A Matrixify Alternative for Google Sheets Users

Matrixify is a good tool. It exports and imports almost every Shopify object, and for store migrations it is hard to beat. But plenty of merchants install it for a smaller reason: they want their orders and products in a spreadsheet, and they want to push a price or inventory change back now and then.

If that's you and you work in Google Sheets, a synced sheet from ShopSheets plus Shopify's built-in CSV imports is a workable Matrixify alternative for most of that job. It has limits, and the section on when to keep Matrixify covers them.

What do Google Sheets users use Matrixify for?

For a Google Sheets user, Matrixify usually does two different jobs.

The first is reading. They export orders, products, or fulfillments to a sheet so they can filter, total, and share the numbers. They re-run the export when the data goes stale.

The second is writing. A few times a month they edit rows in the sheet, like new prices or a batch of products from a supplier, and import that file back into Shopify.

Matrixify does both in one app, which is why people reach for it. But reading happens daily and writing happens occasionally, and you don't need the same tool for both.

How do I keep Shopify data in Google Sheets without export jobs?

Use a live sync instead of a file export. With an export, every refresh means running the job again and opening a new file. With a sync, the sheet stays put and the data updates in place.

ShopSheets is the sync we build, so weigh this recommendation with that in mind. It creates a Google Sheet for your store and fills it with your orders, fulfillments, and full product catalog. With full-history access (read_all_orders), order history goes back to your store's first order, and a date range dropdown at the top of the tab (from recent days up to "All time") decides how much of it the sheet shows. New and updated orders arrive over webhooks without you doing anything. Status and sort order are dropdowns too. After changing a filter, refresh from the app to apply the view. Older installs may need to reconnect using the in-app banner to grant full-history access.

The sync is one-way and read-only. Nothing you type into the sheet changes your store. That makes it safe to share with a bookkeeper or a VA, but it also means the sheet can't handle the writing half of the job.

How do I bulk-import products from Google Sheets without Matrixify?

Shopify has CSV imports built into the admin for products, customers, inventory quantities, and URL redirects. For product and variant changes, the product import covers most of what people use Matrixify imports for:

1. Build or edit your product rows in Google Sheets.
2. Download the tab with File → Download → Comma-separated values (.csv).
3. In Shopify admin, go to Products → Import, upload the file, and choose whether to overwrite products that have the same handle.

The format is the hard part. Shopify expects its own column names: URL handle, Title, Price, and SKU in current exports, or Handle, Variant Price, and Variant SKU in older templates. Variants go on extra rows that share one handle. A supplier feed or a WooCommerce export won't match that out of the box. Shopify's product CSV documentation lists every column.

The free CSV to Shopify Format converter handles the mapping. You upload any product CSV, map each of your columns to a Shopify field, and download a file for Shopify's import. It writes the older column names, which Shopify still accepts. It runs in your browser, so the file never leaves your computer.

Before you import anything that overwrites existing products, export your current products from Shopify first. If the import goes wrong, you have something to restore from. If Shopify rejects the file, Shopify's common import issues page covers the usual causes.

When should I keep Matrixify?

This split doesn't replace everything Matrixify does. Keep it if you do any of these:

• You're migrating a store. Moving products, customers, orders, and redirects from another platform in one pass is Matrixify's core job, and Shopify's built-in CSV imports don't bring over order history.
• You bulk-edit orders or discounts from a file. Shopify's built-in imports cover products, customers, inventory, and redirects, but not those.
• You schedule imports. If a supplier file has to land in your store every night without anyone touching it, a scheduled Matrixify job does that. Shopify's product import is manual.

If none of those apply, you're likely paying for capacity you don't use.

How do the costs compare?

ShopSheets is $9.99 a month, flat, with a 7-day free trial. The price doesn't depend on how many records you sync. Shopify's product import and the CSV converter are free.

Matrixify prices in tiers based on record volume, and it has a free tier for small jobs. Its tiers change, so check the current numbers on its Shopify App Store listing before you compare.

For a detailed feature table, see our Matrixify alternative comparison and the ShopSheets vs Matrixify breakdown.

The short version

• Use a live sync to read Shopify data in Google Sheets every day.
• Use Shopify's product import, with the CSV converter to fix the column format, for the occasional bulk product edit. The same approach works for price changes and tag cleanups.
• Keep Matrixify for migrations, order and discount imports, and scheduled jobs.

If the reading half is most of your Matrixify use, try ShopSheets free for 7 days and see if a synced sheet with your full order history covers it.