Best AI for Excel in 2026: 7 Tools for Mac and Windows

Last updated: October 28, 2026

Every tool on this list can write a formula, explain a number or fill a column. The difference is where the job ends. Many Excel jobs don't stop at the edge of the workbook: the payments are in a bank statement, the proof is in a folder of PDFs, and the result has to go into the CRM or a supplier portal.

For that, Incredible comes first. Hold one key and say the job, and it clicks and types in Excel and in the other apps the data comes from or goes to, on Mac and Windows. For work that stays inside one workbook, ChatGPT for Excel is on every ChatGPT plan, Copilot is built into Excel if your Microsoft 365 plan includes it, and Claude for Excel is made for financial models. Gemini fits teams in Google Sheets, and Julius and Better Analyst analyze files you upload to them.

Incredible is free for 7 days. Try it on your computer.

How we ranked them. Every tool here does useful work on a spreadsheet: formulas, analysis, charts or filled cells. The order weighs how much of a real Excel job each one finishes without you copying data in and out, whether it works in the file you already have, what it costs to start, and whether it runs on both Mac and Windows. Claims about each tool come only from its maker's own website, help pages or pricing page, read on October 28, 2026. Incredible is our product.

1. Incredible: best when the job goes beyond the sheet

Open the files, hold fn on a Mac (or Ctrl and Space on Windows) and say what you want. Incredible works on the spreadsheet on your screen, and across other workbooks, PDFs and websites in the same request. There is no add-in to install and no Copilot licence to buy.

In our recording, it is asked to reconcile a bank statement against an SAP export of open items, with a folder of payment advice PDFs beside them:

"Reconcile every payment against the outstanding items and see what has been paid. Use the payment advices in the folder if you need more detail. Color-code each payment and the items it paid in the same color."

It shows its plan, does the work in the two workbooks and reports back: 15 payments color-coded, 34 of 47 items fully cleared, with a card listing each match so you can check it.

The same key handles the step after the sheet. Say "Enter these orders into our supplier portal" and it reads the rows and fills in the form in your own browser, signed in as you, and asks before anything is sent. The website needs no API or import button.

It can also start a file from nothing, as the Files guide shows: "Create an Excel file tracking this quarter's marketing spend, with columns for date, channel, amount, and notes, and save it to my Desktop." A job you do every week can be taught once and run by name or on a schedule (how teaching works). Incredible runs on macOS 13 or later and Windows 10 or later.

“It’s Copilot on steroids.”

Kyle Rademacher, Office Manager, ProGuard Security Services

Best for: finance, operations and sales people whose spreadsheet work starts or ends in another app. Download it, or read AI for Excel on Mac for more on the Mac.

2. ChatGPT for Excel: best add-in on any ChatGPT plan

ChatGPT for Excel is an add-in that puts ChatGPT in a sidebar next to your workbook. OpenAI's launch post says it became generally available on May 5, 2026, together with ChatGPT for Google Sheets, and its product page lists it for every ChatGPT plan, Free and Go included. You add it from Home, Add-ins in Excel.

It builds a sheet from a description, with formulas included, answers questions across tabs, and finds and fixes errors. OpenAI says it links its answers to the cells it uses, keeps your formulas and formatting, and asks for permission before it changes the workbook, so each edit can be undone. For a file you would rather not open in Excel, ChatGPT itself can analyze an uploaded .xlsx or .csv file and chart it, as its help page describes.

Best for: building, fixing and explaining a workbook, if you already use ChatGPT. How Incredible compares with ChatGPT

3. Copilot in Excel: best if your company already pays for it

Copilot is Microsoft's AI in the Excel ribbon. Microsoft's support page lists three modes: edit, which changes the workbook directly; plan, which proposes the steps for you to review first; and chat, which only answers. It adds and edits sheets, formulas, conditional formatting, charts and PivotTables, and can pull data from other workbooks in OneDrive, SharePoint or on your computer.

All three modes work in Excel on Windows, Mac and the web. On iPad it can chat and plan, and on iPhone and Android only chat; Microsoft says edit mode is rolling out to iPad and iPhone. Microsoft also says Copilot "might not be included with your Microsoft 365 subscription" or may be turned off by your organization.

Best for: teams whose Microsoft 365 plan already includes Copilot, for work inside the workbook.

4. Claude for Excel: best for financial models

Claude for Excel is an add-in in a sidebar. Anthropic's documentation says it answers questions about a workbook with cell-level citations, changes assumptions while keeping formula links intact, traces errors such as #REF! to their cause, and builds or fills in models. It can sort, filter, edit PivotTables and apply conditional formatting, and one conversation can span Claude for PowerPoint, Word and Outlook too.

It runs in Excel on the web, on Windows with Microsoft 365, and on Mac from version 16.46, and needs a Claude Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plan. It does not support data tables, macros or VBA, and Anthropic advises using it only with spreadsheets you trust, since a file from outside can hide instructions.

Best for: analysts who build and audit financial models. How Incredible compares with Claude

5. Gemini in Google Sheets: best if your team works in Sheets

Gemini is built into Google Sheets. Google's help page says it creates tables, formulas, charts and PivotTables, applies conditional formatting and fills ranges. The AI function, =AI() or =Gemini(), writes, summarizes or categorizes text in a cell, and Fill with Gemini completes a column from the rows next to it.

It needs an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan. It works best with native Sheets files, so an Excel file has to be saved as a Google Sheets file first. Google also notes that charts Gemini makes don't update when the source data changes.

Best for: teams who already keep their numbers in Google Sheets.

6. Julius AI: best for charts and statistics from a file

Julius is a web workspace where you upload a spreadsheet and ask about it. Its Excel page lists formulas from plain text, charts, answers to questions about your data, forecasting and data cleaning, with downloads back to CSV or Excel. You work on the uploaded copy, not the workbook open on your computer.

Its pricing page lists a free plan with daily credits, Plus at $20 a month ($16 billed annually), Pro at $45 ($37) and Business at $450 a month for up to 50 team members. Julius says it is SOC 2 Type II compliant.

Best for: analysis and charts from a file, when you don't need the result back in the original workbook.

7. Better Analyst (formerly Formula Bot): best for formulas and dashboards that refresh

Formula Bot is now called Better Analyst. Its Excel AI page says you upload an .xlsx, .xls or .csv file, or paste your data, and ask in plain English for formulas, answers and charts, with no Excel plugin. It also turns PDF bank statements and invoices into spreadsheets, and can rebuild a dashboard or a report on a schedule.

Its pricing page lists a free plan, Starter at $20 a month, Max at $40 per user a month and Business at $80 per user a month.

Best for: people who want formulas explained and a weekly report that rebuilds itself.

Which one to use

• "The data is in PDFs, another workbook or a website, or it has to go into one." Incredible. One request, all the apps.
• "I want an AI in a sidebar in Excel, and I already pay for ChatGPT." ChatGPT for Excel.
• "Our Microsoft 365 plan already includes Copilot." Copilot in Excel.
• "I build and audit financial models." Claude for Excel.
• "We work in Google Sheets." Gemini.
• "I want charts and statistics from a file, or a report that refreshes." Julius or Better Analyst.

The add-ins are good at what happens inside one workbook. Most of the time an Excel job takes goes on the steps around it: opening the other file, finding the PDF, typing the result somewhere else. Matching two files is the common case; see how to compare two Excel files with AI. For the wider field on a Mac, see the best AI for Mac.