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Shibutz vs spreadsheets for building class lists
Almost every school starts class placement in a spreadsheet, and plenty of them should stay there. Here is a straight comparison of where a sheet holds up and where a structured placement workflow starts to help.
Last reviewed July 13, 2026. Every Shibutz claim below links to a first-party source, and the spreadsheet side describes general Excel and Google Sheets behavior. See how we verified this.
The spreadsheet
Excel or Google Sheets is flexible, free to open, and already on every staff computer. It records anything you type. What it will never do on its own is weigh dozens of competing placement rules and settle on a fair arrangement. That work stays with you, cell by cell.
Shibutz
Shibutz helps you turn a roster and placement rules into draft class lists. Record the requests you used to hold in your head, generate a draft, and compare the classes before approving or revising the lists.
Side by side, dimension by dimension
A check marks the side that handles each dimension more comfortably. Notice that the spreadsheet genuinely wins several rows.
| What you are doing | Spreadsheet | Shibutz |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Open a blank sheet you already own. Nothing to learn, nothing to buy. | Create a free account and import the roster you already keep in Excel. |
| Cost | Included with tools your school already pays for. | Free includes 1 class list, up to 25 students per class list, and 3 placement generations per class list. Pro is $199/year. |
| Keeping specific students apart | Tracked by memory, colored cells, or comments that are easy to miss under pressure. | Saved as separation rules so staff can check each pair in the draft classes. |
| Honoring friend requests | Reconciled by hand, so a request quietly slips through most years. | Record friend requests and see which students share a class with their requested friends. |
| Balancing gender and support needs | Counted by hand or with formulas you rebuild every year, then eyeballed for fairness. | Compare gender counts and student support profiles with per-class statistics. |
| Trying another arrangement | Reshuffling one child ripples into hours of manual re-checking. | Update the roster or rules, generate a new draft, and compare it with earlier results. |
| Showing your work to staff | The reasoning lives in one person’s head and a tab nobody else can read. | Every placement carries visible balance signals the whole team can review. |
| Handing lists to teachers | Already in a familiar file format for sharing. | Pro exports a staff-ready XLSX, so the final result still lands in a spreadsheet. |
| One small class, simple year | Genuinely fine. A sheet does the job. | More structure than a single easy list needs. |
A fair way to decide
Skip the feature checklist for a moment. The real question is how tangled your placement gets. These two lists usually settle it.
Stay with a spreadsheet when
- You place one class where almost any arrangement works.
- Your rules fit in your head and rarely change mid-process.
- A single person owns the list and no one else needs to audit it.
- You already have a formula-heavy sheet that your team trusts.
Reach for Shibutz when
- You split a grade across several classes and every seat matters.
- Friend requests, separations, and balance targets pull against each other.
- A few people need to review and sign off before lists go out.
- You want to test two or three arrangements without rebuilding anything.
What you gain, and what you give up, by switching
What you gain
- Placement rules become explicit instead of living in one colleague’s memory.
- Class statistics replace repeated manual counting.
- Saved rosters and rules give you a starting point when plans change.
What you give up
- A new tool to sign in to, even though your roster imports from Excel.
- Pro is $199/year. Upgrade when the Free plan limits block your real roster.
- The judgment calls are still yours; the software organizes them, it does not overrule you.
Moving from a sheet starts with an import
You do not rebuild anything. The roster you already maintain becomes the starting point.
- 1
Import your existing roster
Upload the Excel file you already keep. Shibutz maps your columns to student fields so nothing is retyped.
Roster import guide - 2
Write down the rules you used to remember
Add friend preferences, separations, required placements, and balance targets so they are explicit instead of implied.
Placement settings - 3
Generate, review, and export
Build a placement, read the per-class balance, adjust, and on Pro export a staff-ready spreadsheet.
Understanding results
Common questions
- Is Shibutz just a fancier spreadsheet?
- No. Shibutz generates draft classes from your roster and placement rules, then shows class statistics and friend-request results for review. In a manual spreadsheet, your team does the assignments and maintains those checks.
- Do I have to abandon my current spreadsheet?
- No. Most schools start from the roster they already keep in Excel. You import that file, add the rules you used to track by hand, and generate a placement. On Pro you can export the finished lists back to Excel, so spreadsheets stay part of the workflow at both ends.
- When are spreadsheets still the better choice?
- When you place a single class, your rules are simple, and one person owns the whole process, a spreadsheet is honestly enough. Shibutz earns its place once you are splitting a grade across classes and juggling competing requests, separations, and balance goals.
- How much does Shibutz cost compared to a spreadsheet?
- Free includes 1 class list, up to 25 students per class list, and 3 placement generations per class list. Pro is $199/year and includes unlimited class lists, students, and placement generations, XLSX export for staff review, and billing management for invoices, payment details, and subscription status. A spreadsheet has no license fee of its own; the real cost there is staff time.
Keep exploring
Import your roster from Excel
Bring the spreadsheet you already keep straight into Shibutz with column mapping.
Set balance and capacity rules
Set classroom capacities and balance limits before generating a draft.
Read the balance signals
See the per-class statistics that replace eyeballing fairness in a sheet.
Export back to Excel
Send the finished lists to teachers in the familiar spreadsheet format.
Want a lighter starting point? Try the free random groups generator or the class size calculator, then compare the whole approach on the comparison hub.
How we verified this
Last reviewed July 13, 2026. Claims about Shibutz come straight from our own pricing, documentation, and product behavior, linked below so you can check each one. Claims about spreadsheets describe how Excel and Google Sheets work by default, without a built-in placement solver. We re-check this page whenever pricing, plan limits, or placement behavior changes.
Know where student data goes.
Before adding a roster, understand how Shibutz uses your information and check your school's privacy requirements.
- Sign-in and profile
- Clerk handles account sign-in and the profile details you choose to save.
- Roster and results
- Your rosters, placement rules, settings, and saved results are linked to your account.
- Generation and export
- When you generate or export a placement, the Shibutz placement service processes the roster and placement details needed for that request.
- School approval
- Use only student information your school has authorized you to share. Review our privacy details before uploading a roster.
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Test both on the same roster
Import the spreadsheet you already have, generate a placement, and see whether the class statistics make review easier for your team. Start on Free: 1 class list, up to 25 students per class list, and 3 placement generations per class list.
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