Google Sheets vs Excel vs WPS Office: Which Spreadsheet Tool Is Best in 2026?

Published: June 2026 · 7 min read

Spreadsheets are the universal business tool. Every company uses them. But which spreadsheet tool should you use? The answer isn't as simple as "Excel, obviously" anymore.

The 30-Second Comparison

Microsoft Excel: The Heavyweight

Best for: Financial modeling, data analysis, enterprise reporting, anything involving complex calculations or large datasets.

Excel remains the gold standard for a reason: Power Query and Power Pivot are genuine superpowers. You can connect Excel to SQL databases, transform millions of rows, build data models with relationships, and create professional dashboards — all without writing SQL.

The killer feature in 2026: Copilot in Excel. You can describe what you want in plain English — "create a pivot table showing revenue by region and quarter, with year-over-year growth" — and it builds it. It doesn't always get it right, but it saves 10-15 minutes per analysis.

Downsides: Cost ($6.99/month adds up). Collaboration still feels bolted-on compared to Sheets. The ribbon interface is overwhelming for beginners.

Google Sheets: The Collaboration King

Best for: Team projects, shared budgets, real-time collaboration, startups that move fast.

Sheets' real advantage isn't features — it's sharing. You send a link. Multiple people edit simultaneously. No "read-only because someone else has it open." No emailing versions back and forth. No "Book1_final_v3_REVISED.xlsx."

Google Apps Script (JavaScript-based automation) is more modern and approachable than VBA. And the =GOOGLEFINANCE() function alone makes Sheets worth using for anyone who tracks stocks or currencies.

Downsides: Performance degrades above ~50,000 rows. No Power Query equivalent. Limited chart customization. Offline access requires setup and isn't truly seamless.

WPS Office: The Dark Horse

Best for: Budget-conscious users who need offline Excel compatibility without a Microsoft 365 subscription.

WPS Office is the most popular office suite in China (700M+ users) and growing internationally. Its spreadsheet tool is 95% Excel-compatible — you can open, edit, and save .xlsx files without formatting breaking. The free version has everything most users need. Premium ($29.99/year) removes ads and adds PDF tools.

The interface is more modern than Excel's ribbon. Tabbed documents (like a browser) are genuinely useful when you're working with 5+ spreadsheets.

Downsides: Free version has ads. Some advanced Excel functions are missing. English documentation is sparse. The macOS version lags behind Windows.

Which Should You Choose?

Templates Work Across All Three

Good news: professionally designed .xlsx templates work across Excel, Google Sheets, and WPS Office with minimal formatting issues. This means you can buy a template once and use it everywhere — your team on Sheets, your finance person on Excel, your external consultant on WPS. Everyone works from the same file.