Cassava
Opens a 500MB CSV file instantly and lets you filter, sort, and run SQL queries on it like a database — without the multi-minute freeze that happens when you try the same file in Excel or Google Sheets.
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Description
CSV files are simple in theory, but the tools for working with them are stuck between two bad options: full office spreadsheets that choke on large files and add formatting bloat you don't need, or a plain text editor that can't sort, filter, or do math. Cassava is built specifically for the space in between — a native desktop app that treats CSV, TSV, XLS, XLSX, and ODS files as fast, structured data rather than documents.
It supports inline expression solving and SQL querying across multiple open files at once, plus the transformations data people actually reach for: search, filter, sort, deduplication, text manipulation, charts, pivot tables, and statistical aggregates (MIN, MAX, SUM, AVG, MEDIAN, percentiles, standard deviation). Because it's a native app rather than a web spreadsheet, large files stay responsive instead of locking up the browser tab.
💬 Our review
The short version: if your day involves opening, cleaning, and querying CSV/Excel files that make Google Sheets crawl, Cassava is a free download that stays fast at sizes where cloud spreadsheets start to choke — with an optional paid beta tier for more.
Compared to Excel or Google Sheets, Cassava trades general-purpose office features (formatting, collaboration, presentation) for raw speed and SQL-style querying on tabular data specifically — it's a tool for people who need to look at and manipulate data, not build a shareable report. That focus is the whole value proposition: if you need real-time multi-user collaboration on a spreadsheet, this isn't that tool; if you need to deduplicate and query a half-gig CSV without your machine grinding to a halt, it's built exactly for that.
💰 Pricing
📊 Global score
🤖 AI-enriched data
Téléchargement gratuit · licence bêta payante en option
Pros
Reste fluide sur de gros fichiers là où Excel/Sheets ralentissent
Requêtes SQL et multi-fichiers intégrées
Transformations rapides : filtre, tri, dédoublonnage, texte
Graphiques, pivots et agrégats statistiques natifs
Cons
Pas d'outils de mise en forme/présentation façon suite bureautique
Pas de collaboration temps réel multi-utilisateur
App desktop native — pas de version web