Comparison
Museumica vs spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are where nearly every collection starts, and they work until the collection outgrows them. Museumica keeps the structure a catalogue needs — per-category scientific fields, photos, storage locations, labels and provenance — in one place, with a free plan so the cost stays the same.
Written by the Museumica team · Last updated: 22 September 2026
Side-by-side comparison
| Aspect | Museumica | Spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets) |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free Hobby plan; paid plans for larger collections. | Free or bundled with an office suite. |
| Specimen fields | Purpose-built fields per category, including Mohs hardness, geological period, locality and accession number. | Whatever columns you invent, with no validation. |
| Photos | Multiple images attached to each specimen record, with captions. | Stored in separate folders; links break when files move. |
| Storage locations | Rooms, cabinets, drawers, boxes and positions, with drag-and-drop reassignment. | A free-text column at best. |
| Labels | Museum-quality label templates, batch printing and QR codes. | Manual mail-merge, re-built every time. |
| Search | Filtered and semantic search across the whole collection. | Text matching within the open sheet. |
| Public sharing | A public museum page at museumica.com/your-name, with private fields hidden. | Share the whole file, private valuations included. |
| Data standards | CSV, PDF catalogue and Darwin Core export. | CSV or XLSX only. |
| Multi-user | Role-based access with an activity log. | Shared file with overwrite conflicts. |
| Data safety | Hosted database with automated backups in the EU. | Depends entirely on your own backup habits. |
| Learning curve | Guided forms; import your existing sheet to start. | Familiar, but every collector reinvents the structure. |
Frequently asked
- Is a spreadsheet good enough for a small collection?
- Yes, for a few dozen specimens a spreadsheet is workable. The trouble starts around a few hundred records, when photos, provenance notes and storage locations no longer fit in cells and reporting becomes unreliable.
- Can I move my spreadsheet into Museumica?
- Yes. Museumica imports CSV and XLSX files and maps common columns such as title, species, locality, hardness and weight onto its own fields, so you keep the work you have already done.
- Will I lose control of my data?
- No. You can export everything at any time as CSV, a PDF catalogue or Darwin Core, which is the biodiversity data standard used by museums.
- What does Museumica cost compared with a spreadsheet?
- The Hobby plan is free, so for personal collections the cost is the same as a spreadsheet. Paid plans exist for larger collections and institutions.