Microsoft Excel vs Willow
Microsoft Excel and Willow are both personal productivity tools. Microsoft Excel is aimed at small businesses and enterprise, while Willow is aimed at freelancers and small businesses. Microsoft Excel costs less, from $9.99/mo versus $15/mo for Willow. Both have a free plan.
The standard spreadsheet for analysis, modeling and reporting
AI voice dictation and writing agent that works in any app
| Pricing | Freemium · $10 | Freemium · $15 |
| Starting price | $9.99/mo | $15/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | 30 days | — |
| Built for | Small businesses, Enterprise, Freelancers | Freelancers, Small businesses, Enterprise, Creators |
| Platforms | web, macos, windows, ios, android | macos, windows, ios |
| Country | US · 1985 | US · 2025 |
| 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 Willow if
Professionals and developers who write a lot of email, chat messages and AI prompts on Mac, Windows or iPhone and want to speak instead of type.
- Works system-wide, so no per-app plugins are needed
- Cleans and formats text instead of producing raw transcripts
- Wally and style memory adapt drafts to email, Slack or prompts
Look elsewhere if: Android users or people who mainly want grammar and style polishing of text they type themselves (Grammarly, Wordtune).
Microsoft Excel vs Willow 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
Willow
- Basic$0Frontier Mini dictation model, 20 Scribe uses per week
- Pro$15/moPer user; Frontier Pro model, unlimited Scribe; $12 billed annually
- Business$35/moEnforced zero data retention, HIPAA, admin; $28 billed annually
- EnterpriseCustomSSO/SAML, invoice billing, MSA and DPA, usage API
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
Willow · Key features
- Hotkey voice dictation into any text field on Mac, Windows and iPhone
- Automatic filler removal, punctuation and app-aware formatting
- 100+ languages with switching, plus whisper and offline modes
- Auto-learning dictionary for names, product terms and abbreviations
- Scribe drafts emails and replies from a spoken brief or rewrites highlighted text
- Wally chat agent that iterates on drafts and learns your style per app
Cons
- No Android app yet; it is listed as coming soon
- Free plan uses a weaker model and caps Scribe at 20 uses a week
- Enforced zero data retention and HIPAA require the $35 Business plan
Microsoft Excel vs Willow: FAQ
Which is cheaper, Microsoft Excel or Willow?
Microsoft Excel starts at $9.99/mo and Willow at $15/mo. Both prices are checked on the vendors' own pricing pages.
Do Microsoft Excel and Willow have a free plan?
Yes, both Microsoft Excel and Willow have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.