SheetAI vs GPT for Sheets
Both put AI inside Google Sheets. Only one of them gives you a spreadsheet. GPT for Sheets is a layer bolted onto a file you keep somewhere else; SheetAI is a working app - templates that already calculate, charts, sharing - and the Google Sheets add-on comes with every plan at no extra cost. Unless you need Excel, or you are running one instruction down a hundred thousand rows, SheetAI is the better buy, and this page shows the working.
Every figure about GPT for Sheets on this page comes from their own pages, last read on 5 September 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom.
The short version
SheetAI is the better buy for most people, and it is not close. One subscription gets you a spreadsheet application and the Google Sheets add-on together, twenty templates that already calculate, sharing, and an assistant that builds and reworks the sheet with you rather than filling one column at a time. GPT for Sheets gets you AI functions on a file you still have to keep - and pay for - somewhere else. There are three situations where they are the right call, and we would rather name them than pretend otherwise: you work in Excel, your job is one instruction pushed down a hundred thousand rows, or you want to plug in your own provider key and pay usage directly. Outside those three, everything below points the same way.
What each one actually is
Most of the decision comes down to this, and a feature table can hide it.
A spreadsheet application with an AI agent built into it, and a Google Sheets add-on carrying the same functions and the same chat into sheets you already have. Start in a SheetAI workbook - a real grid, formulas, charts, imports and exports, sharing - or stay in Google Sheets and use the add-on. One sign-in, one balance, both places. You are buying the spreadsheet and the assistant in a single subscription.
An add-on that installs into Google Sheets, Google Docs and Excel. It adds spreadsheet functions - =GPT() and a set of task-specific ones - plus bulk tools that push an instruction down thousands of rows, and a sidebar agent that writes formulas, cleans data and builds charts. What it is not is a spreadsheet: your file lives in Google Drive or Microsoft, and that stays your problem. Mature, widely installed, and squarely a layer on top of someone else's product.
Head to head
Shaded cell is the one we think wins that row, including the rows where it isn’t us.
| SheetAI | GPT for Sheets | |
|---|---|---|
| What you're buying | A spreadsheet app and a Google Sheets add-on, on one account | An add-on only. The spreadsheet is still something you keep elsewhere |
| A workbook of your own | Yes - a real grid with formulas, charts, imports and exports | No. It improves a file you keep in Google or Microsoft |
| Ready-made templates | 20 built-in workbooks - budget, invoice, CRM, timesheet, KPI dashboard - with formulas, formats and conditional rules already wired. Open one and it calculates | None; you bring your own file and build it yourself |
| History and sharing | Per-sheet sharing and public links, plus every AI edit listed cell by cell and undoable, built in | Only whatever Google or Microsoft gives the underlying file |
| One balance everywhere | The same credits work in the app and in Google Sheets, on one sign-in | Credits apply to the add-on; there is no app of theirs to spend them in |
| Account you need | Any email address. No Google or Microsoft account required | A Google or Microsoft account, since it runs inside their apps |
| Works inside Google Sheets | Yes - functions and a chat sidebar | Yes - functions, bulk tools and a sidebar agent |
| Spreadsheet functions | =SHEETAI plus ten task functions: AI_CLASSIFY, AI_EXTRACT, AI_FILL, AI_FORMAT, AI_FORMULA, AI_LIST, AI_SENTIMENT, AI_SUMMARIZE, AI_TAG, AI_TRANSLATE | =GPT() plus a set of task-specific functions for the same kinds of jobs |
| Setup | Sign in and go. No keys to create, no provider account, no per-token maths | Install and go, or connect your own key or endpoint if you would rather pay a provider directly |
| How you pay | Monthly or yearly plans with a set credit allowance, 30% off yearly | Prepaid credit packs from $29; monthly plans are being rolled out |
| Very large batch runs | Fills ranges and reworks whole sheets on request; not tuned for six-figure row counts | Their stated ceiling is around 1,000 answers a minute, into the hundreds of thousands of rows |
| Other apps | Spreadsheets only: a chat add-in for Excel as well as Sheets, and .xlsx/.csv import and export, but nothing for Google Docs | Add-ins for Excel and Google Docs as well as Sheets |
