Plenty of people track their net worth in Excel or Google Sheets, and it works. The question is whether building and maintaining the sheet is still how you want to spend your time.
| Feature | CeeWealth | Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free for 1 account. Premium is £0.99/mo or £9.99/yr | Free to start |
| Setup | Create an account, add your accounts, log balances | Build your own, or find and adapt a template |
| Layout flexibility | Fixed structure, you work within it | Total. Any layout, any formula |
| Net worth history chart | Built in | You build and maintain it |
| Projections (6 months, 1 year, 5 years) | Built in, from your own numbers | Only if you build it |
| Goals with a projected finish date | Built in | Only if you build it |
| UK tax year summary and CGT | Built in, at HMRC rates | Only if you build and keep the rates current |
| Financial health score | Built in | Not a standard feature |
| Bank connection | Not offered, manual only | Manual, unless you add your own imports |
| Where your data lives | Your CeeWealth account. Never sold, no ads | Your own computer, or your Google or Microsoft account |
| Formula errors | Calculations are done for you | Yours to find and fix |
A spreadsheet is free, endlessly flexible, and entirely yours. If you want a column CeeWealth doesn't have, or a layout nobody else would design, a sheet will always beat a fixed app. And if the file lives only on your own computer, it never leaves your hands, which is as private as it gets.
If your current sheet answers your questions and you keep it up to date, there's no need to switch.
The usual trouble with a spreadsheet isn't the first version, it's the upkeep. Charts need extending, formulas break when you add a row, and tax rates change each year. CeeWealth handles the maths for you, including projections, goal dates, a financial health score and a UK tax year summary at HMRC rates.
It's also still manual on purpose. There's no bank login and no open banking, so you type in the numbers that changed, which most people find takes about 30 seconds a week.
CeeWealth never sells your data and doesn't run ads, and it doesn't connect to your bank. But your data does live in your CeeWealth account online, whereas a spreadsheet kept on your own machine stays there. If keeping everything on your own device matters most to you, that's a genuine point in favour of a local file.
CeeWealth has a free plan, and because balances are entered by hand, you can run it alongside your spreadsheet for a month and compare. If you find you're opening the sheet less, you've got your answer.
Features and pricing are accurate as of the publish date. Spreadsheet capabilities vary depending on the template and the software you use.
Start on the free plan, enter your balances, and compare for a month before you decide anything.
Get started freeNet worth, projections and UK tax year reports, with no bank login.