Want to create a dashboard in Google Sheets? You've come to the right place.
Google Sheets dashboards let you turn raw data into interactive visuals that highlight progress, pinpoint bottlenecks, and show which tasks need attention most. With automated updates from tools like Google Analytics, Salesforce, or GitHub, your dashboard stays current without manual effort.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through building your own Google Sheets dashboard, share ready-to-use templates, and explore an even more powerful alternative if you want to take your reporting to the next level.
What is a Google Sheets dashboard?
A Google Sheets dashboard is a centralized view that transforms raw spreadsheet data into visual charts, graphs, and key metrics. Unlike regular spreadsheets that display data in rows and columns, dashboards present information through interactive charts, summary tables, and visual indicators that make it easy to spot trends and insights at a glance.
For example, a company tracking sales and marketing data might create a dashboard to display a chart showing total sales, a graph of top-performing marketing channels, and a list of the highest-achieving salespeople—all in one place. This saves them from having to open multiple sheets to see their progress. In short, it makes complex information easy to understand at a glance.
Benefits of using Google Sheets dashboards
Using Google Sheets dashboards offers several advantages that can help you track progress and make better decisions.
Centralized overview: Instead of jumping between different spreadsheets, a dashboard brings all your key information together in one place, giving you a quick, comprehensive overview of your project's performance.
Visual insights: By using charts and graphs, dashboards turn raw data into easy-to-understand visuals. This helps you quickly spot trends, patterns, and areas that need attention.
Customization: You can easily customize the layout, design, and what data is displayed to create a dashboard that is tailored to your specific needs.
Cost-effectiveness: Google Sheets is completely free with a Google account, eliminating the need for expensive BI software licenses that can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars per user.
Accessibility and collaboration: Google Sheets allows real-time sharing with team members, enabling multiple users to view and edit dashboards simultaneously. Team members can access dashboards from any device with an internet connection, ideal for remote teams.
Ease of use: Most professionals already have experience with Google products, so creating a dashboard doesn’t require extensive training. The familiar interface means you can start building visualizations immediately.
Integration capabilities: Google Sheets connects seamlessly with Google Workspace tools like Forms, Analytics, and Drive, plus third-party connectors enable importing data from various sources, creating a comprehensive dashboard that pulls from multiple systems.
How to create a dashboard in Google Sheets (3 steps)
To create a dashboard in Sheets, follow these steps:
Step 1: Set up your data
First, you need to have a database to work with. This can be a sheet where you've manually entered data, or it can be a sheet that's automatically updated from a source like a Google Form.
For example, you might create a sheet to track your "monthly marketing expenses." This data will serve as the source for your dashboard.
Step 2: Create a chart
Once your data is ready, you can start creating visualizations.
Select your data. Click and drag your cursor to highlight all the data you want to include in your chart.
Insert a chart. Go to the menu bar, click on Insert, and then select Chart. Google Sheets will automatically create a chart for you.
Customize the chart. Use the Chart editor that appears on the right side of your screen to make changes. You can adjust the chart type (e.g., pie chart, bar graph), change colors, and edit titles and labels to make your chart clear and easy to read.
Step 3: Build your dashboard tab
Now that you have your charts, it's time to bring them all together on a single, clean dashboard.
Copy your chart. Click the three dots in the top-right corner of your chart and select Copy chart.
Create a new sheet. At the bottom of your screen, click the plus sign to create a new tab. You can rename this tab "Dashboard" to keep things organized.
Paste the chart. Click on a cell in your new "Dashboard" tab and paste the chart.
Repeat the process. Follow the same steps to create and copy any other charts you need. Paste them all onto your dashboard tab.
By placing multiple charts on a single sheet, you'll have a centralized dashboard that allows you to see all your key metrics at a glance.
5 free Google Sheets dashboard templates
Creating a basic dashboard is straightforward, but it can become complicated with more data and different requirements. To avoid the headache, here are 5 dynamic Google Sheets dashboard templates to try:
1. Business metrics dashboard template
This template gives you a clear overview of your business's key metrics. It includes dedicated sections for sales, website traffic, and customer satisfaction, allowing you to easily track important data. You can monitor revenue, orders, conversion rates, and customer feedback all in one place.
Image source: template.net
2. Basic dashboard template
This template is perfect for project management, sales, and marketing, and comes with example data. It includes a Gantt chart timeline for tracking your team's tasks. In addition, it includes bar charts that let you compare your budget and pending times—all of which can be modified based on your business needs.
Image source: smartsheet.com
3. Project timeline dashboard template
This template is designed to help you track your project's progress from start to finish, making sure everything stays on schedule. It's ideal for project managers, team leads, and anyone involved in project planning and execution.
Image source: coupler.io
4. Email marketing dashboard template
This template gives you a visual representation of your email marketing efforts. It displays your email open rate, email click rate, as well as comparisons between bounced and clicked emails. It's ideal for teams involved in email marketing who need to keep track of metrics.
