Claude vs ChatGPT for Excel and Office Apps (2026)

For Excel, Claude and ChatGPT now look alike: each has an add-in that opens in a sidebar inside your workbook, cites the cells it used and asks before it changes things. The differences are in the plan you need, the Excel features each can touch, and the five other office apps around Excel. ChatGPT’s add-in runs on every ChatGPT plan, Free included. Claude’s needs a paid plan, and it edits pivot tables, which OpenAI lists as unsupported.

We read Anthropic’s and OpenAI’s own help pages on November 12, 2026, and built one table from them: six office apps, two assistants, and how each assistant gets into each app. The count it gives is plain. On a paid plan, Claude works inside all six apps: Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Google Sheets, Google Docs and Google Slides. ChatGPT works inside four, and reaches Google Docs and Google Slides from a chat instead.

Plenty of founders pay for both and use them on the same files. When the sheet, the doc and the deck should be something both assistants keep current, a Context Board Sheet is a spreadsheet on the web that Claude and Codex write to over MCP, and ChatGPT too from Business and Enterprise or Edu workspaces, with every change signed. Context Board is ours, so weigh the bias.

Where Claude and ChatGPT work in six office apps

Each cell says how the assistant gets into the app and which plans it needs, as each vendor states it. “In the app” means a sidebar inside the file you have open. “From a chat” means you stay in Claude or ChatGPT and the file comes to you.

How we made it: we read Anthropic’s docs for Claude for Excel, Word and PowerPoint, its help articles on the Google Workspace add-on and the Google Workspace connectors, and its pricing page. For OpenAI we read the help articles on ChatGPT for Excel and Google Sheets, ChatGPT for Word, ChatGPT for PowerPoint, ChatGPT Work’s documents, ChatGPT Slides and the Google Drive app. None of OpenAI’s pages we read describes a ChatGPT sidebar inside Google Docs or Google Slides.

Anthropic’s add-in docs name Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. Its pricing page also lists Claude for Microsoft 365 on Ultra, so we included it.

The middle bar is the one most comparisons skip. On Claude’s Free plan, no add-in runs. Free still reaches all six apps from a chat: the Google Docs, Sheets and Slides connectors are for all users, and Claude’s Microsoft 365 connector, on every plan, reads Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in OneDrive and SharePoint. On ChatGPT, the four add-ins run on Free with limited use.

Claude vs ChatGPT for Excel

Both add-ins install from Microsoft’s store, open in a sidebar, and work on the workbook you have open. Both cite the cells behind an answer and both want you to review before you share. The table shows where the two vendors’ pages differ.

Claude’s list comes from Anthropic’s Excel docs: it sorts, filters, edits pivot tables, applies conditional formatting and makes data validation dropdowns, and it warns before it writes over existing data. ChatGPT’s unsupported list comes from OpenAI’s spreadsheets page: Office Scripts, Power Query, Pivot and the Data Model, data validation, the named ranges manager, slicers, timelines and VBA, among others.

Pick Claude for Excel if your models lean on pivot tables and dropdowns and you already pay for Claude. Pick ChatGPT for Excel if you want to try an add-in on a free plan, or you use Codex on the desktop and want it to drive the open workbook. Our guides to Claude in Excel and ChatGPT and Excel cover the install steps, fixes and prompts for each.

Claude vs ChatGPT for spreadsheets in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is the one Google app where both assistants open inside the file.

Claude has two routes. The Claude for Google Workspace add-on, in beta on Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise, opens from Extensions, Claude, Open Claude, in Chrome, Edge or Safari. Anthropic says it works only on the open file, a single operation can run for up to six minutes before Google stops it, and closing the sidebar stops the task. The Google Sheets connector works from a Claude chat instead: it edits a sheet live in a pane beside the chat and can create new sheets, and Anthropic says the Google Workspace connectors are for all users of Claude and Claude Desktop.

ChatGPT has the ChatGPT for Google Sheets add-on, installed from the Google Workspace Marketplace and opened from the Extensions menu, on every plan. OpenAI calls it a separate experience from ChatGPT for Excel that supports similar work: building sheets, asking about them and updating them in plain words. ChatGPT Work can also create or edit native Google Sheets once the Google app is connected.

