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When to use Excel and when to use Google Sheets

by Brandon D. Zobel | Excel & Spreadsheet Controls

Excel or google sheets

When to use Excel and when to use Google Sheets

Working with data is a common task no matter what industry you’re in. Whether you’re tracking inventory levels, monitoring customer satisfaction, or analyzing sales trends, you need a workhorse to take care of the details – and data sheets like Excel and Google Sheets provide the ideal solution. 

Despite what you may think, however, these two tools are far from synonymous; there are key differences to be aware of, and different situations will call for one or the other. Let’s break it down. 

Excel and Google Sheets: The Similarities

Excel has been around since the ‘80s as the digital spreadsheet of choice, doing the work of a notebook, calculator, and data tool all in one. Google Sheets came onto the scene much later, but with a key difference – collaborative features and cloud-based data. 

Since Excel is a desktop application and Google Sheets is an online application, there are some key differences between the two. However, there are obviously many similarities. Both Excel and Google Sheets allow you to:

  • Create and format cells
  • Enter text, numbers, and formulas into cells
  • Sort and filter data
  • Insert charts and pivot tables
  • Share documents with other users

These two applications are very similar in terms of functionality. You might be wondering, then, why someone would use Excel over Google Sheets or vice versa. Let’s take a closer look at the key differences between Excel and Google Sheets to help you decide which one is right for your needs.

Quick Comparison between Excel and Google Sheets

You’ve probably used Excel at some point. It’s a popular spreadsheet application that lets you store, organize, and analyze data. But did you know that there’s another option for working with data – Google Sheets?

Comparing  Excel and Google Sheets is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. They’re both fruit, but they have different textures, flavors, and nutritional values. The same goes for Excel and Google Sheets; they’re both spreadsheet programs, but they have different features, capabilities, and price tags. It really depends on your needs as to which one is the better option.

Here’s a quick overview of Excel and Google Sheets to help you decide which one is right for your needs:

Excel

  • A desktop application that’s part of the Microsoft Office suite
  • Can be purchased as a standalone program or included in an Office 365 subscription
  • Available for Windows and Mac
  • More features and functionality than Google Sheets
  • More expensive than Google Sheets

Google Sheets

  • A web-based application that’s part of the Google Docs suite
  • Free to use
  • Available on any device with an internet connection
  • Fewer features and functionality than Excel
  • Less expensive than Excel

Now that we’ve gone over the basics of Excel and Google Sheets, let’s take a closer look at when you should use each one.

When To Use Excel

Got a lot of data that you need to analyze? Excel is the way to go. With its powerful calculation features, Excel is great for working with large data sets. And if you need to do some serious number crunching, Excel can handle it. You can depend on Excel to give you accurate results.

Excel also has more features and functionality than Google Sheets. Here are some of its advantages:

Effective Presentation

Excel has more robust charting and visualization features than Google Sheets, so you can create beautiful charts and graphs that are easy to understand. This is great if you need to present your data to upper management or shareholders. No more boring bar charts – Excel lets you get creative with your data!

Advanced Analysis

Need to do some complex analysis on your data? Excel has you covered with features like PivotTables, slicers, and what-if analysis. These features make it easy to explore different aspects of your data and find trends and insights that you might not have discovered with Google Sheets. 

Excel also supports a wider range of formulas than Google Sheets, as well as VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), which allows you to write your custom functions. Complex data analysis is a breeze with Excel.

Flexible Licensing

With Excel, you have the option to purchase it as a standalone program or include it in an Office 365 subscription. This gives you the flexibility to choose the licensing option that’s best for your needs.

Time-Saving Macros

Excel allows you to record macros, a series of steps that you can play back with the click of a button. This is a huge time saver if you find yourself doing the same tasks over and over again.

For example, if you always format your data in a certain way before running your analysis, you can create a macro to do it for you. That way, you can spend less time formatting data and more time analyzing it.

Tight Security Measures

Excel has built-in security features that allow you to control who can access and make changes to your workbook. For example, you can password-protect your workbook or encrypt it with a digital certificate. And if you’re sharing your Excel files with others, you can control what they can do with the file. 

For instance, you can allow them to view the file but not make any changes. Also, if you’re working with sensitive data, Excel is a good choice. Since it’s a desktop application, your data is stored locally on your computer. That means there’s less chance of it being hacked or accessed by unauthorized users.

Easy Collaboration

If you need to collaborate on a project with others, Excel is a good option. It supports real-time collaboration, which means multiple users can work on the same file at the same time. 

If you need to track changes, Excel keeps track of who makes what changes and when. And if you need to share your Excel file with someone who doesn’t have Excel, you can save it as a PDF.

