Grist acts as the ideal compromise between heavy-duty relational databases and classic Excel spreadsheets. For those used to working in Excel, the learning curve is minimal, and you can get up to speed very quickly. Additionally, Grist has become a great alternative for me, sitting right between Obsidian and Notion. It takes the best of both worlds: offering powerful table relationships (like Notion) and supporting flexible custom widgets (like Obsidian), all while remaining an open and non-proprietary solution. 1. Open-source & Self-hosting: Complete independence, control over your own data, and active community support. 2. Python under the hood: All logic, formulas, and relationships run on Python, making the system incredibly flexible. 3. Custom widgets: Excellent interface customization. For instance, you can use widgets to set up convenient previews for attached files (like images or documents). 4. Smart attachment handling: Unlike Excel, attaching files directly to columns here is very convenient. To prevent the database file itself from bloating and taking too long to load, Grist features a brilliant option to offload attachments to external storage (S3).

Grist is available in a self-hosted version, and all its vast functionality is available to us for free, without limitations. Related widgets on one page are very easy to configure. Our small trading and manufacturing company uses Grist as a CRM, customized to our specifics and business processes. Grist allows us to very flexibly account for the specifics of our sales funnel. We are very pleased that we chose Grist. The built-in neural network in Grist also helped a lot with the initial setup.

Several key features could propel Grist to widespread success. The support for Python and multi-line formulas stands out. The inclusion of smart auto-columns like ID, created/updated timestamps, and user tracking. Additionally, Grist offers advanced access controls, such as row-level viewing, and open coding support for widgets. Having transitioned from Excel to Sheets and with 17 years of experience in spreadsheet use, I now see Grist as my top choice for the ideal spreadsheet platform. While there is still progress to be made, Grist is already a robust tool with a growing and active community.