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Fast Excel import/export for Laravel, thanks to Spout. See benchmarks below.

Quick start

Install via composer:

Export a Model to .xlsx file:

Export

Export a Model, Query or Collection:

Export xlsx, ods and csv:

Export only some attributes specifying columns names:

Hide columns from the exported file while still being able to use them inside the callback, using hideColumnsPrefixedWith(). This is handy for callback-only data (lookups, computed flags, etc.) that should not appear as a column:

Columns are hidden from both the header row and every data row. The prefix defaults to _, and any other one can be used — hideColumnsPrefixedWith('tmp_'). Hiding is opt-in: unless you call this method, every column is exported, so columns that already start with an underscore keep working as before.

Download (from a controller method):

Import

import returns a Collection:

Import a csv with specific delimiter, enclosure characters and "gbk" encoding:

Import and insert to database:

Limit the number of data rows imported with limitRows (headers excluded). It works with both import and importLazy:

Start reading at a given row with startRow. On its own, startRow also treats that row as the header row. Use headerRow to read the headers from their real position while data starts further down:

Together with limitRows, that is how a large file is imported in chunks — one slice per job run, each with the correct header names:

headerRow is opt-in: without it, startRow keeps its previous behaviour of using the start row as the header row.

Truncate each imported row after a given column with limitColumns, which takes either a column reference or a number of columns:

This is useful for files where formatting has been applied to entire rows: the spreadsheet then reports thousands of trailing cells that look like real columns, and importing them yields empty column_9, column_10… entries on every row. Those cells are dropped from the imported collection (OpenSpout still parses the sheet). Like limitRows, it works with both import and importLazy.

Keep specific columns (and drop everything else, including middle empties) with onlyColumns. Letters and 1-based indexes can be mixed; order is preserved:

onlyColumns and limitColumns cannot both be active — setting one clears the other. Passing null only clears that setter and leaves the other alone.

Facades

You may use FastExcel with the optional Facade. Add the following line to config/app.php under the aliases key.

``

Using the Facade, you will not have access to the constructor. You may set your export data using the data method.

``

Global helper

FastExcel provides a convenient global helper to quickly instantiate the FastExcel class anywhere in a Laravel application.

Advanced usage

Export multiple sheets

Export multiple sheets by creating a SheetCollection:

Use index to specify sheet name:

Import multiple sheets

Import multiple sheets by using importSheets:

You can also import a specific sheet by its number:

sheet() also accepts a sheet name, so you can select a sheet without knowing its position:

Import multiple sheets with sheets names:

Use withSheetContext() to receive the current sheet name as the first argument of the importSheets callback — handy when the same field names need to be handled differently per sheet:

Export large collections (low memory)

Passing a materialized collection (User::all(), ->get(), collect([...])) loads every row into memory before the export starts, so it grows with the size of the data and a large enough dataset fails outright with Allowed memory size of N bytes exhausted. Feed a lazy source instead and peak memory stays flat, whatever the row count.

Eloquent's cursor() (or ->lazy()) returns a LazyCollection, which FastExcel streams row by row — no wrapper needed:

For any other source, hand export() a generator using yield:

Exporting 1,000,000 rows (4 columns) under a 512 MB memory_limit:

Streaming does not change export speed (that is dominated by the underlying OpenSpout writer) — it is what keeps memory flat so very large files finish at all. transpose() cannot stream, as it must buffer the whole dataset to pivot rows and columns.

Import large files (low memory)

import returns a Collection containing every row, so memory grows with the size of the file. On a file larger than your PHP memory_limit, the default import() fails outright with Allowed memory size of N bytes exhausted. To import a large file without running out of memory, pass a callback and return null — each row is then processed but not accumulated, so memory stays flat:

If the callback returns a value (for example the created model), that value is collected and returned to you — handy for small files, but it keeps every row in memory. Return null when you only need the side effect (e.g. inserting rows).

Importing a 730,000-row file (8 columns), measured under a constrained memory_limit:

Reading speed is the same either way — it is dominated by the underlying OpenSpout parser, not by how the rows are returned. The difference above is memory, which is what lets very large files finish at all.

If you would rather keep working with the rows than process them inside a callback, importLazy returns a LazyCollection that streams rows one at a time — you get the full Collection API while memory stays flat:

importLazy accepts the same optional callback as import, and honors sheet(), withoutHeaders(), and header de-duplication. Transposing (transpose()) is not supported with lazy import.

Add header and rows style

Add header and rows style with headerStyle and rowsStyle methods.

You can also style each header column individually with setHeaderColumnStyles (the header-row counterpart of setColumnStyles). Keys are the zero-based column positions:

Set column widths

Column widths are an OpenSpout writer option, so they are set through configureOptionsUsing. Widths are expressed in Excel's own unit (roughly the number of characters that fit), and column numbers are 1-based:

Use setColumnWidthForRange for a contiguous span:

This works with streaming exports (cursors and generators) as well, since widths are written when the file is finalized rather than per row.

Only xlsx and ods support widths. csv has no notion of column width, and OpenSpout\Writer\CSV\Options does not define setColumnWidth() at all — calling it on a csv export raises Error: Call to undefined method. If the same code path can export either format, guard the call:

Note that widths are explicit — there is no automatic sizing to fit the content.

Export values as strings or numbers

By default numbers are written as numbers and strings as strings. Use stringValues() to force every value to a text cell — handy to keep leading zeros or long numeric IDs (e.g. phone numbers) intact:

Need finer control? setColumnFormat() overrides the type per column and takes precedence over stringValues():

Escape formulas (prevent formula injection)

By default any string starting with = (e.g. =1+2) is written as a live formula cell, which can corrupt the file or enable CSV/formula injection. Call escapeFormulas() to write string values as literal text cells instead:

Skip rows during export

If the export callback returns null or false for a row, that row is skipped entirely and does not appear in the output file:

Use raw OpenSpout Cell instances

For full control over a single cell's type or style, a row value may be an OpenSpout\Common\Entity\Cell instance. It is written through as-is, while the other (scalar) values in the row keep their normal handling:

Why?

FastExcel is intended at being Laravel-flavoured Spout: a simple, but elegant wrapper around Spout with the goal of simplifying imports and exports. It could be considered as a faster (and memory friendly) alternative to Laravel Excel, with less features. Use it only for simple tasks.

Benchmarks

XLSX export of 10,000 rows × 20 columns of random data, average of 10 runs (PHP 8.4, July 2026). Don't trust benchmarks.

FastExcel streams rows through OpenSpout instead of building the whole spreadsheet in memory. Feed it a generator (or importLazy() on the read side) and peak memory stays flat no matter how many rows you export — here about 55× less than Laravel Excel. Reproduce with bench/readme-export-bench.php.

Still, remember that Laravel Excel has many more features.