Vendor list spreadsheet vs app
Use a spreadsheet if your list is short and you only need to store names, because Google Sheets is free and anyone with the link can open it without signing in. Use an app when you want a record of who you sent where and whether they were hired. Proferral does that, but it runs in a browser only today.
Should I use Google Sheets or an app to manage my realtor vendor list?
Use Google Sheets if all you need is a place to keep names and numbers. A sheet costs nothing, you already know how to use it, and you can share it by link. Use an app once you want to know which of those names your clients actually hired.
Sharing is where a sheet does better than people expect. Google's help says a file set to "Anyone with the link" can be opened without signing in, and you choose whether those people are a Viewer, a Commenter or an Editor. That makes a view-only sheet a workable client list as long as you keep the link handy.
When does a contractor tracking spreadsheet stop working?
It stops working when you need to know what happened after a referral. Every row in a sheet is something you typed, so it only knows what you remembered to write down. If you sent the Garcias to a roofer in March, the sheet can't tell you whether they called him.
There is a second limit worth knowing about. Google's help says a Viewer can download the file by default, and the owner can turn that off, so anything in the same sheet can go wherever the link goes. If you keep private notes next to your vendors, such as who was slow to call back, put them in a different file from the one your clients open.
How do I know which vendor my client called?
With a spreadsheet, you ask your client and write the answer down yourself. Proferral asks for you through a check-in, which you send from your own phone or email. Your client taps an answer, and the referral records whether they hired the provider.
Proferral never messages a client in your name without you sending it. You can read how that works in check-ins, and if you'd rather keep the habit by hand, follow up after referring a contractor covers what to ask.
When is a spreadsheet the right choice for a vendor list?
A spreadsheet is a good choice for some agents, and we'd say so even though we make an app. If your list has a dozen names, you already work in Sheets every day, and you don't need to know who got hired, a shared sheet does the job for free. You control every column, and no vendor pays to be on it. Whether you send that list as a file or a link is a separate question, and textable vendor list: PDF vs link covers it.
What are Proferral's limits next to a spreadsheet?
Proferral works in any browser today, and the iPhone and Android apps are coming, but we can't give you a date. License checks against state rosters cover Oregon and Washington only. Outside those two states you check a license by hand, the same as you would with a sheet.
You don't have to start over to try it. You can import the sheet you already have, and you can export everything any time, so your list can go back to a spreadsheet whenever you want. Your clients open your go-to list with no app and no login. If you're weighing a CRM as the next step instead, read a real estate CRM vendor list vs Proferral, and for the wider field, see vendor list apps for realtors, compared.
Sources
- Google Drive Help: Share files from Google Drive, checked October 19, 2026
- Google Docs Editors Help: Collaborate in Sheets, checked October 19, 2026
Your list can keep its own record
Proferral keeps the names from your sheet and adds what a sheet can't, which is a record of who you sent where and whether they were hired. It runs in a browser today, and the phone apps aren't out yet. You can start by importing your spreadsheet.
It's free, no credit card needed, and you're never charged unless you choose Pro.