---
title: "Google Sheets vs Excel Statistics 2026: Market Share and AI"
date: 2026-07-29
author: "Sofia Ramirez"
featured_image: "https://sqmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/google-sheets-vs-excel-statistics.jpg"
categories:
  - name: "Technology"
    url: "/technology.md"
tags:
  - name: "Statistics"
    url: "/tag/statistics.md"
---

# Google Sheets vs Excel Statistics 2026: Market Share and AI

Google Workspace serves more than **3 billion** users globally, including over **11 million** paying customers across enterprise, business, and education segments. Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes segment generated **$77.8 billion** in FY 2025 revenue, carrying **89.0 million** [Microsoft 365](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/microsoft-365-statistics/) Consumer subscribers and **360 million** Microsoft Teams monthly active users by June 2025. The figures below pair Sheets and Excel on every measurable axis a buyer cares about.

## Key Takeaways

- Google Workspace holds **50.34%** of the office productivity tools category compared with Microsoft 365 at **45.46%**, per 6sense technographic data.
- Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers reached **89.0 million** by the end of fiscal year 2025, an 8% year-over-year gain.
- Excel ships with **1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns** per worksheet, per Microsoft Support specifications. Google Sheets caps at up to **10 million cells** per workbook, per [Google Drive](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/google-drive-statistics/) Help.
- Nearly **70%** of the Fortune 500 use Microsoft 365 Copilot, per Microsoft’s Ignite 2024 disclosure.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot remains a **$30 per user per month** add-on across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. [Gemini AI](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/google-gemini-ai-statistics/) features are bundled into Google Workspace Business and Enterprise plans at no additional cost following 2025 pricing changes.
- Google Workspace Business plans cap at a maximum of **300 users**, with the Enterprise tier removing the user limit.

## Editor’s Choice

- Google Workspace serves more than **3 billion** users globally.
- Workspace counts over **11 million** paying customers across enterprise, business, and education segments.
- Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes segment generated **$77.8 billion** in FY 2025 revenue.
- Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers reached **89.0 million** by June 2025.
- Google Sheets has over **900 million** active monthly users.
- [Microsoft Teams](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/microsoft-teams-statistics/) crossed **360 million** monthly active users by June 2025.

## Recent Developments

- **April 2026**: Excel introduced Python integration directly inside Edit with Copilot, allowing users to apply Python-powered techniques as Copilot makes edits, including data transformation, visualization, and complex multi-step tasks in place.
- **April 2026**: Microsoft 365 Copilot’s **$30 per user per month** pricing was reaffirmed, with Plan mode rolling out to Excel for multi-step changes.
- **April 22, 2026**: Alphabet disclosed that Google Cloud surpassed a **$50 billion** annual revenue run rate in Q2 2025, with approximately **65%** of Google Cloud customers already using Google AI products.
- **February 2026**: Alphabet reported Q4 2025 consolidated revenues increased **18%** to **$113.8 billion**, with Google Workspace showing double-digit growth driven by an increase in average revenue per seat and the number of seats.
- **July 2025**: Microsoft’s FY25 Productivity and Business Processes segment closed at **$77.8 billion** in revenue, with Microsoft 365 Commercial seat growth of **6%**.

## Monthly Active Users and User Base Size

- Google Sheets has over **900 million** active monthly users, with Gmail at over **1.5 billion**, Google Docs at over **1 billion**, and Google Drive at over **1 billion** users storing files globally. Microsoft’s spreadsheet user base sits inside the broader Microsoft 365 envelope, where Microsoft Teams adoption crossed **360 million** monthly active users by June 2025. Alphabet reported that for the full year 2025, its consolidated revenues exceeded **$400 billion** for the first time.

| Metric | Google Sheets / Workspace | Microsoft Excel / 365 |
|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet MAU | 900 million+ | Not separately disclosed |
| Suite-level MAU peg | Workspace 3 billion+ users | Microsoft 365 Consumer 89.0 million subscribers; Teams 360 million MAU |
| Paying-customer count | 11 million+ Workspace paying customers | Microsoft 365 Commercial seats grew 6% YoY in FY25 |
| Latest disclosure window | Q1 2026 (Pichai remarks) | Q4 FY25 (July 2025) |

*Source: Microsoft Investor Relations, Alphabet SEC filings, Wikipedia compilation of Google announcements*

### Which has more users, Google Sheets or Excel?

- Google Sheets has the largest disclosed monthly active user figure at over **900 million**. Microsoft instead reports suite-level metrics, with Microsoft 365 Consumer at **89.0 million** subscribers and Productivity and Business Processes segment revenue at **$77.8 billion** in FY 2025.
- But raw active-user counts blur the paid-vs-free split, so seat data tells a sharper story.

