Excel Copilot vs Formula Bot: which AI formula tool is worth it?

Both promise the same basic thing — describe what you want in plain English, get a working formula back — but they come from different places and fit different budgets.

What Microsoft Copilot does

Copilot is built into Excel itself for Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise plans with the Copilot add-on. It reads your actual open workbook: it can generate a formula based on the real column headers and sample data in front of it, summarize a sheet, and build charts or PivotTables from the data it can see.

• Works directly on your live workbook — no copying data anywhere
• Understands context from your actual headers and values
• Requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, currently a paid add-on on top of a qualifying 365 subscription
• Best on clean, well-labeled data; struggles more on messy, multi-sheet, or inconsistently formatted workbooks

What Formula Bot does

Formula Bot is a third-party tool (available as a web app and an Excel/Google Sheets add-in) built specifically around generating and explaining formulas from a plain-English description, without needing a full Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

• A free tier covers basic formula generation with a monthly limit; paid tiers add higher usage limits and features like formula explanation and bulk generation
• Works as an add-in inside Excel or as a standalone web tool where you paste in a description or sample data
• Not tied to a Microsoft 365 subscription tier, so it’s accessible to anyone regardless of which Excel license they have
• Doesn’t see your live workbook the way Copilot does unless you paste in a sample — it reasons from what you describe or provide, not from the actual file

How to choose

Choose Copilot if your organization already has (or plans to buy) Microsoft 365 Copilot seats — the ability to act directly on your open workbook and real data is worth the license cost for teams doing this daily.

Choose Formula Bot if you want AI-assisted formula help without a Copilot license, need it occasionally rather than constantly, or want a lower-cost entry point while you decide whether AI formula help is worth paying more for long-term.

Excelback’s own free Formula Builder and Formula Explainer tools cover the same basic plain-English-to-formula need at no cost, and are worth trying before paying for either option above.