Backstory:

My previous employer switched over from the Microsoft suite to GSuite in the summer of 2019. I remember being extremely frustrated that my #1 skill was being stripped away from me. I could no longer use my ALT keys to impress people and build models at hyper speed… I had to learn how to use google sheets and after two years of using it, I am here to plead the case for google sheets and tell you why it is actually better than Excel.

Pros:

Better Formulas Importrange, REGEXMATCH, REGEXEXTRACT, REGEXREPLACE, QUERY, and more

Index(match, match): So much cleaner and easier to use on Google Sheets vs. Excel.

Seamless Integration between GSuite: No breaking connections to PowerPoint slides. Sheets’ integration into slides and docs is incredible compared to Excel -> PowerPoint Forms -> sheets is simple and easy too. Great for data collection

Automation: is easier Google Apps Scripts is easier and more relevant to know than VBA (Javascript is king) App script triggers make is easy to create time bound or event bound executions

Version control: is a thing of the past Easily track when and what changed

Collaboration: The ability to create a file and share with others where you can all work together at the same time, without having to keep track of what is the master file is a gamechanger

File Structure: Each Workbook uses a URL based approach which makes it easy to use nested Importrange, query, and index(match, match) formulas to level up your modeling skills and and automate the intake of data as easily as you export out your reports / dashboards.

It is Free to use with a google email!

Cons:

Limited shortcuts there are some, but I want [ALT + H + O + I] back 😭😭

Data Limitations , at most you can use is 10 million cells

If you build your models poorly you risk slow computing times This is why I recommend load balancing your models using Importrange to separate the model from the data

Conclusion:

I have been using both for many years now, and I have to say that I tend to lean towards Google sheets over excel every time. The only time I would need to use excel is if I need to quickly manipulate data to put back in google sheets or I am creating a model that uses more than a 10 Million Cells, which isn’t often. Even Excel taps out after too much…

Which do you prefer?