Microsoft Excel vs Sheet2API (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick Microsoft Excel: it is second in our ranking of spreadsheet and database tools, and it grades higher too, 3.4 against 1.8.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Microsoft Excel grades higher on value for money, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheet app sold with Microsoft 365, free in the browser
Sheet2API
Hosted JSON API for Google Sheets and Excel Online spreadsheets
Which one is for you
Pick Microsoft Excel if
- Fits if you need a full desktop spreadsheet on Windows or Mac and will pay $9.99 a month
- Works for analysts who work in PivotTables, Power Query and Python
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want the desktop app without paying, as only the web and phone versions are free
- Not for you if your workbooks run on macros and you work in a browser, where they open but don't run
- Pricey if Excel is the only app you want, since $9.99 a month pays for Word, PowerPoint and Outlook too
- Watch out: Copilot needs a paid plan, has usage limits, and on shared plans works for the subscription owner only
- Watch out: Business Basic has only web and phone Excel, business trials need a card, and Office 2024 gets no upgrade
Pick Sheet2API if
- Fits if your data is in Excel Online and you need it as an API
- Works for people who want a one-time Lifetime licence at £249.99 over a subscription
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you won't give a card up front, as every trial needs one
- Pricey if you need more than 5 APIs, since Pro is £49.99 and Elite £129.99
- Watch out: at 100% of your quota the API returns 429 errors until the next cycle
- Watch out: the APIs stop serving when a paid plan ends, and the page was unclear on monthly or annual billing
How we grade them
| 3.4GPAMicrosoft ExcelVery good | 1.8GPASheet2APIWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CMicrosoft 365 Personal is $9.99 a month, which is exactly the middle price in this category, so an ordinary deal rather than a good one, although Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, 1 TB of storage and Copilot come along. Office Home 2024 is $179.99 once for one PC or Mac, with no upgrade to the next release. | D£29.99 a month for 5 APIs and 10,000 requests, with prices only in pounds. That is above the $29 where the dearer quarter of spreadsheet tools starts. |
| Free plan and trial | BExcel for the web is free for one person, with sharing, real-time collaboration and 5 GB of cloud storage, and the free plan covers iOS and Android too. What's missing: some desktop features, and macros that open in a browser but won't run. | DA 7-day trial that needs a card at checkout, and no free plan. |
| Features | AIt covers the whole job and then some things no rival here has: PivotTables with slicers and timelines, Power Query for pulling in and reshaping outside data, Python formulas running pandas and Matplotlib in the grid, co-authoring, templates in over 40 categories, and Copilot on paid plans. | CGoogle Sheets and Excel Online, search and filter, caching, custom domains and private sheets on Pro. A smaller job than a spreadsheet app. |
| Ease of use | A4.75 from 1,468,663 App Store ratings, which clears our bar on both counts, and most people have met Excel somewhere already. Templates give you a ready-made start. Its own phone reviewers do grumble that the iPad app leaves out desktop features like data validation. | CA web service where you connect sheets and call the API; no store rating on record. |
| Platforms and integrations | AThe full set: web, Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android, hooked into OneDrive, SharePoint, Power BI, SQL Server and Anaconda. The desktop apps go deepest, and Power Query on Mac and the web is newer than on Windows. | BWeb service for Google Sheets and Excel Online with an API, but no desktop or phone apps. |
| Best for | serious number work on Windows or Mac | an API for Google Sheets or Excel Online |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Microsoft Excel and Sheet2API. How we grade
Price against what you get
Microsoft Excel starts at $8.33 a month when paid by the year and scores 4.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Sheet2API starts at about $40.18 a month and scores 2.3.
Microsoft Excel scores higher and starts $31.85 a month lower. Of the other spreadsheet and database tools on the chart, none scores higher than Microsoft Excel for less, and 24 score higher than Sheet2API for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Microsoft Excel also covers templates.
- Sheet2API also covers no-code and forms.
At a glance
| Microsoft Excel | Sheet2API | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $9.99 / month, or $99.99 / year (Microsoft 365 Personal) | £29.99 per month, billed monthly (£24.99 billed annually) |
| Free plan | Excel for the web is free for 1 person, with sharing, real-time collaboration and 5 GB of cloud storage. Microsoft lists the free plan as working on web, iOS and Android. | None |
| Free trial | 1-month free trial of the Microsoft 365 home and business plans; business trials need a credit card. | 7-day free trial on every plan; card required at checkout |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Microsoft | sheet2api |
| Price read from | microsoft.com | sheet2api.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Microsoft Excel
- The Windows and Mac apps need a Microsoft 365 subscription or a one-time Office purchase; only the web and mobile versions are free.
- Excel for the web and the mobile apps have many, but not all, desktop features; macro-enabled workbooks open in a browser but the macros do not run.
- Copilot needs a paid subscription, has usage limits, and on shared plans works for the subscription owner only.
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($7.00 per user / month paid yearly, or $5.40 without Teams) includes only the web and mobile versions of Excel.
Sheet2API
- Prices are listed in pounds sterling only, and the page was unclear on whether the figure shown is monthly-billed or annually-billed.
- At 100% of a plan's request quota the API stops and returns 429 errors until the next billing cycle or an upgrade.
- Every trial needs a card at checkout; it is charged unless cancelled within 7 days.
- Spreadsheet APIs stop serving requests when a paid plan ends.
