AI for Excel and Google Sheets: What Actually Works

Search for AI for Excel and you get three answers wearing the same pitch: stop writing formulas, just ask. The reality is three products with different prices, different prerequisites and very different failure modes — and the thing that decides which one you can actually use is usually not features at all. It is which subscription you already pay for, and which file format your data sits in.

Here is what each one does, what it costs in India, and where each breaks.

What AI for Excel and Sheets actually does

Copilot in Excel is the most deeply wired in, because Microsoft built it into the application rather than beside it. Microsoft's own documentation says it can "add, rename, and delete worksheets; insert and modify cell values and ranges; apply conditional formatting, data validation, borders, and styles", generate data from a prompt, "perform calculations and apply formulas across multiple sheets", and "create and edit charts, PivotTables, and shapes with editable links to source data". That last phrase is the one to notice — the chart it builds stays connected to your data.

Gemini in Google Sheets covers similar ground: create tables, create formulas, generate analysis and insights, build charts, apply conditional formatting and pivot tables. It has one trick the others do not, which is reaching into the rest of Google — it can "summarize your emails and files from Drive and Gmail" and pull that into a sheet.

ChatGPT is the odd one out. It is not inside your spreadsheet at all. You upload a file and it analyses it in a conversation, writing and running code to do the work. That makes it worse for editing a live workbook and better for the question you cannot phrase as a formula: what is actually going on in this data?

What it costs in India

	Entry price (India)	What you need
Copilot in Excel	₹689/month (Microsoft 365 Personal)	A paid Microsoft 365 plan
Gemini in Sheets	Workspace or Google AI plan	Not available on a free Google account
ChatGPT data analysis	Free	A ChatGPT account

Microsoft's India pricing for individuals runs Personal at ₹689 a month or ₹6,899 a year, Family at ₹819 a month or ₹8,199 a year, Premium at ₹1,999 a month, and Pro at ₹9,999 a month. All four include Copilot in Excel. For businesses it is a separate and much steeper line: Microsoft 365 Copilot Business is ₹1,495.73 per user per month paid yearly at the time of writing, discounted from ₹1,745, or ₹2,094 billed monthly.

Microsoft does not publish the actual AI credit numbers. The pricing page says only that "AI usage limits vary by plan", that Personal and Family get usage "higher than free" while Premium is "extensive" and Pro "highest", and that "if you reach a feature limit or use all of your AI credits, that feature may be unavailable until your allowance resets". So you are buying an unstated allowance, and you will discover its size by hitting it.

Google is blunter about the requirement. Its help documentation states plainly that Gemini in Sheets "requires an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan" — there is no free-account route in.

ChatGPT is the only one of the three where you can upload a spreadsheet and get an answer without paying anything. Upload limits exist and vary by plan, and OpenAI changes them, so check its file uploads FAQ rather than trusting a number in any article, including this one.

Where each one breaks

This is the part the marketing skips, and it matters more than the feature lists.

Gemini wants native Sheets files. Google's documentation is explicit: the feature "works best with native Google Sheets files. To use Gemini features in an Excel file (.xlsx), select File and Save as Google Sheets." If your organisation lives in .xlsx, you are converting every file first, and conversion is exactly where formulas and formatting go wrong.

Gemini's charts are dead on arrival. Google states the generated chart "doesn't link or respond to changes in the original data set". Compare that with Copilot producing charts "with editable links to source data". If you need a chart that updates when the numbers do, that difference decides it on its own.

Gemini forgets. Conversation history is lost when you reload the browser, close the spreadsheet or go offline, and those conversations are not saved to your Gemini Activity. Long analytical sessions do not survive a dropped connection.

ChatGPT does not edit your file. It analyses a copy you uploaded. Anything it works out, you apply by hand. For a one-off question that is fine; for ongoing work on a live workbook it is the wrong shape of tool.

All three can be confidently wrong. Google's own documentation warns that "Gemini features may suggest inaccurate or inappropriate information". That is not a disclaimer to skim past in a spreadsheet, where a wrong number looks exactly like a right one.

Never let it calculate your GST

Worth stating separately because it is where Indian users get burned.

These tools generate formulas. They do not know your tax position, your state, your HSN codes or which rate applies to what you sell. A formula that looks like a GST calculation and is confidently presented is still a guess about a rule the model was not told. Treat any tax, payroll or compliance arithmetic as a draft you verify against the actual rate, every time — and if the number ends up on a filing, verify it against the source, not against the tool that produced it.

The same goes for anything with a legal or financial consequence. Use AI to write the formula structure; use your own knowledge for the rates that go in it.

Which AI for Excel option fits you

You already pay for Microsoft 365. Use Copilot — it is the only AI for Excel that lives inside the application. It is in the app, it edits your real file, and the charts stay linked. You have already bought it.

Your team runs on Google Workspace and your data is in Sheets. Use Gemini. The Drive and Gmail reach is genuinely useful, and the .xlsx conversion problem does not apply to you.

You pay for neither, or you have a one-off question. Use ChatGPT. Upload the file, ask the question in plain language, and accept that you will apply the answer yourself. For anyone not already inside one of the two ecosystems, this is the only free route to real analysis — and for exploratory questions it is often the better tool regardless.

One naming trap worth clearing up: Microsoft Copilot in Excel and GitHub Copilot are different products. They share a brand and nothing else. One writes spreadsheet formulas; the other writes code in your editor.

If you are weighing the two assistants more broadly rather than just for spreadsheets, our ChatGPT vs Gemini comparison covers how they differ on reasoning, sources and pricing, and the individual ChatGPT and Gemini reviews go deeper on plans and limits.

FAQ

Is there a free AI for Excel?

Not inside Excel itself. Copilot requires a paid Microsoft 365 plan, starting at ₹689 a month in India. The free route is to upload your spreadsheet to ChatGPT and ask questions there, which costs nothing but means you apply the results back to your file by hand.

Does Gemini work with Excel files?

Not well. Google's documentation says the feature "works best with native Google Sheets files" and tells you to use File then Save as Google Sheets to work with an .xlsx. You are converting the file first, with all the formula and formatting risk that carries.

Can AI write Excel formulas correctly?

Usually, for common ones. The risk is not syntax, it is context — a formula can be valid and still answer the wrong question, and in a spreadsheet a wrong number looks identical to a right one. Google itself warns that "Gemini features may suggest inaccurate or inappropriate information". Check anything that matters against a row you can verify by hand.

Is Copilot in Excel worth ₹689 a month?

It depends on whether you already wanted Microsoft 365, because that price buys the whole suite and not just Copilot. As an upgrade to a subscription you already hold, it is easy to justify. As a new subscription bought only for AI formula help, ChatGPT's free tier answers most of the same questions.

What is the difference between Microsoft Copilot and GitHub Copilot?

They are separate products that share a name. Copilot in Excel works on spreadsheets inside Microsoft 365. GitHub Copilot writes and completes code in a developer's editor. Buying one does not give you the other.