AssetJay vs Spreadsheets

Every small business starts tracking equipment in a spreadsheet. Google Sheets, Excel, maybe a shared file on OneDrive. The spreadsheet is free and everyone knows how to use it, and for a while it does the job fine.

This article compares using a spreadsheet for asset management against using a dedicated tool like AssetJay. It covers where spreadsheets break and where they're still fine.

Where Spreadsheets Work

Let's start with what spreadsheets do well. If you have fewer than 15 assets and one person updating the sheet, a spreadsheet is perfectly fine. It's:

• Free: Google Sheets costs nothing. Excel comes with most Microsoft 365 plans.
• Familiar: everyone knows how to use a spreadsheet. No training needed.
• Flexible: you can add columns for anything. There are no constraints.
• Good enough for a snapshot: if you just need a list of what you own, a spreadsheet handles it.

If you have a handful of assets and a reliable person keeping the sheet updated, there's no reason to switch. The problems start when your team grows. We go through the warning signs, asset count by asset count, in when spreadsheets stop working.

Where Spreadsheets Break Down

Spreadsheets are easy because they're flexible, but that also means nothing stops the data drifting. These are the problems we see most often in companies that outgrow one:

Nobody updates it

The spreadsheet is accurate the day you create it. Then someone buys a new keyboard and forgets to add it. Someone else leaves and their row stays. Within a few months, the sheet doesn't reflect reality. Once people stop trusting it, they stop updating it entirely.

Receipts live somewhere else

A spreadsheet can't store a PDF. The receipt for that $2,499 laptop is in someone's email, a Google Drive folder nobody remembers, or a physical drawer. When the laptop breaks at month ten and you need proof of purchase for the warranty claim, good luck finding it.

No photos or attachments

You can't attach a photo of the serial number, a picture of the asset's condition, or the warranty document. All of that context lives outside the spreadsheet, disconnected from the asset record. When you need it, you're searching through email, Slack, and shared drives.

No audit trail

Spreadsheet version history tells you that cell B14 changed from "Ingrid" to "Mike." It doesn't tell you why, or when the laptop was actually handed over, or whether Ingrid confirmed the return. There's no record of who had an asset and when, just whoever remembered to update the cell last.

Offboarding is a guessing game

When someone leaves the company, can you pull up everything they have? With a spreadsheet, you're scanning rows and hoping the "Assigned To" column is accurate. Miss one item and a $400 headset walks out the door unnoticed.

No structure or validation

Nothing stops someone from typing "Laptop" in one row and "laptop" in another. Or entering the purchase date as "March 15" in one cell and "2024-03-15" in the next. Spreadsheets have no data validation by default, so your data quality degrades over time.

Sharing and permissions are all-or-nothing

Either someone can edit the entire spreadsheet or they can't. You can't give an employee read-only access to see their own assigned equipment without exposing every other asset in the company.

Software licences fall through the cracks

Most spreadsheets only track hardware. Software licences, subscriptions, and seats rarely make it into the sheet. When someone leaves, you forget to reclaim their licences and keep paying for unused seats.

AssetJay vs Spreadsheet: Feature Comparison

The Real Cost of a Free Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet doesn't cost anything up front, but it can end up costing you in other ways. Here's what we see at small companies that stick with spreadsheets too long:

• Lost warranty claims: A $1,200 laptop breaks under warranty, but the receipt is gone. That's $1,200 out of pocket, or 48 months of AssetJay Pro.
• Equipment that disappears during offboarding: One missing pair of $400 AirPods Max is 16 months of AssetJay Pro.
• Underinsured after a loss: A break-in happens, insurance asks for an asset inventory, and you can't produce one. The payout covers half of what it should.
• Time spent hunting: 30 minutes searching for a serial number or receipt every time something breaks. Multiply that by every incident across the year.

For a deeper look at moving away from spreadsheets, see our guide on how to track equipment without a spreadsheet.

When to Switch from Spreadsheet to AssetJay

You don't need to switch on day one. Here are the signals that it's time:

• You have more than 15-20 assets and the sheet is getting hard to maintain.
• More than one person needs to look things up in the asset list.
• You've lost a receipt or warranty document you needed.
• Someone left the company and you weren't sure what they had.
• Your insurance company asked for an inventory and you couldn't provide one quickly.
• You've bought a duplicate of something you already owned because you didn't know you had it.

The Migration Is Painless

The biggest hesitation teams have about switching is the migration. "We have 100 rows of data in this spreadsheet, do we have to retype all of that?"

No. Export your spreadsheet as a CSV file and drag it into AssetJay. The import tool maps your columns to the right fields. Import your people first, and an "Assigned to" column in the asset file links each asset to the right person. Your data comes over in one step, and you can start adding receipts and photos on top of it immediately. If you want to clean up your data before importing, our asset register template gives you a solid starting structure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I switch to AssetJay if I only have 10 assets?

AssetJay is free for up to 25 assets, so it costs nothing to start. You get all your equipment, software licences, and receipts in one place from day one, which saves you the retroactive work later. A spreadsheet will hold 10 assets fine, but since AssetJay is free at that size you might as well start there and skip the move later.

Can I still export my data from AssetJay?

Yes. Your data isn't locked in. You can download everything (assets, people, assignments and activity) as a JSON file from Settings at any time.

Is a spreadsheet good enough for insurance documentation?

A well-maintained spreadsheet with accurate purchase prices can support an insurance claim. The catch is that most aren't kept that well, and even a good spreadsheet can't attach receipts or photos as proof. An insurer will pay out more confidently when you have purchase receipts and photo documentation alongside your inventory list.

What if my team is used to the spreadsheet?

Most people find AssetJay easier than the spreadsheet. You're filling in fields rather than looking after formulas and columns, so there's less to get wrong and it's always clear where things go.

Can I use AssetJay and still keep the spreadsheet as a backup?

You can, but you probably won't need to. The whole point of switching is to have one source of truth. Maintaining both creates the same problem you're trying to solve: information living in two places, slowly getting out of sync.

The Bottom Line

Spreadsheets are a fine starting point. They're free and good enough for a handful of assets. They get harder to keep accurate as the team grows, though, and because they can't store receipts they tend to let you down during offboarding and insurance claims, which is when you most need the list to be right.

AssetJay picks up where the spreadsheet stops working. You can import your existing data and attach receipts as you go, so the warranty document is there when you need it. Free for up to 25 assets, no credit card required. See how it stacks up against other options in our best equipment tracking tools for small teams roundup.