Spreadsheets track access. They can’t prove it.
A spreadsheet is where most access tracking starts, and where it quietly goes stale. Driply keeps the same who-has-what picture true on its own, with the approvals and history a spreadsheet can’t hold.
Almost every company tracks access in a spreadsheet first, an access matrix of people, tools, and levels in a shared sheet. It works until the day after you write it: a grant happens in a Slack DM, someone offboards, a contractor’s access lingers, and the sheet drifts from reality without anyone noticing.
Driply keeps that same who-has-access-to-what picture, but true on its own, because the moments that change access (a Slack approval, a Workspace removal) update the record as they happen, with the approvals and immutable history a spreadsheet was never built to hold.
- Who has access to whatDriply:A live register that updates as access actually changes.Spreadsheet:Accurate the day you write it; drifts from reality after.
- Requesting accessDriply:One step in Slack (/driply) or on the web, with a reason.Spreadsheet:Edit a cell, then ping someone to actually do it.
- ApprovalsDriply:Captured with approver, reason, and timestamp as they happen.Spreadsheet:A “sure, go ahead” in a DM, nowhere in the sheet.
- History & audit trailDriply:Append-only and immutable, can’t be quietly edited later.Spreadsheet:Editable cells; version history at best, gaps at worst.
- Reviews & expiryDriply:Automatic access expiries that keep least-privilege current.Spreadsheet:A reminder you set and a column you mean to revisit.
- Tool ownersDriply:Each tool has an accountable owner who approves and reviews it.Spreadsheet:An “owner” column nobody is responsible for keeping current.
- OffboardingDriply:Workspace removals flow straight into the offboarding trail.Spreadsheet:Hope whoever left is remembered in every tab.
- Cost & seatsDriply:Each tool records the seats it actually sells and what each costs, so someone on two seats costs two seats, not an average. Renewals in view.Spreadsheet:Another tab, updated about as often as the first.
- Audit evidenceDriply:Export branded PDF or CSV straight from the live record.Spreadsheet:Screenshot the sheet and hope the dates hold up.
- Price to startDriply:Free for up to 10 people and 20 tools. No credit card.Spreadsheet:“Free,” minus the hours and the audit-day risk.
Driply documents and proves access. It doesn’t provision or revoke inside your tools, and by design never writes to them. You stay in control of the actual access.
The record stays true on its own
A spreadsheet is only as current as the last person who remembered to update it. Driply updates from the moments that change access, a Slack approval, a Workspace removal, so the picture stays accurate without a maintainer.
It holds the part a sheet can’t: proof
Cells can be edited, reordered, and overwritten with no trace. Driply’s history is append-only and timestamped, so “who approved this, and when” is answerable months later, which is exactly what an audit asks.
Approvals live where work happens
The spreadsheet never captures the actual decision. That happens in a DM. Driply puts the request and the one-click approval in Slack, and records the decision as evidence the moment it’s made.
When a spreadsheet is genuinely enough
If you’re three people sharing a handful of tools, with no compliance pressure and no one to prove anything to yet, a spreadsheet is honestly fine, and free. There’s no reason to add a tool before you feel the pain.
The pain shows up at a predictable moment: the first security questionnaire, the first SOC 2, an investor’s diligence, or someone leaving with access nobody tracked. That’s when “accurate the day we wrote it” stops being good enough and you need the history, ideally one you started keeping before you needed it. Driply’s free tier exists so you can start that record early, while it’s nearly free to keep.
The result, Keep the picture you already track, without being the person who keeps it true.
Questions, answered.
- Can’t I just use a spreadsheet for access control?
- You can, and many teams start there. It works for a snapshot of who has access to what, but it can’t capture approvals as they happen, keep an immutable history, or stay current on its own, which is where Driply takes over.
- What does Driply do that a spreadsheet can’t?
- It records every approval with an approver, reason, and timestamp; keeps an append-only history that can’t be edited after the fact; expires access automatically to keep least privilege current; and exports audit-ready evidence, all kept current automatically.
- Is moving off a spreadsheet a big project?
- No. Driply runs in Slack with a read-only Google Workspace sync to build your roster, and you catalog your tools in an afternoon. The free tier covers your first 10 people and 20 tools.
- Does Driply provision access like a script attached to my sheet?
- No, and it never will. Driply documents and proves access: it records the request, approval, and grant, and your administrator performs the actual change in the tool. By design Driply never writes to your tools.