## Paid Seats and Subscriber Counts

- Google Workspace counts more than **11 million** paying customers across enterprise, business, and education segments as of 2025. Microsoft’s parallel figure sits in the Microsoft 365 Commercial seat base, which grew **6%** year-over-year in FY25, while Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers expanded **8%** to **89.0 million** following the price increase announced in January 2025.
- Workspace seat momentum tracked through Q4 2025, where Alphabet disclosed double-digit growth driven by an increase in average revenue per seat and the number of seats.

| Subscriber pool | Workspace | Microsoft 365 |
|---|---|---|
| Paying customers / Commercial seats | 11 million+ paying customers | Commercial cloud seat growth +6% YoY (FY25) |
| Consumer subscribers | Not disclosed as separate consumer MAU | 89.0 million (+8% YoY) |
| Mid-market seat cap | 300-user cap on Business plans | No comparable hard cap on Business Premium |
| Revenue carry | Workspace inside Google Cloud revenue | $77.8 billion Productivity and Business Processes (FY25) |

*Source: Alphabet SEC filings, Microsoft Investor Relations, Google Workspace pricing page*

- Seats name the install base; market share names the category position.

## Market Share in Spreadsheet and Office Suite Category

- Google Workspace holds a **50.34%** market share in the office productivity tools category, ahead of Microsoft 365 at **45.46%**, per 6sense technographic data. In the Office Suites category, competitive set tracked by 6sense, Microsoft Office holds **12.28%**, Google Sheets holds **5.74%**, and WordPerfect holds **3.13%** market share.
- Geographic distribution shows the United States with **824,352 customers (58.78%)**, the United Kingdom with **107,762 (7.68%)**, and Germany with **74,452 (5.31%)** as the top three markets for Google Workspace office suites usage.

![Productivity Software Market Share By Platform](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/productivity-software-market-share-by-platform.jpg "Productivity Software Market Share by Platform")

- Category leadership shifts with telemetry methodology, so two adjacent technographic crawls can yield different rankings. Share sets the field; AI features set the spend.

## AI Feature Adoption and Pricing

- Workspace Business and Enterprise plans now include Gemini AI features bundled at no additional cost following 2025 pricing changes. Microsoft 365 Copilot is priced at **$30 per user per month** as an add-on, available across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
- The pricing applies to Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise customers, with additional consumption capacity available via Copilot Studio. The bundling structure swings per-seat AI economics:
- Workspace pays no marginal AI fee, while a Microsoft 365 seat that wants Copilot layers the $30 add-on on its base subscription.
- Microsoft disclosed at Ignite 2024 that nearly **70%** of the Fortune 500 use Microsoft 365 Copilot, with use cases spanning document drafting, data analysis in Excel via Copilot, meeting summarization in Teams, and email triage in Outlook.

| AI capability | Sheets (Gemini bundled) | Excel (Copilot $30 add-on) |
|---|---|---|
| Per-seat AI list price | $0 marginal (Gemini bundled in Business and Enterprise) | $30 per user per month |
| Natural-language formulas | Yes (Gemini) | Yes (Copilot) |
| Multi-step plan mode | Workspace surface | Plan mode in Excel (April 2026) |
| Python integration | Native via Apps Script + BigQuery; no Python-in-cell parity yet | Python in Edit with Copilot (April 2026) |
| Fortune 500 adoption disclosed | n/a (Workspace seats not Fortune-cut) | ~70% (Microsoft Ignite 2024) |

*Source: Google Workspace pricing page, Microsoft 365 Copilot release notes, Microsoft Ignite disclosure*

> **By the numbers:** Workspace Business and Enterprise plans include Gemini AI features bundled at no additional cost following 2025 pricing changes, per the Workspace pricing page. Microsoft 365 Copilot remains a **$30 per user per month** add-on for Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise customers. Nearly **70%** of the Fortune 500 already use Microsoft 365 Copilot, per Microsoft’s Ignite disclosure.

