Grab a free password sheet template below, in a format that opens in both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. Use it to track every account your team relies on: who owns it, what it costs, when it renews, and where to log in.
One caveat before you start. A spreadsheet is a fine place to track account details, but it is a genuinely dangerous place to store actual passwords. We will cover why below, and show you a safer way to handle the credentials themselves.
Download the free password sheet template
We built two versions so you can pick the level of detail that fits your team. Both open in Google Sheets or Excel.
- Template 1 — Simple password sheet — fewer columns, faster to fill in. Best for small teams or personal use.
- Template 2 — Detailed account tracker — more columns for cost, renewal, MFA status, and ownership. Best for larger teams juggling hundreds of accounts.
How to get your own copy: open either link, then choose File > Make a copy to edit it in Google Sheets, or File > Download > Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or Comma-separated values (.csv) to work offline in Excel. The originals are view-only, so you can't accidentally overwrite the master.
The average person now juggles around 168 personal passwords, and closer to 255 once work accounts are included, according to NordPass research. For a business, the number climbs fast. Many of those accounts carry subscriptions, renewal dates, and payment methods, and sharing access across a team is usually a necessity, not just a way to save money. A password sheet is a simple way to keep all of that in one place.
Want the organization of a sheet without the security risk? Sign up for a 14-day free trial of TeamPassword and try it for yourself.
What is a password sheet?
A password sheet is a single place to store information about the accounts an organization, team, or individual uses to get work done. It tracks the useful context around each login: renewal dates, who owns the account (and pays for it), whether it's active or dormant, the associated email, the login page, and any other notes.
One firm disclaimer: some people also use these sheets to store usernames and passwords, and TeamPassword strongly discourages that. An unencrypted password sheet is one of the most dangerous places you can store a password. This lines up with guidance from bodies like NIST and CISA, which consistently recommend encrypted, access-controlled storage for credentials rather than plaintext files.
Google Sheets vs. Microsoft Excel vs. CSV
The choice mostly comes down to access. Google Sheets can be viewed and edited by everyone on the team, so there's a single live version of the sheet. That convenience is also a security risk, which is why some teams prefer Excel: a single owner maintains the file and shares it only when needed. That makes it slower to share with the team, but it adds a layer of control.
Our templates are format-agnostic. Open them in Google Sheets, or download them as Excel or CSV, whichever fits how your team already works.
Password sheet vs. password manager: a quick comparison
Before you commit to a spreadsheet, it's worth seeing where it holds up and where it falls short against a dedicated password manager.
| Password sheet | Password manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Security | Plaintext and unencrypted; anyone with the file has everything | Zero-knowledge, AES-256 encryption; credentials never stored in plaintext |
| Granular sharing | All-or-nothing; you share the whole file or none of it | Share by group, per person, or temporarily with a guest |
| Auto-update | Manual; a changed password breaks everyone until someone edits the sheet | Update once and every authorized user gets the new credential |
| Cost | Free | From $2.41/user/month |
| Audit trail | None | Full activity log of who accessed what and when |
Password sheet pros and cons
Keeping all your account info in one place delivers real value. It makes shared accounts easier to find, reduces the odds of being locked out over a forgotten password, and gives you visibility into what you're spending on subscriptions. That said, there are better ways to store the credentials themselves.
Advantages
- Everything in one place. Account details are easy to find and reference.
- Easy to share information. A Google Sheet can go out to the whole team. It isn't the safest way to store passwords, but it's convenient.
- Helps with budgeting. Tracking which accounts are active, what they cost, and when they renew supports burn-rate analysis and prompts regular reviews of which tools still earn their keep.
Disadvantages
- Sharing isn't granular. You give someone access to every login in the file, or none of them.
- Sheets aren't secure. Anyone who gets the file gets every account in it.
- Credentials go stale. Change a password and forget to update the sheet, and your teammates get locked out.
These limits are exactly why a spreadsheet is a poor long-term password solution for teams.
How to use the templates
Here's what each column is for, plus a couple of tips to make the sheet more useful. To get the most out of either template, add filters to the header row and color-code rows by account status so you can spot inactive or at-risk accounts at a glance.
Template 1 (simple)
This version keeps things light, with most detail pushed into the notes. It's a little less powerful, but it's more likely that every team member will actually fill it in without needing instructions.
- Name: the account owner.
- URL: a link to the login page.
- Username: the account username or email, depending on which the service uses.
