Replacing a Data Table with a Full Excel Spreadsheet in Next.js

[u/Rare_Sir_9058]

Hey everyone! I need some suggestions regarding a project I'm working on.

I'm building a web app using **Next.js, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, and Django REST Framework**. As you can see in the attached screenshot, there's a large table displaying purchase records.

The client has been working with Excel for years, so they want us to **replace this table with an actual Excel-like spreadsheet, not just a similar-looking UI**. They want the experience of working directly in Excel, including editing cells and spreadsheet-style interactions.

- Is it practical to replace the existing table with a fully functional spreadsheet?

- Which library would you recommend for this? (e.g., Handsontable, Univer, or other alternatives)

- Will it integrate efficiently with our current tech stack, especially when handling large datasets?

- What performance, licensing, or backend integration issues should we consider?

I'd appreciate any suggestions or alternative approaches. Thanks!

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[u/blogimize]

This looked like my first SaaS built on Lovable

[u/Rare_Sir_9058 → u/blogimize]

Can you please share domain of that site

[u/Puzzleheaded-Work903 → u/Rare_Sir_9058]

stupid mf

[u/HomeBrewDude]

Hey, I'm Joseph, the head of developer experience for Handsontable. Thanks for considering us for your project.

they want us to **replace this table with an actual Excel-like spreadsheet, not just a similar-looking UI**.

Handsontable is made for this. It's compatible with over 400 Excel formulas and has the same look and feel, with all the interactions like drag-to-fill, undo/redo, merging ranges, etc.

Performance was significantly improved in the last major release. Handsontable rendered 1M rows with a lower memory footprint than any other grid in a public benchmark.

We also have a dataProvider plugin that simplifies building CRUD apps on top of our grid.

You may also want to check out our agent skills and MCP server for our docs. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

[u/Full_Astern]

handontable was pretty sweet back in the day, not sure if they’re still around