Microsoft Excel vs Notion

Google Workspace

Google Sheets

Microsoft 365

Google Workspace is a suite of applications from Google which offers a number of tools to communicate and collaborate with colleagues, store files, and manage data from all devices.

Google Sheets is a cloud-based spreadsheet platform designed to help businesses of all sizes collaborate with clients and partners to create and edit data on spreadsheets.

Microsoft 365, formerly Office 365, provides web, desktop, and mobile apps for Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Publisher, Skype, OneDrive, Exchange Online, and more

Bookkeeper

Customer support is as easy as a search for what you want to do, and the program is powerful for working through data.  

Excel is a spreadsheet management software program with data analysis tools to help users track and visualize data for greater insight and more ways to share data.

Charting

Collaboration Tools

Commenting/Notes

Customizable Templates

Database Creation

Data Import/Export

Data Visualization

Document Management

Drag & Drop

File Sharing

Multiple Projects

Notes Management

Office Suite

Offline Access

Productivity Tools

Project Management

Real-Time Data

Real-Time Updates

Search/Filter

Task Management

Team Collaboration

Templates

To-Do List

Version Control

What-if Analysis

Reviews for Microsoft Excel come from a wide variety of industries, including Information Technology and Services (6% of reviewers), Education Management (6%), and Computer Software (5%). The most frequent use case for Microsoft Excel cited by reviewers is spreadsheet tasks (90% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Some users say Microsoft Excel offers good value for money when bundled with Microsoft 365 or accessed through educational institutions. However, reviewers feel the subscription model and recurring fees reduce value, especially compared to free alternatives.

Value for money

The Microsoft Excel integrations most frequently cited by reviewers are: Microsoft 365 (a document management product rated 4.8 out of 5 for its integration with Microsoft Excel), Microsoft PowerPoint (a presentation product, 4.6), and Microsoft Power BI (a data visualization product, 4.8).

Integrations

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet solution with key features that include data import/export, data visualization, search/filter, offline access, document management, collaboration tools, and more.

Microsoft Excel

Web-based

iPad

Android

Windows

iPhone

Numbers

Apache OpenOffice

Google Docs

Zoho Sheet

WPS Office

Airtable

Microsoft PowerPoint

Quip

WordPerfect Office

Microsoft 365 Business Basic

Microsoft 365 Apps for business

Microsoft 365 Business Standard

Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Limited security and access controls

Student

The learning curve is steep, sometimes the formulas can malfunction and an error can occur, sometimes it is hard to find the answer you seek for a problem, excel spreadsheets can be vulnerable to security threats

Self Employed

Sensitive information stored in the spreadsheet may not be safe and secured from hackers even when password protected.

50% of reviewers feel negative about Excel’s security and access control. Users report concerns about the vulnerability of sensitive data, especially since password protection is limited and lost passwords cannot be recovered. Some reviewers mention the risk of unauthorized changes, lack of granular access controls, and challenges with managing permissions in collaborative environments. They say Excel is prone to human error and lacks advanced security features found in dedicated database systems. Users also highlight difficulties in consolidating and protecting data, making it less suitable for handling confidential or critical information.

Challenges with large files

Must take Microsoft office overall for the use of all products, Hanging of software while using large datasets, all loss of data and sometimes corruption of data, and the overreliance on the .csv format as .xls format doesn't work with all software,

62% of reviewers feel negative about Excel’s file management, especially when handling large or complex files. Users report frequent slowdowns, crashes, and difficulties with file corruption as datasets grow. Some reviewers say sharing and collaborating on files is cumbersome, with issues around simultaneous editing, version compatibility, and file format limitations. They mention problems with data loss, manual backups, and difficulties recovering deleted or unsaved work. Users find managing large files inefficient, and transferring or exporting data can lead to errors or formatting issues, making file management a significant pain point.

