AI · May 7, 2026

AI spreadsheet tools in 2026: Equals, Rows, Bricks, Excel Copilot ranked

Spreadsheets got AI superpowers in 2025. Here is the practical guide to Equals, Rows, Bricks, and Excel Copilot — what each does well and where they break.

By ByteLedger Team

Spreadsheets got AI superpowers in 2025 and matured fast in 2026. Four tools matter: Equals (analyst-first cloud workbook), Rows (collaborative spreadsheet with API connectors), Bricks (generative spreadsheet rethink), and Excel Copilot (AI inside the spreadsheet you already use). Here is the practical guide.

What changed in 2026

Native LLM functions in cells. =AI("summarize", A1) syntax is now table stakes everywhere.
API-first connectors. Pull data live from Stripe, HubSpot, Postgres, Snowflake into cells without ETL.
AI explanations of pivot tables. All four tools can now narrate what a chart or pivot is showing in plain English.

Equals

Cloud-native, analyst-first. Excel-like formula bar with first-class SQL, Python, and AI. Native connectors to 90+ data sources. The fit is finance teams and analysts who want a real spreadsheet but with modern data integration.

Cost: $39/mo Pro, $79/mo Team, custom Enterprise.

Best at: finance teams, analysts running models against live data, BI-lite use cases that don't need a full BI tool.

Sharp edge: tighter spreadsheet abstraction than Bricks; some users miss Notion-like flexibility.

Rows

Collaborative spreadsheet with the strongest set of API connectors. Native integrations to OpenAI, Claude, GitHub, LinkedIn, and 80+ others. AI functions are productized as named "Skills" you can chain.

Cost: Free tier, Plus $20/mo, Pro $40/mo, Enterprise custom.

Best at: marketing/ops teams, lead enrichment, content-ops workflows, simple ETL replacements.

Sharp edge: less performant on huge datasets than Equals.

Bricks

A different paradigm. Bricks is generative — describe what you want, it builds the spreadsheet (and dashboards, and slides) inline. More Notion-like than Excel-like. Newer; rough edges remain.

Cost: Free, Pro $15/mo.

Best at: quick-build dashboards, mixed text + table + chart documents, less-technical users who want spreadsheet outputs without learning Excel.

Sharp edge: the spreadsheet engine isn't as deep as the others. Heavy financial modeling exposes gaps.

Excel Copilot

The safe enterprise pick. Microsoft's Copilot inside Excel handles formula generation, data cleaning, summarization, and chart creation via natural language. The integration with Microsoft 365 (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook) is the moat.

Cost: Bundled with Microsoft 365 Copilot at $30/user/mo.

Best at: Excel-heavy enterprises, regulated industries on Microsoft 365, teams that need AI inside the tool already in use.

Sharp edge: less aggressive feature shipping than the startups; Microsoft's pace is enterprise-cautious.

Comparison

Tool	Best for	Pricing	API connectors
Equals	Analysts, finance	$39/mo+	90+
Rows	Marketing/ops	$20/mo+	80+
Bricks	Generative docs	$15/mo+	30+
Excel Copilot	Enterprise Excel	$30/user/mo	via Power Query

Workflows that work

Lead enrichment: Rows. Paste 1,000 company URLs, run AI Skills to extract industry, employee count, recent news.

Financial modeling: Equals (or Excel Copilot if you're MS365). Live data + formulas + AI explanation of variance is the killer combo.

One-off dashboards: Bricks. Faster to a usable dashboard than any of the others if you're starting from scratch.

Customer cohort analysis: Equals connects to Postgres or Snowflake; you write SQL, AI explains the result.

Common AI spreadsheet mistakes

Trusting AI formulas blindly. Verify on a sample of 10-20 rows before running across thousands. Hallucinations show up in subtle ways (off-by-one classifications, slightly wrong dates).

Ignoring privacy. Pasting customer data into a free AI tier may train models. Use enterprise tiers with no-train guarantees for any sensitive data.

Replacing models with prompts. AI is excellent at extraction, classification, summarization — and bad at unconstrained calculation. For financial logic, formulas still win.

FAQ

Can I move from Excel to Equals? Equals imports XLSX cleanly with most formulas preserved. Macros and complex VBA do not transfer.

Does Excel Copilot work offline? No — AI features require an internet connection and use Microsoft's hosted models.

What about Google Sheets + Gemini? Gemini in Sheets matured nicely. For Google Workspace shops, it's a solid alternative to Excel Copilot, though connector ecosystem is narrower than Equals/Rows.