A free template for comparing supplier quotes
Compare up to 3 suppliers' prices for the same items, with the cheapest-offer and basket-total formulas already built in. Download it, fill in your own items, and it calculates itself.
Download the template (.xlsx)What's in the template
- SKU / item identifier
- Supplier A, B, and C price
- Quantity
- Line total per supplier (blank, not zero, when a supplier didn't quote the item)
- Cheapest price and which supplier it came from
- Cheapest line total
- A basket total across the cheapest offer per item, plus each supplier's own total for the items they quoted
How to use it
- Download the file below and open it in Excel, Google Sheets, or any spreadsheet app that reads .xlsx.
- Replace the 5 example rows with your own items — one row per item.
- Enter each supplier's price per item. Leave a cell blank if that supplier didn't quote it; a blank is excluded from the cheapest-price formula, a zero would not be.
- Enter the quantity you need of each item.
- The line totals, cheapest price, cheapest supplier, and basket total calculate automatically. Copy the formulas down for any rows you add.
What it doesn't do
- Weighted scoring across price, lead time, and quality — it's price only.
- Total cost of ownership — freight, duties, and payment terms aren't in it.
- More than 3 suppliers without you adding the columns and formulas yourself.
Where a template like this breaks down
Three suppliers and a stable, short item list is exactly what this template is built for. It gets harder to maintain by hand once there are more than 3 suppliers to compare, the item list runs into the hundreds of rows, the same comparison needs to run every time a new round of quotes comes in, or the files from each supplier use different column names and layouts that someone has to reconcile before any formula can run.
CostRift automates the same comparison
CostRift's Supplier Comparison runs the same cheapest-price logic this template uses, without the formulas or the 3-supplier limit — how many suppliers you can compare at once depends on your plan, not a fixed number in a spreadsheet. Add a quote file from each supplier — CSV or XLSX, mapped independently so column names don't need to match between files — and it matches items by identifier, marks the cheapest usable quote per item, and flags exact ties, single-supplier items, and currency or unit mismatches for review rather than guessing. Files are read and compared in your browser and are not uploaded to run the comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template really free, with no email required?
Yes. The file downloads directly from this page — there's no signup form and no email capture involved.
Does it work in both Excel and Google Sheets?
It's a standard .xlsx file, native to Excel and opened directly by Google Sheets (upload it, or use File > Open with Google Sheets). The formulas use VLOOKUP-era functions that work in both.
What happens if two suppliers quote the exact same price?
The Cheapest Supplier formula picks whichever supplier's column it finds the matching price in first — it does not flag an exact tie separately. For a handful of rows that's easy to spot by eye; CostRift's Supplier Comparison does flag exact ties explicitly.
Can I add a fourth or fifth supplier?
Yes — add a column for each extra supplier's price, extend the Line Total pattern for it, and extend the Cheapest Price/Cheapest Supplier formulas' ranges to include the new column. The template doesn't do this for you past 3 suppliers.
Want the same comparison without the spreadsheet at all? See comparing supplier quotes.
Outgrown the template?
Add a quote from each supplier and see the cheapest price per item, no formulas required.
Compare supplier quotes in CostRift