head to head · open source
gspread vs IronCalc
gspread has 7,514 GitHub stars, 980 forks, 73 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. IronCalc has 4,246 stars, 217 forks, 256 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gspread leads on adoption by 77% (7,514 vs 4,246 stars). gspread is written in Python under MIT; IronCalc is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. gspread has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, IronCalc 5%. IronCalc was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (spreadsheet), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| gspread | IronCalc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.5K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-07-30 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 980 | ⑂ 217 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gspread if
- You weight community size — 7.5K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick IronCalc if
- You want the IronCalc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and IronCalc fits your workflow better
About gspread
Google Spreadsheets Python API v4 Maintainer needed We are sorry to announce that we are currently unable to maintain Gspread. We are looking for new maintainers to keep up the good work. Feel free to reach out to us using this issue 1570 Overview Simple interface for working with Google Sheets. Features: Open a spreadsheet by title , key or URL . Read, write, and format cell ranges. Sharing and access control. Batching updates. Installation Requirements: Python 3.8+. Basic Usage 1. Create credentials in Google API Console 2. Start using gspread v5.12 to v6.0 Migration Guide Upgrade from Python 3.7 Python 3.7 is…
read the full gspread overview →
About IronCalc
IronCalc [![MIT licensed][mit badge]][mit url] [![Apache 2.0 licensed][apache badge]][apache url] [![Build Status][actions badge]][actions url] [![Code coverage][codecov badge]][codecov url] [![docs badge]][docs url] [![Discord chat][discord badge]][discord url] [mit badge]: [mit url]: [apache badge]: [apache url]: [codecov badge]: [codecov url]: [actions badge]: [actions url]: [docs url]: [docs badge]: [discord badge]: [discord url]: IronCalc is a new, modern, work in progress spreadsheet engine and set of tools to work with spreadsheets in diverse settings. This repository contains the main engine and the xlsx…
read the full IronCalc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gspread or IronCalc more popular?
gspread has 7,514 GitHub stars and IronCalc has 4,246. gspread has the larger community by that measure.
Are gspread and IronCalc free?
Both are open source. gspread is licensed under MIT and IronCalc under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gspread and IronCalc ?
gspread is written in Python and IronCalc in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gspread or IronCalc ?
Choose gspread if you want the larger community (7,514 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose IronCalc if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.