{"id":264184,"date":"2024-03-13T20:08:57","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T19:08:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/?p=264184"},"modified":"2026-10-19T16:25:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:25:17","slug":"limitacoes-google-sheets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheetgo.com\/pt\/blog\/google-sheets-features\/google-sheets-limitations\/","title":{"rendered":"Limita\u00e7\u00f5es e desvantagens do Google Sheets"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Google Sheets is a great tool for working with data. It\u2019s free and easy to use, which makes it very popular. However, there are some disadvantages to working with this tool, as it has limitations that condition how much data you can work with, as well as what you can do with it.<\/p>\n

In other words, whether or not this is the right tool for you will depend on a few things. Do you need to handle a large volume of data? Do your spreadsheets use a lot of formulas? Do they contain multiple references to external data or to other formulas? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are likely to run into some of the limits below.<\/p>\n

In this article, you\u2019ll learn about Google Sheets\u2019 main limitations and disadvantages. You’ll also see how Sheetgo, an AI-powered platform that connects spreadsheets into automated data pipelines, can help you work around some of them.<\/p>\n

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Google Sheets limitations<\/h2>\n

What exactly are the limitations of Google Sheets? Given the popularity of the tool, there should be more available answers. However, there\u2019s no official list of limitations, so there\u2019s a lot of disagreement regarding its disadvantages and limitations.<\/p>\n

Additionally, there have been some changes to Google Sheets recently, and some of the old limitations have actually changed. Below, you can read about the known limitations of Google Sheets and how they might affect you and your projects.<\/p>\n

1. Cell number limitation<\/h3>\n

The first limitation is an important one, as it also limits other features. Google Sheets limits you to 20,000,000 cells for new, existing, and imported files. Google doubled the limit from 10,000,000 cells in September 2026. This means that if each of your tabs contains 1,000,000 cells, you are limited to 20 tabs. In other words, it wouldn\u2019t matter what the tab limitation actually was. If you\u2019re likely to have close to 20,000,000 cells, keep in mind that the sheet will become extremely slow and difficult to work with. If you’re already near the limit, here’s how to work around the Google Sheets cell limit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. Cell size limitation<\/h3>\n

In addition to the 20,000,000 cell limit, you can have a maximum of 50,000 characters in one cell. If you try to paste more than 50,000 characters into a cell, you\u2019ll get a warning message. However, be careful if you\u2019re importing data, as it will simply skip the cells that exceed the 50,000-character limit; in other words, you won\u2019t get a warning about data loss. If you work with large numbers or strings, you\u2019ll need to check that none of the cells contain more than 50,000 characters.<\/p>\n

3. Column limitation<\/h3>\n

Google Sheets limits the maximum number of columns to 18,278, but due to the overall cell limitation, you can only have this number in a Google Sheet with 1 tab and 1,094 rows. If you work with high-volume data that spans numerous columns and tabs, this could seriously limit the number of rows you can use.<\/p>\n

4. Row limitation<\/h3>\n

There is no set limit to the number of rows allowed in Google Sheets, but knowing the cell limitations, you can find ways to work around this. If you only have 1 tab containing 1 column, you could have 20,000,000 rows with one cell each. In theory.<\/p>\n

In reality, not only is it difficult to see what you could use that for – other than a very long list – but it would also be practically impossible to scroll through this manually. As you approach any of the limits – cell number, column number, etc. – Google Sheets becomes slow and difficult to work with.<\/p>\n

5. Tab limitation<\/h3>\n

Like with rows, Google doesn’t publish a set limit for the number of tabs, but the cell limitations also apply. By default, each new Sheet has 1 tab containing 26 columns and 1,000 rows (26,000 cells). If you keep this size, the cell limit allows up to 769 tabs. However, this is a theoretical maximum, which you can\u2019t get too close to without compromising performance. In practice, even with 100 default tabs – all blank cells – the workbook becomes very slow and is likely to crash.<\/p>\n

6. IMPORTRANGE formula limitation<\/h3>\n

Google Sheets removed the limitation of only 50 IMPORTRANGE formulas<\/a> per workbook. However, users have still reported some issues with its use. The first is that the formula sometimes fails to retrieve the data due to an \u201cinternal error\u201d, but there is no indication of the error source.<\/p>\n

There doesn’t seem to be a single cause for this error, which makes it hard to fix. The second problem is related to the way in which this \u201cinternal error\u201d is handled. The contents of the cell in question are replaced by \u201cIMPORTRANGE internal error\u201d, but there is no visible warning. This can lead to more errors or inaccurate data in related formulas.<\/p>\n

7. External data limitation<\/h3>\n

Previously, Google Sheets allowed a maximum of 50 formulae to get external data: IMPORTDATA<\/a>, IMPORTHTML<\/a>, IMPORTFEED, IMPORTXML<\/a>. This limitation no longer seems to apply, but this doesn\u2019t actually mean it\u2019s a good idea to add more. Just like with the new cell number limit, you might not want to push it. Even with 50 of these formulas, the Sheet can become slow and uncooperative. Additionally, the cell size limitation also applies to external data, so you will lose anything that exceeds the 50,000 characters.<\/p>\n

Although Google Sheets has eased some of its limitations, such as by doubling the cell limit to 20,000,000, they still fail to meet realistic standards. In fact, if you have that many cells in your spreadsheet, you should probably consider a database instead. However, even with 1,000,000 cells, your spreadsheet will perform slower and become more prone to crashes. If you have complex formulas and references to external data, it could become completely unworkable. Another option is to keep the data in several smaller files and connect them with Sheetgo Automations<\/a>, part of Sheetgo’s AI-powered platform. It moves data between spreadsheets on a schedule, so no single file has to hold everything.<\/p>\n

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Conclusion<\/h2>\n

There are also some disadvantages to Google Sheets that are not as quantifiable as the limitations above. For example, shortcuts are very limited, and customization doesn\u2019t work very well. Google occasionally adds built-in formulas, and you can create custom functions with named functions or Apps Script, but Apps Script takes some coding. Overall, the options for data transformation and analysis are quite limited, especially when compared to Excel.<\/p>\n

If any of the disadvantages or limitations above seem like they might apply to you, don\u2019t despair. With Sheetgo, an AI-powered platform that connects spreadsheets into automated data pipelines, you can keep working in Google Sheets and Excel. Sheetgo Automations moves data between files on a schedule, so you can collect and consolidate data from several spreadsheets, or send each collaborator a file with only the data they need.<\/p>\n

Try Sheetgo Automations for free<\/a><\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to learn more about the main limitations you can encounter when using Excel or Google Sheets, these articles will be helpful.<\/p>\n