Guide
A spreadsheet can be a solid client record. This guide helps you compare it with Coach Journal using your own workflow.
A spreadsheet works well when you want a flexible, custom record and are happy to maintain its formulas and fields. Coach Journal packages session, package, and renewal records into a phone app. Neither is inherently more accurate: choose the one you can keep current in your own workflow.
Written by Sardorbek Rakhimov, founder and developer of Coach Journal
Both can support a reliable client record. The difference is whether you prefer to design and maintain a workbook or use a packaged coaching workflow.
Based on published product information on 20 September 2026; this is not a timed performance test.
Swipe horizontally to compare both columns.
| Workflow | Google Sheets or Excel | Coach Journal |
|---|---|---|
| Updates on mobile | Google Sheets and Excel are available on mobile, so you can update a workbook away from a desk. | Sessions and client records are kept in the Coach Journal mobile app. |
| Packages and renewals | You choose the fields and formulas, then maintain package balances and renewal records yourself. | Session, package, and renewal records are part of the product workflow. |
| Getting started | Keep your existing workbook and history, or start with a template and add the fields you need. | For a small trial, add clients and current package balances manually. Keep the spreadsheet for older history. |
| Custom fields and workflow | You can shape the workbook around your own fields, formulas, and process. | You work within the app's client, session, package, and renewal structure. |
| Scale and records to share | Your workbook is yours to organise and share in the formats your spreadsheet supports. | The free tier suits a small roster. Premium adds unlimited trainees and workspaces, plus PDF and CSV exports. |
Sources: Coach Journal on the App Store; Google Docs Help: work on files offline; Microsoft Support: can I work offline?
List contacts, sessions completed, package balances, renewal dates, payments, and notes. If you need only a few fields and want to define them yourself, a spreadsheet may be enough. The comparison becomes useful when you want a more structured way to handle packages and renewals.
The useful threshold is operational, not a client count. If maintaining formulas, package balances, or renewal records takes more attention than you want to give it, a packaged workflow may fit better — even with a small roster.
Look at your actual routine. Spreadsheets can be updated on mobile, and mobile apps can be convenient between sessions. What matters is where you tend to miss updates, correct balances, or lose track of a renewal.
Log the time you spend updating records, checking package balances, and correcting entries for one normal week. Use your own totals as a baseline for comparing tools.
Try a small sample of clients. Add them and their current balances to Coach Journal manually, and keep older records in the spreadsheet. For the same sessions, compare opening and closing package balances and the number of corrections. Time each tool separately so the extra work of keeping two records does not distort the comparison.
For a consistent record to use during the trial, start with the free coaching session log template.
Coach Journal keeps client, session, package, and renewal records in one mobile workflow. It can suit coaches who prefer that structure to maintaining their own workbook.
A client profile brings together contact details, notes, session history, package status, and payment records. A spreadsheet can hold the same information when you set up and maintain the fields yourself.
Coach Journal is free for a small roster. Premium adds unlimited trainees and workspaces, plus PDF and CSV exports. To try it alongside a spreadsheet, add clients and current balances manually, then keep older records in your spreadsheet.
Yes, especially when you value custom fields and are willing to maintain the workbook. It can also be used on mobile and offline when the file is prepared for offline access. Review your own correction rate and time spent maintaining balances before changing tools.
A spreadsheet can be customised to record much of the same information. Coach Journal provides a ready-made workflow for clients, sessions, packages, and renewals, so you do not need to build and maintain that structure yourself.
Start by adding each client and their current package balance manually, then track new sessions in Coach Journal. Keep your spreadsheet as the record of older history. This is a manual setup process, not a CSV import workflow.
Coach Journal tracks clients, sessions, renewals, and payments so you do not have to. Free to start on iPhone and iPad.