Data Flexibility

Excel is more flexible than Google Sheets when it comes to working with data. For example, Excel lets you filter data in multiple ways, while Google Sheets only lets you filter data in one way. Excel also has more options for sorting and organizing data. So, if you need to work with large data sets, Excel is a better choice.

Why Should You Use Google Sheets?

After reading about Excel’s advantages, you might be thinking that it’s the clear winner. But there are some situations where Google Sheets is a better choice; the application can be a good fit for small businesses or individuals who need to do simple data analysis and don’t need all the bells and whistles that Excel offers.

Here are some other reasons to use Google Sheets:

Absolutely Free

The biggest advantage of using Google Sheets is that it’s free. You can use it without paying a dime. No need to worry about licensing fees or subscriptions. And if you need more storage, you can upgrade to Google Drive for just $2 per month. Talk about a bargain!

Cross-Platform Compatibility

Google Sheets is available on all major platforms – Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. You can use it on any device that you own. Excel has become available across all platforms, too, but performs significantly worse on mobile.

Automatic Backup and Version History

Google Sheets automatically saves your workbook as you make changes. And it keeps a version history, so you can see who made what changes and when. This is a huge time saver if you need to track changes or revert to a previous version.

Web-Based Application

Google Sheets is a web-based application, which means you can access it from anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. Since it’s stored in the cloud, you don’t have to worry about losing your data if your computer crashes.

Easy to Use

Google Sheets is very user-friendly. Simple commands and icons make it easy to find what you’re looking for. If you’re new to spreadsheet applications, Google Sheets is a good choice. Excel, on the other hand, can be confusing for new users with all its different menus and options.

Great for Team Collaboration

Google Sheets was designed for team collaboration from the ground up. Multiple users can work on the same file at the same time, and they can see each other’s changes in real-time. This makes Google Sheets a great choice for team projects. 

Although Excel also supports real-time collaboration to an extent, it can be a bit clunky to use because it wasn’t designed for it in the first place.

Excel vs. Google Sheets: Which One Should You Use?

As you can see, each application has its strengths and weaknesses. So, which one should you use? The answer depends on your needs. If you need to do complex data analysis, Excel is a better choice. But if you just need to do some simple data entry or you need to share your spreadsheet with others, Google Sheets might be a better fit.

The bottom line is that you should use the application that best suits your needs. If you’re not sure which one to use, try both and see which one you prefer. No matter which application you choose, you’ll be able to get your work done and achieve your goals because they are both great tools. 

Data entry, sorting, filtering, and other features are available in both Excel and Google Sheets; you can’t go wrong with either one.

Written by

  • Brandon Zobel is the CEO and founder of ProsperSpark, where he helps businesses improve operations through smarter systems, automation, and custom-built solutions. With a long-standing passion for technology and process improvement, Brandon has worked with companies across industries to reduce manual work, streamline workflows, and solve complex business challenges using tools like Excel, Airtable, low-code platforms, and cloud-based systems. He started ProsperSpark to give businesses a practical partner for building solutions that fit the way they actually work. Brandon helps shape ProsperSpark’s educational content to make sure it stays grounded in real-world experience, real operational pain points, and solutions that deliver measurable results.

Automation in Excel means using Excel's built-in tools and programming capabilities to handle repetitive tasks automatically, without someone doing the same steps manually every time. That can range from a simple macro that formats a report in one click to a VBA script that pulls data from multiple sources, runs calculations, and emails a finished file to your team every Monday morning.

Most business users know Excel can do more than what they are using it for. The gap is usually not awareness that automation exists. It is clarity on what it actually covers, what it takes to build it, and whether their situation calls for it. This post covers all three.

What Does Automation in Excel Actually Mean?

Excel automation is a broad term. It gets used to describe anything from recording a simple keyboard shortcut to building a fully connected reporting system that syncs with your CRM. Both are real uses of Excel automation. They are just at very different ends of the spectrum.

At its core, Excel automation means reducing or eliminating manual steps inside a workflow that already lives in Excel. The automation handles the repetitive logic so people can focus on the work that actually requires judgment.

The most common forms:

    • Macros that record and replay a sequence of actions
    • VBA code that adds custom logic, conditions, and control over what Excel does
    • Power Query that pulls, cleans, and reshapes data from external sources automatically
    • Formulas and dynamic arrays that update results without manual recalculation
    • Connections to external systems via API so data flows into Excel without re-entry

The Four Main Tools for Excel Automation

 

1. Macros

A macro is a recorded set of actions. You perform a task once while Excel records it, and then you can replay that sequence any time with a single click or keyboard shortcut. Macros are a good starting point for repetitive formatting, filtering, or report generation tasks that follow the same steps every time.

