Finito vs Excel
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Finito or ExcelExcel can do a lot. Tracking a team's hours isn't its strong suit.
A spreadsheet is quick to set up and costs nothing extra. Until more people work in it, someone overwrites a formula or your social secretariat asks what happened in March.
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- Every change stays visible
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When Excel is enough
If you work alone and track hours for yourself, a spreadsheet can be perfect. You know what you enter, you don't need to check anyone and nothing goes to a social secretariat. Once someone works with you, it's a different story. Then you need planning, project hours and an export for your social secretariat, and that's what Team and Pro are for.
Even with two or three people, a fixed schedule and rare overtime, Excel can hold up for a while. As long as someone keeps it up to date and nobody changes anything by accident.
It starts to pinch once more people join, or part-time arrangements, overtime or time off in lieu come in. Or as soon as someone wants to know who changed what, and when.
Excel and Finito side by side
| Excel | Finito | |
|---|---|---|
| Track | Hours are often filled in afterwards, at the end of the day or week. | One tap on the timer, on phone or computer. No timer running for 10 minutes? You get a notification. |
| Log | Whoever changes a cell usually leaves no trace. The original is gone. | Every change to hours is in the log. The original stays visible. |
| Close the month | A closed month doesn't really exist. Anyone with access can still change it. | A closed month is locked. Nobody changes anything. |
| Overtime | Formulas you build and maintain yourself, per employee and per arrangement. | Days that differ are flagged and the owner chooses: overtime, flexitime, additional hours or no overtime. Time off in lieu is deducted automatically. |
| Export | Retyping or copy-pasting into whatever your social secretariat asks for. | Payroll export as a zip file, hours by type per employee per day. A month is never exported twice. |
| Planning | A separate tab or another tool, disconnected from the hours. | Drag and drop tasks by day, week or month. Leave and public holidays in view, with the tasks that need rescheduling. |
| Permissions | Whoever has the file sees everything, cost prices included. | You decide per person who sees amounts. Project managers never see cost prices. |
| Leavers | Rows get deleted or the file goes missing. | Archived, never deleted. The hours are kept. |
What Excel does better
Excel is flexible. You can build any calculation you like, and it's already on your computer. Finito deliberately does less: it doesn't calculate overtime pay or premiums and doesn't create invoices. You do that in your own accounting software, Peppol included.
Want to crunch Finito's project hours further in a spreadsheet? No problem. You can export everything whenever you like.
From 2027, how you record matters
The government wants general registration of working time from 2027. Based on what's on the table, the system must be objective, reliable and accessible. A sheet you fill in afterwards or can change without a trace is then on weaker ground.
See what changes in 2027Switching from Excel
Create an account
30 days free, without an appointment or credit card.
Add your team and their arrangements
Per employee: full-time or part-time, contract hours, daily and weekly limit. More on overtime and flexitime.
Run your spreadsheet alongside Finito for a month
That way you see for yourself where the differences are, before you put Excel away.
Close your first month
Review the days that differ, close and create the payroll export.
Frequently asked questions
Is Excel enough for a small team?
With a few people, a fixed schedule and rare overtime, it can work for a while. Once part-time arrangements, overtime, time off in lieu or several people in the same file come in, it gets error-prone.
Can I import my Excel data?
We don't promise an Excel import. What does work: run Excel and Finito side by side for a month, then use only Finito from the next month.
Can I export from Finito to Excel?
Yes, you can export everything whenever you like. Every month an export also lands in the owner's inbox automatically.
What does it cost compared to Excel?
Team costs €8 and Pro €11 per user per month, excl. VAT, with a minimum of 2 users. You try it free for 30 days first, no meeting or credit card needed. If you work alone there's Solo: 1 user, just the timer, up to 10 projects. Worked examples are on the pricing page.
Does Finito do everything my spreadsheet does?
Not everything. Finito doesn't calculate overtime pay or create invoices. It does what a spreadsheet struggles with: a log of every change, closed months and a payroll export that never goes out twice.
Keep your spreadsheet running for a month
Compare for yourself. Try Finito free for 30 days alongside your Excel, no meeting or credit card needed.
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