Regular spreadsheet tools have a ceiling. You can get a lot done in Google Sheets or Excel, but once you need live data connections, AI-assisted analysis, or the ability to run code inside your spreadsheet, you start running into their limits. Rows and Quadratic both try to push past that ceiling — but they take very different approaches and are aimed at quite different users.
Here’s what each one actually does and how to figure out which is the better fit for your team.
What Rows Is
Rows is a spreadsheet application designed to feel familiar to anyone who uses Google Sheets or Excel, but with meaningful upgrades built in. The biggest is data connectivity: Rows has native connectors to databases, external APIs, and popular SaaS tools, so you can pull live data directly into your spreadsheet without exporting CSVs or running ETL pipelines.
On top of that, Rows has an AI analyst feature that works like a chat interface over your data. You ask a question in plain English, and the AI queries your data and returns an answer — often with a chart. For business users who want to understand what their data shows without writing formulas or SQL, this is genuinely useful.
The other distinctive feature is publishing. You can create polished, shareable report views from your Rows spreadsheets and embed them in other tools. For teams that produce regular data reports shared with stakeholders who shouldn’t be editing the underlying data, the publishing workflow is a real advantage over standard spreadsheets.
| Rows | Quadratic | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Spreadsheet app with built-in AI and data connectors | Spreadsheet with Python/SQL/JavaScript running directly in cells |
| AI capability | AI analyst sidebar for querying data; auto-generated charts | AI-assisted code generation for formulas and data operations |
| Data connections | Native connectors to databases, APIs, Google Sheets, and more | Import data; can connect to databases via SQL in cells |
| Who builds it | Less technical users — visual and guided | More technical users — code-friendly interface |
| Collaboration | Live sharing; embeddable published reports | Standard sharing; designed for analyst-to-analyst workflows |
| Best output format | Polished shareable reports and dashboards | Complex computed data models and analyses |
| Learning curve | Low — familiar spreadsheet interface with AI on top | Medium — need comfort with code concepts even if AI writes it |
| Free tier | ✅ Available | ✅ Available |
What Quadratic Is
Quadratic takes a fundamentally different approach: it’s a spreadsheet where individual cells can run Python, SQL, or JavaScript. Instead of being limited to spreadsheet formulas, you can write actual code in a cell, fetch data from an API, run a machine learning model, or perform statistical analysis — and the output appears in the spreadsheet like any other value.
The AI element in Quadratic is primarily about code generation: you describe what you want in natural language and the AI writes the Python or SQL to do it. If you’re a data analyst or developer, this removes a significant amount of the tedious boilerplate writing involved in building data pipelines and analyses. If you’re not comfortable reading code even if you didn’t write it, Quadratic is a harder tool to trust.
Quadratic is genuinely powerful for analysts who want the flexibility of a programming environment with the visual layout of a spreadsheet. It’s not the right tool for business users who want answers from their data without engaging with code at all.
The Real Difference: Who They’re Built For
The simplest way to distinguish them: Rows is built for business users who want AI to make their data work easier. Quadratic is built for technical users who want a better environment for data analysis than a traditional notebook or spreadsheet.
A marketing manager who wants to pull live campaign data, ask AI questions about it, and share a clean report — Rows. A data analyst who wants to run Python-based statistical analysis, fetch from a database with SQL, and do it all in a spreadsheet rather than a notebook — Quadratic. A small business owner who wants self-service analytics without hiring a data analyst — Rows. A developer building an internal data tool — possibly either, depending on the output format needed.
🎯 Pick the One That Fits Your Team
Pricing and Free Tiers
Both tools offer free tiers that give you enough room to evaluate them properly. Rows’ free tier covers individual use with basic integrations. Quadratic’s free tier covers individual use with reasonable compute limits. For both, the free tier is sufficient to test whether the tool handles your actual use cases before committing to a paid plan.
Data Privacy Considerations
Both tools handle your data on external infrastructure, which matters for some use cases. For business data that doesn’t contain customer personal information or confidential information, this is unlikely to be a concern. For sensitive datasets, review each tool’s data handling documentation before connecting live data sources. Rows offers team and business plans with enterprise-grade security features; Quadratic’s documentation covers their data handling approach. The relevant question to ask for both: does data sent to or stored by this tool meet the data handling requirements of my customers and any relevant regulations?
Integrations and Data Sources
Rows has a notable advantage here for non-technical users: it ships with native connectors to a wide range of data sources — Stripe, HubSpot, Google Analytics, Airtable, various SQL databases, and REST APIs among them. This means pulling live data from the tools your business already uses doesn’t require ETL pipelines or custom integrations. You connect once through the Rows interface and the data stays current.
Quadratic can connect to databases via SQL cells and import from common file formats, but its integration story is less turnkey than Rows for typical SaaS data sources. For analysts who are comfortable writing SQL to fetch data, this is not a significant limitation. For business users who want data to flow in automatically from their existing tools without writing queries, Rows is the more practical choice.
The implication for tool selection: if a significant part of your reporting challenge is getting data from multiple sources into one place without engineering help, Rows’ native connectors are a meaningful differentiator. If your data workflow already has a pipeline and you want a better analysis environment, Quadratic’s code-native approach gives you more flexibility once the data is there.
Collaboration and Sharing
Rows has a publishing feature that lets you share a polished, read-only view of your spreadsheet as a report or embed it in another tool — useful for sharing weekly metrics with stakeholders who shouldn’t have edit access to the underlying data. Quadratic supports standard sharing, with collaborators able to view and edit. For teams where the main output is a report that gets distributed widely, Rows’ publishing workflow is the more practical path. For teams where the main output is an analysis that gets shared with other analysts, Quadratic’s standard sharing works fine.
One practical note on evaluation: both tools change frequently. Features that are limited today may be significantly improved in a few months. Check current release notes before making a final decision, especially if you’re evaluating specifically for a capability like API connections or collaborative editing where both tools are actively investing.
Where to Start
Take your most common reporting or analysis workflow and try building it in both tools using their free tiers. For Rows, that means connecting a data source and running through the AI analyst workflow. For Quadratic, that means importing a dataset and letting the AI generate Python or SQL to answer a specific question.
The tool that handles your actual workflow more cleanly is the right choice. For most small business teams, that will be Rows — the AI analyst and live connectors deliver real value without requiring any technical background. For teams with analytical staff who are comfortable with code, Quadratic’s flexibility is worth the learning investment.