The limitation is that recorded macros are rigid. They replay exactly what was recorded, which means they can break when the data changes shape. For anything more flexible or conditional, you need VBA. See our guide on how to use a macro in Excel for a walkthrough of the basics.

2. VBA (Visual Basic for Applications)

VBA is the programming language built into Excel. It is what gives macros their logic. With VBA, you can write automation that responds to conditions, loops through data, checks for errors, sends emails, generates files, interacts with other Office applications, and connects to external systems.

Most serious Excel automation involves VBA. It is the layer that makes the difference between a spreadsheet that does one thing and a tool that handles a full workflow. You do not need to be a developer to understand what VBA can do, but building it well requires real skill and testing.

3. Power Query

Power Query is Excel's built-in data transformation engine. It connects to databases, CSV files, SharePoint lists, web pages, and other data sources, then pulls that data into Excel in a structured, repeatable way. Once you build a Power Query connection, refreshing the data takes a single click.

For teams that spend time every week downloading exports, copying data between files, or cleaning up inconsistent formats before they can do any analysis, Power Query often delivers the most immediate time savings of any Excel automation tool.

4. API Connections and External Integrations

Excel can connect to external platforms via API, pulling live data from systems like Salesforce, HubSpot, or custom databases directly into your spreadsheet. This approach is more technical than macros or Power Query, but it eliminates the manual export-and-import cycle that creates data lag and version risk in most reporting workflows.

When Excel is your reporting or modeling layer but the data lives somewhere else, API connections are what close the gap. Our Excel and VBA consulting team handles these integrations as part of broader build engagements.

What Business Problems Does Excel Automation Actually Solve?

The value of Excel automation is not the automation itself. It is the business problem it removes. Here are the most common situations where it makes a real difference:

 

    • Weekly reports that require manual assembly. If someone pulls data from two or three sources, formats it, checks it, and sends it every week, that is a strong automation candidate. VBA or Power Query can handle the pull, format, and output automatically.
    • Data that gets re-entered across multiple files. When the same information lives in multiple places because someone copied it there, that creates version risk and wasted time. Automation consolidates the source and eliminates the copy-paste cycle.
    • Calculations that must run the same way every time. Commission calculations, pricing models, inventory adjustments. When the logic is fixed and the stakes are high, automating it removes human error from the equation.
    • Output that needs to be formatted consistently. Client-facing reports, proposals, invoices. Automation handles the formatting so the output looks the same regardless of who runs it.
    • Repetitive data cleaning. If someone spends time every week removing duplicates, fixing date formats, or standardizing field values before they can do anything useful with the data, Power Query can handle most of that automatically.

How to Approach an Excel Automation Project: 5 Steps

 

    1. Define the manual process clearly. Before anything gets built, write out every step someone does today. Where does the data come from? What happens to it? What does the output need to look like? Automation built on a fuzzy process description usually requires rework.
    2. Identify what is repetitive vs. what requires judgment. Automation handles the predictable steps. If part of the workflow requires someone to make a call based on context or exceptions, that step likely stays manual. Be clear about the boundary.
    3. Start with the highest-pain step. You do not have to automate the entire workflow at once. The step that takes the most time, creates the most errors, or blocks the rest of the process is usually the right place to start.
    4. Build in validation and error handling. Good Excel automation does not just run. It checks that inputs are in the expected format, flags anomalies, and fails gracefully when something unexpected happens. Skipping this step is where a lot of home-built automation becomes unreliable.
    5. Document what was built and who owns it. An undocumented automation is a liability. When the person who built it leaves or the data structure changes, nobody knows how it works or what to fix. Documentation is part of the deliverable, not optional.

How Much Time Can Excel Automation Actually Save?

The honest answer is that it depends heavily on the task and how often it runs. That said, here are directional ranges based on patterns we see in real projects:

    • A weekly report that takes 2 to 3 hours to assemble manually often gets reduced to 10 to 15 minutes with automation, or fully hands-off if the output is scheduled.
    • Data cleaning tasks that run daily can go from 30 to 60 minutes to near-zero. Power Query handles the transformation on refresh.
    • Commission or pricing calculations that require someone to pull numbers, run formulas, and check outputs manually can be consolidated into a single-click process, typically cutting the time by 70 to 90 percent.

These are estimates, not guarantees. The actual savings depend on the complexity of the current process, how clean the data is, and how much exception handling is required. Our post on outsourcing Excel work has more on how to think about the cost-benefit side.

