If you are tracking your medical cannabis use — or thinking about starting — one of the first decisions is which tool to use. For most UK patients, the choice comes down to two options: a spreadsheet or a dedicated tracking app.
Both have their place. This is an honest comparison of the pros and cons of each, so you can decide what works best for you.
Spreadsheets: the pros
Free. Google Sheets, Excel, and LibreOffice are all free or already available. There is no subscription and no sign-up.
Customisable. You can set up your spreadsheet exactly how you want. Add columns for the things you care about, remove the ones you do not, and structure it around your specific prescription.
Private (if kept local). A spreadsheet saved on your own device, not synced to any cloud service, is about as private as digital data gets. No third party has access.
No learning curve. Most people already know how to use a spreadsheet. Rows and columns are familiar.
Spreadsheets: the cons
Manual entry. Every dose requires you to open the file and fill in a row. If you are tired, busy, or not near your device, entries get missed — and gaps make your data unreliable.
Maths is on you. Burn rate, stock balance, and run-out dates all require formulas. If you have multiple products, you need separate calculations. One typo and your numbers are off.
No automation. Spreadsheets will not tell you when you are running low. They will not count down the days to your next prescription. They will not surface trends or patterns unless you build the charts yourself.
Not phone-friendly. Spreadsheet apps on mobile are functional but clunky. They are not designed for quick, one-handed logging — and for many patients, logging on the phone is the difference between tracking consistently and not tracking at all.
Easy to forget. The biggest drawback of any manual system is that it relies on you remembering. Life is busy. Tracking falls down the priority list, and before you know it, a week of data is missing.
Apps: the pros
Automatic maths. Every dose updates your stock balance, burn rate, and estimated run-out date — no formulas, no calculators, no mental arithmetic.
Prescription countdown. A good tracking app knows your prescription cycle and tells you at a glance whether you are on track. This is one of the most practical features for day-to-day management.
Charts and trends. Usage patterns, strain comparisons, and trends over time are surfaced automatically. These are genuinely useful for clinic appointments and personal understanding.
Built for phone use. Apps are designed for quick, on-the-go logging. Pull out your phone, tap a few buttons, done. Offline support means it works even without a connection.
Always with you. Your phone is almost always within reach. That lowers the friction to logging and makes consistency much easier.
Apps: the cons
Not fully customisable. An app has a defined structure. You cannot add arbitrary columns or redesign the interface. For most patients this is fine — the structure covers what you need — but if you want total control, a spreadsheet wins.
Digital. An app requires a smartphone and, for cloud features, an internet connection. If you prefer pen and paper or are uncomfortable with digital tools, this may be a barrier.
Trust. You are trusting a company with sensitive data. This is why it matters to choose an app with a clear privacy policy, strong encryption, and a transparent business model. (We wrote about this in detail in our privacy policy and our data privacy guide.)
So which is better?
The honest answer: the best tool is the one you actually use consistently. A spreadsheet you update every day is better than an app you ignore. A notebook on the kitchen counter is better than a perfect system that never gets opened.
But if you find that manual tracking is falling through the cracks — missed entries, abandoned spreadsheets, uncertainty about how much you have left — that is the signal that an app might help. The automation removes the friction, and lower friction means better consistency.
We have written more about why spreadsheets fall short for cannabis tracking — the page covers the specific limitations in more detail.
Grams Left is built for exactly this: effortless tracking with automatic countdown, burn rate, and trends. It is free for the core tracker, with no card required. If spreadsheets are working for you, keep going. If they are not, start tracking free and see the difference.