Peptide Tracker vs Spreadsheet
Published Apr 30, 2026 · 5 minute read
We make Peptide Tracker, so this is a vendor’s comparison. The fairest way to write it is to keep the same log both ways and say where each one wins.
Key Takeaways
- This page is written by the makers of Peptide Tracker. Read it as a vendor's comparison, not a neutral review.
- A spreadsheet is free, portable, and has no lock-in. For a single weekly pen with no reconstitution, it is a perfectly good record.
- What a spreadsheet makes you do by hand: half-life math, beyond-use dates, reminders, and unit checks on mg, mL, and syringe units.
- The app pre-builds those fields and calculations, and exports CSV, so you are not choosing one forever.
- A paste-ready template is at the bottom of the page.
1. The Same Log, Kept Two Ways
Here is a realistic fortnight for someone on a weekly compounded semaglutide vial plus a reconstituted research peptide. The events: two weekly doses, one missed and taken late, one reconstitution, one side effect.
In a spreadsheet (a made-up log; the intervals and doses are illustrative):
| Date | Product | Dose | Unit | Site | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-01 | Semaglutide 2.5 mg/mL vial | 0.5 | mg (20 units, U-100) | Abdomen L | |
| 2026-09-01 | BPC-157 | reconstituted | 5 mg in 2 mL BAC | BUD 2026-09-29, the interval on the pharmacy label | |
| 2026-09-02 | BPC-157 | 250 | mcg (10 units, U-100) | Abdomen R | |
| 2026-09-08 | Semaglutide 2.5 mg/mL vial | missed | |||
| 2026-09-10 | Semaglutide 2.5 mg/mL vial | 0.5 | mg (20 units, U-100) | Thigh L | 2 days late; next dose stays 09-15 |
| 2026-09-11 | nausea, mild, evening |
Everything above is a row you type. The “20 units” is your own arithmetic: 0.5 mg ÷ 2.5 mg/mL = 0.2 mL = 20 units on a U-100 insulin syringe (not IU, which is a potency unit for a different kind of product). The BUD is your own arithmetic too: reconstitution date plus whatever interval your label or pharmacy gave; this example uses 28 days as a stand-in, not a rule. “2 days late” is you checking the label’s missed-dose window. Nothing reminds you on the 8th.
In Peptide Tracker: the same six events are entered as a vial (concentration once, at setup), two logged doses with the syringe units computed from the concentration, a missed-dose entry, a reconstitution with the beyond-use date computed from the date and interval, and a side-effect note attached to the day. The reminder on the 8th fires whether or not you open the app. The half-life chart shows the gap.
The information content is identical. What differs is who does the arithmetic and who remembers.
2. Where the Spreadsheet Wins
- Free and already installed. Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers, or a plain CSV.
- Any column you want. Bloodwork, mood, a link to a certificate of analysis, a supplier’s batch number: add a column.
- No lock-in. The file is yours, in a format every tool on earth can open, forever.
- Bulk editing. Fixing a wrong date across twenty rows is a fill-down, not twenty taps.
- Sharing. Sending a tab to a clinician is one attachment.
If you take one weekly pen from a pharmacy, with no reconstitution and no unit conversion, a spreadsheet does the whole job.
3. Where It Costs You
- Half-life math. How much drug is still on board after a missed dose is an exponential-decay sum across every prior dose. Possible in a spreadsheet, tedious to build, easy to break. The half-life visualizer does it for one product; the app does it for your actual log.
- Beyond-use dates. Reconstitution date plus the interval, capped by the vial’s printed expiry. The storage calculator exists because people get this wrong in their heads.
- Reminders. A spreadsheet does not notify you. A missed weekly dose is the most common gap in any log.
- Units. The FDA and a poison-centre case series have both documented people drawing ten times the intended semaglutide dose because the prescription was in milligrams, the vial in mg/mL, and the syringe in units. A free-text spreadsheet cell holds “0.5”, “0.5 mg”, “20”, and “20 units” equally happily. A field that only accepts milligrams and computes the units from a stored concentration removes one of the three places the error can enter. It does not remove the other two.
- Inventory. Milligrams left in a vial is a running subtraction that a spreadsheet will do only if you build it.
4. Privacy and Portability
A spreadsheet’s privacy depends on where it lives: a local file is private, a cloud sheet is as private as the account. Peptide Tracker stores logs on the device and exports to PDF, CSV, and TXT, so the record can leave the app in a spreadsheet-readable form at any time. Neither option is more portable than the other in practice; the app just starts structured and exports flat, while the spreadsheet starts flat and stays that way.
5. A Template You Can Paste
Copy this into the first row of a new sheet. One row per event; leave cells blank rather than guessing.
| Date | Time | Product | Concentration (mg/mL) | Dose (mg) | Dose (mcg) | Syringe units (U-100) | Site | Lot / batch | Reconstituted on | BUD (from label) | Expiry (printed) | Side effect | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Three habits make it work. Keep one unit per column and never mix mg and mcg in the same one. Write the concentration on the row where you set up the vial, so the units column can be checked later. Enter a missed dose as its own row, so the gap is visible instead of silent.
If the sheet starts to need formulas for half-life, beyond-use dates, or stock left, that is the point at which the app earns its place. How GLP-1 tracking works describes the record either way.
6. Peptide Tracker vs Spreadsheet FAQ
Is a spreadsheet enough for peptide tracking?
For one product on a fixed weekly schedule, yes. It gets harder when you reconstitute vials, run more than one compound, or want the record to compute things like days left on a vial or how much drug is still on board. Those are the cases the app was built for.
Does an app stop me from making mistakes?
No. Any record is only as good as what you type into it. The app narrows the ways a mistake can happen, by fixing the unit per field and doing the arithmetic, but it cannot check whether the number you entered is the one you injected.
Can Peptide Tracker export records?
Yes. Peptide Tracker exports to PDF, CSV, and TXT, so a log started in the app can be opened in any spreadsheet later.
Does Peptide Tracker give medical advice?
No. It stores what you enter, does arithmetic on it, and reminds you. It does not prescribe, diagnose, or interpret treatment.