Proton Rolls Out Encrypted Sheets To Compete With Google And Excel

Privacy-focused email provider Proton has announced its own spreadsheet editor, which is integrated with Proton Drive and takes on mainstream offerings like Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Unlike old-school cloud spreadsheets that anchor on server-side control, Proton Sheets is end-to-end encrypted by default — designed to take collaborative number-crunching out of the hands of teams who cannot afford to blur what goes where.

What Is Proton Sheets and How Does It Work Securely

Proton Sheets works just as you’d expect from a typical web-based spreadsheet — with formulas, charts, and simultaneous editing — but every cell, comment, or collaborator action is secured using encryption keys stored on user devices.

The company also claims it cannot see anything — not even filenames and metadata — leaving the content of your work hidden from Proton’s servers.

The rollout is slow, and it will become available via the New menu in Proton Drive as it becomes accessible to accounts. It supports the import of CSV and XLS files from the very first, as well as sharing and editing in real time on all devices. Proton says Sheets is free for everyone with a Proton Drive account.

Why End-to-End Encryption Matters for Proton Sheets

Most cloud office suites secure documents at rest and in transit, but they can still process content on their servers for features, compliance, or AI. Proton’s method, which is consistent with what it does in its Mail, Calendar, and Drive — encrypts the data such that only an authorized party has keys to unlock it. That cuts off server-side visibility as the norm and minimizes the possibility of inadvertent access by staff, third-party tools, or attackers sniffing around cloud infrastructure.

Security analysts point out that some of the most sensitive work data is often kept in spreadsheets: budgets, donor lists, customer names, and research findings. IBM’s longstanding Cost of a Data Breach report estimates that the average global breach falls somewhere in the multimillion-dollar range, and spreadsheets are a frequent site of accidental exposure. E2EE goes straight after that risk surface; it removes the platform provider from the trust metric.

Collaboration Without Compromise in Proton Sheets

Historically, the industry challenge has been combining strong encryption and fluid collaboration. Sheets, Proton notes, supports real-time co-authoring and shares keys on the client side. In practice, this means that several different editors can observe changes in real time and resolve conflicts, while the service itself is used only to route encrypted data. Think of the normal spreadsheet conveniences — functions, formatting features, charts — without giving a vendor simple text access.

Compatibility is a pragmatic highlight. Many teams exist in mixed environments, and the ability to import existing XLS or CSV files narrows the switching cost. If your company uses certain macros or deeper pivot features, you’ll want to test those workflows out, but for everyday budgeting, tracking, and analysis, it seems covered.

How Proton Sheets Stacks Up Against Office Incumbents

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 have been adding privacy features, such as optional client-side encryption for certain tiers and kinds of data. Such features are often associated with enterprise administration, key management, and the resulting trade-offs between live collaboration and smart features. Proton’s pitch is more straightforward: Sheets is encrypted by default for all users, with collaboration that still functions and no need for add-ons.

For organizations with concerns about data residency and compliance, the ability to thwart providers looking at document content could help them prove regulatory alignment under standards such as GDPR or sector-specific rules. Tooling that defaults to secrecy — rather than just convenience — has been something civil society organizations and investigative newsrooms, often cited by Proton as it defends its actions here, have long clamored for.

Who Should Care About Proton’s Encrypted Spreadsheet

It’s easy to see that small businesses tracking payroll, NGOs managing field-survey lists, and journalists coordinating embargoed research will all be close beneficiaries. Take a health nonprofit gathering de-identified results from, say, jurisdictions with strict data controls — having its spreadsheets encrypted end-to-end lowers exposure if accounts are hacked and if a cloud provider is subpoenaed for content it cannot read.

It’s a fit, too, for companies that are skittish about the risks of AI training. Although leading vendors have said they do not use enterprise content for advertising and provide protections around training, the indistinctness of AI development trends has propelled some organizations to providers whose architecture prevents such a thing rather than making it automatically impossible.

Caveats and Early Questions for Potential Adopters

Even for a new productivity app, feature parity is important. Power users should check out advanced functions, rules for data validation, pivot capabilities, and integration hooks. Admins will want to know about audit logs, retention policies, and key recovery in the event of a lost device. Proton has a history of relying on independent security audits and publishing technical details for its services — similar transparency for Sheets will be key for enterprise customers.

Migration is another consideration. Importing old files has its uses, but long-term success could depend on APIs and interoperability with existing data pipes. If you rely on scripting or use BI dashboards, see if Proton’s roadmap includes connectors and access programmatically.

Availability and Pricing for Proton Sheets in Drive

Proton Sheets is becoming available now in Proton Drive and will cost nothing extra for existing users as it lands within their accounts. You’ll find it under the New button within Drive. As Proton grows its suite of workspace tools — like Proton Docs — the company is banking that privacy-by-design can be a mainline feature, not an alien add-on.