Image source: rows.com
5. Small business inventory dashboard template
This template is a streamlined solution for managing your inventory. Designed for small businesses, it comes with customizable and editable features that help you efficiently track stock levels. Use it to stay organized, reduce errors, and simplify inventory tracking so you can focus on boosting profitability.
Image source: template.net
Chart and dashboard types you can create in Google Sheets
Chart types
Dashboard types
Limitations of Google Sheets dashboards
While Google Sheets dashboards are useful, they have limitations that make them unsuitable for certain situations. Understanding these drawbacks will help you decide when to use a more powerful tool.
Limited automation: Google Sheets lacks the advanced automation of a dedicated project management tool like Lark. It can't automatically update data in real time, and routine tasks like data entry are often manual and time-consuming, slowing down your workflow.
Poor integration: Although it integrates seamlessly with other Google Workspace tools, Google Sheets has limited connectivity with external apps. Integrating it with other project management or customer relationship management (CRM) platforms can be difficult, which is a major drawback for organizations that rely on a variety of different tools.
Not a complete solution: Google Sheets is not a full project management solution. It’s suitable for simple projects but lacks key features for complex ones, such as task management, team collaboration, and time tracking, forcing you to use multiple tools at once.
Performance issues: The application can become slow and unresponsive when handling large datasets, negatively impacting your productivity.
Limited advanced analysis: While it's great for basic functions, Google Sheets is not a strong tool for complex data analysis. It lacks advanced features like regression analysis, time-series analysis, and predictive modeling, making it unsuitable for in-depth data exploration.
Security and privacy concerns: All your data is stored on Google's servers, which presents a risk of data breaches. Additionally, sharing a sheet with the wrong person could lead to data loss or manipulation.
Why Lark is the best Google Sheets dashboard alternative
While Google Sheets is a familiar tool, it’s not always the best choice for building dashboards or managing complex data. Today, next-generation platforms can transform your raw data into actionable insights—without the hassle of complicated formulas.
That’s why Lark stands out as a clear Google Sheets dashboard alternative. With its no-code platform, Base, teams can create beautiful, interactive dashboards without coding, all fully connected to their chats, docs, meetings, and more for seamless, real-time collaboration.
A smarter choice
Base dashboards go beyond what traditional spreadsheets can offer, delivering clear insights instantly and effortlessly.
Real-time data: Unlike static sheets, Base dashboards update automatically with live data. Monitor progress and key metrics in real time, ensuring decisions are always based on the latest information.
Automation and simplicity: Base removes the need for complex formulas and manual updates. As tasks and data change, your dashboard reflects these changes automatically, saving time and reducing errors.
Seamless collaboration: Share dashboards directly in group chats, emails, or documents. Your entire team sees the same up-to-date information, eliminating version conflicts and endless status updates.
Customizable visuals: Choose from over 35 charts and widgets to present your data in ways that make sense for your team, so you can visualize exactly what matters most.
Mobile-friendly: Keep your team informed wherever they are—HQ, the field, or on the go—so decisions can be made anytime, anywhere.
Easy to create: Forget about spending hours on setup or formulas. Base’s no-code, drag-and-drop interface lets you build professional dashboards in minutes.
How to create dashboards in Lark
Creating dashboards has never been easier.
Sign up for a free Lark account.
Open Lark Base.
Input your data or import data from an Excel file.
Click Dashboard in the left navigation bar.
Add the charts you need and watch the video below to learn more:
If you're looking for inspiration, start with one of Lark's free templates.
More than dashboards
Lark isn’t just for dashboards—it’s a full-fledged work platform that integrates all the tools your team needs.
Integrated communication: Messaging, video calls, and calendars are all in one place—no switching between apps.
Productivity tools: Create documents, wikis, presentations, diagrams, mindmaps, and more. Need to use traditional spreadsheets? Lark Sheets provides spreadsheet-style functionality like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.
Work management: Automate approval workflows, track attendance, and manage performance through OKRs.
Project management: Turn messages into tasks, assign deadlines, and track progress—all in one unified platform.
Business system builder: Build CRMs, CMSs, KPI systems, or any other business system without coding or IT support.
AI assistance: Lark’s AI analyzes data, generates formulas, summarizes meetings, identifies action items, and delivers insights instantly.
Cost-effective plans: Lark’s free plan includes 11 products for up to 20 users, while paid plans start at just $12 per user—making it accessible for teams of all sizes.
Lark dashboard examples
With Lark’s free templates, you can skip the heavy setup and start tracking the data that matters most—whether you’re in sales, project management, HR, or marketing.
Sales performance dashboard
This dashboard provides a complete overview of sales activity, helping leaders monitor revenue, pipeline health, and team effectiveness in one place. By tracking both high-level trends and individual opportunities, you can spot bottlenecks early and identify growth areas.
Key components include:
Number of clients and new clients: Understand how your customer base is expanding.
Expected order value: Keep track of revenue potential from upcoming deals.
