Bricks Review: AI Spreadsheet, Docs, and Dashboard Builder

Pricing figures updated 6 September 2026: USD prices are converted at the current rate (1 USD ≈ 1.40 AUD, verified 5 September 2026) and shown ex-GST, replacing the retired 1.55 + GST basis. A GST-registered Australian business that supplies its ABN is not charged GST on an imported digital service; other buyers should allow ~10% on top (Methodology).

Verdict (TL;DR): Bricks is the most ambitious tool in this batch. It is not just a formula generator — it is an AI-native workspace where you upload your data and ask it to build a complete dashboard, generate charts, write analysis, and produce reports, all from a single conversational interface. For small business owners who regularly need to turn raw data into something presentable, it can compress hours of work into minutes. The limitations are real: the free tier's 20 monthly AI messages disappear fast, English-only support excludes non-English workflows, the AI message caps on paid plans create anxiety, and your data is processed in the US. At AUD ~$43/seat/month for the Premium plan, it needs to prove its worth in your specific workflow before you commit.

Score: 15/25 — ⭐⭐⭐ Good

Last reviewed: 26 June 2026 by Adam.

What Bricks is

Bricks is an AI-native productivity platform that combines spreadsheets, documents, and visual dashboards in one tool. The premise is that the three things you typically build in three separate applications — an Excel spreadsheet, a PowerPoint deck, and a Word report — can all live in one place, connected to the same data, and generated largely by AI on request.

You upload a CSV, Excel file, or PDF with tabular data, connect it to Bricks, and use a conversational AI interface to ask for outputs: "Create a bar chart showing sales by region," "Write a summary of this data," "Build me a monthly report with key metrics highlighted." Bricks generates the result.

The company is The Bricks Inc., based in San Francisco, California. The product is web-based — no desktop application. It operates independently of Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, though you can import files from both.

What it costs in Australia

Bricks is priced in USD per seat per month. No AUD billing. Prices converted at approximately AUD 1.40 per USD ex-GST for Australian consumers.

Free tier: 20 AI messages per month. This covers the full feature set — spreadsheets, dashboards, documents — but the message cap constrains how much AI-assisted generation you can do. For occasional use or genuine evaluation, 20 messages is enough. For regular business use, it runs out.

At AUD ~$35/seat/month ex-GST for Premium (200 messages), a two-person team is looking at AUD ~$70/month for a combined 400 messages. The unlimited Pro tier at AUD ~$140/seat/month is expensive for a small business.

Annual billing should reduce the monthly equivalent — check thebricks.com/pricing for current rates before subscribing (estimate).

How it works in practice

Bricks operates as a web application. You start a new project, import data (CSV, Excel, or PDF with tables), and then use the AI chat interface to generate outputs.

A request like "Create a sales dashboard with a line chart of monthly revenue, a bar chart comparing product categories, and a table of top-performing SKUs" returns a populated dashboard in 20–40 seconds. The charts are reasonably polished — not pixel-perfect design tools, but professional enough for an internal business report or client presentation.

For data analysis, you can ask questions about your data directly: "Which region had the highest growth rate between Q1 and Q2?" The tool queries the data and returns a written answer with supporting charts.

Bricks also functions as a document editor. You can write reports alongside your data, with charts that update dynamically when the underlying data changes. This is the key differentiation from standalone formula generators: Bricks is a workflow tool, not just a formula helper.

Where the experience falters:

• Once you exhaust your monthly AI message allowance, AI-assisted generation stops entirely until the next billing cycle. On the free plan, 20 messages can disappear in a single working session if you're iterating on dashboard design.
• The tool does not support real-time collaboration with the fluency of Google Docs or Microsoft 365 — some users note that live co-editing feels less responsive than those platforms.
• English-only interface. No support for non-English data labels or documentation.

What it does well

Dashboard generation from raw data is genuinely fast. Upload a clean spreadsheet, describe what you want to see, and a functional dashboard with multiple charts appears in under a minute. For a business owner who typically spends an hour building this in Excel and then copying it into a slide deck, the time saving is material.

The integrated workspace reduces tool-switching. Spreadsheet, charts, and narrative report in one place, all connected to the same data source. When the data updates, the charts and report update with it. This is a meaningful workflow improvement over the typical Excel-to-PowerPoint-to-Word shuffle.

Data is not used for AI training. Bricks' published privacy policy states that user-generated content will never be used to train AI models for general, public, or third-party use. This is a stronger privacy commitment than some competitors offer.

The free tier is functional. Twenty AI messages a month is genuinely enough to evaluate whether Bricks fits your workflow before paying. The full feature set is available on the free plan — you're limited by message volume, not capability.

Reasonable security posture. Data is stored encrypted in transit and at rest [per Bricks' published privacy documentation]. This is standard but worth noting.

What it doesn't do well

AI message caps create friction. This is the most commonly cited frustration from Bricks users. When you're in the middle of iterating on a dashboard and you exhaust your monthly AI messages, you're stuck. The cap applies to all AI-assisted generation — charts, formulas, analysis, formatting. On the free tier, 20 messages is a light day's work. On the Premium tier, 200 messages per seat per month works out to roughly 10 AI requests per working day — manageable, but limiting for intensive projects.

English only. Bricks supports only English. If your business operates in multiple languages, serves non-English-speaking clients, or works with data that contains non-English text, this is a hard constraint.