Common Mistakes in Excel Automation

    • Automating a broken process. If the manual workflow is inconsistent or poorly defined, automation will just make the inconsistency run faster. Clean up the process first.
    • Building without error handling. Automation that fails silently is worse than no automation. When something goes wrong and nobody knows it, the output gets trusted even when it should not be.
    • No named owner after go-live. Excel automation needs someone responsible for maintaining it when data structures change, source files move, or the business process evolves. Without an owner, it quietly breaks.
    • Over-relying on recorded macros for complex logic. Recorded macros are brittle. They work until the data looks slightly different. For anything that needs to handle variability, VBA is the right tool.
    • Treating Excel as a database for multi-user workflows. Excel automation works best when one person or a controlled process is writing to the file. When multiple people are editing simultaneously, you get version conflicts and automation that fights itself.

 

When to Get Outside Help with Excel Automation

Some Excel automation is straightforward enough to handle in-house, especially if someone on the team already knows Power Query or basic VBA. Other situations are worth bringing in outside help:

    • The workflow connects to external systems, APIs, or databases
    • The file is business-critical and errors have real financial or operational consequences
    • Multiple people depend on the output and reliability matters
    • The existing file is fragile and nobody is confident touching it
    • VBA is required but nobody on the team has the time or experience to build it properly

Our guide on how to find and hire an Excel consultant covers how to evaluate your options and what to look for. For teams that have a larger body of Excel work, on-demand consulting sessions are another option for tackling specific problems without a full project engagement.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is automation in Excel?

Automation in Excel means using tools like macros, VBA, Power Query, and API connections to handle repetitive tasks automatically. Instead of someone manually pulling data, formatting files, and running calculations each time, the automation does it consistently and on demand. The scope can range from a simple one-click macro to a fully connected reporting system.

What is a macro in Excel and how is it different from VBA?

A macro is a recorded sequence of actions that Excel can replay. VBA is the programming language that powers those macros and adds logic, conditions, and flexibility. A recorded macro does the same thing every time. VBA lets you write automation that responds to different inputs, handles exceptions, and performs more complex operations. Most serious Excel automation uses VBA rather than recorded macros alone.

What are the best Excel automation tools?

The most widely used tools for automation in Excel are macros and VBA, Power Query for data connections and transformation, dynamic arrays and advanced formulas for real-time calculation, and API integrations for pulling live data from external systems. For teams that need automation to cross application boundaries, tools like Power Automate can connect Excel to other platforms in the Microsoft ecosystem.

When does Excel automation make sense vs. switching to a different system?

Excel automation makes sense when the workflow is Excel-based, the team already knows the tool, the process is well-defined, and the complexity of the automation is within what Excel handles reliably. When permission requirements get complex, when multiple departments need to edit the same records simultaneously, or when the volume of data grows past what Excel manages cleanly, it may be time to evaluate other platforms. Our post on no-code vs. custom software (prosperspark.com/airtable-make-zapier-or-custom-software) covers that decision in more detail.

How long does it take to build Excel automation?

It depends on the complexity. A macro for a simple formatting task can be built in an hour. A VBA-based reporting system that pulls from multiple sources, runs logic, and generates formatted outputs might take several days. The cleaner the process definition going in, the faster the build tends to go. Most projects benefit from a scoping conversation before any work starts.

What are the biggest risks with Excel automation?

The main risks are automation that fails silently, automation built on poorly documented logic that nobody can maintain, and automation that breaks when the underlying data structure changes. All three are manageable with proper error handling, documentation, and a named owner. The $6 billion Excel error (prosperspark.com/the-6-billion-excel-error) is the extreme example of what happens when critical logic lives in a spreadsheet nobody fully controls.

Can Excel automation connect to other business systems?

Yes. Excel can pull data from databases, APIs, SharePoint, web pages, and other Microsoft applications via Power Query or VBA-based connections. How cleanly this works depends on the source system and how the connection is structured. For workflows that need live data from a CRM or ERP, API connections are usually the more reliable path compared to scheduled exports.

What skills does an Excel automation consultant need?

Strong Excel automation consulting requires VBA proficiency, Power Query experience, an understanding of how data flows between systems, and the ability to build in validation and error handling. Communication matters too. The best consultants spend time understanding the actual business process before writing any code. Our post on Excel consultant skills covers what to look for in more detail.

The Bottom Line

Automation in Excel can remove significant manual work from reporting, data processing, and calculation-heavy workflows. The key is being clear about what you are automating and why. Start with the step that creates the most pain, build in validation, and make sure someone owns the result.

ProsperSpark builds custom Excel automation for business teams across finance, operations, HR, and sales. If you have a process that is taking too many manual hours to run, we can help you scope what it would take to automate it.

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