- An Excel-heavy finance team may justify the Copilot premium on workflow continuity alone. The buyer’s question is which surface fits the existing data plumbing. Pricing sets the table; the function set decides what each platform can actually do.

### Does Google Sheets have AI like Copilot?

- Yes. Copilot in Excel in **April 2026** added Python integration inside Edit with Copilot, Plan mode that outlines a step-by-step approach before any workbook is updated, and Work IQ integration that pulls context from emails, meetings, chats, and files automatically.

## Function and Formula Parity

- Excel for the Web in April 2026 added Power Query refresh from authenticated data sources, deepening the platform’s ETL surface beyond the desktop client. Microsoft’s Productivity segment composition includes the per-user portion of Microsoft 365 Defender, Power BI, Exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, security and compliance products, and Microsoft Copilot, anchoring Excel to a wider analytics ecosystem.
- Excel’s data-prep stack sits inside Microsoft’s broader Productivity portfolio, which grew Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue 12% in FY25, driven by Office 365 Commercial growth of **14%**.
- Both ship LAMBDA, LET, and dynamic arrays. Sheets users typically route equivalent ETL workloads through Apps Script, IMPORTRANGE, or BigQuery integration, a different pattern that trades a packaged tool for runtime flexibility.

| Capability | Sheets | Excel |
|---|---|---|
| Modern array functions (LAMBDA, LET) | Yes | Yes |
| Power Query / M-language ETL | No equivalent | Yes (desktop + Web from April 2026) |
| Power Pivot columnar engine | No (BigQuery integration instead) | Yes |
| Cross-spreadsheet imports | IMPORTRANGE (native) | Workbook links + Power Query connections |
| Web-data fetches | GOOGLEFINANCE, IMPORTHTML, IMPORTXML | Power Query Web connector |

*Source: Microsoft Annual Report, Microsoft Tech Community Excel Blog*

### Does Google Sheets have Power Query?

- No. Sheets has no Power Query equivalent; the M-language stays Excel-exclusive. Sheets users route ETL through Apps Script, IMPORTRANGE, or BigQuery Connected Sheets instead.
- Functions are only half the toolbox; row and cell ceilings draw the harder line.

## Max Row, Column, Cell Limits and Pivot Performance

- Excel’s worksheet ceiling sits at **1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns**, with a per-cell character limit of **32,767**, per Microsoft Support specifications. Google Sheets caps at up to **10 million cells**, or **18,278 columns** (column ZZZ), for spreadsheets created in or converted to Sheets, with imported Excel files capped at a maximum file size of **100 MB**.
- The product of Excel’s worksheet row and column ceilings gives the raw cell capacity per Excel worksheet, dwarfing Sheets’ workbook cell ceiling by several orders of magnitude.
- The source disclosures sit on opposite measurement units (per worksheet vs per workbook), which is itself a structural signal of how each platform sizes its containers.
- Microsoft recommends keeping the number of concurrent co-authors below **10** to avoid degraded performance in Excel co-authoring sessions.
- The full Excel worksheet ceiling divided across the recommended concurrency cap of 10 co-authors yields the raw capacity-per-editor figure for Excel. The architectural divergence (Excel optimizes raw capacity per author, Sheets optimizes collaboration density) is visible only when the capacity and concurrency limits are read side by side.

![Google Sheets vs Excel Spreadsheet Limits](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/google-sheets-vs-excel-spreadsheet-limits.jpg "Google Sheets vs Excel Spreadsheet Limits")

> **By the numbers:** Excel’s roughly **17.18 billion cell** per-worksheet ceiling at a recommended ≤**10** co-author concurrency yields about **1.7 billion** cells per editor; Sheets at **10 million** cells per workbook with 50-plus named collaborators yields roughly **200,000** cells per editor, per Microsoft Support and Google Drive Help. The architectural trade is raw capacity versus collaboration density.

### How many rows can Google Sheets and Excel handle?

- Excel handles **1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns** per worksheet, per Microsoft Support specifications. Google Sheets enforces up to **10 million cells** and **18,278 columns** per workbook, with imported Excel files capped at a maximum file size of **100 MB**, per Google Drive Help. Finance teams hit Excel’s row ceiling on tick-data exports while Sheets users hit the cell ceiling on wide schema imports.

