry your formulas.
For a faithful free spreadsheet-on-the-web, Excel for the web's embed is the most direct. For formula-driven workbooks, Sheetcast's free tier keeps Excel as the engine. For serious database applications, Knack or Caspio. And for client-facing or formula-heavy tools you want to own outright, custom development converts your exact logic into code with no platform dependency.
No. Trunao imports your data and builds database screens around it — formulas don't become an interactive calculation engine, and VBA macros don't run. Spreadsheets that are essentially lists convert well; calculators, quoting tools, and financial models lose the logic that made them useful.
When the free routes stop fitting: your tool faces clients and needs your branding, your formulas are the product and must compute exactly, you need VBA behavior preserved, or you want lead capture and ownership with no platform risk. A one-time $500–$5,000 build with $5–20/month hosting is the honest comparison point against "free" tools that cap, rebrand, or retire your workflow.
Comparing other tools? See our takes on Caspio, ConvertCalculator, Glide, Knack, Sheetcast.
Not Sure Which Route Fits Your Spreadsheet?
Send us your Excel file. We'll tell you honestly — including when a no-code tool is the smarter buy — and give you a fixed price if custom development is the right fit.