Publish Excel cells as HTML
Hey Indie Hackers!
My last update here was on April 7, 2020. It is now 2026. A lot has changed in the world over the last six years, but my little Excel add-in, ExcelToHTML, has quietly kept chugging along in the background.
I wanted to share a quick retrospective on how a zero-maintenance side project survived, the metrics we've seen, and the major new pivot we just launched: Publish to Web.
### The 6-Year Slow Burn (The Metrics)
When I first launched ExcelToHTML, the goal was simple: solve the nightmare of Excel's bloated "Save as Web Page" output by letting users select cells and copy clean, lightweight <table> HTML.
Without any active marketing, the add-in found its niche. Looking back at our analytics from 2020 to 2025, the numbers tell a fascinating story of organic B2B utility:
* Steady Traction: We've averaged about 1,000 new users a year and ~6,000 table exports annually.
* The Workday Pattern: 87% of our usage happens strictly on weekdays. This isn't a hobbyist tool; it's a utility people rely on to get their office work done.
* The Super-User: We have one absolute legend of a power user who has logged 7,121 lifetime exports.
### The Big 2026 Pivot: From "Copy-Paste" to "Instant Hosting"
While the core "Select cells → Copy clean HTML" tool worked great for CMS editors, we kept seeing users who wanted to share their data but didn't want to deal with pasting code into a website at all.
So, we built and just launched our biggest feature yet: Publish to Web.
Now, instead of just copying HTML to your clipboard, you can select a range of cells in Excel, click Publish, and instantly get A Secret, Hosted URL: A clean, beautifully formatted web page displaying your table (hosted on our servers).
### Monetizing a Utility
For years, the add-in was entirely free. To support the hosting costs of the new publishing pipeline, we've finally integrated Stripe and structured our tiers:
* Free Tier: Basic clean HTML exports.
* Pro Tier ($50/year or lifetime): Outlook-safe email formatting, hyperlink preservation, cell comments on hover, and quick previews.
* Pro+ Tier ($19/month): The new "Publish to Web" hosting, auto-updating embeds, access control, and analytics.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the new publishing workflow and our pricing model! Check us out at [exceltohtml.com](https://exceltohtml.com) or find "Selection To HTML" in the Excel Add-in store.
