Capability · 10 solutions compared
Analyse data and spreadsheets
Clean, summarise, pivot and find insights in tabular data, including ad-hoc questions in plain English.
People ask: “analyse my sales spreadsheet”
Buy nothing: Tableau, ChatGPT, Claude do this well on a free plan.
Every way to do it
Scored on what matters most for this job: quality, precision.
| Tool | Fit | Quality | Precision | Skill | Cheapest plan with it | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tableau | Core feature | technical | Tableau Public$0/mo | Creator licence needed for most data preparation and authoring | ||
| ChatGPT | Strong | none | Free$0/mo | Upload limits are tighter on Free and Go · Not a live connection to your database; results are one-off | ||
| Claude | Strong | none | Free$0/mo | One-off analysis, not a live data connection · Large files may hit limits | ||
| Google Workspace | Strong | basic | Business Starter$7/seat/mo | Gemini in Sheets needs Business Standard or above · Slows down on very large datasets | ||
| Microsoft 365 | Strong | basic | Business Basic$7/seat/mo | Desktop Excel (best for analysis) needs Business Standard or above · Copilot inside Excel needs the paid Copilot add-on | ||
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Strong | none | Microsoft 365 Premium (consumer)$19.99/mo | Works best on clean, well-structured tables · Verify formulas before relying on results | ||
| Airtable | Partial | basic | Free$0/seat/mo | No pivot tables comparable to spreadsheets · Not built for ad-hoc analysis of large datasets | ||
| Google Gemini | Partial | — | none | Free$0/mo | One-off analysis · Check figures before relying on them | |
| Looker Studio | Partial | basic | Data Studio (self-service)$0/mo | Not built for ad-hoc data cleaning or modelling | ||
| Perplexity | Partial | — | none | Pro$17/mo | Not a dedicated spreadsheet analysis tool · Upload limits vary by plan |
Fit and scores are editorial judgements; prices show their verification status. Methodology