How I Built a Free JSON to Excel Converter That Handles Nested JSON

Narinder Kumar — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:20:02 +0000

If you've worked with APIs, you've probably received JSON responses that needed to be shared with non-technical users. While developers are comfortable reading JSON, most business users prefer Excel.

I often found myself converting API responses into spreadsheets for testing, reporting, and debugging. Existing online tools either had file-size limits, required sign-ups, or struggled with nested JSON.

That motivated me to build a free JSON to Excel converter.

Why Convert JSON to Excel?

Here are a few common scenarios:

Export API responses for business teams.
Analyze data using Excel filters and pivot tables.
Share information with clients.
Verify API responses during testing.
Create reports from JSON datasets.

Challenges I Faced

Building a converter sounds simple until you encounter real-world JSON.

Some of the biggest challenges were:

Nested objects
Arrays inside objects
Missing properties
Large datasets
Different data types
Invalid JSON input

A good converter should gracefully handle all of these cases.

My Approach

The converter performs the following steps:

Validate the JSON.
Parse the data.
Flatten nested objects into column names.
Convert arrays into readable values.
Generate an Excel workbook.
Allow users to download the file instantly.

This approach works well for most API responses.

Features

No registration required
Works directly in the browser
Supports nested JSON
Handles arrays
Fast conversion
Free to use

Lessons Learned

Building this project taught me that usability is just as important as functionality.

Helpful error messages, clean output, and a simple interface make a much bigger difference than adding dozens of advanced options.

Try It

If you'd like to try the converter, you can use it here:

https://www.convertonlinetool.com/convert/json-to-excel

I'd love to hear your feedback or suggestions for additional features. If you've built a similar utility, feel free to share your experience in the comments.

DEV Community: Narinder Kumar

How I Built a Free JSON to Excel Converter That Handles Nested JSON