Google Sheets vs Excel: Which Should You Use in 2026?

If you work with spreadsheets, you have probably asked yourself: Google Sheets vs Excel — which one should I actually be using? It is one of the most common questions in the productivity world, and the answer in 2026 is more nuanced than ever. Both tools have evolved significantly, and the “right” choice depends entirely on how you work, what you need, and who you collaborate with.

In this guide, I will break down every meaningful difference between Google Sheets and Excel — from features and pricing to data limits and collaboration. No fluff, no bias. Just a practical comparison so you can pick the tool (or combination of tools) that fits your workflow.

Key Takeaways:Google Sheets excels at real-time collaboration and is free for personal useExcel handles up to 1,048,576 rows natively — over 10x more than Sheets performs well withMost teams in 2026 use both tools, making smooth migration essentialSmoothSheet eliminates browser crashes when importing large Excel files into Google SheetsYour choice depends on dataset size, collaboration needs, and budget

Google Sheets vs Excel at a Glance

Before diving into the details, here is a quick side-by-side comparison of the core differences between Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel in 2026:

Where Google Sheets Wins

Google Sheets has carved out a massive user base — Google Workspace has over 3 billion users — and for good reason. Here is where Sheets genuinely outperforms Excel.

Real-time collaboration

This is Google Sheets’ killer feature, and it is not even close. Multiple people can edit the same spreadsheet simultaneously, see each other’s cursors, leave comments, and chat — all in real time. Excel has added co-authoring capabilities, but anyone who has used both knows Sheets’ collaboration is smoother, faster, and more reliable.

For teams that live in shared spreadsheets — think project trackers, content calendars, or budget sheets — this alone can be the deciding factor.

Free to use

Google Sheets is completely free for personal use with a Google account. You get the full feature set, 15 GB of Google Drive storage, and no hidden limitations on formulas or functionality. For individuals, students, and small teams, this is hard to beat.

Excel does offer a free web version at office.com, but it is significantly limited compared to the desktop app. The full Excel experience requires a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Cloud-native (no files to manage)

There is no “saving” in Google Sheets — every change is automatically saved and versioned. You never deal with emailing spreadsheet files back and forth, wondering which version is current, or losing work because you forgot to hit Ctrl+S.

Version history lets you roll back to any previous state, and sharing is as simple as sending a link. For teams that have been burned by “Final_v3_REAL_FINAL.xlsx,” this is a breath of fresh air.

Google Workspace integration

If your organization uses Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, and Google Meet, Sheets fits in perfectly. You can embed live Sheets data in Google Docs or Slides, connect to Google Forms for data collection, and use IMPORTRANGE to pull data across spreadsheets.

The ecosystem advantage is real. When your entire workflow lives in Google’s world, Sheets becomes the natural spreadsheet choice.

Apps Script and add-ons ecosystem

Google Apps Script lets you automate tasks using JavaScript — a language far more developers know than VBA. You can build custom functions, create automated workflows, connect to external APIs, and even build full web apps on top of Sheets data.

The Google Workspace Marketplace also offers thousands of add-ons, including tools like SmoothSheet that extend Sheets’ capabilities for specific use cases like importing large CSV files without browser crashes.

Where Excel Wins

Excel has been the spreadsheet standard for over 35 years, and it still dominates in areas that matter for power users and data professionals. Here is where Excel genuinely outshines Google Sheets.

Advanced data analysis (Power Query, Power Pivot)

This is Excel’s biggest edge. Power Query lets you connect to dozens of data sources, clean and transform data with a visual interface, and refresh those transformations on demand. Power Pivot adds an in-memory data modeling engine that can handle millions of rows with DAX formulas.

Google Sheets has nothing comparable. If you are doing serious data analysis — merging datasets from SQL databases, cleaning messy API exports, or building financial models with multiple data sources — Excel’s power tools are in a different league.

Larger dataset capacity (1M+ rows natively)

Excel supports 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns per worksheet — and with Power Pivot, you can analyze datasets with tens of millions of rows. Google Sheets has a 10 million cell limit per spreadsheet, and in practice, performance degrades significantly above 100,000 rows.

