SortTheStack vs spreadsheets and email

The short verdict. For a small pile of applications and one decision-maker, a spreadsheet and your inbox are a perfectly good way to hire, and we give you a free template below to do it well. A spreadsheet doesn’t break on tracking. It breaks on reading: once a pile is too big to read carefully in the time you have, the spreadsheet doesn’t help with the part that takes the time.

• Stay with a spreadsheet if you get a manageable number of applications per job, you can protect the hours to read them, and one or two people make the decision.
• Consider SortTheStack if the piles are big enough that careful reading isn’t happening, and you want every application evaluated against the same requirements, with the evidence shown.

Disclosure: SortTheStack publishes this page and sells the alternative to a spreadsheet. We’ve tried to make the spreadsheet case properly, because for many small employers it is the right answer. SortTheStack is currently onboarding new customers from a waitlist.

Last verified: 9 October 2026.

What a spreadsheet does well

• It costs nothing, and everyone already knows how to use one.
• It’s flexible. Any column, any layout, any process you want.
• It’s transparent. Every judgement in it is yours and visible.
• With a method, it’s consistent. A sheet with your requirements as columns and a rule for sorting applicants is a structured screen. Our free template below does exactly that.

Where it breaks

Reading time. The spreadsheet records decisions; it doesn’t make reading faster. At an assumed two to four minutes per application for a careful first read, 150 applications is five to ten hours. That is the work that tends not to get done carefully, and the reason screens get rushed, done in arrival order, or stopped when the yes pile looks full.

Getting applications in. Applications arrive as email attachments, job board messages and forwarded files. Someone has to open each one and type it into a row. It’s tedious, and it’s where applications go missing.

Consistency over a long pile. The 140th application gets less attention than the 4th. A written method helps; fatigue still happens.

More than one person. Shared sheets get edited at the same time, columns get reinterpreted, and nobody can tell which candidate has been emailed.

Personal data. A spreadsheet of applicants is personal information. It gets downloaded, emailed and forgotten on laptops. If you use one, keep it in one shared location with limited access, and delete it when your retention period ends.

Side by side

Capability	Spreadsheet and email	SortTheStack
Cost	Free	Free first pile; $149 per job; from $49/month
Collecting applications	Manual, from email and job boards	Careers page per job, email forwarding, or upload
Requirements	You write them as columns	Drafted from your job description; you edit them
Reading every application	You	Done for you, against your requirements
Evidence for each judgement	If you write it down	Quoted from the application, per requirement
Unclear kept separate from no	If your method does it	Built in
Knockout questions	Manual check	Rules you set, applied automatically
Who makes the decision	You	You. Applicants are set aside only by your rules, and no rejection is sent unless someone clicks Reject
Several people reviewing	Edit conflicts	Unlimited team members, comments, shortlist link
Emailing candidates	Your inbox	From the candidate record
Setup	Minutes	Minutes, once off the waitlist

What it costs you in time

We won’t tell you how much time software will save you. It depends on your roles and your piles, and you still review the results. Here is the arithmetic to do it yourself:

Hours of first-pass reading = applications × minutes per application ÷ 60

Applications per job	At 2 minutes each	At 4 minutes each
50	1.7 hours	3.3 hours
150	5 hours	10 hours
300	10 hours	20 hours

The minutes per application are assumptions for planning, not measurements. Multiply the hours by what an hour of your time is worth and compare it with the cost of the alternative. For one job, that is $149 for SortTheStack’s single posting. Whichever you choose, you still read the shortlist yourself.

The free screening spreadsheet

If a spreadsheet is the right answer for you, use one that builds the method in: download the applicant screening sheet (CSV). It opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers, with:

• columns for two must-haves and two nice-to-haves, each with a status (Shown, Unclear, Not met) and the evidence;
• an outcome column with the sorting rule written into the sheet;
• an audit column, for re-reading a sample of the applications you turned down.

Rename the requirement columns for your job before you read anything. The method behind it is in how to screen a large pile of resumes.

Which one fits your situation

You’re hiring one person this year and expect 30 applications. Use the spreadsheet. Block out an afternoon, write your requirements first, and read every application.

You’re hiring two or three people a year and each post brings 150+ applications. This is where the spreadsheet usually stops being read carefully. A single posting ($149) or Solo ($49/month) is worth comparing against the reading time above.

Two partners share hiring and disagree about candidates. A shared method matters more than the tool. The spreadsheet works if you both rate against the same columns. Software helps if you want the evidence attached to each judgement automatically.

You already have an applicant tracking system. This comparison isn’t for you; see do you actually need an ATS?

How we made this comparison

The spreadsheet case is based on what a spreadsheet and email can do, with the method from our screening guide. SortTheStack’s capabilities and prices come from our own product and its live plan settings. We make SortTheStack, so read our claims about it with that in mind. The time figures are arithmetic on stated assumptions, not measurements of anyone’s hiring. If anything here is wrong, tell us.