Module @sheetxl/sdk

SDK

A vectorized, columnar, scriptable, embeddable spreadsheet.

A high-performance, embeddable spreadsheet engine designed for building data-driven applications and integrating spreadsheet functionality into existing systems. It handles even extremely large and sparse datasets, while providing a powerful calculation engine and a flexible API. As part of the SheetXL eco system, it seamlessly integrates with ready-to-use UI components and data import/export tools.

Learn more about SheetXL.

Feature	Excel API (JS/Python)	Google Sheets API	pandas	DuckDB	Jupyter Notebooks	NumPy	Sigma Computing	SheetXL 🚀
Spreadsheet-Like?	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	❌ No UI (table-based)	❌ No UI	❌ No real spreadsheet UI	❌ No UI, array-based	❌ No true spreadsheet UI	✅ Yes (Excel-like UI)
Vectorized Operations?	❌ Mostly scalar	❌ Mostly scalar	✅ Fully vectorized	✅ Columnar, vectorized	✅ Can use pandas/NumPy	✅ Fully vectorized	❌ SQL-based (not vectorized)	✅ Fully vectorized, columnar
Embeddable?	❌ Not easily embeddable	✅ Web-based	❌ Not embeddable	✅ Can be embedded	❌ Not embeddable	❌ Not a spreadsheet	✅ Cloud-based	✅ Fully embeddable
Data Science Capabilities?	⚠️ Limited (Python only)	❌ No real data science	✅ Strong data science	✅ SQL-based analytics	✅ Python data science	✅ Scientific computing	✅ BI analytics	✅ Python & JS scripting

Advantages

The “Handoff Tax” → IT departments rewrite spreadsheets into web apps, but they lack true spreadsheet functionality. SheetXL removes this tax.
Excel’s API is scalar → Most spreadsheet APIs are slow because they weren’t built for large-scale, vectorized calculations.
BI tools don’t let you “program” the UI → Sigma, Looker, Tableau work for dashboards, but aren’t true programmable spreadsheets.
NumPy is fast, but has no spreadsheet UI → SheetXL gives NumPy performance inside a familiar spreadsheet.
Embeddability is a game-changer → Unlike Excel/Google Sheets, SheetXL is built for web apps, with seamless integration.