Premium pricing is significant in AUD. At AUD ~$35/seat/month ex-GST, a three-person team is paying AUD ~$105/month. For a small business evaluating whether an AI dashboard tool is worth it, that's a meaningful commitment.

Data processing is in the US. Bricks is a San Francisco-based company. Your uploaded spreadsheet data is processed on US infrastructure (Bricks has not published a specific data residency statement in publicly accessible documentation at time of review; confirm at thebricks.com/privacy before subscribing). No Australian data residency. Any file you upload — client data, financial records, operational reports — leaves Australia.

Real-time collaboration is not best-in-class. Bricks bills itself as a collaborative workspace, but multiple user reviews note that it does not match Google Docs or Microsoft 365 for live co-editing. If seamless real-time collaboration is a priority, keep your existing tools for that.

Limited customisation. Bricks generates standard chart types and report layouts. Deep customisation of visual design — fonts, precise colour control, custom chart types — is more constrained than a dedicated visualisation tool like Power BI or Tableau.

Australian fit

Bricks is a US product with no Australian presence, no AUD billing, and no published data residency statement for AU users. Your uploaded files are processed in the US. For a tool that asks you to upload your business's operational data, this is a material consideration.

The privacy commitment not to use uploaded data for AI training is meaningful and worth acknowledging. But "not using data for training" is different from "data stays in Australia." Any client files, financial records, or personally identifiable information uploaded to Bricks is subject to US jurisdiction while being processed.

For Australian small businesses using Bricks for internal planning data — marketing performance, product sales by category, operational metrics with no personal data — the risk profile is lower. For anything that includes customer personal information governed by the Privacy Act 1988, or client-confidential financial data, the offshore processing is a real concern.

The English-only limitation also has a practical impact for Australian businesses serving multicultural markets or working with suppliers in non-English-speaking countries.

Australian Fit score: 2/5 — USD pricing, offshore data processing, no AU residency, English-only, no local support.

Alternatives

• Julius AI — conversational data analysis with chart generation and written summaries. Similar AI-first approach; no native document editor but stronger on analysis depth.
• Power BI Copilot — Microsoft's AI-assisted BI tool. Significantly more powerful for structured data analysis; steeper learning curve; better enterprise data governance.
• Hex — collaborative data notebook with AI assistance. Better for teams with SQL skills; less accessible for pure spreadsheet users.

Bottom line

Bricks is the most complete product in this category review. It goes further than any formula generator — it generates dashboards, writes analysis, and replaces the multi-tool workflow many small business owners use today. When it works well, it's impressive.

The constraints are real: message caps that interrupt workflow, English-only support, US data processing, and a Premium price in AUD that requires genuine commitment. The free tier is the right place to start — 20 messages is enough to run a proper evaluation on your actual data.

If Bricks can replace the time you currently spend in Excel plus PowerPoint plus a reporting template, it earns its monthly cost. If your data is sensitive, your team is multilingual, or you need deep customisation, look at alternatives.

Score

Frequently asked questions

How much does Bricks cost in Australia?

Bricks has a free plan with 20 AI messages per month for up to 3 users. The Premium plan costs USD $25 per seat per month, which is approximately AUD $35 per seat per month ex-GST. The Pro plan with unlimited AI messages costs USD $100 per seat per month, approximately AUD $140 per seat per month ex-GST. All pricing is in US dollars with no AUD billing option.

What is the difference between Bricks and a standard spreadsheet tool?

Bricks is an AI-native workspace that combines spreadsheets, documents, and dashboards in one platform. Unlike Google Sheets or Excel, you can ask Bricks in plain English to build a dashboard, create charts, or write a data summary, and it generates the result automatically. It is designed to replace the multi-tool workflow of spreadsheet plus presentation plus report, rather than to add AI functions on top of an existing spreadsheet.

Does Bricks store or use my spreadsheet data for AI training?

Bricks' published privacy policy states that user-generated content will never be used to train AI models for general, public, or third-party use. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. However, Bricks is a US-based company and your data is processed on US infrastructure — there is no Australian data residency. Australians handling personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 should review Bricks' privacy policy before uploading sensitive data.

Sources

• Bricks homepage: https://www.thebricks.com/ — Wayback 19 June 2026
• Bricks pricing page: https://www.thebricks.com/pricing — Wayback 24 August 2026
• Bricks privacy policy: https://www.thebricks.com/privacy-policy — Wayback 24 August 2026
• Bricks plan comparison documentation: https://www.thebricks.com/docs/billing/comparing-bricks-plans — Wayback 10 June 2026
• Bricks company profile (Crunchbase): https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/the-bricks-cc0d
• Third-party pricing summary (Capterra): https://www.capterra.com/p/218778/Bricks-ai/
• AUD/USD conversion rate used: approximately 1.40 (September 2026). Figures are ex-GST: a GST-registered business that supplies its ABN is not charged GST on an imported digital service; other buyers add ~10%.
• Verification notes: Bricks' data residency for Australian users is (unconfirmed) — no specific AU-focused statement found in public documentation. Confirm with Bricks directly or via thebricks.com/privacy before subscribing. Annual pricing discount is (estimate) — verify at thebricks.com/pricing. Enterprise pricing is contact-based.

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