Key features
Microsoft Excel
- Copilot in Excel
- Edits formulas, tables and formatting from a written request and suggests formulas for the data. It needs a Microsoft 365 subscription and a workbook saved to OneDrive with AutoSave on.
- PivotTables and charts
- PivotTables calculate, summarize and analyze data to show comparisons, patterns and trends, and work with PivotCharts, slicers and timeline controls.
- Power Query
- Imports or connects to external data from files, databases, the web and Azure, then reshapes it before loading. It is available in Excel for Windows, Mac and the web; support on Mac and the web is newer than on Windows.
- Python in Excel
- Python formulas run in the grid using Anaconda libraries such as pandas and Matplotlib. It comes with eligible Microsoft 365 plans; a $24 per user / month add-on gives faster premium compute.
- Co-authoring
- Several people can work in one workbook stored in OneDrive or SharePoint Online and see each other's changes within seconds. In the Windows and Mac apps this requires a Microsoft 365 subscription.
- Templates
- Microsoft offers free Excel templates in more than 40 categories as ready-made starting points for common spreadsheets.
Sheet2API
- Google Sheets and Excel Online
- Both Google Sheets and Excel Online workbooks can be turned into JSON APIs, and the site lists code examples for each.
- Search and filter
- Search functionality is built into the API, and the site says changes in the spreadsheet reflect in the API immediately.
- Security and caching
- HTTPS and optional API key authentication come on all plans; the vendor says caching is handled for you, standard on Starter.
- MCP server for AI agents
- The site says Sheet2API works with AI agents via MCP and lists an MCP server among its tools.
- Custom domains and private sheets
- Custom domains and private sheet support are listed from the Pro plan upward.
- Form and CMS use cases
- Listed uses include sending HTML form submissions to a sheet, spreadsheet-as-CMS and rendering a sheet as a list on a website.
Plans
Microsoft Excel
Free$0
Excel for the web for 1 person, with sharing and real-time collaboration and 5 GB of cloud storage. Works on web, iOS and Android.
Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99
per month, or $99.99 per year
1 person signed in on up to 5 devices, 1 TB of cloud storage, and the Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook desktop apps with Copilot.
Microsoft 365 Apps for business$10.00
per user / month, paid yearly
Desktop versions of Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook for up to 300 employees, with 1 TB of cloud storage per user.
Microsoft 365 Family$12.99
per month, or $129.99 per year
Everything in Personal for 1 to 6 people, with 1 TB of storage per person. AI features are for the subscription owner only.
Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99
per month, or $199.99 per year
Everything in Family, plus extensive Copilot usage and agentic AI features such as advanced research and analytics.
Office Home 2024$179.99
one-time purchase for 1 PC or Mac
Classic 2024 desktop versions of Excel, Word, PowerPoint and OneNote, with no upgrade path to the next major release.
Sheet2API
Starter£29.99
per month for 5 APIs, billed monthly (£24.99 billed annually)
5 APIs and 10,000 requests a month, with standard support and standard caching.
Pro£49.99
per month for 20 APIs, billed monthly (£39.99 billed annually)
20 APIs and 50,000 requests a month, with priority support, custom domains and private sheet support.
Elite Plan£129.99
per month for 50 APIs, billed monthly (£110.99 billed annually)
Everything in Pro with 50 APIs, 500,000 requests a month and an SLA guarantee.
Lifetime Access£249.99
one-time
All Pro plan features with lifetime updates and no recurring fees.
Ways to pay less
Microsoft Excel
- Annual discount
Save up to 17% by paying yearly
Microsoft 365 Personal is $99.99 a year against $9.99 a month, Family $129.99 against $12.99 and Premium $199.99 against $19.99.
- Education
Students save 50% on Microsoft 365 Personal
Verified college and university students get Microsoft 365 Personal at half price. Student status has to be re-verified each year to keep the discount.
- Education
Office 365 A1 free for eligible schools
Educators and students with an eligible education email address get Office 365 A1 at no cost, which includes the web versions of Excel and the other core apps.
- Nonprofit
Nonprofit staff pricing on Microsoft 365 E3
Eligible nonprofits can buy Microsoft 365 E3, with desktop, web and mobile versions of Excel, for $9.75 per user / month paid yearly.
- Lifetime license
Office Home 2024 one-time purchase
$179.99 buys the classic 2024 desktop versions of Excel, Word, PowerPoint and OneNote for 1 PC or Mac, with no subscription.
Sheet2API
- Annual discount
20% off with annual billing
The pricing page labels annual billing as 20% off; the annual rates in its script are £24.99, £39.99 and £110.99.
- Education
100% discount for the educational sector
The FAQ says educational users who publish their work with Sheet2API can contact the vendor for a 100% discount.
- Lifetime license
Lifetime Access plan
A one-time payment of £249.99 includes all Pro features, lifetime updates and no recurring fees.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Microsoft Excel or Sheet2API?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Microsoft Excel is cheaper to start with: $8.33 a month when paid by the year, against about $40.18 a month for Sheet2API. Microsoft Excel starts at $9.99 / month, or $99.99 / year (Microsoft 365 Personal), and Sheet2API starts at £29.99 per month, billed monthly (£24.99 billed annually).
Which has a free plan, Microsoft Excel or Sheet2API?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Microsoft Excel has a free plan. Sheet2API does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Microsoft Excel and Sheet2API run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Microsoft Excel lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.