If you’ve been following the news about Excel, you might have heard the latest: a few weeks ago, Microsoft launched a subscription plan that lets non-enterprise users access Copilot. Copilot is Microsoft’s generative AI tool, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, which integrates AI capabilities across the Microsoft 365 suite.

For an extra $20/user/month, you can use natural language to ask questions about your data, create visualizations, and generate predictive models based on existing data. Eventually, you’ll also be able to build tailored copilots from specific sets of prompts.

But if you’re hesitant about shelling out the extra cash for a premium 365 subscription, you can still use generative AI to boost your productivity in Excel. Below, we’ll cover a few of the AI tools Excel already has, how accountants have already been using ChatGPT with Excel, and three other AI Excel tools that you can use for free.

Excel already has some excellent AI features if you know where to look

Copilot makes it possible to edit Excel sheets using natural language – but Excel already has some AI tools built into it that you can use to create reports and analyze data.

For example, you can use Flash Fill to automatically fill in data based on a few examples you’ve typed in. Excel’s AI tool will recognize the pattern and fill in the rest of the cells accordingly.

The Recommended Charts feature is great for users who need help finding the right chart to visualize a dataset. Used in conjunction with the AI Analysis tool, you can create data forecasts and analyze data trends in seconds.

Power Query can draw from other data in the cloud and even write formulas for you. Finally, you can also insert data using a screenshot of another spreadsheet to quickly transfer data from an external chart into Excel.

But these tools all require you to know your way around Excel to some extent. What if you want help creating something from scratch right away? That’s where ChatGPT comes in.

How accountants are already using ChatGPT with Excel

Since the early days of its release, accountants have been using ChatGPT to do things like:

• Write step-by-step instructions
• Create macros
• Suggest charts
• Write complex formulas

Although ChatGPT can still get things wrong sometimes, the beauty of this approach is that you can just try again if its first suggestion doesn’t work. That’s also worth keeping in mind if you’re making step-by-step instructions for training purposes: try it at least once to make sure the steps are all there.

It’s also possible to use ChatGPT to create more complex dashboards by telling it what data you have and what insights you’d like to take away from it. As with any other prompt, make sure you don’t include any actual data that you wouldn’t want to be made public.

3 alternatives to Copilot for giving Excel an AI boost

Excel’s built-in AI tools and ChatGPT are great, but they can only do so much. If you’re eager to start incorporating AI into your workflows regularly, here are some budget-friendly ways to extend Excel’s performance with AI.

1. Formula Bot

Formula Bot lets you use natural language prompts to create formulas, analyze data, create code scripts, and generate SQL queries right in Excel. It also has tools like sentiment analysis, data extraction, a spreadsheet generator, and a way to automatically create step-by-step instructions for teams.

If you just want to try it out, there’s a freemium plan that lets you perform 35 free automations per month. The Pro plan comes with unlimited automations at $9/month.

2. GPT Excel

GPT Excel is a similar tool, except it also has text-to-formula features for Airtable as well. Like Formula Bot, you can generate SQL queries and table templates. It also lets you generate Excel macros.

Its free plan is roughly similar to Formula Bot’s, with up to 4 requests a day – only it doesn’t include the script generator or SQL generator. The paid plan includes those, and offers up to 100 requests per day at $6.99/month.

3. PromptLoop

PromptLoop is a slightly different tool with web scraping capabilities that you can use for external research – such as financial benchmarking or researching marketing leads. It also lets you tag, label, and analyze any text data. 

Its free Excel plugin is pretty generous with unlimited custom AI tasks. The Pro plan will give you access to experimental models, but its price tag is a bit higher than the other two at $150/month.

Copilot vs. the alternatives

A significant advantage of Copilot is that it fully integrates with Microsoft 365, not just Excel – so if you already use Word and Outlook too, it’s a more integrated tool. It’s also early days for Copilot, so chances are there will be significant improvements as it picks up steam.

That said, you can’t beat free. If you just want to dip your toe in the water with generative AI Excel tools, trying out a few of the other ones might be a better approach. That’s especially true if you also use tools like Airtable or Google Sheets.

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