For a private list of your works that you sort and use for your accounts: a spreadsheet does the job, and Excel for the web and Google Sheets are free with an account.
For several people editing the same file at the same time: a shared spreadsheet already does that.
For sending a catalogue, a portfolio, a press kit or a certificate of authenticity the day someone asks, without laying it all out again: that is Viewroom's job. A spreadsheet keeps rows. Viewroom turns them into the documents the art world expects.
For an agent or manager following several artists: Viewroom opens one space per artist from a single account.
| Criterion | Excel or Google Sheets | Viewroom |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning | A general-purpose spreadsheet: rows, columns, formulas | Catalogue software for artists: artwork inventory, PDF portfolio, press kit and public portal |
| Best for | Keeping a private list, sorting it, running numbers on it | Sending a dossier to a gallery, an institution or a collector |
| Entry price | free online with an account, Excel for the web and Google Sheets alikemicrosoft.com — Surveyed on | one subscription, after a 14-day trial with no card |
| What the tool produces | the sheet itself, or a PDF export you lay out yourself | catalogue, PDF portfolio, press kit and certificate of authenticity, from the same records |
| Sharing | a link to the sheet, view or edit | a public portal and catalogue links that always serve the current version |
| Pricing your works | whatever formula you write, cell by cell | (height + width) × coefficient, applied to the whole catalogue |
| Bringing over your existing inventory | the file is already there; Google Sheets also opens and edits Excel filesworkspace.google.com — Surveyed on | a PDF catalogue is enough to start, and images come in by batches of twenty |
Surveyed on the same day on Microsoft's and Google's official pages, and on Viewroom as it runs in production that day.
Surveyed on . Microsoft prices in US dollars from its US page, before sales tax. Google's free storage applies to every Google account. Excel for the web and Google Sheets only require an account.
What Excel or Google Sheets does better — complete freedom: your columns, your sorting, your filters, your formulas, and a file that opens anywhere
What Viewroom does better — one record per work with fields of its own, dimensions, medium, status, location, price and images, which every document reuses without copying
What Excel or Google Sheets does better — a PDF export of the sheet, which you lay out yourself
What Viewroom does better — the catalogue, the PDF portfolio, the press kit and the certificate come out of the inventory, in the format the art world expects; the link you send always serves the current version
What Excel or Google Sheets does better — any formula at all, if you know how to write it
What Viewroom does better — the (height + width) × coefficient method, set once and applied to the whole catalogue, for prices that stay consistent from one size to the next
What Excel or Google Sheets does better — a free-form template, laid out however you like
What Viewroom does better — a certificate generated from the record, per edition copy, in English or French, to print and sign
What Excel or Google Sheets does better — a link in one click, view or edit, with comments from the people who receive it
What Viewroom does better — a public portal under your name, with your catalogues, bio and links, which a gallery finds up to date
The points where the other tool is ahead. They are listed because they are true, not because they are comfortable.
Excel for the web and Google Sheets are free with a Microsoft or Google account. Viewroom has no free plan: a 14-day trial, then a subscription.
microsoft.com — Surveyed on
In a spreadsheet you create the columns you want, in the order you want. Viewroom sets its own fields, because they are what makes the documents possible.
Formulas, totals, pivot tables, charts: a spreadsheet is built to count. Viewroom tracks the status, price and sales of each work; it does not keep your books.
Several people edit the same sheet at the same time, with comments and tasks. Viewroom does not offer several people working in one space, with roles.
workspace.google.com — Surveyed on
An .xlsx or .csv file opens in any spreadsheet, and Google Sheets edits an Excel file without converting it. It depends on no particular service.
workspace.google.com — Surveyed on
| Plan | Price | Cap | Note | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Excel for the web | $0 with a Microsoft account | in the browser | — | microsoft.com — Surveyed on |
| Microsoft 365 Personal | $99.99 /year (or $9.99/month) | 1 person, 1 TB of storage | Excel desktop app, with Word, PowerPoint and Outlook | microsoft.com — Surveyed on |
| Plan | Price | Cap | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google account | $0 with a Google account | 15 GB of shared storage | one.google.com — Surveyed on |
| Plan | Europe (EUR) | United States (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | €9.90 | $12 |
| Yearly | €99 | $120 |
Europe (EUR): VAT included · United States (USD): plus applicable sales tax
To keep a list, yes: a spreadsheet sorts, filters and counts very well. The limit comes when something has to be sent. A gallery expects a catalogue with images, dimensions and prices laid out, not a spreadsheet. A spreadsheet keeps rows; it does not produce the documents the art world asks for.
A catalogue you share as a link or a PDF, PDF portfolios (ten at a time), a press kit with bio, portrait and career, and a certificate of authenticity per edition copy, in English or French, to print and sign. All of them start from the same artwork records.
Excel for the web and Google Sheets are free with a Microsoft or Google account (survey of October 18, 2026). The Excel desktop app comes with Microsoft 365 Personal, at $99.99 a year or $9.99/month.
No. Viewroom tracks the status, price and location of each work, and sales copy by copy for editions. It does not do bookkeeping or tax returns: for your accounts, the spreadsheet stays the tool.
You start from what you have. At sign-up, Viewroom creates your works from a PDF catalogue; images then come in by batches of twenty and you complete each record. Your spreadsheet stays your working copy while you switch.
Viewroom — catalogue software for artists: artwork inventory, PDF portfolio, press kit and public portal. A 14-day trial, every feature, no card required.
Fourteen days, every feature, no card required.
Your PDF catalogue is the starting point.
If you keep your works in a spreadsheet and nobody asks you for a dossier, keep it: it is free and it does what it does well. Viewroom is for the day something has to go out, a catalogue, a portfolio, a press kit or a certificate.
Updated on by Florian.