TLDR; We’re shifting our efforts to building a no-frills, desktop-based, local-first spreadsheet. You can follow along here. Subset’s canvas-based spreadsheet will continue to exist at canvas.subset.so.
The story so far
A few years ago, we set out to make spreadsheets easier to build. We shaped that idea into a browser-based, multiplayer, spreadsheet on an endless canvas. Building something this complicated was no small feat, and we’re really proud of the product we built. It was the most creative way to build a simple, good looking, functional model, calculator, or analysis, on the internet.
When we launched in the summer, we were overwhelmed with support. Many people loved the idea and told us that this was how they wished spreadsheets worked. We heard things like “Figma for spreadsheets” and “this is how my brain works.” We had thousands sign up and use the product, giving us valuable feedback as we continued to make it better over the course of the year.
The bad news
Despite this support, we failed to find enough of a consistent user base around this product. While people loved the look and feel of the canvas, the most active users couldn’t make the canvas work for more advanced analytics. The users who used us the most frequently got the least benefit from our canvas, and those who used us the least got the most benefit. There’s a lot more to unpack there, for a future blog post.
We made the hard decision to stop development on this product, which we’re now calling Subset Canvas. It will continue to live at canvas.subset.so. You can sign up, and it will be free to use as long as we’re able to support it.
The next chapter
We’ve learned way too much about building a spreadsheet to just stop here. We’re still obsessed with building them. We believe there are way too many people in the world using them for there to be just two viable options. The world needs more options when it comes to spreadsheets.
So what’s next? Over the last few years, we’ve talked to thousands of spreadsheet users about their wants and needs. Many have simple requirements, others have some really esoteric ideas. But overall, everyone we talked to wanted a spreadsheet that works well, is performant, gives them control over their data, and allows them to collaborate when needed.
Modern spreadsheets are either too expensive and force you to download an entire suite of software just to use. Or they simply don’t have a desktop app even in 2024, and force you to use it in their browser. The newer spreadsheets are too busy trying to do something special so they can justify charging you a lot of money. They’ve lost focus making the core spreadsheet really good.
Our vision and new direction for our product has now become much simpler: We’re building a no-frills, high-quality, local-first, desktop + web spreadsheet.
Here’s some of our guiding principles:
- No frills, high-quality, desktop and web based spreadsheet.
- Make a spreadsheet performant and feature rich enough to be your default native spreadsheet editor
- Open and edit files offline. Double click files and have them open automatically in a collaborative spreadsheet. First class support for importing and exporting .xlsx files.
- Emphasize usability and keyboard shortcuts for power users and their workflows
- More flexible collaboration
- Provide a straightforward paid plan for users who need cloud storage, live collaboration, and file syncing
- Support branching and version control for users who need to track changes to larger projects
- An open community for plugins, templates, and extensions
- Enable anyone to create, share, and sell spreadsheet templates
- Provide an interface for developers to build extensions, plugins, and connect other software products to make Subset more productive for you
We know this will be a long journey and we are excited to share more as we make progress. If you have thoughts on what you’d want to see, reach out, we’d love to hear from you.
You can follow along with us on twitter or in our discord.
— Subset founders: AJ and Jason
