Swiss company Proton is further expanding its productivity suite. In addition to an email service, calendar, VPN, password manager, and drive, Proton Sheets is now available. It is an alternative to Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, an increasingly important advantage as countries take sovereignty more seriously.
Companies use spreadsheets for everything from budget planning to inventory management and organizing sensitive information. Proton warns organizations that tools such as Excel and Google Sheets expose company data to tracking and AI training. That concern only increased after Google integrated Gemini into Sheets. These concerns remain, as Google states that it does not simply use Workspace data to train generative AI. Nevertheless, access to business apps is at stake if a dispute between Europe and the US ever leads to measures being taken.
Proton Sheets, on the other hand, automatically encrypts everything, including metadata such as file names. No one, not even Proton, can access the spreadsheets or the information they contain. The interface is instantly recognizable to users, allowing teams to get started without retraining.
Data sovereignty at the core
“With the launch of Proton Sheets, we are not just closing the productivity gap – we are reclaiming data sovereignty for businesses and individuals alike,” said Anant Vijay Singh, Head of Product at Proton Drive. “The reality today is that most spreadsheet tools come from Big Tech giants whose entire business models are built on exploiting user data. Now, with AI woven deeply into these platforms, the risks have escalated exponentially.”
“Every keystroke, every formula you enter can feed into their AI training pipelines. This is an unacceptable trade-off,” Singh stated. “Users deserve a future free from hidden surveillance and invasive data mining. That’s why we built Proton Sheets: a robust, privacy-first alternative that puts control, security, and trust back where they belong – firmly in users hands.”
Full-fledged productivity platform
With Proton Sheets, Proton Drive now becomes a true alternative to Google Drive. Users get the same collaborative tools with privacy built in by default. The solution supports data visualization with charts, commonly used formulas, and real-time collaboration.
Teams can access spreadsheets on any device. Access management allows users to determine exactly who can view or edit files, with the ability to revoke access at any time. Existing CSV or XLS files can be quickly imported and protected with end-to-end encryption.
Switzerland, home to Proton, recently decided to ban US cloud services for the public sector. It is a small leap to imagine that a complete productivity suite will be purchased from European players, or perhaps even from Proton. Proton, founded in 2014 at CERN in Switzerland, now protects more than 100 million accounts worldwide. The company develops all its products on an open-source basis.