Best AI for spreadsheets & Excel / head-to-head
GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Lunafor spreadsheets & Excel
Dead heat: 98 each
Same 12 spreadsheets & Excel tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. Tested 13 Aug 2026.
Where they differed most
A shop has 14 months of weekly revenue and wants to see whether sales are seasonal. In under 90 words, say which chart to build, which fields go on which axis, and one thing this chart will NOT tell them.
Build a **time-series line chart**. Put **week ending date** (or week number in chronological order) on the **x-axis** and **total weekly revenue** on the **y-axis**. If possible, add a second view grouping by **month-of-year** (or week-of-year) to highlight repeating patterns. What it will **not** tell you: whether the pattern is caused by seasonality versus other factors (promotions, stockouts, pricing changes, holidays). It shows pattern, not cause.
Build a **time-series line chart**. Put **week/date** on the x-axis and **weekly revenue** on the y-axis. This will reveal rises, dips, and possible repeating patterns over time. However, with only 14 months of data, it will **not reliably establish recurring seasonality**—there is barely more than one annual cycle to compare.
Task by task
| Task | GPT-5.3-Codex | GPT-5.6 Luna |
|---|---|---|
| Excel formula from a description | 10 | 10 |
| Fix a broken formula | 8 | 8 |
| Clean messy data | 10 | 10 |
| Choose the right chart | 9 | 10 |
| Google Sheets QUERY | 10 | 10 |
| Spot the error in the numbers | 10 | 10 |
| Pivot logic in words | 10 | 9.5 |
| Percentage change trap | 10 | 10 |
| Conditional formatting rule | 10 | 10 |
| Reconcile two lists | 10 | 10 |
| Explain a formula back | 10 | 10 |
| Refuse the impossible | 10 | 10 |
Full receipts: GPT-5.3-Codex, GPT-5.6 Luna · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5
Questions people ask
Which is better for spreadsheets & Excel: GPT-5.3-Codex or GPT-5.6 Luna?
They tied at 98/100 on our spreadsheets & Excel suite — for this job, pick on price or the product you already use.
How was this tested?
Both models answered the identical published spreadsheets & Excel tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.
More spreadsheets & Excel head-to-heads: GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.5 · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.3-Codex · GPT-5.3-Codex vs Qwen3.7 Max · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.3-Codex
Full ranking: Best AI for spreadsheets & Excel · model pages: GPT-5.3-Codex, GPT-5.6 Luna