Four export formats — CSV, Excel, Google Sheets, and PDF — each built for a different audience. Here is how each one works, what lands in the file, and which plans include which format.
A pricing model is only useful once it leaves the calculator — pasted into a distributor's template, dropped into a shared spreadsheet, or printed as a one-page sell sheet. Alculator exports the same underlying table four ways: CSV for anything, Excel for workbooks, Google Sheets for collaboration, and PDF for the meeting itself.
On the calculator, the toolbar has three export buttons — CSV, Excel, and Google Sheets; the brand editor in the app adds Export PDF. Every export needs an account: CSV is included on every plan including free, and the full set arrives with Pro. Each file carries all nineteen pricing columns, from FOB through landed cost to shelf price.
On the free calculator, the toolbar above the SKU table holds a three-button export group: CSV, Excel, and Google Sheets ↗. In the app's brand editor, the same actions live under a single Export button that opens a menu — Export CSV, Export Excel, Export Google Sheets, and Export PDF, which is exclusive to the app.
Two things happen before any file downloads. If the table is empty, you'll get a "Add some SKUs first" nudge — there is nothing to export. And if you're using the calculator anonymously, clicking any export button asks you to sign in: exporting is an account feature, though the account itself is free. Everything you've entered survives signing up — see Creating an Account.
CSV is the workhorse: plain comma-separated text that opens in Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets, an ERP import screen, or a Python script with equal indifference. Click CSV and the file downloads immediately — no library to load, no dialog — named after your brand, like MyBrand_alculator.csv.
Two details worth knowing. Every cell is quoted and escaped, so SKU names with commas or quotes survive the round trip. And any value that starts with a character spreadsheets treat as a formula is neutralized on the way out, so a creatively named SKU can't execute anything when the file is opened. It's the format to reach for when the destination is another system rather than another human.
The Excel button produces a native .xlsx workbook with a single sheet named Pricing — real typed cells, not a CSV wearing a costume, so numbers arrive as numbers and sort and sum correctly without a conversion step.
The very first Excel export in a session pauses briefly with a "Preparing Excel export…" toast: the spreadsheet library is large, so Alculator loads it on your first click rather than on every page view. Every export after that is instant. If the library fails to load — a flaky connection, an aggressive firewall — you'll be pointed to CSV export, which needs no library at all.
Google Sheets has no way for a website to hand it a file without asking you to connect your Google account — and Alculator deliberately doesn't ask. Instead, the Google Sheets ↗ button runs a two-step flow:
In the new sheet, choose File → Import, select the downloaded file, and Google converts it into a native spreadsheet. It's one more click than a direct hand-off, but nothing ever touches your Google account, and there is no OAuth permission screen to reason about. If the new tab doesn't appear, check your browser's popup blocker — the CSV itself always downloads regardless.
The PDF export — available in the app's brand editor — is the one designed for humans rather than spreadsheets. It lays out a landscape pricing sheet with the Alculator wordmark, your brand name, the market you're pricing for, the date, and your distributor and retailer margins across the top, followed by the full pricing table. It's the artifact you print for a line review or attach to an email when the recipient shouldn't have to open a spreadsheet to see your shelf price.
Like Excel, the PDF library loads on the first click, so expect a brief "Preparing PDF export…" pause the first time and instant exports after.
All four formats carry the same nineteen columns, one row per SKU — the complete three-tier story, not just the visible table:
The split cost columns matter more than they look: a distributor reviewing your file can see exactly how much of your landed cost is freight versus excise versus depletion allowance, instead of one opaque number. Where each input comes from on the page is covered in SKU Rows and Setting Margins.
Export access is per-format. CSV is included on every plan, including free — the universal format stays universal. The full set — Excel, Google Sheets, and PDF — arrives with Pro and is included on Trade as well. Click a format your plan doesn't include and you'll see an upgrade prompt naming exactly what's missing, rather than a silent failure. The format-by-plan grid lives in Every Plan Limit in One Place, with a guided comparison in Which Plan Is Right for You.
Every export ends with one extra line after the data: "Priced with Alculator — alculator.io/calculator." In CSV it's a final text row after a blank line; in Excel it's a cell that links back to the calculator; in the PDF it sits in the page footer. It's a provenance stamp — whoever receives the file can see what built it and check the math themselves. Since it lands two rows below your data, deleting it before importing into another system takes exactly one keystroke if you'd rather not carry it along.
Model your pricing in the free calculator — the export buttons will be waiting on the toolbar.
Open the Calculator →