Can CrewFlow import our sheets?

Yes. Workers, clients, projects and rate cards can be imported during onboarding.

Will our team resist the change?

The onboarding wizard, in-app guidance and knowledge centre exist for exactly this. Most teams move module by module rather than all at once.

Can clients still receive a spreadsheet?

Yes. Reports and registers export to CSV and Excel, and the report builder can schedule them.

What about our formulas?

Commercial calculations move into the rate cards and terms of engagement, so the logic is applied consistently rather than living in one workbook.

Software comparison

CrewFlow vs shared spreadsheets

Shared spreadsheets solve the version problem that files on a network drive create — several people can edit at once and everyone sees the same tab. This page looks at what shared spreadsheets are genuinely good at, and where a workforce operation outgrows them.

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Overview

CrewFlow and Spreadsheets at a glance

Cloud spreadsheets are collaborative, cheap and immediately familiar. For a small crew list or a live tracker they are hard to beat.

CrewFlow adds the things a spreadsheet was never designed to hold: enforced permissions, document versioning, workflow that blocks non-compliant mobilisation, and an audit trail that survives someone deleting a row.

The practical trigger for moving is usually not size — it is consequence. Once a wrong cell means a worker travels without a valid A1, the spreadsheet is carrying risk it cannot manage.

Who each is for

Designed for different jobs

CrewFlow is designed for

Teams where several roles touch the same worker and project data
Operations that must prove what was true on a given date
Businesses running payroll-adjacent and client-billable data side by side
Anyone coordinating documents that expire

Spreadsheets is designed for

Small, fast-moving trackers owned by one team
Collaborative lists and simple schedules
Temporary working data during a project
Teams with no budget for dedicated tooling

Feature comparison

Capability by capability

The same 18 capability areas used across the Comparison Centre, applied to CrewFlow and Spreadsheets.

IncludedPartialDifferent scope

Capability comparison between CrewFlow and Spreadsheets
Capability	CrewFlow	Spreadsheets
Workers	Included Worker records with rates, documents, availability and full assignment history	Partial Lists are easy; document history and per-record permissions are not
Projects	Included Clients, projects, jobs and positions with historical rates	Partial Tabs per project, maintained manually
Planning	Included Crew Planning with day, week, month, timeline and Gantt views	Partial Colour-coded grids without availability or compliance awareness
AI timesheets	Included Photo or PDF capture, AI extraction, confidence scoring and human approval	Different scope Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Document packs	Included Packs assembled by country, client, project or org defaults	Different scope Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Digital signatures	Included Terms of engagement issued and signed in the worker portal	Different scope Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Mobility intelligence	Included A1, posting, right-to-work and Schengen day tracking with pre-mobilisation scoring	Different scope Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Business intelligence	Included Executive dashboard, revenue, profitability, workforce and operations analytics	Partial Charts over whatever the sheet currently contains
Automation	Included Trigger, condition and action builder with execution audit history	Partial Scripts and macros maintained by whoever wrote them
Mobile app	Included Native iOS and Android worker portal with offline capture and push	Partial Mobile editing, not field capture
Integrations	Included Integrations Hub covering accounting, storage, comms, signing and HR systems	Partial Import, export and connector add-ons
API	Included Versioned REST API, OpenAPI reference, OAuth, API keys and webhooks	Different scope Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Security	Included Row-level tenant isolation, EU hosting, encryption and immutable audit history	Partial File-level sharing controls
Compliance	Included Document expiry, versioning and mobilisation blocking on missing evidence	Different scope Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Commercial engine	Included Timesheet-to-invoice calculation driven by agreed terms of engagement	Different scope Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Report builder	Included Self-service report definitions with scheduling and delivery	Partial Manual pivots rebuilt as structures change
Developer platform	Included OAuth apps, event catalogue, signed webhooks and rate-limited gateway	Different scope Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Support	Included In-app guidance, knowledge centre, onboarding wizard and named success contact	Different scope Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope

