Microsoft Excel vs Univer (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 1.6.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 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
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 Univer if
- Fits if you build a product that needs a spreadsheet editor inside it
- Makes sense if you need an Apache-2.0 core you can host yourself
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a spreadsheet to use, as it is a developer toolkit
- Pricey if you are small, since a production licence starts at $99 a month
- Tight if you stay on Freemium, as it adds watermarks and feature limits
- Watch out: a Business licence covers one main domain and its subdomains
- Watch out: licences run 1 to 12 months with no automatic renewal
How we grade them
| 3.4GPAMicrosoft ExcelVery good | 1.6GPAUniverWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | DBusiness starts at $99 a month, or from $1,000 a year, against $12 in the middle of spreadsheet tools and $65 for the dearest tenth. Model services and infrastructure are extra. |
| 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. | CThe open-source core is free and the Freemium tier is for development and testing, with watermarks and 10 exports a month. Production use is paid. |
| 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. | DAn SDK for sheets, docs and slides, a server component and an AI SDK. It needs an application built around it, and the open core lacks charts, pivots and real-time collaboration. |
| 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. | DNo store rating on record. A developer installs the packages and writes the integration. |
| 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 components for React, Vue and Angular. No desktop or phone app is listed. |
| Best for | serious number work on Windows or Mac | developers embedding spreadsheets, docs and slides in an app |
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 Univer. 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. Univer starts at $83.33 a month when paid by the year and scores 1.7.
Microsoft Excel scores higher and starts $75 a month lower. Of the other spreadsheet and database tools on the chart, none scores higher than Microsoft Excel for less, and 37 score higher than Univer 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
- Univer is open source and self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Microsoft Excel also covers templates.
- Univer also covers AI agents.
At a glance
| Microsoft Excel | Univer | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $9.99 / month, or $99.99 / year (Microsoft 365 Personal) | $99 per month, or from $1,000 per year 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. | Freemium: commercial SDK capabilities with watermarks and feature limits, for development and testing. Includes 10 exports a month. |
| Free trial | 1-month free trial of the Microsoft 365 home and business plans; business trials need a credit card. | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Microsoft | Univer |
| Price read from | microsoft.com | univer.ai |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 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.
Univer
- It is a developer SDK, not a ready-made spreadsheet app for end users.
- Production use requires Business or Enterprise; the Freemium tier adds watermarks and feature limits.
- A Business license covers one main domain and its subdomains; other domains need separate licenses.
- Model services and infrastructure costs are not included in the license fee.
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.
Univer
- Spreadsheets, docs and slides SDK
- Web SDK embeds Office-style editing in a product; Business adds charts, pivot tables, printing and an advanced formula engine.
- Server SDK
- Handles real-time collaboration, history and Office file import and export in your own environment.
- AI SDK
- Lets agents read and edit Office content and collaborate with people. It includes no model; you connect your own.
- File formats
- Sheets import XLS, XLSX, CSV and TSV and export XLSX, CSV and TSV; the vendor warns unsupported elements may be dropped in conversion.
- Customizable interface
- A plugin architecture for toolbars, menus and components written in React, Vue 3 or Web Components.
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.
Univer
Freemium$0
Watermarks and feature limits; meant for development and testing, with 10 exports a month.
Business$99
per month and up, or from $1,000 per year billed annually
Self-hosted Office SDK for production: 25+ editing connections, 5,000+ exports a month, one main domain and its subdomains. Licenses run 1 to 12 months with no automatic renewal.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited editing connections and exports, distributed deployment and advanced support.
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.
Univer
- Annual discount
Annual license from $1,000
The pricing page lists Business from $99 a month, or from $1,000 a year billed annually.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Microsoft Excel or Univer?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Microsoft Excel is cheaper to start with: $8.33 a month when paid by the year, against $83.33 a month when paid by the year for Univer. Microsoft Excel starts at $9.99 / month, or $99.99 / year (Microsoft 365 Personal), and Univer starts at $99 per month, or from $1,000 per year billed annually.
Which has a free plan, Microsoft Excel or Univer?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Microsoft Excel and Univer have a free plan.
Which platforms do Microsoft Excel and Univer run on?
As of Nov 12, 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.