Whether used to analysed your monthly spending or put together a business plan, there are countless uses for a spreadsheet, both at home and in the office. Microsoft Excel is by far the most well-known, but there are a growing number of free alternatives that are gaining a following, and one such tool is Kingsoft Spreadsheets Free 2012.

With support for a wide range of popular functions, the program can be used to devise all manner of complicated formulae to deal with any type of figures you may want to throw at it. If you are working with sensitive data, it is possible to encrypt and password protect your files to prevent unauthorised access.

If you are already familiar with Microsoft Excel, you will not only find that most of the tools and functions you have become used to are here, but also that the application interface on the whole is instantly accessible. The shallow learning curved along with the non-existent price tag and low system requirements mean that this is ideal software for an individual or business on a budget.

Kingsoft Spreadsheets Free 2012 is available as a standalone program, or as part of the Kingsoft office suite that also includes a word processor and presentation tool. The program is capable of opening and saving files in Excel’s own document format, but there is also the option of using its own native format instead.