Concepts and technologies are described herein for progressive loading for web-based spreadsheet applications. In accordance with the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a user device can access data from a remote source such as a server computer. The user device can determine dimensions of a viewport corresponding to a viewable portion of the data, a window associated with the viewport, and a preloaded area associated with the window. The user device can request the data associated with the window and the preloaded area and store the data in a cache associated with the user device. The cached data can be used by the user device to generate UIs for displaying the spreadsheet. If the user device detects movement of the viewport, the user device can render a new UI in response to the movement. The user device also can be configured to update and/or clean the cache.