---
title: How does Calira compare to spreadsheets and shared calendars?
description: Spreadsheets and shared calendars break down as labs grow. Here's what Calira does differently and when it makes sense to switch.
---
[Skip to content](https://help.calira.co/how-does-calira-compare-to-spreadsheets-and-shared-calendars#main-content)
[](https://calira.co/)
Open main navigation
Close main navigation
- [Contact us](https://calira.co/contact)
[Contact us](https://calira.co/contact)
How can we help you?
- There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.
1. [Calira help centre | Guides and support](https://help.calira.co/?hsLang=en)
2. [About Calira](https://help.calira.co/about-calira?hsLang=en)
# How does Calira compare to spreadsheets and shared calendars?
Most labs start with a shared spreadsheet or Outlook calendar to [manage equipment bookings](https://calira.co/product/booking). It might work fine at first... until it doesn’t.
### Where spreadsheets and calendars break down
- **No** [**booking conflict prevention**](https://calira.co/solutions/booking-conflicts)**.** Two people can book the same instrument at the same time without either knowing.
- **No access control.** Anyone can edit anything. There’s no way to restrict who books what, or enforce training requirements.
- **No** [**utilisation tracking**](https://calira.co/solutions/utilisation) **or usage data.** You can’t report on utilisation, identify underused equipment, or justify CapEx decisions.
- **No maintenance tracking.** Service history, contract expiry dates, and preventative maintenance live somewhere else, or nowhere.
- **No ability to scale.** A shared calendar with 50+ instruments and 100+ users becomes unmanageable.
### What Calira adds
- A live [booking calendar](https://calira.co/product/booking) with real-time availability and conflict prevention.
- [Role-based access control](https://calira.co/product/users), training enforcement, and approval workflows.
- [Structured usage data](https://calira.co/product/data) you can filter by user, equipment, project, or funding code.
- [Maintenance scheduling](https://calira.co/product/maintenance) with service history and contract expiry alerts.
- [A searchable equipment directory](https://calira.co/product/manage-equipment) with attached SOPs, documents, and metadata.
- [Automated booking reminders](https://calira.co/product/notifications) so users and admins don’t miss upcoming sessions.
- [Integrations](https://calira.co/integrations) with ELNs, calendars, and IoT sensors.
### When to switch
If you have more than a handful of shared instruments, more than one person managing bookings, or any need to report on equipment usage, you’ve likely outgrown the spreadsheet or shared calendar combination. Calira is designed to be the next step without requiring an enterprise IT project to get started.
[Book a demo](https://calira.co/demo) to see how it works for labs like yours.
- [About Calira](https://help.calira.co/about-calira?hsLang=en)
- [Account](https://help.calira.co/account?hsLang=en)
- [Announcements](https://help.calira.co/announcements?hsLang=en)
- [Bookings](https://help.calira.co/bookings?hsLang=en)
- [Custom Forms](https://help.calira.co/custom-forms?hsLang=en)
- [Data and Safety](https://help.calira.co/data-and-safety?hsLang=en)
- [Equipment](https://help.calira.co/equipment?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Creating Equipment](https://help.calira.co/equipment?hsLang=en#creating-equipment)
- [Charging For Equipment](https://help.calira.co/equipment?hsLang=en#charging-for-equipment)
- [Equipment Booking Rules](https://help.calira.co/equipment?hsLang=en#equipment-booking-rules)
- [Integrations](https://help.calira.co/integrations?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Calira API](https://help.calira.co/integrations?hsLang=en#calira-api)
- [Benchling Integration](https://help.calira.co/integrations?hsLang=en#benchling-integration)
- [External Calendars](https://help.calira.co/integrations?hsLang=en#external-calendars)
- [LabTrack Integration](https://help.calira.co/integrations?hsLang=en#labtrack-integration)
- [Single Sign-On (SSO)](https://help.calira.co/integrations?hsLang=en#single-sign-on-sso)
- [Asset Monitoring Integrations](https://help.calira.co/integrations?hsLang=en#asset-monitoring-integrations)
- [Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELN's)](https://help.calira.co/integrations?hsLang=en#electronic-lab-notebooks-elns)
- [Maintenance](https://help.calira.co/maintenance?hsLang=en)
- [Projects](https://help.calira.co/projects?hsLang=en)
- [Reports](https://help.calira.co/reports?hsLang=en)
- [Subscriptions & Billing](https://help.calira.co/subscriptions-billing?hsLang=en)
- [System Information](https://help.calira.co/system-information?hsLang=en)
- [Troubleshooting](https://help.calira.co/troubleshooting?hsLang=en)
- [Users](https://help.calira.co/users?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Inviting New Users](https://help.calira.co/users?hsLang=en#inviting-new-users)
- [User Training](https://help.calira.co/users?hsLang=en#user-training)
- [Assigning Equipment to a User](https://help.calira.co/users?hsLang=en#assigning-equipment-to-a-user)
- [Workflows](https://help.calira.co/workflows?hsLang=en)
[.svg "Chill listening crop-3")](https://calira.co/)
Clustermarket Ltd (trading as Calira) is a company registered in England and Wales (No.09485659). Registered office: 34 Lime Street, London, EC3M 7AT, United Kingdom.
[mailto:support@calira.co](mailto:support@calira.co)
Copyright © 2026, Calira
```json
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@id" : "https://calira.co/#organization",
"@type" : "Organization",
"logo" : "https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/68824ff75537b66dd8766992/69f9f2bbb669ebffba10349e_calira-logo.png",
"name" : "Calira",
"sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/calira/", "https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/calira" ],
"url" : "https://calira.co"
}
```
```json
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@id" : "https://help.calira.co/#website",
"@type" : "WebSite",
"inLanguage" : "en-GB",
"name" : "Calira help centre",
"publisher" : {
"@id" : "https://calira.co/#organization"
},
"url" : "https://help.calira.co"
}
```
```json
{
"@context" : "https://schema.org",
"@type" : "TechArticle",
"about" : {
"@id" : "https://calira.co/#software"
},
"author" : {
"@id" : "https://calira.co/#organization"
},
"dateModified" : "2026-04-30T17:16:41+00:00",
"datePublished" : "",
"description" : "Spreadsheets and shared calendars break down as labs grow. Here's what Calira does differently and when it makes sense to switch.",
"headline" : "How does Calira compare to spreadsheets and shared calendars?",
"inLanguage" : "en-GB",
"isPartOf" : {
"@id" : "https://help.calira.co/#website"
},
"mainEntityOfPage" : "https://help.calira.co/how-does-calira-compare-to-spreadsheets-and-shared-calendars",
"publisher" : {
"@id" : "https://calira.co/#organization"
},
"url" : "https://help.calira.co/how-does-calira-compare-to-spreadsheets-and-shared-calendars"
}
```