Word Tracking: Spreadsheets vs Dedicated Tools

Published August 28, 2025

I spent three months tracking my writing in Excel before I built Authorlytica. Excel wasn't bad. It was actually pretty good. But eventually, I realized I was spending more time maintaining the spreadsheet than writing.

Why Excel Is Actually Great

Let me start by saying: Excel is a completely legitimate way to track your word count. It's free (or cheap if you have Office 365), infinitely customizable, and incredibly powerful if you know what you're doing.

When I first started tracking, I loved building my spreadsheet. I made columns for date, daily words, total words, cumulative count, running average, days left until my deadline. I color-coded cells. I wrote conditional formatting rules. I built a chart that updated automatically when I added new rows.

For a while, it felt great. I had complete control over my data. I could customize everything. I could export it, back it up, and own it forever. That sense of ownership is powerful, and it's a completely valid reason to prefer Excel.

Where Excel Started to Hurt

The cracks appeared slowly. Here's what happened to me:

• I'd forget to update it. I'd write 1,200 words on Tuesday, then forget to log it. By Friday, I'd have no idea what my word counts were for the past three days.
• My formulas would break. I'd add a new row in the wrong place and suddenly my running total was off by 4,000 words. Fixing it meant hunting through cell references.
• Charts became a chore. Every time I wanted to see my progress visually, I had to manually adjust the chart range or recreate it entirely.
• Mobile was painful. I could technically open the spreadsheet on my phone, but editing cells on a 5-inch screen was frustrating enough that I just... stopped.

None of these problems are Excel's fault. Excel is designed for data analysis, not for motivating writers. I was using it for something it wasn't built to do, and the friction was starting to show.

What I Wanted Instead

After three years of spreadsheet friction, I sat down and made a list of what I actually needed from a word tracker:

Instant logging

I wanted to type "1,200" and hit Enter. No thinking about which cell to update, no scrolling to find today's row. Just log the number and get back to writing.

Automatic charts

I wanted to see my progress immediately (daily words, total count, trends over time) without having to build or maintain anything. The visualization should just exist.

Mobile that actually works

I needed something I could update from my phone without squinting at tiny cells or accidentally tapping the wrong row. Writing happens everywhere, and tracking should too.

Streak tracking

Excel can technically track streaks if you write the right formulas, but it's not designed for it. I wanted to see "14 days in a row" right at the top of the page, because that number matters more to my motivation than my total word count does.

Less maintenance, more writing

I was spending 10 minutes a week fixing broken formulas and adjusting chart ranges. That time should have been spent writing.

So I built Authorlytica. It does all of those things, and nothing else. It's not as powerful as Excel (it can't do pivot tables or conditional formatting or custom formulas) but it doesn't need to be. It just needs to make tracking frictionless.

Comparison: Excel vs Authorlytica

When to Stick With Excel

Excel is genuinely the better choice if:

• You love building systems. If creating and maintaining spreadsheets is satisfying for you, don't switch. That satisfaction is valuable.
• You need custom tracking. Maybe you track words per scene, or words by POV character, or writing time alongside word count. Excel can do all of that. Authorlytica can't.
• You want complete data ownership. With Excel, your data lives in a file you control. With Authorlytica, it's on my server. That's a real tradeoff.
• You're already consistent. If your Excel workflow is working and you're actually using it, there's no reason to change.

When to Consider a Dedicated Tracker

A purpose-built tool might be worth trying if:

• You've tried Excel tracking before and stopped because it felt like too much work
• You want something that works seamlessly on mobile
• You don't want to spend time building or maintaining tracking systems
• You value motivation features like streaks and progress charts

The honest answer is: use whatever you'll actually keep using. If Excel works for you, great. If it's creating friction, try something simpler. The goal is to track your progress, not to fight with your tools.

Trying Authorlytica

Authorlytica is free during beta. If you're curious, you can set up an account and see if it feels like less friction than your current spreadsheet. You can always go back to Excel. Your data is yours to export anytime.