jeden.day – habit tracker
An alternative to the habit tracker spreadsheet
The habit tracker spreadsheet is the original: a row per habit, a column per day, an X in the cell. It costs nothing, it is entirely yours, and it is exactly as smart as the formulas you write. If yours has grown a streak column that breaks every January, or is unusable on a phone, this page sets out what jeden.day keeps from it and what it adds.
What the spreadsheet does well
It is the same grid, and that shape is right: one glance shows the month. It is free, works offline in Excel, lives in your own files or Drive, and can hold anything — a note in a cell, a colour, a second sheet of weight and sleep. Nobody can discontinue it, and the export question does not arise.
Where it gives out
On the phone, first. A 31-column sheet is a pinch-and-scroll exercise on a 390-pixel screen, and marking today means finding today. Scoring, second: a streak is a formula over the row that has to know about month boundaries, about "three times a week", about a rest day that should not count, and each of those is your formula to write, test and re-copy when you add a row.
And upkeep: the new year's sheet, the habit added mid-month, the conditional formatting that stopped at column AF.
How jeden.day is different
It is the same grid, built for the phone: five days beside the habit names at 390 pixels — seven with the Compact grid toggle — today on the left, one tap per cell, and a whole year to scroll back through. The scoring is already written: quotas per week or month, chosen weekdays, every N days, days of the month, totals summed over a period, limits with an allowance, measurable habits with a target, streaks with grace for today and for skipped days.
It works without an account, in the browser, and is currently free. What you give up is the spreadsheet's freedom: you cannot add a column, a note or a colour, and the file is a JSON export rather than a sheet you can open in Excel.
What the spreadsheet has that jeden.day does not
Total freedom, offline use, notes and colours, any chart you care to make, and no third party at all — a local Excel file involves nobody. If you enjoy building the tracker as much as keeping it, the spreadsheet is the better tool, and this page will not argue otherwise.
jeden.day and A spreadsheet side by side
| Feature | jeden.day | A spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| Goals like “3 times per week, any days” | YesA quota per week, month or block of days, drawn as a bracket under the row. | PartlyOnly with a formula you write. |
| Schedules on named days | YesSelected weekdays, every N days from a start date, or days of the month. | PartlyOnly by shading the cells yourself. |
| Limits with an allowance (“at most twice a week”) | YesRecord only the occurrences; a quiet day is kept. Zero allowance means never. | PartlyOnly with a formula you write. |
| Amounts with a target (“read 20 pages”) | YesA number per day against a target or a limit; the unit is optional. | YesAny number in any cell. |
| Weekly or monthly totals (“35,000 steps a week”) | YesEverything recorded in the period adds up against one target. | YesSUM. |
| Today stays open; skip a day | YesAn unmarked today never breaks a streak; a skipped day is neutral. | PartlyOnly with a formula that knows about today and skips. |
| Use without an account | YesThe full tracker runs in the browser; sign in only to sync. | YesExcel needs none; Google Sheets needs a Google account. |
| Platforms | Web app for phone and desktop, installable to the home screen. | Everywhere, though a 31-column grid is hard to use on a phone. |
| Sign-in | Emailed link or code, or a passkey. No password. | None for a local file; a Google or Microsoft account for the cloud versions. |
| Full data export | YesOne JSON file with every habit and its whole history; re-importable. | YesIt is the file. |
| Reminders and notifications | No | No |
| Native mobile apps and widgets | NoThe installable web app instead. | YesSpreadsheet apps, not habit apps; no widget. |
| Health or fitness integration | No | No |
| Gamification and social features | NoStreaks and a year view are the only feedback. | No |
| To-do lists | No | PartlyAnother sheet. |
| Connect an AI agent | YesAn MCP server you approve per agent, revocable any time. | PartlyDepends on the spreadsheet's own integrations. |
| Ads and tracking | No ads and no third-party analytics; only aggregate daily counters. | None in a local file; the cloud versions follow their vendors' privacy policies. |
| Price | Currently free. | Free, or part of an office subscription. |
A spreadsheet column based on the sources named below, checked September 2026: Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel. Spotted something outdated? Tell us on the feedback board.
Questions
Can I import my spreadsheet?
Not directly. jeden.day imports its own export format only. Habits are re-created and, if you want, earlier days backfilled by tapping them; scoring counts backfilled days.
Can I get my data back into a spreadsheet?
The export is one JSON file with every habit and entry, which any spreadsheet can import with a little work, and which an AI agent can convert for you.
Can I add notes or colours to a day?
No. A cell holds a mark or an amount. That fixed shape is what lets it score itself.
Try it now
The grid works in your browser without an account. Sign in later if you want it on a second device.
Open jeden.dayGoogle Sheets and Microsoft Excel are trademarks of Google LLC and Microsoft Corporation respectively, named here only as the spreadsheets most habit trackers are built in; jeden.day is not affiliated with or endorsed by either.