Best AI for spreadsheets & Excel / head-to-head

GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Terrafor spreadsheets & Excel

The verdict

Dead heat: 98 each

Same 12 spreadsheets & Excel tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. Tested 13 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Choose the right chart

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 makes recurring peaks and dips across the 14 months easier to spot, suggesting possible seasonal patterns. However, the chart will not tell them *why* sales changed—for example, whether a spike came from seasonality, promotions, holidays, price changes, or stock availability.

Task by task

TaskGPT-5.3-CodexGPT-5.6 Terra
Excel formula from a description1010
Fix a broken formula88
Clean messy data1010
Choose the right chart910
Google Sheets QUERY1010
Spot the error in the numbers1010
Pivot logic in words1010
Percentage change trap1010
Conditional formatting rule1010
Reconcile two lists109
Explain a formula back1010
Refuse the impossible1010

Full receipts: GPT-5.3-Codex, GPT-5.6 Terra · 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 Terra?

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 Luna · 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 Terra