The status quo
Vendor Squeezer vs Spreadsheets and inbox search
Comparison last verified 2026-08-01. Facts about Spreadsheets and inbox search come from the public sources listed at the end of this page.
The short answer
Honestly: a spreadsheet is a fine way to start, and it is what most leaders use today. It is free, flexible, and needs no approval. If you have eight vendors and one owner, a well-kept sheet plus calendar reminders can work.
It fails in known, predictable ways. Nothing warns you inside a notice window, so auto-renewals fire silently. The sheet decays the day it is made, because nothing chases missing owners or stale numbers. Exit terms live in a PDF nobody reopens. And when the person who kept the sheet leaves, the knowledge leaves with them.
Vendor Squeezer keeps the parts you like, fast entry and full control, and fixes the failure modes: renewals ordered by action deadline, gaps surfaced as tasks instead of hiding as blank cells, and every contract answering when you can get out and what it costs. Starting is free, so the switching cost is roughly one paste.
Side by side
| Spreadsheets and inbox search | Vendor Squeezer | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Free while in early access. Viewers and the people who supply data will stay free |
| Renewal deadlines | A date in a cell. Nothing fires inside the notice window unless you built reminders by hand | A deadline list ordered by when action is still possible, with the notice window explicit |
| Exit terms | Buried in the contract PDF, if anyone recorded where it is | First class. Every contract answers: can I get out, by when, and what does it cost |
| Data freshness | Decays silently; blank cells and stale numbers look the same as good data | Gaps are shown as gaps and become tasks: missing owner, missing end date, unconfirmed in a year |
| When the owner leaves | The sheet, and what every row meant, leaves with them | A shared register with owners, provenance, and history that survives any one person |
| Getting data in | Retype everything | Yes. Add vendors by uploading a contract PDF, forwarding an email, or quick manual entry. No connectors required |
Choose Spreadsheets and inbox search if
- You have a handful of vendors, one person owns the list, and calendar reminders genuinely get set
- You need something entirely offline or under an IT policy that permits nothing else
Choose Vendor Squeezer if
- A renewal has ever auto-fired on you, or you have discovered a contract after its notice window closed
- More than one person needs to trust and update the list
- You want the register to stay true without someone spending Friday afternoons maintaining it
See it with your own vendors
Open a demo portfolio with realistic fictional data, or add your first vendor in minutes. Free while in early access. Prefer a heads-up instead? Leave your email.
Common questions
Can I import my existing vendor spreadsheet?
You can enter vendors quickly by hand today, and paste-based entry lands in a review queue where you confirm each record. Bring the sheet; do not retype your contracts, upload them.
Is a free spreadsheet template enough?
For a small, stable vendor list with a disciplined owner, maybe. The template does not solve the real failures: silent auto-renewals, unrecorded exit terms, and decay. Those are structural, not formatting problems.