Attendance Tracker: Google Sheets & Excel Templates vs. a Dedicated Tool

Whether you run a sports club, teach a fitness class, or organise community meetups, tracking who shows up matters. Most people start with what they already know: a Google Sheets attendance tracker or an Excel attendance tracker template. Spreadsheets are free, flexible, and familiar. But as your group grows, the cracks start to show.

This guide covers why spreadsheets are a popular starting point, where they fall short, and when it makes sense to switch to a dedicated attendance tracker.

Why people use spreadsheets for attendance tracking

It makes sense. You already have a Google account or Microsoft 365 subscription. You open a new sheet, type names down column A, dates across row 1, and start marking attendance. An employee attendance tracker in Excel or a simple Google Sheets attendance tracker can be set up in under five minutes.

Common reasons people reach for spreadsheets:

• Zero cost — Google Sheets is free, and most people already have Excel
• Familiar interface — no learning curve if you already use spreadsheets at work
• Fully customisable — add columns for notes, payment status, or anything else
• Formulas and charts — calculate attendance rates, create pivot tables, build dashboards

For a one-off event or a very small group, a spreadsheet genuinely works fine. The problems appear when things need to happen in real time, across multiple people, on mobile.

Limitations of the spreadsheet approach

As soon as you move beyond a static list that only you edit, spreadsheets create friction:

1. Manual updates

Someone tells you they’re coming via WhatsApp. You open the sheet, find the right row, mark them as attending. Repeat for every person, every event. With an attendance tracker Google Sheets setup, you become the bottleneck—no one else can mark themselves in.

2. No real-time visibility

Your group wants to know: “How many spots are left?” With a spreadsheet, the answer is always “let me check.” There’s no live count. People can’t see the current state without you sharing it manually.

3. Sharing is awkward

You can share a Google Sheet link, but then everyone can edit everything. You can lock cells, but that requires more setup. Most Excel attendance tracker templates aren’t designed for multi-user access at all.

4. Poor mobile experience

Try editing a spreadsheet on your phone in a group chat. Pinch to zoom, find the right cell, tap to edit, type, save. People give up. An employee attendance tracker template built for desktop doesn’t translate to a phone screen.

5. No notifications

Spreadsheets don’t tell you when someone signs up or drops out. You have to keep checking. For recurring events, this adds up to a surprising amount of admin work every week.

Free attendance tracker templates

If you want to stick with spreadsheets, a well-structured template saves time. Here’s a basic attendance tracker template layout you can recreate in Google Sheets or Excel:

Tips for your spreadsheet template:

• Use data validation to restrict cells to “Y” or “N” (prevents typos)
• Add a COUNTIF formula at the bottom to total attendance per session
• Colour-code with conditional formatting: green for present, red for absent
• Create a separate tab for each month or term to keep things manageable
• Lock the header row and name column so they stay visible when scrolling

This works for basic tracking. But you’re still doing the data entry yourself, and attendees can’t self-serve.

When to upgrade to a dedicated tool

A spreadsheet stops being the right tool when:

• You run recurring events — weekly football, monthly meetups, regular classes. Managing a new sheet or row each time creates admin overhead.
• People need to sign up themselves — instead of you manually adding them after a message in the group chat.
• You need a live headcount — how many spots are left, who’s on the waitlist, who just dropped out.
• You share via group chat — a link that opens on mobile and works with one tap beats a spreadsheet every time.
• You want notifications — know instantly when someone signs up or cancels, without checking the sheet.

If you recognise two or more of these, a purpose-built attendance tracker will save you time every single week.

How Yupit simplifies attendance tracking

Yupit is a free attendance tracker built for exactly this problem. Instead of managing a spreadsheet, you create an event, share a link, and people sign up themselves.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create an event — add a title, date, location, and set a spots limit. Done in 30 seconds.
2. Share the link — drop it in your WhatsApp group, Telegram chat, email, or anywhere else. The link preview shows all the details.
3. People sign up with one tap — no app to install, no account required. They tap the link, hit sign up, done. You see the updated attendee list in real time.

If your event fills up, latecomers automatically join a waitlist and get promoted if a spot opens. You get email notifications for sign-ups so you always know where things stand—without opening a spreadsheet.

Spreadsheets vs. dedicated tools: the verdict

Spreadsheets are a great starting point. If you need a quick, one-off attendance log that only you update, an Excel attendance tracker or Google Sheets template does the job.

But if you want people to sign up themselves, see live availability, and manage attendance from their phone, a dedicated tool removes the friction that spreadsheets create. You spend less time on admin and more time on the event itself.