For anyone working with large datasets — transaction logs, IoT sensor data, large CSV exports — Excel handles volume that would bring Google Sheets to its knees. You can check whether your data fits within Google Sheets’ limits with our free calculator.

More formulas and functions

Excel offers roughly 800+ built-in functions compared to Google Sheets’ approximately 500. Many of the extra functions are specialized — financial functions like XIRR and MIRR, statistical functions, engineering functions, and the newer dynamic array functions (SORT, FILTER, UNIQUE, SEQUENCE) which Google Sheets adopted later.

While Google Sheets covers most common use cases, advanced users — especially in finance and engineering — will occasionally hit walls where Excel has a function and Sheets does not. That said, Sheets has been closing this gap quickly, and features like INDEX MATCH work identically in both.

Offline-first desktop experience

Excel’s desktop app is fast, reliable, and works without any internet connection. You can open massive files instantly, scroll through hundreds of thousands of rows without lag, and never worry about connectivity.

Google Sheets does have an offline mode via a Chrome extension, but it is limited and requires setup. If you frequently work on planes, in areas with spotty WiFi, or simply prefer a native desktop experience, Excel is the clear choice.

VBA and macros

Love it or hate it, VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) has decades of enterprise automation built on top of it. Entire business processes in finance, accounting, and operations run on Excel macros. While Apps Script is arguably a better language, the sheer volume of existing VBA solutions gives Excel an enormous legacy advantage.

Microsoft has also added Office Scripts and Power Automate integration, giving Excel modern automation options alongside VBA. For organizations with existing macro-heavy workflows, switching to Google Sheets means rewriting those automations from scratch.

Data Limits Compared

Data capacity is one of the most practical differences between Google Sheets and Excel, and it is worth understanding in detail.

Google Sheets limits

• Maximum cells: 10,000,000 per spreadsheet (across all tabs)
• Maximum columns: 18,278 (column ZZZ)
• Practical row limit: 10M cells divided by your column count
• Performance ceiling: Sheets starts lagging noticeably above 50,000-100,000 rows, depending on formula complexity
• Import limit: CSV/Excel uploads are capped at the 10M cell limit, and large imports can crash your browser

The browser-based architecture is both Google Sheets’ strength and its Achilles’ heel. Everything runs in your browser tab, which means RAM and processing power are limited. Complex formulas across large datasets can slow everything to a crawl. For a detailed breakdown, see our guide on Google Sheets file size limits.

Excel limits

• Maximum rows: 1,048,576 per worksheet
• Maximum columns: 16,384 (column XFD)
• Maximum cells: Over 17 billion per worksheet (rows x columns)
• Power Pivot: Handles tens of millions of rows in compressed memory
• File size: Limited only by available RAM and disk space

Excel’s desktop architecture means it has access to your full system resources. A modern laptop with 16 GB of RAM can comfortably handle Excel workbooks with hundreds of thousands of rows. Power Pivot takes this even further with its compressed columnar storage.

What this means in practice

If your typical spreadsheet is under 50,000 rows and 20 columns, both tools work fine. Above that threshold, you will start feeling the difference. Google Sheets will slow down, formulas will take longer to calculate, and large file imports may crash your browser.

This is exactly the problem SmoothSheet solves. Instead of uploading large CSV or Excel files through your browser (where they choke Google Sheets), SmoothSheet processes them server-side and streams the data directly into your spreadsheet — no crashes, no timeouts, no lost work.

Pricing Comparison

Let us talk money. Here is what you will actually pay for Google Sheets and Excel in 2026.

Google Sheets pricing

Microsoft Excel pricing

The bottom line on pricing

For personal use, Google Sheets wins on price — it is completely free with no meaningful feature limitations. Excel’s free web version exists but lacks Power Query, Power Pivot, VBA, and other advanced features that make Excel worth paying for.

For businesses, the comparison is closer. Google Workspace Business Starter ($7.20/user/mo) and Microsoft 365 Business Basic ($6.00/user/mo) are in the same ballpark, but you are really comparing full ecosystem suites, not just spreadsheet apps.

Can You Use Both? (Migration Tips)

Here is the reality most comparison articles will not tell you: most teams in 2026 use both Google Sheets and Excel. You might collaborate in Sheets daily but receive Excel files from clients, vendors, or legacy systems. The question is not always “which one?” — it is “how do I move between them smoothly?”