### Is Excel better than Google Sheets for big data?

- Excel wins for large single-author analytical workloads via Power Pivot and Power Query. Sheets wins on big-data plumbing through BigQuery Connected Sheets.
- Hard ceilings constrain capacity; live concurrency under load is the next chapter.

## Real-Time Collaboration Concurrency

- Excel co-authoring is available in Excel for the web, Excel for Microsoft 365, Excel for iOS, and Excel for Android, with the file required to be saved in OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online and shared via a link.
- Excel desktop versions before Microsoft 365 do not support co-authoring, and Microsoft recommends keeping the number of concurrent co-authors below **10** to avoid degraded performance.
- Google Workspace Business plans support up to **300 users**, with Business Standard offering 2 TB pooled storage per user as the shared collaboration substrate.
- Sheets does not publish an equivalent recommended ceiling for concurrent editors, suggesting a higher tolerance for many-editor sessions before degradation, a function of web-first design.

| Concurrency metric | Sheets | Excel |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended concurrent editors | 50+ in practice | <10 (Microsoft recommendation) |
| Required storage location | Google Drive (native) | OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online |
| Desktop legacy support | n/a (always web) | Microsoft 365 only (pre-365 desktop excluded) |
| Mobile co-authoring | iOS + Android | iOS + Android (in Microsoft 365) |

*Source: Microsoft Support, co-authoring documentation, Google Workspace pricing page*

- Co-editor density meets the developer surface next.

## Scripting Ecosystem (Apps Script vs VBA and Office Scripts)

- Excel’s automation surface in April 2026 expanded with Python integration inside Edit with Copilot, giving users a Python execution path for data transformation, visualization, and complex multi-step tasks in place as Copilot makes edits.
- Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes portfolio bundles Power BI and Microsoft Teams alongside Excel, anchoring the platform’s analytics surface to a wider workflow ecosystem.
- Sheets counters with Apps Script across multiple Workspace apps. Excel’s parallel splits across VBA, Office Scripts, and Power Automate.

| Scripting surface | Sheets | Excel |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in language | Apps Script (JavaScript) | VBA (desktop), Office Scripts (TypeScript, web), Python (April 2026, via Copilot) |
| Cross-app reach | Sheets, Docs, Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Forms | Excel-scoped (Power Automate covers cross-app) |
| Cloud execution | Native (Workspace-hosted) | Office Scripts cloud-native; VBA local-only |
| Custom function authoring | Apps Script custom functions | VBA UDFs + Office Scripts |

*Source: Microsoft Tech Community Excel Blog, Microsoft Annual Report*

- Scripts handle automation; marketplaces handle the external add-in surface.

## Marketplace Integrations and Add-On Counts

Google Workspace Business and Enterprise plans now include Gemini AI features bundled at no additional cost following **2025** pricing changes, broadening the integrated add-in surface beyond Marketplace listings. Microsoft 365 Copilot rolled out new agent governance, intelligent workflows, and connected app experiences in **April 2026**, with additional consumption capacity available via Copilot Studio for custom-agent build-outs. Marketplace volumes are similar at the thousand-app scale on both sides; the differentiator has migrated to first-party AI-agent surfaces. Copilot Studio and Workspace Marketplace AI agents.

Marketplace breadth supports adoption; Fortune 500 adoption proves it.

## Enterprise and Education Penetration

- Nearly **70%** of the Fortune 500 use Microsoft 365 Copilot, per Microsoft’s Ignite 2024 disclosure, with an IDC study cited at Ignite reporting **$3.70** in return for every **$1** invested in generative AI, and leaders reporting returns as high as **$10**. The Copilot footprint extends across Excel, Word, Outlook, and Teams; comparable in scale to the AI surfaces tracked in our [AI tools usage statistics](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/ai-tools-usage-statistics/) coverage.
- On the Google side, Sundar Pichai disclosed that Google Cloud surpassed a **$50 billion** annual revenue run rate in Q2 2025, with approximately **65%** of Google Cloud customers already using Google AI products, while nearly all AI unicorns count among Cloud customers. Alphabet’s full-year 2025 results showed Google Cloud revenues grew **48%** to **$17.7 billion** in Q4, led by enterprise AI infrastructure and enterprise AI solutions.
- A Google Workspace study conducted by The Harris Poll (n=**1,007** U.S. knowledge workers aged 22-39) found **92%** of young leaders want AI with personalization, and **90%** would be more inclined to use AI at work if responses were personalized.

