Sheet Best vs SheetDB: Detailed Comparison for Developers

Alfredo Matos

Written by Alfredo Matos

Feb 9, 2026 · 6 minutes read

Sheet Best and SheetDB both convert Google Sheets into REST APIs with full CRUD operations. They look similar on the surface. The differences become clear when you compare request economics, feature depth, and what each tool offers beyond basic read/write access.

This comparison covers pricing, features, developer experience, and when to pick each tool.

Quick Comparison

The headline number: Sheet Best delivers 5-10x more requests per dollar at comparable price points.

Pricing: The Math That Matters

Request economics is the biggest difference between these two tools. Here is the breakdown at each tier:

The cost per 1,000 requests tells the story:

At the mid-tier, Sheet Best gives you 5x more requests for $10 less per month. At higher volumes, Sheet Best’s Production plan ($149.99 for 1M requests) costs $0.15 per 1K — SheetDB does not have a comparable tier without going to enterprise pricing ($399.99+).

If your project makes more than a few thousand API calls per month, the cost difference compounds quickly.

Features: Where Sheet Best Wins

Advanced Queries

Sheet Best supports aggregation, pivot, and info queries through the API. You can compute sums, averages, counts, and group-by operations without pulling all the data to your application and processing it there.

For example, if you have a sales spreadsheet and need the total revenue by product category, Sheet Best returns that in a single API call. With SheetDB, you would fetch every row and calculate the aggregation in your application code.

This matters for dashboards, reports, and any use case where you need computed data rather than raw rows.

Google Drive Connections

Sheet Best lets you connect entire Google Drive folders as API sources. If you manage multiple spreadsheets — one per client, one per month, one per department — you can serve them all through a single connection instead of creating individual API endpoints.

File Upload

Sheet Best supports direct CSV and Excel file uploads. You do not need to import data into Google Sheets first. This is useful when your data pipeline involves exports from other systems, accounting tools, or databases that output CSV or Excel formats.

Google Workspace Add-on

Sheet Best offers a Google Workspace Add-on that lets you manage connections directly within Google Sheets. You can create, configure, and monitor your API endpoints without leaving the spreadsheet interface.

Access Controls

Sheet Best’s Professional plan includes domain whitelisting, IP whitelisting, HTTP method restrictions, and custom CORS settings. These controls let you lock your API to specific servers and clients. SheetDB offers API key authentication on its Pro plan but does not provide the same granularity.

Want to test these features on your own data? Start a free trial — no credit card, full access, 60 seconds to your first endpoint.

Features: Where SheetDB Wins

Free Tier

SheetDB offers a free plan with 500 requests per month and 2 API connections. Sheet Best provides a 30-day free trial instead. If you need a permanent free option for a low-traffic project, SheetDB has that covered.

We offer a trial rather than a free tier so we can focus resources on reliability and support for paying customers. That is a deliberate tradeoff, and it is worth being upfront about.

Official SDKs

SheetDB provides official SDKs for PHP and Node.js. These give developers ready-made client libraries with typed methods for common operations. Sheet Best does not have official SDKs yet — you work directly with the REST API using fetch, axios, or any HTTP client.

For developers who prefer a library over raw HTTP calls, SheetDB’s SDKs reduce setup friction. That said, Sheet Best’s REST API is straightforward enough that most developers integrate it with a few lines of code.

WordPress Integration

SheetDB has a dedicated WordPress plugin. If your site runs on WordPress and you want to pull spreadsheet data into pages or posts without custom code, SheetDB makes that easier. Sheet Best offers a JavaScript template library that works on any website, including WordPress, but it requires more manual setup.

Batch Operations

SheetDB supports batch create and update operations on its Basic plan and above. You can insert or modify multiple rows in a single API call. Sheet Best handles operations row by row. For bulk data updates, SheetDB’s batch support is a genuine advantage.

No-Code Handlebars Widget

SheetDB provides a Handlebars-based HTML template widget that lets non-developers display spreadsheet data on a webpage without writing JavaScript. Sheet Best’s template library requires basic JavaScript knowledge.

Developer Experience

Both tools follow REST conventions and return JSON. Here is what the day-to-day experience looks like:

Sheet Best:

• Paste a Google Sheet URL, get an API endpoint
• Standard REST operations (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE)
• Query parameters for search, filter, pagination, and advanced queries
• Built-in analytics dashboard showing request history and patterns
• Custom cache TTL for performance tuning

SheetDB:

• Similar setup flow — connect a sheet, get an endpoint
• Standard REST operations with batch support
• SDKs for PHP and Node.js
• Handlebars template for no-code display
• API key authentication on Pro plans

Both are quick to set up. Sheet Best provides more built-in tooling (analytics, caching, access controls). SheetDB provides more developer convenience features (SDKs, WordPress plugin, batch operations).

Use Case Recommendations

Choose SheetDB if:

• You need a permanent free tier for a low-traffic project
• Your stack is PHP or Node.js and you prefer using an official SDK
• You are building on WordPress and want a native plugin
• You need batch operations for bulk data updates
• Simplicity at small scale is your priority

Choose Sheet Best if:

• You need advanced queries (aggregation, pivot, info) from your API
• Request economics matter — your project makes thousands or tens of thousands of calls per month
• You need production-grade access controls (domain/IP whitelisting, method restrictions)
• You are working with Google Drive folders or uploading CSV/Excel files
• You want built-in analytics to monitor API usage
• Reliability is critical — Sheet Best has a 4.8/5 rating and customers report “few errors in years”

The Verdict

SheetDB is a good fit for quick-start projects, especially if you value SDKs, WordPress support, and a free tier for experimenting. For small-scale use and developer convenience, it gets the job done.

Sheet Best is the better choice when you need advanced features and better economics at scale. The 5-10x cost advantage per request, combined with aggregation queries, Drive connections, file uploads, and granular access controls, makes it the stronger tool for production applications and growing projects.

Customers rate Sheet Best 4.8 out of 5. Organizations like Uber Eats, Decathlon, and Cornell University use it for production workloads. One customer who tested 10 competing services called Sheet Best one of only two that worked without issues.

Start a free trial — no credit card required. Connect your Google Sheet and get a working API in 60 seconds.