Formula Bot (now Better Analyst) vs XcelAI
Formula Bot (now Better Analyst)
betteranalyst.comXcelAI
xcelsai.comSide by side
| Figure | Formula Bot (now Better Analyst) | XcelAI |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $20/mo | $7.42/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 9 | 4 |
| Spec score · Spreadsheet apps | 8.5 (#14) | 8.8 (#8) |
| Spec score · AI Spreadsheet Tools | 8.3 (#15) | 8.3 (#19) |
| Spreadsheet analysis | Yes | Yes |
| Data retention | On the free plan, chats and uploaded files are automatically and permanently deleted after 60 days of inactivity; paid-plan chats and files are retained indefinitely. | Usage logs may be retained for up to 90 days, while account information is kept while needed to operate the account. |
| Formula generation | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Primary platform | multiple | microsoft_excel |
| Support | The plans list community support for Free, priority support for Starter, and dedicated founder chat for Business. | XcelAI says email questions, bugs and billing requests receive replies within 24 hours. |
| Table transformation | Yes | Yes |
Plans
Formula Bot (now Better Analyst)
- FreeFree
- Starter$20 a month
- Max$40 a month
- Business$80 a month
- CustomPrice not published
- Starter$20 a month
- Max$40 a month
- Business$80 a month
- FreePrice not published
In their own words
Formula Bot (now Better Analyst)
Formula Bot, now Better Analyst, is a web platform for asking natural-language questions about spreadsheets, databases, and documents. It brings together data connections, preparation, analysis, dashboards, reports, presentations, and recurring automation. Users can create interactive charts and dashboards, schedule dashboard data refreshes, and inspect and export the code generated for a request.
Uploads include Excel, CSV, Google Sheets, PDF, DOCX, PPTX, TXT, MP3, WAV, MP4, MOV, and WebM. Listed connectors include Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Tableau, Power BI, Airtable, Google Sheets and Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint, BigQuery, Snowflake, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Supabase, and Microsoft SQL Server. Starter costs $20 a month; Max is $40 a month per user, and Business is $80 a month per user. Max includes a Slack agent for questions and scheduled reports. The maker says data is encrypted in transit and at rest and is not used to train AI models. On Free, chats and uploaded files are permanently deleted after 60 days of inactivity; paid-plan chats and files are retained indefinitely.
XcelAI
XcelAI is an AI-powered Microsoft Excel add-in for creating formulas, transforming tables, cleaning data, generating charts, and analyzing spreadsheets through natural-language requests. In the Formula Assistant, users describe a need in plain English; XcelAI writes an Excel formula and inserts it into the sheet. Analyze & Clean can answer questions about data, highlight patterns, find duplicates, correct formatting issues, and provide insights. Smart Charts analyzes data structure and creates a chart with summarized data, while One-Click Reports produces executive reports with metrics, salesperson rankings, regional analysis, and data-quality checks. Forecasting creates monthly projections, growth rates, and confidence levels in a new forecast sheet; these three capabilities are Pro features. XcelAI runs on the web as an Excel add-in installed through Excel Online’s add-ins menu. Free includes 200 requests monthly, a 50-row limit, and five Pro-feature trials. Pro costs $9 a month or $89 a year.