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Skimmer vs. Spreadsheet or notebook
What most pool owners actually use today: free, familiar, and manual all the way down.
Pricing at a glance
What each one actually costs.
Skimmer
$19.99/ year
7-day free trial, cancel anytime
Spreadsheet or notebook
Free, assuming you already have a spreadsheet app or a notebook
Competitor pricing reflects publicly listed rates and can change without notice. Confirm the current price directly with Spreadsheet or notebook before buying.
Feature by feature
Skimmer vs. Spreadsheet or notebook, side by side.
| Feature | Skimmer | Spreadsheet or notebook |
|---|---|---|
| Water chemistry tracking | Only if you build it yourself | |
| Chemical dosing log | Only if you build it yourself | |
| Equipment lifecycle tracking | Only if you build it yourself | |
| Resale-grade PDF export | ✗ | |
| Maintenance task reminders | ✗ | |
| Works offline, no account required | ||
| Time to log a single reading | Seconds | Depends on your setup |
| Price | $19.99/yr | Free |
Why Skimmer
Where Skimmer pulls ahead.
- Purpose-built entry, log a reading or dose in seconds instead of building your own columns
- Equipment lifecycle tracking, warranties, and service history in one place instead of scattered across tabs
- A resale-grade PDF export you can hand a buyer, something a spreadsheet was never designed to produce
- Reminders for maintenance tasks, a spreadsheet won't tell you when the filter's due
- Nothing to accidentally delete, mis-sort, or lose when you get a new phone
Frequently asked
Questions about Skimmer vs. Spreadsheet or notebook
Why not just keep using a spreadsheet?
You can, plenty of pool owners do. The tradeoffs: a spreadsheet doesn't remind you when tasks are due, doesn't track equipment warranties in any structured way, and can't produce a polished, resale-grade PDF for a buyer, it's just a grid of numbers you have to interpret yourself. Skimmer handles all of that for $19.99/yr.
Is a spreadsheet really free if my time has value?
The software is free, but building and maintaining a useful tracking system, columns for chemistry, dosing, equipment, dates, isn't. Most spreadsheets pool owners start end up half-filled-in within a few months. Skimmer is built specifically for this, so there's no setup.
Can a spreadsheet show a buyer my pool's service history?
Technically you could hand someone a spreadsheet, but it won't read like a service-history document, and most buyers won't dig through raw rows to piece one together. Skimmer exports a formatted, resale-grade PDF built for exactly that handoff.
What happens to my spreadsheet if I lose my laptop or switch phones?
Whatever backup habits you have, or don't have. A spreadsheet is only as safe as wherever you saved it. Skimmer keeps your history on your device with no separate backup step to remember, and you never have to rebuild your own tracking columns from scratch.
Ready to switch from Spreadsheet or notebook?
7-day free trial, $19.99/yr after. No account, no ads, no backend to shut down.
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