Microsoft Excel vs Zoho Sheet

Microsoft Excel

• People who need a full desktop spreadsheet on Windows or Mac
• Analysts working with PivotTables, Power Query and Python
• Households: Microsoft 365 Family covers 1 to 6 people
• Occasional users who only need the free browser version

Zoho Sheet

• Individuals who want a spreadsheet at no cost on web, desktop and mobile
• Teams already using Zoho Workplace, WorkDrive or Zoho One
• Shared spreadsheets where some cells must stay locked

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.

Zoho Sheet

• There is no standalone paid Sheet plan; teams get it through a Zoho WorkDrive, Zoho Workplace or Zoho One subscription.
• The Windows and macOS desktop apps are labeled beta, and the Windows app does not sync offline edits automatically.
• Offline use is available on iPhone but not yet in the iPad app, which Zoho says is under development.
• Organizations without one of those subscriptions pay $10 per device for the Zoho Office desktop apps; the page does not show a billing period.

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.

Zoho Sheet

Real-time collaboration with cell locking

Collaborators edit and comment on a spreadsheet together. Cells can be locked for everyone or for specific people, earlier versions restored, and each change reviewed in the audit trail.

Zia AI assistant

Zia suggests charts and pivot tables for a data set and answers questions about the data in plain English. A ChatGPT-powered option generates sample data, formulas and VBA macro code.

Data cleaning

An automatic Data Cleaning tool finds duplicate entries, missing values and inconsistent data and suggests fixes that are applied with a click.

Charts, pivot tables and functions

More than 35 chart types, a pivot table builder and more than 350 built-in functions, plus custom functions for a team's own logic.

Excel files and VBA macros

Works with XLS, XLSX and XLSM files as well as CSV and TSV. Existing VBA code can be reused, and macros can be recorded or written from scratch.

Data connections

Data Connection pulls records from Zoho apps such as CRM, Books and Campaigns, and from CSV, RSS or HTML sources by URL, and refreshes them on a schedule.

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.

Zoho Sheet

• Free$0

  The version for individuals: spreadsheets on the web and in the mobile and desktop apps, with sharing and real-time collaboration.

• WorkDrive Starter$2.50

  per user / month, billed annually ($3 monthly); min. 3 users

  Zoho WorkDrive with the Zoho Office Suite, including Sheet, and 1 TB of team storage for 3 to 10 users.

• Workplace Standard$3

  per user / month, billed annually ($4 billed monthly)

  Zoho Workplace: Sheet, Writer and Show alongside Mail with 30 GB per user, WorkDrive, Cliq and Meeting.

• WorkDrive Team$4.50

  per user / month, billed annually ($6 monthly); min. 3 users

  3 TB of team storage for 3 to 10 users, a 50 GB upload limit per file and data recovery for up to 120 days.

• Workplace Professional$6

  per user / month, billed annually ($7 billed monthly)

  100 GB of mail storage per user, 1 TB of team file storage, email retention and eDiscovery, and the Connect intranet.

• WorkDrive Business$9

  per user / month, billed annually ($11 monthly); min. 3 users

  5 TB of team storage for 3 to 10 users, custom workflows, data loss prevention policies and an admin audit trail.

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.

Zoho Sheet

• Annual discount

  Lower WorkDrive rates with annual billing

  WorkDrive Starter is $2.50 per user a month billed annually against $3 billed monthly. Team is $4.50 against $6 and Business $9 against $11.

• Annual discount

  Lower Workplace rates with annual billing

  Workplace Standard is $3 per user a month billed annually against $4 billed monthly, and Workplace Professional is $6 against $7.