Show IH: Use Spreadsheet Calculators Anywhere!

TL;DR: I created a tool to convert a spreadsheet calculation to an API

Dear No-Coders,

Spreadsheets are a wonderful tool for implementing complex calculations with relative ease. But currently, the calculations are imprisoned within the boundaries of Google Sheets/Excel.

Currently, if you want to use your spreadsheet calculation in a no-code app, you will have to hire a developer to convert it to code, which is expensive 💸 and slow 🐌.

When I experienced the problem myself, I needed to integrate the spreadsheet calculation into an existing front-end. I found these tools, but none of them suited my use case:

• Coherent Spark
  • Too enterprise-focused.
  • Not possible to try the tool without a sales meeting.
  • Price: 500 to 5k USD/month.
• CalcFusion
  • Seems like it is a dead project; not possible to sign up, and the copyright hasn't been updated since 2015.
  • Price: 149 to 499 USD/month (Free up to 500 requests/month).
• Molnify
  • Generates a website but not an API. Which meant I couldn't integrate it with the existing front-end app.
  • Price: 230 to 575 USD/month (Free for 14 days).
• spreadsheetconverter .com
  • Only works on Windows and with Excel.
  • You need to host your own server.
• alchemyj .io
  • Only works on Windows and with Excel.
  • You need to host your own server.

I will soon post a blog post with a more detailed comparison of the existing tools.

I discovered the Google Sheets API and thought I could use it, but soon I found that it wouldn't scale to handle concurrent users and could give inconsistent results when used for performing calculations due to these concurrency issues.

To my disappointment, there was no existing solution available that would fit my use case. After taking a good amount of time to think, I had come up with the blueprint for a solution that would be suitable for me and hopefully also others.

Today I am publishing the result of my work. I have created a tool that allows you to automatically convert a spreadsheet calculator to an API which you can use in your front-end, Zapier, Bubble, Siri Shortcuts, and anywhere else with an internet connection.

I chose to make it work with live Google Sheets, which means that it will also be possible to use it in combination with Google Sheets Add-ons, for example, to pull the latest financial data with GOOGLEFINANCE or fetch data from the internet using IMPORTDATA or an add-on. This means you can make the result of your calculation dependent on the current price of a stock or currency. You could also make it dependent on the current electricity price, the weather, or even the traffic. None of this is possible with any of the existing tools since they don't work with a live Google Sheet.

Feedback:
I hope some of you will find this tool I have created as useful as I do. I'm very open to feedback here or on my Twitter, where I build in public and post regular updates on progress. Right now, I'm working on getting the first 10 production applications to use the tool.

Pricing:
It is free for up to 100 calculations per month (might be increased for early adopters if you ask nicely). Then the premium plan allows for 1000 calculations per month and costs 200 USD/month.

And yes, Finally! Here is the link: https://www.spreadsheetcalculatorapi.com. Why such a long domain name? Hehe, I know it's weird and hard to remember, but when people search for "spreadsheet calculator API", it will be one of the first results.