Equals vs Microsoft Excel
Equals and Microsoft Excel are both databases & spreadsheets tools. Equals is aimed at small businesses and developers, while Microsoft Excel is aimed at small businesses and enterprise. Microsoft Excel costs less, from $9.99/mo versus $2000/mo for Equals. Only Microsoft Excel has a free plan.
Spreadsheet connected to your database and Stripe
The standard spreadsheet for analysis, modeling and reporting
| Pricing | Paid · $2000 | Freemium · $10 |
| Starting price | $2000/mo | $9.99/mo |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Free trial | — | 30 days |
| Built for | Small businesses, Developers | Small businesses, Enterprise, Freelancers |
| Platforms | web | web, macos, windows, ios, android |
| Country | US · 2021 | US · 1985 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Equals if
Startup finance and ops teams.
- Live data
- Versioning
- Finance-friendly
Look elsewhere if: Casual users.
Choose Microsoft Excel if
Finance, accounting and analyst teams that need the deepest spreadsheet features and the industry standard file format.
- Industry standard skills and file format
- Unmatched depth for financial modeling and analysis
- Handles large datasets on the desktop
Look elsewhere if: Teams that mostly collaborate live in the browser on simple sheets (Google Sheets) or need a relational database with views (Airtable).
Equals vs Microsoft Excel pricing
Equals
- Essential$24k/yearUnlimited seats, 3 connectors, 6-hr sync
- Business$36k/year5 connectors or warehouse, 1-hr sync, writeback
- Enterprise$60k/yearUnlimited connectors, 15-min sync, Enterprise SSO
Microsoft Excel
- Excel for the web$0Free with a Microsoft account, reduced feature set
- Microsoft 365 Personal$9.99/mo$99.99/yr; 1 person, desktop apps, Copilot, 1 TB
- Microsoft 365 Family$12.99/mo$129.99/yr; up to 6 people, 1 TB each
- Microsoft 365 Premium$19.99/mo$199.99/yr; higher Copilot limits and advanced AI
- Office Home 2024$179.99/one-timePerpetual Excel, Word, PowerPoint for 1 PC or Mac
Equals · Key features
- Live SQL queries in sheets
- SaaS integrations
- Versioning
- Scheduled reports
- Dashboards
- Familiar spreadsheet
Cons
- High annual contract prices
- Smaller ecosystem
- Requires SQL for best use
Microsoft Excel · Key features
- Dynamic array formulas including XLOOKUP, FILTER and LAMBDA
- PivotTables, PivotCharts and a wide range of chart types
- Power Query to import, clean and reshape data from many sources
- Power Pivot data models for large multi-table analysis
- Python in Excel for analysis and visualization in the grid
- Copilot to generate formulas, analyses and summaries from prompts
Cons
- Advanced features have a steep learning curve
- Web version lacks some desktop features
- Emailed copies lead to version chaos
Equals vs Microsoft Excel: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Equals or Microsoft Excel?
Microsoft Excel starts at $9.99/mo and Equals at $2000/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Equals and Microsoft Excel have a free plan?
Equals has no free plan. Microsoft Excel has a free plan.