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Microsoft Excel

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The spreadsheet most financial models are actually built in, now with Copilot

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Microsoft Excel screenshot See all screenshots
  • Deployment Cloud Based, SaaS, On Premise
  • Starting price Not published
  • Free trial Available
  • Best for Freelancers, Small Business, Medium Business

What is Microsoft Excel?

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application for analysing, understanding and visualising data, available free online for collaborative use and as part of Microsoft 365 with Copilot built in, which can edit formulas, tables and formatting on instruction and conduct data analysis. It runs on the web, Windows, macOS and mobile.

Excel remains where most financial models genuinely live, and any assessment of financial modelling software has to start from that rather than around it. A model is a set of assumptions someone else must be able to inspect, question and adjust, and a spreadsheet is legible to every finance professional in a way a purpose-built platform is not. The dedicated tools compete on version control, collaboration and auditability, all of which are real weaknesses, but none of which outweighs universality on their own.

Copilot inside the grid is the change worth understanding. Describing an intended calculation rather than writing the formula lowers the barrier considerably, and it also means a model can contain logic its author did not verify, which is a new failure mode for a document whose entire value is that the reasoning is inspectable.

The free web version matters for collaboration, since a model shared with someone without a licence is otherwise a screenshot.

Key Features of Microsoft Excel

  • Spreadsheet modelling and analysis
  • Formulas and functions library
  • PivotTables and data analysis
  • Charting and visualisation
  • Copilot for formula and table editing
  • AI-assisted data analysis
  • Free web version
  • Collaborative co-authoring
  • Power Query data connections
  • Windows, macOS, web and mobile
  • Templates for financial models
  • Integration across Microsoft 365

Microsoft Excel Pricing

Not published

Not published

A free online version is available. The full application is sold within Microsoft 365 plans rather than separately, with rates on Microsoft’s own pricing pages.

Microsoft Excel Specifications

Deployment
  • Cloud Based
  • SaaS
  • On Premise
Desktop
  • Windows
  • Mac
  • Web App
Mobile
  • iOS
  • Android
Built for
  • Freelancers
  • Small Business
  • Medium Business
  • Large Enterprise
Support
  • Email
  • Phone
  • Knowledge Base
Public API
Yes
Free trial
Yes
Free plan
No
Runs in browser
No
Customisable
No
Website
microsoft.com

Microsoft Excel Screenshots

Used Microsoft Excel? Write the first review.

Microsoft Excel FAQs

A free online version is available. The full application is sold within Microsoft 365 plans rather than separately, with rates published on Microsoft's own pricing pages.

A model is a set of assumptions someone else must inspect and adjust, and a spreadsheet is legible to every finance professional in a way a purpose-built platform is not.

Version control, collaboration and auditability, which are real weaknesses in spreadsheets, but none of which outweighs universality on its own.

Describing an intended calculation rather than writing it lowers the barrier, and it also means a model can contain logic its author did not verify, which is a new failure mode.

A model shared with someone without a licence is otherwise a screenshot, so free collaborative access changes who can participate in reviewing it.