# Claude for Excel

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Claude for Excel and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for handling tedious Excel work, including formatting and filling cells. Critics say it needs work on financial models, which can contain errors.

## Why people recommend it

- Automates tedious spreadsheet work (2 comments): "Claude just transferred the numbers to the correct cells and Excel did the calculations." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47557459)) "an incredible tool to take care of the menial work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50259975))
- Good formatting and spreadsheet control (2 comments): "Claude for excel is already amazing. Fully capable of doing junior work. Formatting is great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47786816)) "Claude has an excel addon that is really good it can control everything in excel." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48135366))
- Preferred over other spreadsheet tools (2 comments): "Compare Anthropic's "Claude in Excel" and "Claude in PowerPoint" instead of in Google Docs or Sheets" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47489979)) "There aren't good alternatives for Claude Design, Cowork, Claude for Excel" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48655110))

## What people warn about

- Needs work on financial models (2 comments): "Claude for Excel needs a lot of work (as does any tool working with financial models)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46854492)) "Claude in finance results in models with errors that an analyst won’t make." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47789024))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Microsoft Copilot in Excel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-copilot-in-excel.md): 7 recommend
- [ChatGPT for Excel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chatgpt-for-excel.md): 7 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Claude for Excel", https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-for-excel/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).