Microsoft Excel

By Microsoft

4.7/5(3,191)
4.7 out of 5 stars

How would you rate your experience with Microsoft Excel?

Microsoft Excel Pros and Cons: Top 5 Advantages and Disadvantages

Quick AI Summary Based on G2 Reviews

Generated from real user reviews

Users find Microsoft Excel to have an easy-to-use interface, making data management and manipulation efficient and straightforward. (134 mentions)
Users value Excel's flexibility in data analysis, enabling powerful insights through advanced functions and easy data manipulation. (89 mentions)
Users appreciate the flexibility and powerful formulas of Microsoft Excel, enabling efficient data analysis and task automation. (76 mentions)
Users value the data manipulation capabilities of Microsoft Excel, enhancing organization and analysis for various tasks. (52 mentions)
Users appreciate the versatile features of Microsoft Excel, finding it intuitive for data analysis and reporting tasks. (38 mentions)
Users find that Excel's formula complexity can make it confusing and challenging, especially with large datasets. (47 mentions)
Users struggle with a steep learning curve, often needing videos to navigate features and understand formula errors. (46 mentions)
Users often experience slow performance in Excel with large datasets, leading to frustration and potential data loss. (43 mentions)
Users find collaboration limited in Excel, often facing version conflicts and difficulties when sharing workbooks with others. (25 mentions)
Users experience slow processing with large datasets or complex formulas, impacting performance and stability significantly. (23 mentions)

5 Pros or Advantages of Microsoft Excel

5 Cons or Disadvantages of Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel Reviews (3,191)

View 1 Video Reviews
Reviews

Microsoft Excel Reviews (3,191)

View 1 Video Reviews
4.7
3,191 reviews
Search reviews
Filter Reviews
Clear Results
G2 reviews are authentic and verified.
Parrish O.
PO
Parrish O.
Freelance Bookkeeper
Accounting
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Great for Organizing Data and Building Project-Specific Formulas"
5/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

The ability to organize my data and create formulas for specific projects Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

The limited cell features (limited to number, letters, dates, currency) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

JR
Jimmy R.
Structural Detailer
Civil Engineering
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Unmatched Flexibility and Power—Excel Is Essential for Every User"
5/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

Microsoft Excel remains one of the most powerful and versatile tools for both personal and professional use. What I like best about Excel is its incredible flexibility. It can handle everything from basic lists and budgets to complex financial models and analytics.

Its formula system is a major strength—functions like XLOOKUP, SUMIF, and INDEX/MATCH allow users to automate tasks and transform raw data into useful insights. Excel’s PivotTables are another standout feature, making it easy to summarize large datasets in seconds.

The software also integrates smoothly with other platforms, including CSV files, databases, and data tools like Power BI. This makes it convenient for anyone who needs to move data across systems.

Overall, Excel offers a perfect balance of power and control, giving users the freedom to build exactly what they need. It’s an essential tool that continues to get better with each update. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

While Microsoft Excel is a powerful and essential tool, it does come with several drawbacks that can affect the user experience. One of the main issues is that Excel doesn’t handle very large datasets well. Once a file grows too big, it can become slow, unresponsive, or prone to crashing.

Collaboration is another area where Excel can feel limited. Even with cloud features, multiple users editing the same file may encounter version conflicts or unexpected changes. It’s not as seamless as modern real-time collaboration tools.

Excel also makes it easy for errors to hide. A single incorrect formula or accidental copy-paste can lead to inaccurate results, and finding the mistake can take a long time. For new users, some of the advanced features—like PivotTables or complex formulas—can feel overwhelming.

Finally, spreadsheets can quickly become cluttered or hard to navigate without proper organization. This makes sharing or reviewing files challenging, especially in a team environment.

Despite these issues, Excel remains incredibly useful, though it’s not without its frustrations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Consumer Services
UC
Verified User in Consumer Services
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Ease of Implementation Made Simple"
4.5/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

What I like most about Microsoft Excel is how powerful and versatile it is for organizing and analyzing data. The formulas, charts, and tables make it easy to work with large amounts of information and quickly understand patterns. It is also widely used, which makes it easy to share files and collaborate with others. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

One downside of Microsoft Excel is that it can feel complicated for beginners, especially when using advanced formulas or features. Sometimes large files can also become slow, which can make working with them less efficient. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Giacomo D.
GD
Giacomo D.
Consulente Qualità ISO/IEC 17025 e ISO 9001
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Flexible and Reliable Excel for Simulations"
4/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

Microsoft Excel is an excellent tool for creating worksheets, even for relatively simple calculations. Its strength lies in its flexibility: it can be used for basic data handling as well as more advanced analytical tasks.

I personally use Excel for Monte Carlo simulations, and it performs very well in this context, offering reliability and ease of use when managing large numbers of iterations and formulas. The software is also quite versatile thanks to its integration with VBA, which allows for custom automation and the creation of powerful macros.

Overall, Excel is a robust and adaptable solution, suitable for both everyday calculations and more advanced simulation and automation needs Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

One of the main drawbacks of Microsoft Excel is the mandatory subscription-based licensing model, which requires a monthly payment. This approach can be inconvenient, especially for users who prefer a one-time purchase.