Workers
CrewFlow
Included
Worker records with rates, documents, availability and full assignment history
Spreadsheets
Partial
Lists are easy; document history and per-record permissions are not
Projects
CrewFlow
Included
Clients, projects, jobs and positions with historical rates
Spreadsheets
Partial
Tabs per project, maintained manually
Planning
CrewFlow
Included
Crew Planning with day, week, month, timeline and Gantt views
Spreadsheets
Partial
Colour-coded grids without availability or compliance awareness
AI timesheets
CrewFlow
Included
Photo or PDF capture, AI extraction, confidence scoring and human approval
Spreadsheets
Different scope
Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Document packs
CrewFlow
Included
Packs assembled by country, client, project or org defaults
Spreadsheets
Different scope
Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Digital signatures
CrewFlow
Included
Terms of engagement issued and signed in the worker portal
Spreadsheets
Different scope
Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Mobility intelligence
CrewFlow
Included
A1, posting, right-to-work and Schengen day tracking with pre-mobilisation scoring
Spreadsheets
Different scope
Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Business intelligence
CrewFlow
Included
Executive dashboard, revenue, profitability, workforce and operations analytics
Spreadsheets
Partial
Charts over whatever the sheet currently contains
Automation
CrewFlow
Included
Trigger, condition and action builder with execution audit history
Spreadsheets
Partial
Scripts and macros maintained by whoever wrote them
Mobile app
CrewFlow
Included
Native iOS and Android worker portal with offline capture and push
Spreadsheets
Partial
Mobile editing, not field capture
Integrations
CrewFlow
Included
Integrations Hub covering accounting, storage, comms, signing and HR systems
Spreadsheets
Partial
Import, export and connector add-ons
API
CrewFlow
Included
Versioned REST API, OpenAPI reference, OAuth, API keys and webhooks
Spreadsheets
Different scope
Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Security
CrewFlow
Included
Row-level tenant isolation, EU hosting, encryption and immutable audit history
Spreadsheets
Partial
File-level sharing controls
Compliance
CrewFlow
Included
Document expiry, versioning and mobilisation blocking on missing evidence
Spreadsheets
Different scope
Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Commercial engine
CrewFlow
Included
Timesheet-to-invoice calculation driven by agreed terms of engagement
Spreadsheets
Different scope
Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Report builder
CrewFlow
Included
Self-service report definitions with scheduling and delivery
Spreadsheets
Partial
Manual pivots rebuilt as structures change
Developer platform
CrewFlow
Included
OAuth apps, event catalogue, signed webhooks and rate-limited gateway
Spreadsheets
Different scope
Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope
Support
CrewFlow
Included
In-app guidance, knowledge centre, onboarding wizard and named success contact
Spreadsheets
Different scope
Not part of Spreadsheets's intended scope

Advantages

What Spreadsheets does well

Real-time collaboration with comments and revision history
Zero implementation effort — a new sheet takes seconds
Flexible structure that can change daily
Easy sharing with clients and third parties
Familiar to virtually every user

Limitations

Where teams typically hit the edge

Permissions are per file or per range, not per worker or per client
No structured document store with expiry and version control
No enforcement — a row can be marked compliant with nothing behind it
Cross-sheet formulas break silently as structures evolve
Reporting requires rebuilding when the underlying columns change
Personal data spread across shared files complicates GDPR obligations

Typical use cases

Which to use, when

Stay in spreadsheets

A short-lived tracker, a shared checklist, or data being prepared for import.

Move to CrewFlow

Worker records, compliance evidence, rates, timesheets and anything a client or auditor may ask you to prove.

Run both

Export CrewFlow views into Sheets for a client-facing summary without exposing the underlying system.

Pricing approach

How each is typically paid for

Pricing models change. Treat this as an indication of approach and confirm current commercial terms directly.

CrewFlow

Per-seat subscription with worker-volume tiers and unlimited free worker portal accounts.

See CrewFlow pricing

Spreadsheets

Usually bundled with an existing productivity suite; costs appear as duplicated effort and correction time.

Why CrewFlow

Why organisations choose CrewFlow

Access is scoped to the organisation and the role, at row level
Documents carry versions, expiry dates and evidence of who uploaded them
Workflow blocks mobilisation when mandatory evidence is missing
Audit history is written by the database, not by convention
Workers get a mobile portal instead of being emailed a spreadsheet

Explore the platform

Every capability in the table above has its own product page explaining how it works, the workflow behind it and the questions customers ask most.

Browse all modules Model the return Customer stories

FAQ

CrewFlow vs Spreadsheets: common questions

See where CrewFlow fits alongside Spreadsheets

Start a 14-day free trial, or let us walk you through CrewFlow with your own operation in mind.