High cost and subscription model

52% of reviewers feel negative about Excel’s pricing. Users express frustration with the shift to a subscription-based model, finding the recurring costs high compared to free alternatives like Google Sheets. Some reviewers dislike that Excel is bundled with other Office products, increasing the price for those who only need the spreadsheet tool. They mention the expense can be prohibitive for individuals, students, and small businesses, and dislike the need for multiple licenses across devices. Users feel the cost is not always justified, especially given the availability of capable free competitors.

Inconsistent version experience

Sr Director

Sharepoint / 365 online version lacks key features, such as inability to easily replace images in cells (right click > change picture from file is not available, curious as it works online with PowerPoint).

42% of reviewers feel negative about Excel’s version updates. Users say frequent interface changes, feature discrepancies between Mac and Windows, and compatibility issues between old and new versions create confusion and inefficiency. Some reviewers mention difficulties finding familiar tools after updates, while others report lost features or altered shortcuts. They find the online and mobile versions lack key functionalities present in the desktop app, and syncing or collaborating across versions can be problematic. Users feel these inconsistencies complicate training, collaboration, and smooth workflow across teams and devices.

Performance and error frustrations

Excel in working life

the most unpleasant thing is that it consumes a lot of resources when executing complex tasks, and if you have another application open it can crash and cause errors in the tasks.

65% of reviewers feel negative about bugs and issues in Excel. Users report frequent crashes, glitches, and slow performance, particularly with large datasets or multiple open files. Some reviewers find error messages confusing and troubleshooting difficult, especially for beginners. They say human errors can easily go undetected, leading to incorrect results, and the software lacks robust error-checking or self-correction features. Users also mention compatibility problems across devices and operating systems, as well as recurring issues with macros and VBA. These technical frustrations disrupt workflow and can result in lost work.

Integral to daily routines

Materials Controller

Basically this is a mandatory useable to everyone because this software can do i lot of things like creating your daily,weekly,monthly and yearly schedule in every aspect also in business this software is very helpful

96% of reviewers feel positive about Excel’s daily use, noting it as an essential tool for both personal and professional tasks. Users say they rely on Excel for everything from managing schedules and tracking daily activities to automating repetitive work with macros. Some reviewers find it supports a wide range of functions, from simple calculations to complex business operations. They appreciate how it streamlines daily routines, improves productivity, and adapts to various needs, whether for data analysis, project management, or record keeping. Users feel Excel’s versatility makes it indispensable in their everyday workflow.

Robust reporting tools

Field Manager

It takes me half as much time to complete the same tasks as my colleagues using alternative statistical tools. And for the preparation of reports with a high number of tables, I prefer doing everything in Excel over MS Word.....due to advanced versatility it offers me in formatting layouts and content structure.

96% of reviewers feel positive about Excel’s reporting capabilities. Users indicate Excel enables them to generate detailed reports, charts, and dashboards that support data-driven decision-making. They appreciate the ability to manipulate and format data, automate report generation, and integrate information from various sources. Some reviewers highlight the usefulness of pivot tables, macros, and templates for creating professional, customized reports. Users find Excel essential for financial analysis, operational summaries, and sharing insights with teams or management, valuing its efficiency and flexibility in producing meaningful reports.

Versatile information organization

98% of reviewers feel positive about Excel’s organizational capabilities. Reviewers indicate Excel helps them efficiently manage lists, schedules, and large datasets for both work and personal use. They say its customizable spreadsheets, categorization features, and integration with other software make it easy to keep information orderly and accessible. Some users report it saves time on repetitive tasks and enhances collaboration by allowing teams to maintain structured records. Users appreciate the ability to organize complex projects, inventory, and even household tasks, finding Excel invaluable for keeping information clear and well-structured.

Project Manager

in my day to day activities i'm able to pull data from other software into an excel document and manipulate the vast majority of data more easily than clicking multiple links in the software i'm drawing from.

