Excel
Excel is Microsoft's spreadsheet program and the tool that much of the business world uses for calculations and planning.
Excel is Microsoft's spreadsheet program and probably the most widely used business software overall. Calculations, budgets, analyses: A significant portion of business operations runs on Excel files.
Typical uses range from liquidity planning and price calculations to pivot analyses of sales data. Its strength lies in its depth: Power Query pulls data from databases and APIs, a single sheet holds up to 1,048,576 rows, and almost anything can be automated with VBA or Python.
Google Sheets is more pleasant for browser-based collaboration, but hits limits sooner with large datasets; Airtable structures relational data more cleanly. Excel's well-known risk: business-critical processes in sprawling, unversioned files that only one person understands.
Ideal for finance, controlling, and any ad-hoc analysis; basic knowledge is essential regardless. For team databases and processes, use Airtable or a proper database before the Excel file becomes a single point of failure. Recurring analyses are better moved to Power BI or Looker Studio.
Functions
- Standard XLSX format, readable by virtually any company
- Capacity of 1,048,576 rows per sheet
- Copilot support for formulas and analysis (additional license)
- Power Pivot and data models for BI tasks without additional software
- Web and mobile versions, free to use in the browser
Core Functions
- Spreadsheet with hundreds of functions for calculations
- Pivot tables for analyzing large datasets
- Charts and conditional formatting for reports
- Power Query for importing data from databases, APIs, and files
- Macros and VBA, up to Python in Excel
Alternatives to
Excel
Smartsheet
Smartsheet is a work management platform with a spreadsheet-style interface that combines familiar tables with powerful automation.
Wrike
Wrike is a work management platform designed for mid-sized and large teams, with a focus on marketing and professional services.
Trello
Trello is a simple Kanban board from Atlassian: just drag and drop cards across lists, get up and running in minutes, and use it for free.
monday.com
monday.com is a colorful Work OS toolkit that lets teams manage projects, processes, and tasks on vibrant boards.