Sales by region charts: Compare performance across different geographies.
Opportunities by stage donut chart: See how deals are distributed across the pipeline.
Clients by stage pie chart: Track client progress through each stage of the relationship.
Project management dashboard template
Perfect for monitoring ongoing projects, this dashboard makes it easy to check task progress, resource allocation, and deadlines at a glance. Managers can quickly see where projects stand and ensure workloads are balanced across the team.
Key components include:
Task deadline countdown widget: Stay on top of upcoming deliverables.
Project type donut chart: Visualize the distribution of different types of projects.
Project assignment by employee widget: Ensure workloads are evenly spread across team members.
Weekly report bar chart: Track weekly project outputs and progress.
Project status pie chart: See the breakdown of completed, ongoing, and pending projects.
HR analytics dashboard
This dashboard offers a bird’s-eye view of workforce trends, making it easier for HR teams to manage staffing, monitor performance, and identify potential risks. By consolidating employee data into a single view, you can make faster, data-driven HR decisions.
Key components include:
Number of active and resigning employees: Monitor workforce stability at a glance.
Employees by department column chart: Track how talent is distributed across teams.
Types of active employees pie chart: Categorize employees by role or status.
Salary disbursement trend chart: Visualize payroll changes over time.
Employee turnover rate gauge: Measure how frequently staff leave the company.
Marketing campaign dashboard
Designed for marketers, this dashboard highlights campaign outcomes, event effectiveness, and budget allocation. It brings all campaign data together so teams can measure ROI and adjust strategies in real time.
Key components include:
Number of events: Track how many marketing events are currently in play.
Event approval funnel: Visualize approval progress from submission to launch.
Event type bar chart: Compare different types of marketing activities.
Budget approval bar chart: Track spending approval and allocation status.
Event outcome word cloud widget: Get a quick snapshot of audience feedback and results.
Discover more templates
Haven't found what you're looking for? Lark's template library offers ready-to-use templates for workflows, databases, project planning, and more.
Browse the collection for inspiration and make each template your own to match your team’s workflow.
Final thoughts on Google Sheets dashboards
Google Sheets dashboards offer a simple yet effective way to bring data together, track progress, and present insights. From KPI tracking to visualizing important metrics, they give teams the ability to quickly understand performance trends and spot opportunities. With built-in charts, pivot tables, and filters, you can even dig deeper into the details without leaving your spreadsheet.
That said, as reporting needs grow, many businesses seek solutions that go beyond spreadsheets. Lark makes the transition seamless with customizable dashboards, real-time data connections, and built-in collaboration tools—helping teams analyze data and take action, all in one place. And if a spreadsheet-style tool is still what you need, Lark has you covered.
FAQs about Google Sheets dashboards
How to create a KPI dashboard in Google Sheets?
Start by defining the KPIs you want to track, such as sales, revenue, or project progress. Pull in your Google Sheets data either manually or through integrations, then use formulas, charts, and conditional formatting to highlight performance trends in a clear, visual way.
Is Google Sheets better than Microsoft Excel for creating dashboards?
Google Sheets is often the better choice for teams that need collaboration, cloud access, and real-time updates. Microsoft Excel, on the other hand, is stronger for complex modeling and advanced analytics, such as a pivot table. If your focus is on easy sharing and live dashboards, Sheets usually wins.
How to create a Google Sheets dashboard template?
Lay out a clean, organized sheet with placeholder charts, data validation, and metrics connected to sample data. Once designed, save the file as your template so it can be duplicated and customized for new projects or teams.
How to create a real-time dashboard in Google Sheets?
Connect Google Sheets to live data sources such as Google Analytics, APIs, or third-party tools like Supermetrics. This ensures your charts and KPIs update automatically without manual input.
How to create a dashboard in Google Sheets that updates automatically?
Set up linked pipelines from Google Forms, CRM exports, or other systems for storing data. As new information flows in, the dashboard refreshes to reflect the latest numbers, keeping everything current.
Can you do data visualization in Google Sheets?
Yes. Google Sheets offers a range of visualization tools, including bar, line, pie, scatter, and combo charts. You can also connect data across tabs to build richer reports and highlight insights with sparklines or conditional formatting.
How to create dynamic dashboards in Google Sheets?
Add dropdown menus, slicers, and pivot tables to create interactive dashboards. This makes it easier for users to filter results, customize reports, and make data-driven decisions from one place.
What is a dashboard sheet?
A dashboard sheet is a dedicated tab in Google Sheets that consolidates raw data into charts, tables, and metrics. You can set one up in just a few minutes using an existing sheet and simple chart tools.
What’s the best alternative to Google Sheets dashboards?
Tools like Lark and Airtable are popular custom dashboards alternatives. Lark, in particular, helps boost team productivity by pulling data from multiple sources, offering some of the best features for collaboration with many benefits. Plus, no credit card is required to start. Its flexible format makes it easy for teams to manage dashboards together.
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