Microsoft Excel
About Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel pricing
Microsoft Excel has a free version and does not offer a free trial. Microsoft Excel paid version starts at US$6.00/month.
Alternatives to Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel Reviews for UK Users
Feature rating
- Industry: Design
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Comes on many computers and is Fantastic especially if included.
I have used Excel for over 20 years and I have not even scratched the surface of what can be done with it. It can do so many things when you need to make calculations, spreadsheets or do something with accounting. I love it and really for me a numbers guy I think it is fun.
Pros
It is so versatile. I use it instead of Calculator as I can easily see what I am calculating. I have made a simple payroll system with it and have used it for many weekly tax calculations. Calculating using fields from other pages is fantastic. Really anything you need to do with accounting can be done with it.
Cons
Two things if you don't have it free with your computer then you have to buy it and it can be kind of expensive and if you want to be able to collaborate and make on the fly changes with others then you need office 365 and you have to pay monthly you can never own it.
Alternatives Considered
LibreOfficeReasons for Choosing Microsoft Excel
While LibreOffice is the best option for free and that is a software for your computer, my wife ended up getting Microsoft office 365 free from work because of remote work so this is the main reason I have gone to excel as it is a little better and I didn't have to pay for it.Switched From
LibreOfficeReasons for Switching to Microsoft Excel
I do still use google sheets for mine and my wife's budget and we can change it on the fly at the same time if we need online. I used LibreOffice as my main until I got Office 365 from my wife's work. I think Excel is better than the other two in sheer offline and spreadsheet features but not sure I would pay more than about $50 for office 2019 and don't like paying monthly for 365.- Industry: Education Management
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
The Go-To is still the most capable
I enjoy using and learning more about Excel. There are so many ways in which to use it that no review can truly capture the breadth and depth of its capability. When it is frustrating it is because of an inability of process or lack of me as a user being able to achieve what i know to be possible and thus I approach it as a puzzle to be unpacked.
Pros
Excel is a versatile spreadsheet application that continues to benefit from its age, the weight and momentum behind it, and the continued focus on it as core Office app. The variety of applications of this application are what continue make it a winner.
Cons
Stemming from the same positive attributes of its age and flexibility are the downsides to its age and flexibility - its overlapping years of feature additions and subtractions to the building more on top of pre-existing structures mean that somethings need to be unpacked in order to work how you'd like them too and the robustness of the product can be daunting. Knowing that you'll never know ALL that it is capable of and that the best way to achieve anything is to picture it and then hunker down for an evening of searching and learning.
- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Versatile and Essential, But Requires Practice for Advanced Features
Excel is a very useful program that can be applied in many areas of everyday life. However, some of the more advanced features, like pivot tables and complex formulas, can be tricky to master without consistent use. Overall, Excel is a highly versatile product with great functionality.
Pros
Excel makes it easy to create tables, and especially when it comes to financial matters, it's convenient for creating visually clear data. In a typical household, it seems to be useful for organizing and easily looking up records of living expenses.
Cons
To make the most of Excel tables, you need to set up formulas, but if you don't use it frequently, it can be hard to remember how to do it.
- Industry: Education Management
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
I would rather use Numbers for anything and everything.
I have been in educational leadership for over 25 years. For all of that time I have had to run budgets, strategize enrollment projections and much, much more. For the vast majority of that time I had to utilize Excel. It was the go to vehicle for each and everyone of my treasures and book keepers to keep track of our financials. Even when I was setting up documentation on my own, I always turned to excel. However, as an educator with no accounting training I always had to turn to an expert to set up my formulas and interwoven sheets. I knew what I needed them to do, knew that Excel could function that way, but making that happen was well beyond me. It was always very frustrating. After many years I founded my own program and suddenly had no one else to turn to to arrange my tracking systems. I was stuck. I had to figure it out. Or did I? Because I am a Mac user and as I was struggling to set my Excel sheets up, I suddenly and excitedly stumbled upon Numbers. I must say, while Excel can do whatever you want it to, Numbers can do it better, with more intuitive functions. I imagine for an accountant there may be more to this picture, but for a lay user who depends of ease of use, clarity of function and ultimate success, I am happy to leave Excel in my tool bar while I create my budgets, rosters, calendars and more on Numbers.
Pros
For decades Excel was the only way to go. Its ability to utilize formulas to create the documentation we needed was invaluable.
Cons
It is clunky and hard to intuit for novice users. I have always had to impose upon other users to set my sheets up to do what I wanted to do.
- Industry: Broadcast Media
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
The Standard Spreadsheet, But Needs to Change with the Time
Microsoft Excel is a great product that is limited by accessibility.
Pros
I love spreadsheets and Microsoft Excel set the standard for spreadsheets.
Cons
While I have used Microsoft Excel for years, they have not kept up with the changing landscape of team work on the cloud. I need my spreadsheets to be fully accessible in real time by my whole team.