So for Google Sheets the plan decides it. On a free plan, ChatGPT’s add-on runs and Claude’s connector works from a chat. On paid plans, both run inside the sheet. Our guide to Claude and Google Sheets walks through Anthropic’s add-on, connector and Claude Code routes, and our Google Sheets alternatives roundup covers the spreadsheets your agent can edit if you are leaving Sheets.

Claude vs ChatGPT for Word and Google Docs

In Word, both have an add-in. They aim at different work.

• Claude for Word is built around review. Anthropic’s Word docs list a tracked changes mode where each edit lands as a revision, working through comment threads and replying with what changed, summarizing a counterparty’s redlines, and filling templates in your document’s styles. It needs Pro or higher, and legacy .doc files must be saved as .docx first.
• ChatGPT for Word is built around drafting. OpenAI lists drafting a memo or proposal from notes, executive summaries, revising a section for an audience, and fixing headings and numbering. It is on every plan, Free included, and draws on token-based usage. OpenAI says complex formatting, tables and charts may need fixing by hand, and that it can’t reference other files on your computer.

In Google Docs, the two split further. Claude opens inside the doc through the same Workspace add-on, and its Google Docs connector edits a doc from a chat and can read and work with comments and suggestions. ChatGPT works on Google Docs from a chat: OpenAI’s Google Drive app article says Docs, Sheets and Slides actions come through the Drive app, with prompts like “Update this document with the action items from our meeting”, and ChatGPT Work creates or edits native Google Docs when the Google app is connected.

Our guide to Claude and Google Docs covers both routes on each side, with fixes. If those docs should live where your agents can all reach them, import your Word files and Google Docs to a Docs board.

Claude vs ChatGPT for PowerPoint and Google Slides

Both PowerPoint add-ins work in your own .pptx.

• Claude for PowerPoint reads the slide master, layouts, fonts and color scheme and uses them, turns bullets into diagrams, and makes native PowerPoint charts you can edit, per Anthropic’s PowerPoint docs. Pro or higher.
• ChatGPT for PowerPoint drafts from source material, adds or revises slides, and tightens a deck for an audience. OpenAI says it is designed to work within existing templates where possible, that slides may not always match a preferred style perfectly, and that some advanced chart, shape and formatting edits may be limited. Every plan, with limited use on Free and Go.

For Google Slides, Claude’s Workspace add-on drafts multi-slide updates, splits text-heavy slides and adds charts in the deck’s colors. Anthropic notes those charts go in as images and don’t update when the numbers change. ChatGPT reaches Google Slides two ways from outside it: ChatGPT Work can create native Google Slides with the Google app connected, and a ChatGPT Slides deck exports to Google Slides on the web, on Pro, Business and Enterprise plans with Space access.

Our guides to making slides with Claude and ChatGPT and PowerPoint go route by route. To bring a deck where your agents edit it, import the .pptx to a Slides board.

A formula test we ran with Claude Code

On November 12, 2026, we gave Claude Code 2.1.322, Anthropic’s agent for the terminal, one prompt with no tools and no files. It ran on its default model, Claude Fable 5.2.

My Excel sheet has payment dates in A2:A500, amounts in B2:B500 and a category in C2:C500. Write one formula that totals the amounts dated in October 2026 where the category is Software. Reply with the formula, then one sentence on how it works.

It answered in about two seconds with this formula, and a sentence saying it adds column B where the date falls on or after October 1, before November 1, and the category is Software:

=SUMIFS(B2:B500, A2:A500, ">="&DATE(2026,10,1), A2:A500, "<"&DATE(2026,11,1), C2:C500, "Software")

We checked it by reading it against the task. The “on or after October 1” and “before November 1” pair takes in October 31 and leaves out November 1, so no day is lost at either end. It is the same SUMIFS pattern our ChatGPT Excel guide uses for revenue by month. We did not run ChatGPT for this page, so this is one result from one assistant, and a single formula is the easy part for either. The add-ins differ more in what they can touch in the file, which the tables above lay out.

ChatGPT vs Claude for business: plans, rollout and your data

For a company, the questions are who pays, who turns it on, and where the data goes.

