A small business has three realistic options when spreadsheets stop working for suppliers, contracts and quotes. You can tidy the spreadsheets with proper templates and one owner. You can move to a general no-code database such as Airtable or Smartsheet and build your own tracker. Or you can use procurement software built for the job: oboloo is free forever with unlimited users and covers suppliers, contracts, quotes (RFQs) and savings in one place. The right choice depends on how many people touch the data and how often a missed renewal or a lost quote costs you money.
Full disclosure: oboloo is our product. We checked the Airtable and Smartsheet prices on their own sites on 27 October 2026.
Spreadsheets are fine for a short supplier list kept by one person. The trouble starts when:
If two or more of these sound familiar, it is time to change something. For the side-by-side case, see spreadsheets vs oboloo.
| Option | Free plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Better spreadsheets | You already have Excel or Google Sheets | Free templates | One person, a short supplier list, few contracts |
| Airtable | Yes, for individuals and very small teams (limits not stated on the pricing page) | Team $20 per user a month, billed annually | Teams happy to design and maintain their own database |
| Smartsheet | No (30-day free trial, no card) | Pro $9 per member a month billed yearly, or $12 billed monthly | Teams that already plan projects in a grid |
| oboloo | Yes, free forever, unlimited users, no card | Plus plans $10 to $28 per user a month, billed annually | Suppliers, contracts, quotes and savings without building anything |
If one person owns the data and you have fewer than about 20 active contracts, a well-built template may be enough. Use one sheet per job: a supplier list, a contract register with a notice date column, and a quote comparison sheet. Our free contract repository spreadsheet, vendor management spreadsheet and RFQ comparison spreadsheet give you the columns.
Where it falls short: no alerts, no audit trail, and suppliers still send quotes by email.
Airtable is a no-code database. Its pricing page lists a Free plan "for individual users, very small teams, or those with lightweight needs", Team at $20 per user a month and Business at $45 per user a month, both billed annually. Paid plans only charge for users with edit access, so read-only colleagues are not billed. You design the tables, links and automations yourself.
Where it falls short: you are building and maintaining a procurement system. There is no supplier portal for quotes, and every renewal alert or approval step is something you set up.
Smartsheet is a work management tool with a spreadsheet-style grid. It has no free plan, but offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card. Pro is $9 per member a month billed yearly ($12 billed monthly) for 1 to 10 members, and Business is $19 per member a month billed yearly ($24 billed monthly) for 3 or more members. The Pro plan is only available to new customers.
Where it falls short: like Airtable, it is a general tool. Supplier records, contract dates and quote comparisons are templates you adapt, not built-in features.
oboloo is free-forever procurement software for SMEs and charities. The free plan covers the four jobs most spreadsheets try to do:
Paid Plus plans add features such as storing contract documents (Contract Plus, $10 per user a month), weighted scoring (Sourcing Plus, $25) and supplier onboarding and compliance (Supplier Plus, $28), all billed annually with a 14-day free trial. Registered charities get 50% off paid plans, forever. More than 2,000 users use oboloo, and it connects to thousands of apps through Zapier.
Where it fits less well: oboloo does not do purchase orders, invoices or payments. If your spreadsheet tracks spend approvals or invoices, keep that in your accounting system. It also has fixed modules, so if you want to design every field and view yourself, a no-code database gives you more freedom.
For a small business, procurement software built for suppliers, contracts and quotes saves building your own system. oboloo is free forever with unlimited users. If you prefer to design your own database, Airtable and Smartsheet are general options. For more tools, see our free vendor management software comparison.
Yes, if you are happy to build and maintain the tables, links and automations yourself. Airtable has a free plan, and Team costs $20 per user a month, billed annually. It has no built-in supplier portal for quotes.
Yes. oboloo's free plan covers supplier management, contract management, sourcing (RFQs) and savings tracking, with unlimited users and no card. Storing contract documents needs the paid Contract Plus plan.
When more than one person edits the file, when you have missed a notice period, or when you cannot say quickly what renews in the next 90 days.
Only if your problem is approving spend and matching invoices. If the problem is supplier details, contract dates and comparing quotes, you need supplier and contract management, not purchase orders.