Additionally, earlier versions of Excel, prior to Office 365, offered a better overall user experience. Those editions felt more stable and less constrained by continuous updates, which sometimes introduce changes that are unnecessary or disruptive. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Andrii L.
AL
Andrii L.
Product strategy analyst
Information Technology and Services
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Excel is analytics classics / Reinventing now with Copilot capabilities"
5/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

It is a golden standard of business. Since Excel was created, it substantially substituted the role of calculators and made the life of scientists and office employees more comfortable to deliver fast and rapid data analysis. I like it, and excel became a standard of work, and it has a lower entry-level as compared to programming tools and more presentation-quality to deliver fast and reliable results. Aligned with Python libraries. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

I like everything in Excel. It would be great to have ready-to-use direct gateways to postgre SQL cause the average file size grows yearly. SQL connectivity could be AI assisted for proper query spelling. Office 365 copilot raws text data autofill has glitches and needs to be corrected manually. Cloud based packages of MS 365 Exel has glitch of frosing at some micro seconds and that is bothering. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Michael S.
MS
Michael S.
District Technology Technician
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Excel: The Go-To Standard for Spreadsheet Data Cleanup"
5/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

Excel has been around for a very long time and is a standard for working with spread sheets and data tables. This program is the goto to do cleanup of data and doing cleanup to upload into clean systems for new implimentations. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

You have to know about formulas and functions to get the most out of the program. There isnt any automated functions like other programs for book keeping does for data relating to billing and money. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Arvind G.
AG
Arvind G.
Manager
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Microsoft Excel: Comprehensive Tool for Data Management"
5/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

Micorsoft Excel is highly versatile and flexible, and it performs exceptionally well in every situation, regardless of the size of the data. I particuarly appreciate its extensive range of formulas, pivot tables and data visualization capabilities, which make data anaylsis both easy and engaging. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

The only one thing I dislike about Microsoft Excel is that it can become slow and laggy when working with large datasets. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Brij Sen S.
BS
Brij Sen S.
Assistant Team Lead
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Excel Makes Calculations Fast and Easy with Advanced Formulas"
5/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

I don’t think there’s any need to say much about Excel, because everyone already knows how an Excel sheet works and why it’s important. It saves time on calculations, and it’s easy to use, especially when you use the advanced formulas. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

Nothing to dislike overall, but sometimes the file freezes due to the large number of line items. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Deepak p.
DP
Deepak p.
Assistant Professor
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"MS Excel: Effortlessly Turns Messy Data into Meaningful Insights"
5/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

What I like best about MS Excel is how effortlessly it turns raw, messy data into something meaningful and usable. A few things really stand out:

Power with simplicity

You can start with basic tasks like lists and totals, and gradually move into advanced analysis—formulas, PivotTables, Power Query—without changing tools. It grows with your skill level.

Speed and efficiency

Tasks that would take hours manually—calculations, sorting, filtering, comparisons—can be done in seconds. This is especially valuable in research, finance, pharmacy data, or administrative work.

Flexibility across domains

Excel works just as well for academic research data, clinical study results, inventory management, budgeting, or simple record-keeping. Few tools are that versatile.

Strong data analysis and visualization

Charts, conditional formatting, PivotTables, and dashboards make trends and patterns obvious, which helps in decision-making and presentations.

Universal acceptance

Almost everyone knows Excel at some level. Files are easy to share, review, and reuse—important for collaboration, submissions, and reports.

In short, Excel feels like a practical problem-solver: not flashy, but incredibly reliable and powerful once you know how to use it well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

What I dislike about MS Excel is that, despite its power, it has some real limitations that show up once your work becomes complex or large-scale:

Error-prone formulas

A small mistake in a formula (wrong cell reference, drag error, hidden overwrite) can silently change results. In research or financial work, this can be risky if not carefully validated.

Poor handling of very large datasets

Excel slows down or crashes with large files (hundreds of thousands to millions of rows). It’s not designed to be a true database or big-data tool.

Version and compatibility issues

Files may behave differently across versions (Windows vs Mac, older vs newer Excel), especially with advanced functions, macros, or Power Query.

Limited reproducibility

Unlike programming tools (R, Python), Excel workflows are harder to document and reproduce step-by-step, which is a drawback for academic and clinical research.

Manual dependence

Many tasks still rely on manual steps (copy-paste, drag-fill). This increases the chance of human error and makes automation less robust unless VBA or Power Automate is used.

Not ideal for collaboration

While Excel Online has improved, simultaneous editing, version control, and audit trails are still weaker compared to modern collaborative data tools.

In essence, Excel is excellent for analysis and reporting—but once accuracy, scale, automation, or reproducibility become critical, its weaknesses become more noticeable. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Renewables & Environment
UR
Verified User in Renewables & Environment
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Powerful Data Analysis and AI Imports That Boost Productivity in Microsoft Excel"
5/5
What do you like best about Microsoft Excel?

As a Manager - Solar Asset Management, i like most about microsoft excel is that it provides strong data analysis with pivot tables, charts,conditional formatting. It supports files like CSV and excel directly from scada. It's AI feature like import data from images reduces times and improves productivity. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Microsoft Excel?

It has some limitations like it requires manual data uploads. Also it is not capable in monitoring live plant operations or auto scada exports. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Product Avatar Image
Microsoft Excel
4.7/5(3,191)