- Password: where a password would go. Remember: TeamPassword strongly discourages storing passwords here. Instead, list which password manager holds the credential.
- Notes: anything useful, such as subscription cost, billing cadence, renewal date, why the account exists, and who uses it.
- Organization: the business the account belongs to.
- Group 1/2/3: the teams that use the account, for example "Marketing" or "Sales."
Template 2 (detailed)
This version adds columns and granularity, which makes it far easier to sort when you're managing hundreds of accounts.
- Owner: the team member who owns the account, whether that's the primary user, the creator, or whoever pays for it. Pick one definition of "owner" and stick to it.
- Create date: when the account was created, which is usually also the annual renewal date.
- Cost (annual/monthly): what it costs and how it's billed. Consider splitting this into two columns so you can sort fees high to low, and note previous prices in the notes.
- Email address used: worth tracking separately from the username, since they aren't always the same. If you need the inbox for 2FA or MFA, this tells you where confirmation codes land.
- Username: the account username.
- Password: again, where a password would go. TeamPassword strongly discourages this. List the password manager holding it instead.
- Login URL: a quick link to the login page.
- Active?: lets you sort by active/inactive to review subscriptions regularly.
- MFA needed?: "no" if none, otherwise the method (email, authenticator app, text, and so on).
- Notes: anything else useful, such as a link to an internal "how to" video for complicated software.
How to color-code and add filters
- Select your header row, then turn on filters (Data > Create a filter in Google Sheets, or Data > Filter in Excel). Now you can sort or filter by status, cost, or owner in one click.
- Highlight the rows you want to flag, open Format > Conditional formatting, and set a rule, for example: if the "Active?" column reads "no," fill the row grey. Inactive subscriptions jump out immediately at review time.
How to import your sheet into a password manager
The whole point of a clean, well-structured sheet is that it makes migrating to a real password manager painless. Here's the general flow for moving into TeamPassword:
- Make sure your sheet has clear column headers, at minimum a URL, username, and password column.
- Export it as a CSV: File > Download > Comma-separated values (.csv).
- In TeamPassword, open your settings and choose the import option, then upload the CSV and map your columns (URL, username, password, notes) to the matching fields.
- Once the import confirms, delete the CSV and the password column from your sheet. A plaintext export is exactly the kind of file you don't want lingering on a laptop or in a shared drive.
From that point on, the sheet tracks context (cost, ownership, renewal) and the password manager handles the secrets.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to store passwords in Excel or Google Sheets?
No. Spreadsheets aren't encrypted, so anyone who opens the file, or intercepts it in transit, sees every credential in plaintext. It's fine to track account details in a sheet. Store the actual passwords in an encrypted password manager.
What should a password spreadsheet include?
At minimum: account name, login URL, username, owner, cost and billing cycle, renewal date, active/inactive status, and whether MFA is enabled. Leave the password field pointing to your password manager rather than the credential itself.
How do I password-protect an Excel password sheet?
Excel lets you encrypt a workbook with a password under File > Info > Protect Workbook > Encrypt with Password. It's better than nothing, but it protects one file with one shared secret and offers no per-user access, no audit trail, and no way to revoke access. A password manager solves all three.
What's a better alternative to a password spreadsheet?
A dedicated team password manager. It keeps the organizational benefits of a sheet, one place for everything, while adding encryption, granular sharing, automatic updates, and an audit log.
TeamPassword is the best password sheet alternative
Plenty of teams lean on spreadsheets because they're cheap and simple. But the security tradeoffs usually outweigh the savings. Sheets are exposed to anyone who gets the file, they can't share credentials selectively, and they give you no record of who accessed what.
A password manager keeps the simplicity of a sheet and adds the security a sheet can't. TeamPassword is built for teams, with a few features that map directly onto the problems a spreadsheet creates:
- Unlimited groups for seamless sharing. Organize credentials by team, client, or project so people get exactly the access they need, no more and no less.
- Integrated TOTP authenticator. Generate and store one-time codes alongside your logins, so 2FA-enabled accounts stay in one place.
- Enforceable 2FA. Require two-factor authentication across your whole team for a consistent security baseline.
- Detailed activity logs. See who accessed or changed a credential and when, the audit trail a spreadsheet will never give you.
Plans start at just $2.41 per user per month with annual billing, or $5.25 per user per month for advanced features, so it's accessible even for small teams.
Instead of trusting sensitive logins to a spreadsheet, sign up for a 14-day free trial and see how much easier secure sharing can be. →
