Excel is enough if you do fewer than 3 visits a day with small, stable catalogs. It pays to switch to UppSales when you handle 5+ visits, multiple brands or a team of reps: the time saved on retyping (on average 45–60 minutes/day) quickly outweighs the cost of the base plan (from €7/month).
If you're a sales rep, you probably already use Excel — or used to — to manage orders, price lists and customers. It's the tool everyone knows, it costs almost nothing and it works. So why change?
This page answers that question honestly, comparing Excel with UppSales on eight concrete criteria: not to convince you to buy something, but to help you understand when Excel is enough and when it starts costing you more than you think.
Spoiler: Excel works up to a point. The problem isn't the tool — it's the time that disappears every evening doing things you might not have to do.
Head-to-head comparison on 8 criteria
The table below is based on real-world use of both tools in field order-taking scenarios.
| Aspect | Excel / Spreadsheets | UppSales |
| Order capture during the visit | You take notes by hand or in a file, then retype them in Excel at home | Order created right during the visit, sent before walking out the door |
| Product catalog | Separate Excel file, updated manually, risk of different versions per rep | Digital catalog or interactive PDF, always up to date and identical for everyone |
| Customer-specific price lists and discounts | Possible but manual: formulas, separate sheets, high chance of error | Automatic: the correct price list applies on its own when you pick the customer |
| Offline use | Yes, works without internet | Requires internet to sync data and send orders |
| Multi-brand (several brands) | One file per brand, separate folders, high operational confusion | Each brand has its own space, one-click navigation, no confusion |
| Risk of order errors | High: copy/paste, wrong SKUs, outdated prices, wrong quantities | Low: products are picked from the catalog, prices are preset |
| Sending the order to the brand | Manual email with Excel attachment, often after working hours | Automatic send on confirmation, with a copy to the customer in real time |
| Tool cost | Free (included in Microsoft 365) or close to it | From €7/month per rep (base) |
| Initial setup time | None if you already use Excel | 15–30 minutes to import products and customers from Excel |
| Learning curve | None for anyone who already knows Excel | Low: interface built for non-technical users |
| Works on every device | PC/Mac mainly; mobile is awkward for data entry | iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, browser — exact same result |
| Technical support | Online community, no direct support | Direct support Mon–Fri, team based in Italy |
The hidden cost of Excel: the hours you don't count
Excel costs nothing as software. But there's a cost almost no rep calculates: the time spent doing things that shouldn't be necessary.
A rep who runs 8 visits a day and retypes every order into Excel in the evening spends, on average, 45–60 minutes a day on repetitive work. That's about 18 hours a month — almost three working days.
On top of that comes the time spent looking up wrong product codes, correcting quantity errors, calling customers back after sending a flawed order, updating price lists on files that each rep has saved in different versions.
It's not Excel's fault. Excel is designed to process data, not to capture orders in the field. Using it for that is like using a kitchen knife as a screwdriver: it works, but it's not the right tool.
When Excel is the right choice
Being honest means saying it clearly: Excel works just fine in some situations. It doesn't make sense to switch to a dedicated app if:
- You do few visits a day (fewer than 3) with small catalogs and stable price lists
- Your brand only accepts orders in a specific Excel format that you can't change
- You work in an industry where catalogs never change and products are few and fixed
- You're the only rep and you never run into errors or file version issues
If you recognize yourself in all these points, Excel is probably enough. But if even one isn't true — if you do many visits, manage multiple brands, have complex catalogs or often correct orders — it's worth doing the math on lost time.
When UppSales pays off
UppSales becomes worth it when the time saved is worth more than the cost of the plan. Here are the most common cases:
Rep with 5+ visits per day
Every visit needs quick catalog access, the right price list applied for that specific customer, and immediate order sending. With Excel this requires 3 separate tools (notepad, price list file, email). With UppSales it's all in one, during the visit.
Multi-brand rep with 3+ brands
Managing several brands in Excel means more files, more price lists, more risk of confusion. With UppSales each brand has its own separate space, all reachable from the same place. There's no risk of sending an order with the wrong brand's price list.
Agency with multiple reps
When there are several reps, Excel turns into a coordination problem: who has the latest price list? Who has customer X's data? With UppSales everyone works on the same data updated in real time, from the same platform.
People working with PDF catalogs
If your brand sends you seasonal PDF catalogs, with Excel you have to open the PDF, find the product, copy the SKU, paste it into the order file — every time, for every product. With UppSales you upload the PDF once and it becomes an interactive catalog: tap a product and it goes straight into the order.
Real cost compared
Let's put the numbers on the table. Compare the cost of Excel with UppSales, factoring in the cost of lost time.
| Scenario | Excel — monthly cost | UppSales — monthly cost |
| Software | €0 (or included in Microsoft 365) | €7/rep (base plan) |
| Single rep — 45 min/day lost retyping | ~18 hours/month lost. At €20/h = €360/month hidden cost | €7–22/month. Time lost: close to zero |
| Multi-brand rep — 3 brands, 60 min/day | ~24 hours/month lost = €480/month hidden cost | ~€25–35/month. Set up once, then automatic |
| Agency — 5 reps, manual coordination | Price list and file coordination: ~10 hours/month for the manager = €200+ | ~€85–150/month for 5 reps. Coordination zeroed out |
Switching from Excel to UppSales: how hard is it?
The main concern of anyone considering the switch is this: "I have years of data in Excel, do I have to start over?" The answer is no.
UppSales imports directly from Excel. The typical process is:
- You export your Excel file with products and customers in the standard UppSales format (downloadable template)
- You import the file into UppSales — 15–30 minutes for normal datasets
- You upload the PDF catalogs (if you have any) — minutes per file
- You run a test order to make sure everything is correct
- You're up and running
If you have complex data or need help, the UppSales team can handle the import directly — we're a software house and we've done this many times.
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep using Excel and UppSales together?
Yes. UppSales exports orders to Excel at any time. If your brand requires orders in Excel format, you can capture them with UppSales and export to the required format. You don't have to choose one or the other for the final step — only for the capture step.
Excel is better for complex calculations. Does UppSales support them?
UppSales handles price lists, discounts, product variants and minimum quantities. For data analysis, advanced reporting or custom calculations, Excel remains superior — and UppSales isn't designed to replace it for those tasks. UppSales is optimized for the order-taking step in the field, not for post-sale analysis.
Can I try UppSales without giving up Excel?
Yes. During the 15-day free trial you can run both side by side and compare your workflow. You don't have to stop using Excel to test UppSales.
What happens to my data if I stop using UppSales?
You can export everything in Excel format at any time — products, customers, order history. Your data stays accessible for 30 days after expiration. You're never locked into the platform.