Importing Excel files to Google Sheets

Google Sheets can open .xlsx files directly — just upload to Google Drive and open with Sheets. For a detailed walkthrough, check out our guide on how to import Excel into Google Sheets.

The basic process:

1. Upload the .xlsx file to Google Drive
2. Double-click to open it (it stays in Excel format)
3. Go to File > Save as Google Sheets to convert

For CSV files, you can use File > Import or the IMPORTDATA function. But if your files are large — say, 50,000+ rows — the standard browser upload can freeze or crash your tab.

Common issues during conversion

Converting between Excel and Google Sheets is not always seamless. Watch out for:

• VBA macros: Completely lost in conversion. Google Sheets does not support VBA.
• Power Query connections: Not supported. You will need to export the data as static values first.
• Complex formatting: Conditional formatting mostly transfers, but custom number formats and some chart types may break.
• Character encoding: International characters (accents, CJK characters) can get garbled. Use an encoding fixer if you see corrupted text.
• Large files: Files exceeding Google Sheets’ 10M cell limit will be truncated silently.

If you are moving multiple Excel files, our Excel to CSV converter and CSV Merger tools can help you restructure data before import.

SmoothSheet for large file migration

When you need to move large Excel or CSV files into Google Sheets regularly, SmoothSheet is purpose-built for this. Instead of relying on your browser to handle the upload (which crashes with large files), SmoothSheet processes the file server-side and writes the data directly to your sheet.

At $9/month, it is a fraction of the cost of the time you would waste dealing with crashed tabs and manual file splitting. It is especially useful for teams that receive regular data exports from CRMs, analytics platforms, or financial systems in Excel format and need to consolidate that data in Google Sheets.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Google Sheets as good as Excel?

For collaboration, simplicity, and cloud-based work, Google Sheets is arguably better than Excel. For advanced data analysis, large datasets, and complex financial modeling, Excel is still superior. Neither tool is universally “better” — it depends on your specific needs. Most professionals benefit from knowing both.

Can Google Sheets do everything Excel can?

No. Google Sheets lacks Power Query, Power Pivot, VBA macros, and some advanced functions. It also struggles with large datasets (100,000+ rows). However, for 80-90% of typical spreadsheet tasks — basic formulas, charts, data entry, collaboration — Google Sheets handles everything perfectly well.

Is Google Sheets free?

Yes. Google Sheets is completely free for personal use with a Google account. You get the full feature set with no time limits or trial periods. Business users who want custom domains, admin controls, and more storage can upgrade to Google Workspace plans starting at $7.20 per user per month.

How do I switch from Excel to Google Sheets?

Upload your .xlsx files to Google Drive and open them with Google Sheets. Most formatting and formulas transfer automatically. For large files (50,000+ rows), use SmoothSheet to avoid browser crashes during import. Note that VBA macros and Power Query connections will not transfer — you will need to recreate automations using Apps Script.

What are Google Sheets’ limitations compared to Excel?

The main limitations are: a 10 million cell cap per spreadsheet, performance degradation above ~100,000 rows, no Power Query or Power Pivot, no VBA support, fewer built-in functions (~500 vs 800+), and weaker offline capabilities. For data-heavy work, these limitations are significant. For everyday spreadsheet tasks, most users will not notice them. Use our Google Sheets Limits Calculator to check if your data fits.

Conclusion

The Google Sheets vs Excel debate does not have a single winner — and that is actually the right answer. Google Sheets is the better choice if your priorities are collaboration, accessibility, cost, and working within the Google ecosystem. Excel is the better choice if you need advanced analytics, large dataset handling, offline reliability, or you are embedded in Microsoft’s ecosystem.

In 2026, the smartest approach for most teams is to use both. Collaborate in Google Sheets for shared workflows, use Excel for heavy analysis, and build a reliable bridge between them. That bridge might be as simple as converting an occasional file, or — if you are dealing with large or frequent data transfers — using a tool like SmoothSheet to handle the heavy lifting without browser crashes.

Whatever you choose, the best spreadsheet tool is the one that fits how you actually work. Not the one that wins an internet debate.