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Microsoft Excel vs TickTick

Microsoft Excel and TickTick are both personal productivity tools. Microsoft Excel is aimed at small businesses and enterprise, while TickTick is aimed at freelancers. TickTick costs less, from $4.17/mo versus $9.99/mo for Microsoft Excel. Both have a free plan.

Microsoft Excel

The standard spreadsheet for analysis, modeling and reporting

TickTick

Tasks, habits, calendar and Pomodoro in one

PricingFreemium · $10Freemium · $4
Starting price$9.99/mo$4.17/mo
Free planYesYes
Free trial30 days—
Built forSmall businesses, Enterprise, FreelancersFreelancers
Platformsweb, macos, windows, ios, androidweb, macos, windows, ios, android
CountryUS · 1985CN · 2013
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 TickTick if

Individuals wanting tasks, habits and focus in one app.

  • Feature-rich for the price
  • Built-in habits and focus timer
  • All platforms

Look elsewhere if: Team project management.

Microsoft Excel vs TickTick 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

TickTick

  • Free$09 lists, 99 tasks per list
  • Premium$4.17/moBilled annually at $49.99; 299 lists, calendar views

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

TickTick · Key features

  • Tasks with natural language input
  • Calendar views
  • Habit tracker
  • Pomodoro focus timer
  • Eisenhower matrix
  • Cross-platform sync

Cons

  • UI can feel crowded
  • Team features limited
  • Fewer integrations than Todoist

Microsoft Excel vs TickTick: FAQ

Which is cheaper, Microsoft Excel or TickTick?

TickTick starts at $4.17/mo and Microsoft Excel at $9.99/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.

Do Microsoft Excel and TickTick have a free plan?

Yes, both Microsoft Excel and TickTick have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.

Which is better for small businesses, Microsoft Excel or TickTick?

Microsoft Excel lists small businesses as a core audience, while TickTick is aimed more at freelancers.

Not sure yet?