IT EXECUTIVE

Powerful Data Analysis: Users love tools like PivotTables and the 400+ available functions for data modeling, along with quick data visualization through charts, color coding, and data bars.

Benefits and Compliance Manager

Creating functions in which you request excel to analyze and count data between dates such as analyzing the length of time between specific dates can be a bit more difficult than other types of functions.

Engineer

What I liked most about Microsoft Excel is that it is very powerful for organizing data, making calculations, and creating tables and charts in a clear and efficient way.

Director for sales and business development

It runs smoothly most of the time, works well on my phone when I’m not in the office, and helps me keep my business records, reports, and numbers organized without stress.

Compliance Manager

Features like Power Query, and PivotTables, and the integration of Copilot has also made writing complex nested formulas a thing of the past.

IT Systems Analyst

The fact that allows me to d data analysis and it helps us to draw complete tables making easy to showcase results to the clients.

Embedded software engineer

What I like least about Microsoft Excel is that complex spreadsheets can quickly become difficult to manage and understand, especially when they contain many formulas, links, or multiple sheets. If they are not organised well, it can be easy to make mistakes or lose track of how certain results were calculated.

Vice President of Sales and Operations

We have schedules, quotes, order forms and monthly reports all in Excel that we use for various daily activities.

Customer Service Administrator

Features like Pivot Tables and XLOOKUP make slicing and dicing data incredibly efficient. Because it is almost always bundled with Microsoft 365, the value is exceptionally high.

It works for simple lists, complex calculations, reporting, data analysis, charts and everyday business planning.

Performance Issues with Large Data: Excel struggles with very large datasets, becoming sluggish, freezing, or crashing when handling hundreds of thousands of rows or complex formulas

Accounts officer

The formulas, filters, and conditional formatting let you turn raw details into something visual and logical, and that sense of clarity is something you really value.

While powerful, there is a breaking point. If you load a workbook with too many volatile formulas, complex formatting, or hundreds of thousands of rows, it can become sluggish, freeze, or crash entirely.

Owner

From dashboards to simple and complex data analysis, our team lives and dies by our ability to operate and manage within Excel.

Case Manager Assistant

Microsoft excel is a self-taught tool on how to balance your work whether it be finance, clients data, keeping up with provider contacts or simply just having easy access to information.

School Administrator

The mobile app is pretty much worthless for us when writing budget spreadsheets - don't have half the columns on my phone during board meetings.

Business Administrator

It is a tool I use daily for reporting purposes, as well as running macros I have set up, which organize my data in certain columns to produce text files for my job.

Executive Assistant

With its many effective and useful functionalities and features such as the Math equations like SUM, AVERAGE, IFS AND COUNTIFS; the text and lookup functions like the Vlookup and Trim.

Graphic Designer

It makes organizing, analyzing, and visualizing data straightforward with powerful formulas, pivot tables, and charts.

Product Marketing Manger

Customizable datasheets, tables, formulas, search within sheets and in columns, automation options, and sorting functions.

Data analyst

VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP are my favorite features since they make merging and comparing various datasets quite simple.

IT Operations Manager

A staple for businesses and used for everything from financing, inventory tracking, sorting, and data visualization.

Senior IT Engineer

Its inbuilt capabilities enable me to match thousands of rows within a short time and identify missing transaction or duplicate entries.

It allows to build tracking tables, schedules, budgets, or even HR reports very quickly.

Payment Processor

Excel is a powerful, versatile tool for data management, analysis, and visualization, ideal for small to medium-sized projects and widely accessible.

Director of Implementation

The wat you can organize data, create pivot tables, add formulas, and alot of other neat features makes excel an extremely valuable tool.

Senior sales associate

The most I like about excel is the built in commands and controls you can use to easily organize, populate, and navigate data!

Developer Web Apps etc.

Offers many many ways of formating and presenting data, including complex spreadsheets - at least far more complex than I would ever use.

Finance Director

Microsoft Excel is a core tool in my daily work for financial analysis, budgeting, and reporting.

