Apple Numbers vs. Microsoft Excel: Which Is Best for You?

• Apple Numbers is beginner-friendly and free but lacks the depth for serious data handling.

• Microsoft Excel has all the features you could ever need, but it's harder to master, and it costs money.

• Apple Numbers offers great visual effects, but Excel remains the powerhouse for handling large data sets and complex functions.

I've been a Microsoft Excel user for decades, but I've recently found myself using Apple Numbers more. These two spreadsheet apps are suited for different tasks, so if you're considering switching sides yourself, here's what to expect.

Easy to Understand vs. Plenty to Understand

I've used Excel a lot and have written about it extensively over the years, so I'd say that I have a good understanding of it. However, if I were an Excel beginner again, I think I would feel overwhelmed. It's the hardest of the Office suite of apps to master, with so much complex functionality that, even after decades of use, I still find areas that I haven't completely mastered.

In contrast, Apple Numbers is far more welcoming to beginners. The UI guides you through how to use certain features in a much more open way. If you're a casual user, you're going to master what you need to know more quickly.

That said, Excel does have one advantage: it's far more widely used and has learning resources available for every function, feature, and setting you can imagine. Numbers, not so much.

Free to Use, or Almost Free

Apple Numbers is completely free to use. There aren't any caveats to add to that, other than the fact that it's Apple only and requires a Mac, iPhone, or iPad to use. It should come pre-installed on a Mac, but if it isn't, you can just grab it from the App Store without it costing you anything.

In contrast, Excel isn't free, at least not really. I call it "almost" free, largely because to get the full Excel experience, you need the Office apps. These days, that usually means having a Microsoft 365 subscription , although a non-subscription, single-purchase version of Office 2024 is still available—paid, of course.

If you do want to use it for free, however, then you can use the Excel Online tool. Excel Online is a bit like Google Sheets. It supports many of the Excel features that you'd expect, but it isn't as powerful and lacks some of its functionality.

If cost is a concern, and you already have a Mac or an iPhone, you're going to want to pick Numbers.

Integration Makes Things Easier for Everyone

I regularly switch between devices: a Windows PC, an iPad, a Mac, and an Android smartphone. If I want to, I can access my Excel spreadsheets on all four of them using native Excel apps. However, to do the same with Numbers, and to get the same experience, I'd need to use my Mac or iPad.

As far as integration goes, Excel clearly has the advantage, but it's actually not quite as clear cut. I still find the iCloud integration in the Numbers app to be significantly better than OneDrive integration in Office—I've even had trouble with autosave in Excel on mobile devices in the past, forcing me to lose data in the process. Numbers also has an online version you can access using a browser on just about any platform at iCloud.com .

So, an all-score draw, but Excel probably grabs the advantage, here. It might have the odd, rare bug on mobile, but I can easily use it on every device I have. Apple Numbers, not so much.

Serious Users with Large Data Sets Need Excel

Apple Numbers is a great tool for basic use, but when your spreadsheet starts to grow, it will crumble. It isn't designed to handle large spreadsheets with multiple tabs, endless formulas, and potentially thousands of rows and columns.

Unfortunately (for Numbers), this is precisely what Excel excels at. It's the number crunching powerhouse, and as long as your device has the system resources to spare, it'll be able to handle much more data than Numbers can.

Excel Offers Better Functionality

The first version of Excel launched nearly 40 years ago, so it had a bit of a head start in the functionality game. There are over 450 different Excel functions that you can use, while Numbers has around 250. That's before we consider any of the more complex Excel features, like macros, that Numbers lacks.

If you need a serious product for your data, then Excel has everything you could need.

This level of functionality is why Excel is more readily understood and accessible, no matter where you go, compared to Numbers. If you go into any standard office, PCs there will likely have Office installed, and they'll be able to load up your XLSX Excel spreadsheet . In contrast, those same PCs won't be able to open up the Numbers file created by Apple's app.

Apple Numbers Creates Attractive Spreadsheets

The one big advantage that Apple Numbers has over Excel, in my opinion, is its visual appeal. Numbers can create some amazing-looking visual effects for your spreadsheet, from vibrant color schemes to modern, arty graphs and charts. Compared to Excel, a Numbers spreadsheet stands out.

The same applies to templating, too. Numbers has a number of great looking preset templates for a wide variety of uses, including personal budgeting and stock control. Excel has similar templates, and it can create some impressive charts, but I've never seen an Excel spreadsheet that didn't look like an Excel spreadsheet.

Numbers, meanwhile, lets you create spreadsheets that can fool you into believing they've been professionally made by a graphic artist. You can also easily save your templates and roll them out, time and time again.

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There's no doubt in my mind that Microsoft Excel is the best spreadsheet tool out there. It's the titan of the spreadsheet world, the one that started it all. Pretenders like Apple Numbers and Google Sheets do a great job, but they aren't full Excel replacements.

That said, I like Apple Numbers. It's clean, modern, and easier to use. When I don't need to worry about my formula syntax, but I do want a nice-looking spreadsheet, I'll always choose Numbers over Excel or Google Sheets .