Microsoft Excel vs. Microsoft Lists

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Excel
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet application available as part of Microsoft 365 (Office 365), or standalone, in cloud-based and on-premise editions.
$6.99
per month
Microsoft Lists
Score 9.8 out of 10
N/A
Lists is an information tracking app in Microsoft 365 that enables users to work with anyone, anywhere. Users can configure lists to better organize events, issues, and assets.N/A
Pricing
Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Lists
Editions & Modules
Excel with Microsoft 365
$6.99
per month
Excel for 1 PC or Mac
$139.99
perpetual license
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Lists
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Lists
Considered Both Products
Microsoft Excel
Chose Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Lists allows for users to keep lists, but the functionality cannot be compared to Microsoft Excel. There are far more options for data manipulation, analysis, and creating outputs in Excel. Anything that can be done in Lists can be done easily in MS Excel. The key …
Microsoft Lists
Chose Microsoft Lists
Google Sheets is less superior than Microsoft Lists. I believe that the automation that Lists is capable of doing isn't something Sheets can do.

Microsoft Lists is way better than Microsoft Excel because of the extra features of automation and integration. Somehow, they are not …
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User Ratings
Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Lists
Likelihood to Recommend
9.3
(76 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.9
(7 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.4
(22 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft Lists
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
I don't really know another program as powerful as Excel. I've used Google Doc programs but do not feel they come close. So far, anytime I've needed a table of some sort for data, whether it's budget oriented or information off a survey, the best system has been Excel. We do web audits on occasion and we create an Excel worksheet featuring every URL of the pages we're auditing, notes, data about the content, information about files attached to the page and other information to help us determine what pages need updating, deleting or otherwise. We also use Excel primarily to export our Google Analytics to in order for us to create reports for clients that need to see specific information about their traffic.
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Microsoft
Organizations with institutional subscriptions should consider maximizing the use of Microsoft Lists in their operations because it has the feature of seamlessly working with all the other Microsoft Apps. You can have a master file of multiple projects that are going on, and you don't have to manually do the updating. However, it is important to note that to maximize the Microsoft List experience, the team should have basic knowledge about integration and automation
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Pros
Microsoft
  • It is very good at embedded formulas and tying cells to one another
  • It allows me to compare deals terms on a side-by-side basis and talk my clients through it easily.
  • It is very helpful as well in terms of allowing me to filter/sort results in many different ways depending on what specific information I am most interested in prioritizing.
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Microsoft
  • great for capturing loads of data
  • great for manipulating and viewing the data many ways
  • strong integration with other M365 products and Power Automate
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Cons
Microsoft
  • Excel offers collaboration features that allow multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet, but managing changes made by different users can be challenging. Excel could improve its features by offering more granular control, better tracking of changes, and more robust conflict resolution tools.
  • Itcan be a barrier to productivity when importing and exporting data from other applications or file formats. To improve its features, it should offer better support for standard file formats and more robust error handling and reporting tools.
  • Excel can be challenging for finance students and working professionals, but it can be improved by offering more robust tutorials, better documentation, and more user communities and support forums.
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Microsoft
  • Unlike Excel, you need to go to Edit mode for you to make changes in the entries
  • You cannot just copy paste like Excel
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
Excel remains the industry standard for spreadsheets and has maintained simple and straight-forward formula writing methods. Although there is a learning curve to do more complex calculations, there are countless help sites and videos on the Internet for almost any need.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Usability
Microsoft
I'm giving it a 7 because it is my go to. But the fact other prefer Google Sheets when working with a team does get irritating. I've used the online version of Microsoft Excel that other teams can get into and it still seems behind Google Sheets. It's a little clanky and slow? If that's even a term.
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Microsoft
The first time I learned about Microsoft Lists, I was automatically converted. How I wish I had learned about Microsoft Lists early on; it could have saved me tons of time, and could have rendered me real-time reports regarding my work, as the data I work with usually keeps changing every time. I believe the best part of it is that it works well with other Microsoft products, so less stressful.
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Reliability and Availability
Microsoft
I have rarely, if ever, had issues with its availability.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Performance
Microsoft
Excel load and performs calculations immediately. It integrate well with all Microsoft Office applications and does not slow them down.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Microsoft
I have not had to use it often, but it is good.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
Out of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, IBM SPSS, and Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel is by far the most common tool used for anything data-related across organizations. Accordingly, our organization has also implemented Microsoft Excel as a first-step tool. We recently adopted Microsoft Power BI (the free version), and use it occasionally (mostly for creating dashboards), but it is less commonly understood by stakeholders across our organization and by our clients. Accordingly, Microsoft Excel is more user-friendly and because of its popularity, we can easily look up how to do things in the program online. Google Sheets is a comparable alternative to Microsoft Excel, but because it's cloud-based and we have sensitive data that needs to be protected, we chose against using this software. Finally, a few users (including myself) have access to and utilize IBM's SPSS. For my role, it's a helpful tool to do more rigorous analyses. However, because of its cost and limited functionality as a simple spreadsheet, we only use it for more complex analyses.
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Microsoft
They are all different but can be used for the same things. They all have different benefits, and I use them except Airtable. Trello has the best automation capabilities natively built into the product of any product I've ever used. (I've personally built over 1,000 automations or more for clients on Trello.) ClickUp has the best flexibility to view data in very different ways and from different organisation levels (i.e. High level data through to detailed specific data across multiple departments or projetcs. Microsoft Lists is an excellent choice if you work in M365 already and you want a deeply integrated way to hold data and use it within M365
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Microsoft
N/A I was not involved in this process.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Microsoft
Each user can use it to whatever level of expertise they have. It remains the same so users can contribute to another's work regardless of whether they have more or less expertise
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • Excel has positively impacted the business as it has increased our efficiency.
  • It also saves us the time that we would have spent on making the calculations that it does for us.
  • Since it works on all devices and is compatible with both Windows and Mac, we do not have to invest in any other alternative.
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Microsoft
  • Massively positive, we have build a business that can scale with ease
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