You didn’t enjoy the moments where a sheet became cluttered, or when you had to dig through menus to find a basic function that should’ve been easier to access. And when something didn’t calculate the way you expected, it could be frustrating because Excel doesn’t always explain what went wrong it just gives you an error and leaves you to figure it out.

Office Finance Manager

From building reconciliations, trackers and forecasting to then having the ability to analyze that data.

Financial Accountant

It helps me organize information clearly, and I really like the automatic calculations and visual tools like conditional formatting and graphs.

Lawyer

There are many great features, one of which the automatic calculations - with complex financial matters in family law, this is quite important.

Sales Education Associate

I like al the detailed functions that you have the ability to use, from drop down menus to setting up strict rules and formulas, there are endless things you can do on excel all in one platform.

Quality Technician

It is a powerful tool for organizing, analyzing or visualizing data, whether for simple asks or complex projects.

It is fundamental for our accounting but is also important for tracking in other roles. While getting the most use of the functions requires a high level of Excel knowledge, it is still a must-have!

After all these years, I still have irritating issues with points and commas and when I import csv data, most of the time the columns with dates are wrong.

Senior Manager

My least favourite part of excel is the lack of data refinement tools, where excessive data can slow the program significantly.

Autonomous Remote Assistant

Microsoft Excel is extremely reliable and is the best program for me in managing, sorting, and calculating numbers and data.

Instructional Designer

A high number of spreadsheets slows down the performance, and some complex formulas can cause issues when working through linked spreadsheets.

Admin

I've used open-source knockoffs, and I've tried Google Sheets, but they don't come close to the level of customization and the power that you can rope in with Excel.

What I like least about Microsoft Excel is that it sometimes glitches when trying to print to PDF and ends up corrupting the file.

Projects manager

It is part of the Microsoft 365 package and due to that is inexpensive. Although I have used a m0bile version and had no issue with it, I tend to use it on the computer due to the larger screen size.

The AI integration makes it even more helpful, especially for understanding data, creating formulas and working faster.

Excel has excellent and all encompassing capabilities when it comes to creating tables, lists, and analyzing numbers.  

This allows me to track vendor costs and revenue generated from my production.

Researcher

It can be confusing to try and do some of the equations to make calculations between columns. If you make a mistake it can change all of the data

WMS Administrator

For instance, when researching online how to perform a specific task within Excel, you may often find that a toolbar looks different on your version than what the instructions appear to show.

Sales Coordinator

Excel allows to build a database for visualizing data and making graphics.

Data Management

Formulas

Charts and Graphs

Tables and Pivot Tables

Accounting and Finance

Budgeting

Features

Tracking

Version Updates

Large Enterprises

Freelancers

Small Business

Mid-size Business

Microsoft

Trello

Trello is a project management tool that helps teams organize and manage their tasks. It caters to a range of industries and teams, from marketing to engineering. Trello's simple and intuitive interface makes it easy for any team to get started and stay on top of their work.

Jira

Jira is project tracking software that helps every team collaborate to plan, track, and release work by breaking down big ideas into achievable steps. Jira offers features like task organization, work alignment to goals, customizable workflows, and real-time data insights to optimize outcomes.

Asana

Asana Starter Plan provides growing teams with project management tools to track progress and meet deadlines. The plan includes workflow automation features, custom project templates, forms for standardized work requests, and rules for routine task management. It also offers visualization tools like Gantt and timeline views, plus AI-powered features for status updates and project organization.

Chief Solution Architect

Notion gets a little bit expensive when your team scales up and their customer service is a little bit slow.

Notion is a project and workflow management solution that helps businesses streamline operations related to goal setting, status tracking, lead management, and more on a centralized platform. It enables users to utilize the drag-and-drop interface to organize, rearrange, and develop ideas or plans.

Microsoft Excel vs Notion Comparison (2026)

Microsoft Excel

Notion

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives