AI assistants and search decision
Sheetai
A minimal text-only Sheets add-on (SHEETAI function with BYOK) is realistic for one developer, but reproducing hosted plans, Replicate-powered media at scale, and the full managed experience is multi-week and operations-heavy — so keep paying for the full product unless you only need basic BYOK text functions.
Visit website↗$12/mo
$144/yr
Read off the official pricing page.
$100one-off72 h to build
$50/mo6 h/mo upkeep
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 5 seats.
No open-source build does this yet
Nothing published replaces this one, so a replacement starts from an empty file. Here is what it would have to cover.
What a replacement has to do
- Write a custom SHEETAI_* custom function in a Google Sheets add-on that calls model APIs (OpenAI/Claude/Gemini/Grok) or Replicate for media, return results into the cell, and support dragging/fill-down for bulk rows.
What it still won’t have
- Polished hosted experience and subscription/billing handled by vendor
- Priority support and managed uptime/operations
- Refined formula generator sidebar and published Google Workspace Marketplace listing
- Prebuilt Replicate media pipeline and purchased credit-pack options
- Large install-base and trust signals (198k+ installs) / ready templates
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
Keep paying
Paying is—cheaper in year one.
On cash alone, building overtakes the subscription at 5 seats.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a Google Sheets add-on that provides SHEETAI custom functions and a settings sidebar. Stack: Google Apps Script for the add-on front-end, Node.js (Express) server deployed on Vercel or Render, Postgres (Neon or Supabase) for job/state, Redis (or managed queue) for rate-limiting and background queue, Google Cloud Storage or S3 for media assets. Core features in scope: (1) SHEETAI(cell) custom function that forwards prompt + context to backend and returns model text; (2) SHEETAI_IMAGE(cell) that schedules Replicate media jobs, stores outputs in cloud storage and returns public URLs; (3) BYOK: allow users to paste their API key into sidebar for direct client calls, plus an optional hosted-key mode where the backend forwards requests; (4) bulk/fill-down support via async job queue and polling to populate many rows; (5) settings UI, usage logging, and basic admin endpoints. Out of scope: domain/team licensing UX, paid credit-pack checkout, template marketplace, enterprise compliance (HIPAA/SOC2). Include robust error handling, retries, unit tests for backend endpoints, and end-to-end tests for the add-on functions.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- 2 cited sources+1
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score60
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time - so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 2
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productSheetAI — official product + pricing
- official docsSHEETAI Function Guide
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
