AI Excel tools for data analysis and modeling

Best AI Excel tools for data analysis and modeling

AI tools for data analysis and modeling help finance teams explore large datasets, uncover trends, and build accurate forecasts in Excel. They reduce manual analysis, support faster decisions, and improve reporting accuracy.

There are many AI tools built for Excel, each designed to support different needs, whether that’s writing formulas, automating reports, or analyzing complex data. Choosing the right one depends on your team’s workflow, technical comfort level, and business priorities.

AI tools for Excel will help you streamline your FP&A process for speed and accuracy. You can automate repetitive tasks, giving your team more time to focus on coming up with smart strategies to grow your business performance. 

The best AI Excel tool to use is one that offers a centralized platform that not only lets you work faster in Excel, but also provides visibility into everything happening with your business data in real-time. It should let you connect all the tools you work with together.

Here are the best AI Excel tools for data analysis and modeling;

1. Ajelix

Best for: Learning Excel VBA and understand how existing VBA code works or debug existing scripts

Ajelix is a data analytics platform that offers business intelligence and AI tools for Excel and Google Sheets. It also has other AI-powered tools, such as data visualization, SQL generator, answer generator, and virtual assistant.

Finance teams can use Ajelix to speed up reporting and data analysis tasks in Excel. It enables them to generate formulas to analyze large datasets, build complex trend analysis and forecasting formulas, and compile multiple related formulas into one to reduce analysis time.

Features: 

• VBA script explainer: Insert VBA scripts and get breakdowns on how they work.

• Template generator: Use keywords to create personalized Excel templates.

• VBA code debugger: Automatically correct broken VBA scripts.

Limitations: 

• Ajelix does not support custom integrations. 

• It is not suitable for individual or freelance financial analysts.

Arcwise AI

Best for: Training an LLM based on business data and building a personalized AI model

Arcwise AI supports data analytics, visualization, and modeling. It lets users maintain a centralized data warehouse and create a custom AI model using their business data. Arcwise AI integrates with tools like Hubspot, Salesforce, Google Analytics, and Stripe.

FP&A teams can integrate Arcwise with Excel to automate data visualization, build charts and graphs, and drill down into data points to uncover insights. They can also generate and share reports from any size of data.

Features: 

• Data visualization: Get insights from data through custom dashboards, charts, and graphs.

• Updates and alerts: Automatically update reports and receive alerts when the business does not meet set metrics.

• Integrations: Build a centralized data warehouse by connecting all data sources to one platform.

Limitations: 

• It does not support CSV import.

• Fine-tuning the LLM might require technical knowledge.

Excel Formula Bot

Best for: Automating data visualization

Excel Formula Bot is a data analysis platform that enables users to explore, analyze, and visualize data in Excel. It can convert text into spreadsheet formulas, SQL queries, and advanced data models, and it can also convert PDFs into spreadsheets.

Excel Formula Bot offers an AI data analyzer that finance teams can use to generate insights, tables, and charts automatically by simply asking a question. The platform enables them to upload and combine data from multiple sources to Excel and translate data into charts for visualization.

Features: 

• Text to Excel converter: Convert PDFs or text to spreadsheets.

• Formula generator: Generate and receive breakdowns of Excel formulas.

• SQL query generator: Generate or receive explanations for SQL queries and database syntax.

Limitations: 

• It sometimes generates wrong formulas.

• The tool has limited language capabilities. 

PromptLoop

Best for: Automating financial research

PromptLoop enables users to automate research. Its AI crawls the internet to extract data about companies, deals, and leads based on inputted queries. It also lets users build and augment personalized datasets.

Finance teams can use PromptLoop in Excel to clean and format large datasets. Its labeling and categorizing tools automatically categorize revenues, expenses, and other financial data. They can also use the platform to automate research, such as market trends and competitor analysis.

Features: 

• Build datasets: Build personalized datasets.

• Web scraping: Extract information from websites using queries. 

• Data categorization: Assign categories or labels to data. 

Limitations: 

• It is for more technical finance teams. 

• Users may have to crosscheck research results.

Powerdrill AI

Best for: Querying, visualizing, and analyzing Excel data using natural language

Powerdrill AI allows users to upload Excel files and ask questions about their data using plain language. The tool interprets user prompts and returns answers, visualizations, or summaries based on the dataset. 

It supports multi-tab spreadsheets and offers connectors for a range of data formats, including Excel, CSV, TSV, and SQL databases.

Finance teams can use Powerdrill AI to interact with spreadsheets through a chat interface, generate charts, share insights through links or email, and convert responses into presentations.

Features:

• Data visualization tools: Convert Excel data into bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts, and more

• Auto insights: Generate summaries or observations based on spreadsheet content

• Excel-to-PPT conversion: Convert responses or insights into presentation slides

Limitations:

• Advanced features require a paid plan

• Results may require clarification depending on the prompt

Tableau

Best for: Creating visual dashboards and analyzing Excel-based data using AI guidance

Tableau is a business intelligence and data visualization platform from Salesforce that supports Excel file integration. Finance teams can import spreadsheets into Tableau, clean and transform data, and build dashboards that track financial metrics, trends, and variances.

With Tableau Pulse and Tableau Agent, users can interact with data using natural language, surface AI-generated insights, and receive automatic alerts on metric changes. 

Tableau also includes prebuilt dashboards (Accelerators) that help users analyze common financial workflows without starting from scratch.

Features:

• Excel integration: Import and analyze data from Excel spreadsheets

• Automated insights: Detects trends, outliers, and performance drivers

• Collaboration tools: Share dashboards and insights with teams

Limitations:

• Requires a steep learning curve

• More expensive when compared to other platforms

How to choose the best AI Excel tool 

Start by narrowing down the tasks you want to improve. If your team spends a lot of time building forecasts, managing large models, or analyzing trends, look for tools that support scenario planning, data modeling, and visualization. For repetitive spreadsheet work, like formula creation, data cleanup, or reporting, prioritize tools that handle those tasks with minimal input.

Consider how the tool fits into your existing workflow. Some work directly in Excel, while others require uploading files or switching between platforms. Think about whether your team needs real-time collaboration, natural language querying, or integrations with other systems you already use.

Finally, review pricing and usage limits. Ensure the tool includes the features you need and can scale with your team’s workload. Aim for a balance between functionality, ease of use, and long-term fit