# Excel: how AI models rank it, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Named in 22 judge labels across 11 categories by 10 of 14 models. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/vendors/excel

## Standing by category

| Category | Share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [FP&A platforms](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/planning/fpa-platforms/index.md) | 4% | 10 | 20% | 5 |
| [Transfer pricing](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/tax/transfer-pricing/index.md) | 2% | 12 | 33% | 3 |
| [Corporate tax provision](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/tax/corporate-tax-provision/index.md) | 0% | 94 | 100% | 3 |
| [Fixed asset accounting](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/accounting/fixed-asset-accounting/index.md) | 0% | 89 | 50% | 2 |
| [Rebate management](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/receivables/rebate-management/index.md) | 0% | 54 | 50% | 2 |
| [Revenue recognition](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/accounting/revenue-recognition/index.md) | 0% | 95 | 100% | 2 |
| [B2B credit management](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/receivables/b2b-credit-management/index.md) | 0% | 78 | 0% | 1 |
| [Corporate performance management](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/planning/corporate-performance-management/index.md) | 0% | 40 | 0% | 1 |
| [ESG and carbon reporting](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/corporate/esg-and-carbon-reporting/index.md) | 0% | 116 | 100% | 1 |
| [Financial close management](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/accounting/financial-close-management/index.md) | 0% | 67 | 100% | 1 |
| [Invoicing software](https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/receivables/invoicing-software/index.md) | 0% | 81 | 100% | 1 |

## What the models said for it

- "For a company with a limited budget, I'd start with Excel/Word—not an enterprise transfer-pricing platform—if you have only a few entities" (GPT-6 Luna, Transfer pricing)
- "If the budget is genuinely tight, I'd start with Excel or Google Sheets—not a dedicated FP&A platform." (GPT-6 Luna, FP&A platforms)
- "For very small businesses (<10 employees): Start with Excel/Google Sheets + AI tools (Free)" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, FP&A platforms)
- "Best for "Near-Zero" Budget: Low-Code Automation ... It automates calculations and threshold tracking while leveraging software you likely already pay for." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, Rebate management)

## And against it

- "While tools like Excel or Google Sheets are flexible, they lack audit trails... error-prone at scale and not designed for complex FP&A processes." (MiniMax M2.5, FP&A platforms)
- "Search results indicate a consistently negative sentiment toward using Excel as the sole driver for large-scale operations." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, Corporate tax provision)
- "Why to Avoid: Lack of audit trails, high error rates (margin leakage), and reliance on "spreadsheet champions"" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, Rebate management)
- "Spreadsheets (Excel) as Your Primary Provision Tool
This is the #1 red flag across multiple sources." (Kimi K2, Corporate tax provision)

## By model

| Model | First choice | Alternative | Mention | Warning | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Perplexity Sonar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Grok 4.20 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Mistral Small | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Kimi K2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| GPT-6 Luna | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Sources returned with these answers

The sites and pages cited by the answers that named Excel, from 50 of the 62 answers that named it (only the models that return a source list).

### Domains cited

- gane.ai/index: 15
- g2.com: 12
- sage.com: 11
- capterra.com: 9
- linkedin.com: 9
- reddit.com: 9
- mrisoftware.com: 8
- pro.bloombergtax.com: 8
- softwareadvice.com: 8
- wise.com: 8

### Pages cited

- https://wise.com/us/blog/best-revenue-recognition-software: 7
- https://pro.bloombergtax.com/insights/tax-solutions/is-your-tax-provision-process-built-to-scale: 6
- https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/tax/corporate-tax-provision/enterprise: 5
- https://mrisoftware.com/sg/blog/become-a-fixed-asset-management-master-by-avoiding-these-5-common-failures: 5
- https://sage.com/en-us/blog/small-business-equipment-asset-tracking: 5
- https://softwaretestinghelp.com/fixed-asset-software: 5
- https://linkedin.com/pulse/controlling-out-of-control-tax-provision-part-2-stephen-day: 4
- https://sage.com/en-us/blog/fixed-asset-management-spreadsheets: 4

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/finance/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/finance.