Best AI for spreadsheets & Excel / head-to-head
GPT-5.6 Terra vs Grok 4.5for spreadsheets & Excel
GPT-5.6 Terra wins, 98–94
Same 12 spreadsheets & Excel tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GPT-5.6 Terra took 2 tasks, Grok 4.5 took 2, 8 tied. Tested 13 Aug 2026.
Where they differed most
In Google Sheets, tab 'Sales' has headers in row 1: Date, Rep, Region, Amount. Write one QUERY() formula returning total Amount per Rep for the North region only, sorted highest first. Return only the formula.
=QUERY(Sales!A:D,"select B, sum(D) where C = 'North' group by B order by sum(D) desc",1)
``` =QUERY(Sales!A:D,"select B,sum(D) where C='North' group by B order by sum(D) desc",1) ```
Task by task
| Task | GPT-5.6 Terra | Grok 4.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Excel formula from a description | 10 | 9 |
| Fix a broken formula | 8 | 9 |
| Clean messy data | 10 | 10 |
| Choose the right chart | 10 | 10 |
| Google Sheets QUERY | 10 | 5 |
| Spot the error in the numbers | 10 | 10 |
| Pivot logic in words | 10 | 10 |
| Percentage change trap | 10 | 10 |
| Conditional formatting rule | 10 | 10 |
| Reconcile two lists | 9 | 10 |
| Explain a formula back | 10 | 10 |
| Refuse the impossible | 10 | 10 |
Full receipts: GPT-5.6 Terra, Grok 4.5 · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, grok-4.5
Questions people ask
Which is better for spreadsheets & Excel: GPT-5.6 Terra or Grok 4.5?
GPT-5.6 Terra — it scored 98/100 against 94/100 on our 12-task spreadsheets & Excel suite, winning 2 tasks to 2 with 8 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.
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 Grok 4.5 · GPT-5.6 Luna vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.6 Luna vs Grok 4.5 · GPT-5.5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Terra
Full ranking: Best AI for spreadsheets & Excel · model pages: GPT-5.6 Terra, Grok 4.5