Most market research templates are empty boxes: a SWOT grid, a competitor table, a column for "market size" you're supposed to fill in from somewhere. The hard part, finding a number you can trust, is left to you.
This one comes with data. The Wikipedia Trends Tracker is a free Google Sheet that pulls five years of monthly Wikipedia readers for any two to five topics and charts them. It answers the first market research question before you spend a dollar: is interest in this growing, flat, or shrinking?
The short answer
A free trend research template in Google Sheets should give you real historical interest data, not just empty boxes. The Wikipedia Trends Tracker does this: paste two Wikipedia links and it charts five years of monthly page views from Wikimedia's free API, so you can compare two markets, niches, or products side by side.
What it's good for in market research
- Picking between two niches. Which one has more people interested, and which is growing?
- Checking a market isn't fading. A niche that peaked three years ago is a harder sell than one that's still climbing.
- Timing. Seasonal lines tell you when to launch and when to save your budget.
- Sizing the gap. If the leader gets ten times the readers of the challenger, you know what you're up against.
How to run a quick trend check
- Write the decision you're making in one line, like "Pickleball paddles or padel rackets?"
- Find the Wikipedia article for each option. Use the broadest article that matches your market.
- Get the free template from the Trend Tracker page and make a copy.
- Open the Controls tab. It's the first one.
- Paste both links into Page 1 and Page 2.
- Set Range to All time and Daily or monthly to Monthly.
- Click Fetch views + chart. The first time, Google asks you to allow the script.
- Read three things: which line is higher today, which is growing year over year, and whether either one is seasonal.
- Write your conclusion next to the chart, with the date. Next quarter you'll want to know what you thought and why.
A real example: Pickleball vs Padel vs Tennis
Say you're deciding which racket sport to build a product for. From Wikimedia's API (English Wikipedia, human readers, with Padel's renamed article added together):
- Pickleball had about 1.49 million readers in 2025. Biggest audience, but down from about 2.08 million in 2023.
- Padel had about 819,000 readers in 2025, up every year from about 367,000 in 2022.
- Tennis had about 552,000 readers in 2025, down from about 860,000 in 2023.
Pickleball is the bigger audience. Padel is the one growing. Tennis is the established sport with the fewest curious readers, probably because most people already know how it works. Those are three different businesses. The chart doesn't make the decision for you, but it stops you making it blind.
See the live charts on the Pickleball vs Padel and Pickleball vs Tennis pages.
What it won't tell you
Wikipedia readers measure curiosity, not purchases. A topic people already understand can have fewer readers than its market size suggests, which is exactly what happens with Tennis above. Use this as one signal alongside search data, competitor pricing, and actual conversations with buyers.
FAQ
Is there a free market research template for Google Sheets?
Yes. The Wikipedia Trends Tracker is free on Better Sheets. It's focused on one job: showing real interest over time for any topics you choose.
Can I compare more than two markets?
Yes. Paste up to five and they all go on one chart.
Where does the data come from?
Wikimedia's public pageviews API, the same numbers Wikipedia itself publishes. No account or API key needed.
Check your market before you build. Get the free Wikipedia Trends Tracker and run your first comparison in a minute.