> **Key finding:** At Microsoft Ignite, the company announced that nearly **70%** of the Fortune 500 use Microsoft 365 Copilot. In Google’s Gemini Enterprise launch communication, Sundar Pichai disclosed that approximately **65%** of Google Cloud customers already use Google AI products, with over **13 million** developers having built with Google generative models.

- [Google](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/google-usage-statistics/) also disclosed that Google Cloud has 13 product lines, each generating over **$1 billion** in annual revenue, with customers including nine of the top ten AI labs.
- Microsoft leads on Fortune-500 penetration, Google on AI-developer mindshare, and two different proxies for “enterprise win” pointing at the same conclusion.

![Microsoft 365 Copilot Enterprise ROI From Generative AI Adoption](https://sqmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/microsoft-365-copilot-enterprise-roi-from-generative-ai-adoption.jpg "Microsoft 365 Copilot Enterprise ROI From Generative AI Adoption")

## Security and Compliance Certifications

Workspace at the Enterprise tier includes **5 TB** pooled storage per user with the ability to request more, supporting the data-residency and retention controls that regulated buyers require. Microsoft’s productivity portfolio bundles Microsoft 365 Defender, Enterprise Mobility + Security, and Microsoft Copilot, the security and compliance surface that anchors Excel inside regulated finance and healthcare deployments. Both maintain SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA BAAs, and GDPR. Microsoft adds GCC High and FedRAMP High; Google maintains FedRAMP High through Assured Workloads. Parity in depth.

Compliance protects the install base; pricing decides the next renewal.

## Pricing Tier Ladder and Per-User ARPU

- Google Workspace Business Starter includes **30 GB** pooled storage per user, Business Standard includes **2 TB**, Business Plus includes **5 TB**, and Enterprise includes **5 TB** with the ability to request more. Workspace Business plans support a maximum of **300 users**; Enterprise has no user cap, and all Business and Enterprise plans now include Gemini AI features bundled at no additional cost following 2025 pricing changes.
- Microsoft 365 Copilot remains a **$30 per user per month** add-on, available across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
- The pricing applies to Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise customers, with additional consumption capacity available via Copilot Studio.
- Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes segment revenue of **$77.8 billion** in FY 2025 carries the ARPU growth from the January 2025 Consumer price increase plus Commercial seat growth of **6%** YoY.
- Workspace’s bundled structure means a buyer pays the listed Business or Enterprise rate, whether or not it uses the Gemini AI surface, with Gemini features included at no additional cost.
- Microsoft’s structure leaves Copilot as an opt-in **$30 per user per month** add-on, letting buyers defer the AI premium but raising the all-in price for teams that adopt it.

| Tier (mid-market) | Google Workspace | Microsoft 365 |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Business Starter, 30 GB storage | Business Basic |
| Mid plan | Business Standard, 2 TB pooled storage, Gemini bundled | Business Standard with Copilot $30 add-on |
| Top SMB plan | Business Plus, 5 TB | Business Premium |
| User cap | 300 (Business tiers) | No comparable hard cap |
| AI surface | Gemini bundled in all Business + Enterprise | Copilot $30/user/mo add-on |

*Source: Google Workspace pricing page, Microsoft 365 Copilot Tech Community blog*

### Which is cheaper, Sheets or Excel for business?

- The answer flips with AI usage. Without Copilot, Microsoft 365’s base tiers can undercut Workspace; once Copilot at **$30 per user per month** is layered on, Workspace’s bundled Gemini structure pulls ahead on all-in AI-enabled spend.

## Conclusion

Google Workspace serves more than **3 billion** users globally, including over **11 million** paying customers across enterprise, business, and education segments. Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes segment closed FY 2025 at **$77.8 billion** in revenue with **89.0 million** Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers. The capacity-vs-concurrency tradeoff still defines the platforms: Excel’s worksheet ceiling at the recommended <=10 co-author concurrency yields the highest raw capacity-per-editor figure of any mainstream spreadsheet, while Sheets at 50-plus named collaborators on a 10-million-cell workbook optimizes the same surface for density instead, opposite design choices for opposite buyer needs.

**On AI pricing, the bundling structure is the loudest signal:** Microsoft 365 Copilot stays a **$30 per user per month** add-on across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams. Nearly **70%** of the Fortune 500 already use Copilot, per Microsoft’s Ignite disclosure.