Rollout. Both vendors deploy their Microsoft add-ins from the Microsoft 365 admin center, under Integrated apps, with a manifest file when the Office Store is off. On ChatGPT, an admin may need to turn on ChatGPT for Excel and Sheets under Workspace settings, Permissions and roles, and Workspace admins turn ChatGPT for Word on or off in the admin console. On Claude Team and Enterprise, an owner turns on the Google Workspace connectors before members can sign in to them.

Price. Anthropic’s pricing page lists Pro at $20 a month, or $17 a month billed yearly, and a Team standard seat at $20 a month billed yearly. The add-ins have no separate price and draw on the same usage limits as the rest of Claude. OpenAI’s add-ins also have no separate price: Plus and Pro draw on the plan’s agentic usage limit, and Business, Enterprise and Edu use workspace credits. OpenAI’s pricing page didn’t show plan prices when we checked, so see it for yours.

Data. Anthropic says Claude’s Office add-ins keep chat history in your browser and delete inputs and outputs from its backend within 30 days, except in cases its retention article lists. OpenAI says ChatGPT for Excel may keep some logs for 30 days for safety, and that under Microsoft’s marketplace terms Microsoft may be able to read your workbook, attachments and prompts. Both vendors say their Excel add-in’s prompts and responses reach their Compliance API for enterprise customers.

One sheet, doc and deck both assistants keep current

Every route above is one assistant in one file. Each add-in keeps its own chat history: Claude’s in your browser, ChatGPT’s apart from your ChatGPT history. If you use Claude for the model and ChatGPT for the summary, neither sees what the other did.

Context Board is a web app at board.contextbolt.com, a workspace you share with your AI agents. Three of its board kinds cover the office apps above.

• A Sheet board has tabs, formulas and charts. More than a hundred everyday functions work, from SUM and IF to SUMIFS and XLOOKUP. Import an .xlsx with every tab and its formulas, and download it as .xlsx again.
• A Docs board holds pages inside pages. Each line an agent writes can carry its name, and Page history keeps the last 100 changes for 30 days.
• A Slides board is a deck you present from the board, with charts that can follow a sheet. PowerPoint comes in and goes out as .pptx or PDF.

Claude, Claude Code and Codex read and write these boards over MCP. Each change glows once in that agent’s color with its name, and Board activity lists it. ChatGPT writes to a board only from Business and Enterprise or Edu workspaces, where OpenAI’s custom MCP article allows write actions. On Pro, ChatGPT can connect with read and fetch permissions only, so it reads the sheet while Claude or Codex write the rows.

A first sheet, step by step:

1. Make a Sheet board. Choose New board, then Sheet.
2. Bring the workbook. Import the .xlsx you already work on, every tab with its formulas.
3. Connect your agents once. For Claude Code or Codex, link your computer with the one line from Connect. For Claude or ChatGPT, add the board’s address in the app and click Allow.
4. Ask for the work. “On my Running costs sheet, add the analytics tool at $19 a month.” The row lands with its yearly figure, glows in the agent’s color, and the totals move.
5. Share or send it. A person you share with can view for free. Editing needs their own Context Board subscription.

What it isn’t: a Sheet board isn’t Excel. It has no pivot tables or macros, and it doesn’t stay linked to your Excel file or Google Sheet after import. If you live in Excel all day, keep the add-in you prefer and put only the shared sheet on a board.

Which to pick for your office apps

• You live in Excel and pay for Claude: Claude for Excel, for the pivot tables and dropdowns.
• You want an Excel add-in on a free plan: ChatGPT for Excel.
• You work in Google Docs or Google Slides: Claude, which opens inside both on a paid plan and edits them from a chat on any plan.
• You review contracts in Word: Claude for Word, for tracked changes and comment threads.
• You draft memos in Word on a free plan: ChatGPT for Word.
• You use both, plus Codex, on the same numbers: put the shared sheet, doc or deck on Context Board, so every agent writes to one place and each change has a name.

Start with the file you open most this week. Install the add-in that fits it and ask about something you already know, so you can check the answer. If two assistants end up editing that file, start a Context Board trial, import it to a board and ask your agent for the next row. It is free for 3 days, then $12 a month.