Microsoft Excel vs SeaTable
Microsoft Excel and SeaTable are both databases & spreadsheets tools aimed at small businesses and enterprise. Both have a free plan.
The standard spreadsheet for analysis, modeling and reporting
EU-hosted spreadsheet database and no-code app builder, self-hostable
| Pricing | Freemium · $10 | Freemium |
| Starting price | $9.99/mo | Not published |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 30 days | — |
| Built for | Small businesses, Enterprise, Freelancers | Small businesses, Enterprise, Developers |
| Platforms | web, macos, windows, ios, android | web, linux |
| Country | US · 1985 | DE · 2020 |
| Rating | — | — |
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).
Choose SeaTable if
European teams that want an Airtable-style database with EU hosting or a self-hosted option at a lower per-user price.
- Generous free cloud plan with room for up to 25 users
- Cloud data hosted only in the EU, in German data centers
- Self-hosting option with a free 3-user license
Look elsewhere if: Teams that need the biggest integration ecosystem or very large datasets in a single base (Airtable, NocoDB, Baserow).
Microsoft Excel vs SeaTable pricing
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
SeaTable
- Free€0Up to 25 users, 10,000 rows, 2 GB storage
- Plus€9/user/mo€7 billed annually; 50,000 rows, 50 GB, excl. VAT
- Enterprise€18/user/mo€14 billed annually; unlimited rows, SAML SSO, 100 GB
- Dedicated CloudCustomMinimum 100 users, annual billing, unlimited API calls
- Server (self-hosted)€03-user license free; larger licenses on request
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
SeaTable · Key features
- Grid, Kanban, calendar, gallery and timeline views over linked tables
- No-code App Builder for internal tools, with HTML pages since version 6.2
- Automation rules with AI steps processed on a German AI server
- Python and JavaScript scripting inside bases
- Web forms that write straight into tables
- REST API with Python and JavaScript SDKs, plus Zapier, Make and n8n apps
Cons
- Plus caps you at 50,000 rows in total
- Smaller template library and community than Airtable
- Interface feels less refined than Airtable or Notion databases
Microsoft Excel vs SeaTable: FAQ
Do Microsoft Excel and SeaTable have a free plan?
Yes, both Microsoft Excel and SeaTable have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.