https://articles.bplans.com/4-free-alternativ...

Google Docs Spreadsheet is Google’s own version of an Excel-like spreadsheet application

Google Docs Spreadsheet looks pretty similar to Excel but as you’ll notice, it actually operates inside your web browser. It has much of the same functionality...

In terms of functionality, OpenOffice is very similar to Microsoft Excel

https://www.scoro.com/blog/11-user-friendly-e...

It looks similar to Excel’s layout and has pretty much the same features

Just like Excel has a VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), Google Apps Script allows additional programming based on Javascript

Scoro KPI dashboard software is like Excel on steroids

It’s not quite the formal Excel functionality

MS Excel Web App is similar to Google Spreadsheet

that has all the basic Excel features

Another cloud-based free Excel alternative that empowers your productivity and enables working in an Excel-like environment creating new spreadsheets and editing documents written in other spreadsheet applications.

It offers functionality that legacy Excel users are familiar with

Are your colleagues native speakers of English? It wouldn't be my first choice (I'd probably say something simpler like it's like Excel/it's similar to Excel/it works in the same way as Excel) but I certainly wouldn't consider it wrong, and if you google 'Excel-like' you'll find plenty of examples.

However, it's worth noting a lot of these articles come from journalists looking for lots of different ways of saying the same thing (namely "it's like Excel") over and over again - such as in articles on '11 User-Friendly Excel Alternatives'. So 'Excel-lite' is perhaps not the most natural way of saying "like Excel", but again, it's a perfectly viable creative alternative.

Ich finde auch einiges an Beispielen :

New Excel-like Features in Spread's .NET Spreadsheet | Spread

https://www.grapecity.com › blogs › new-excel-like-features-spread-net-12

Dec 5, 2018 - Spread.NET 12 includes a wide variety of enhancements that improve performance, upgrading experience, and Excel-like features.

Excel-like editor in WordPress - wpDataTables - Tables and ...

https://wpdatatables.com › documentation › front-end-editing › excel-like-...

An Excel-like spreadsheet editing interface is available both for back-end and front-end editing, and for displaying tables to your site users: popular packages ...

Wo genau soll das Wort denn verwendet werden?

Die Konstruktion "xxx-like" ist durchaus üblich und funktioniert auch hier, allerdings würde ich sie eher als umgangssprachlich einstufen. D.h. für Gespräche, interne Memos oder die hier im Thread erwähnten Blogs/Artikel ist "Excel-like" völlig ok, ich würde es aber nicht auf offiziellen Firmenseiten, Broschüren o.ä. verwenden. (Außer die NES hier sehen das anders?)

Excel-like is absolutely fine from a language PoV. Legally, well, IANAL :-)