| How long credits last | Your allowance refills every month; unused credits do not carry over, and separately purchased credits last 30 days | 12 months, and every new purchase resets the clock on the balance |
| Teams | A balance per account; sheets are shared per sheet | One balance pooled across the workspace, with per-person spending limits |
What they cost
- Free to start$010 credits on signup, no card
- Pro 1k$20 / month1,000 credits a month, $168 yearly
- Pro 3k$50 / month3,000 credits a month, $420 yearly
- Business$150 / month10,000 credits a month, $1,260 yearly
- Free to install$0Free credits to start, no card for first use
- Starter pack$29Prepaid credits, valid 12 months
- Essential pack$79Prepaid credits, valid 12 months
- Pro pack$139Prepaid credits, valid 12 months
- Scale pack$299+Prepaid credits, valid 12 months
- Your own key$1 per 1M tokensPlatform fee; you pay your provider directly for usage
Don't read the two columns as one scale. A credit means something different in each product, and the tools bill for different work: theirs is priced around jobs pushed down rows - their own guidance ranges from cents per 1,000 rows for simple reformatting to several dollars per 1,000 rows for translation - while ours is priced around turns of work you ask for. The useful comparison is what a month of your actual work costs in each, which is why both are free to try before you pay anything.
Choose GPT for Sheets if…
Our Excel add-in isn't in Microsoft's store yet: you add it with a small file from sheetai.co, or an admin deploys it to the organisation. If a store install is a must, they ship that and we don't.
Thirty thousand product descriptions to rewrite, a list of companies to enrich, a column of reviews to score. Their bulk tooling is built for that exact shape of work and quotes throughput in the hundreds of thousands of rows. Ours will do a range at a time; for a job that size, use theirs.
They let you bring your own key or endpoint and charge a flat platform fee per million tokens, which can beat any per-credit plan at high volume. We don't offer it. One balance and nothing to configure is a deliberate trade, and this is what it costs.
They pool credits across a workspace with per-person limits, and their credits stay good for twelve months. We bill per account, and a plan's allowance is monthly. If your usage is occasional or spread across a lot of people, that suits you better than a subscription.
Choose SheetAI if…
This is the whole difference. GPT for Sheets improves a file you keep - and pay for - somewhere else. SheetAI is that somewhere else: a working grid with formulas, charts, imports and sharing, with the Google Sheets add-on included on every plan. One subscription instead of a spreadsheet plus an AI layer on top of it.
Twenty templates ship with it - budget tracker, invoice, CRM pipeline, timesheet, KPI dashboard, attendance register - each a real workbook with formulas, number formats and conditional rules in place. Type over the sample rows and it calculates. There is no equivalent on the other side: you start from an empty file and prompt your way out of it.
Functions are good at doing the same thing to every row. Most spreadsheet work is not that shape. It is: pull these totals into a summary, chart the trend, tell me which lines moved and why. That is a conversation with something that can read the whole grid and edit it, and you get it in the app and in the Sheets sidebar.
Every sheet carries its own sharing and public links without leaning on another product's settings. If an AI edit lands somewhere you did not want, you can see what each cell held before and undo it in one click.
No API keys, no provider account, no per-token arithmetic, and no Google or Microsoft account required. Sign in with an email address, get a balance, and the same balance works in the app and in Google Sheets.
Ten credits on signup, no card. Enough to run a real task on your own data instead of a demo file, which is the only test that decides anything.
Moving across from GPT for Sheets
There's no export or import step. Both tools work on Google Sheets, so moving is a matter of changing which add-on you reach for - and you can leave both installed while you decide.
- 1Install the SheetAI add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace and sign in.
- 2In a copy of the sheet you use most, replace one =GPT() call with =SHEETAI() and compare the two columns side by side on your own data.
- 3For the task-specific calls, swap in the closest named function - AI_TRANSLATE, AI_CLASSIFY, AI_EXTRACT, AI_SUMMARIZE - rather than describing the task in a prompt.
- 4If you want the workbook itself in SheetAI, open the app and import the .xlsx; formulas and formatting come across.
- 5Keep GPT for Sheets installed for the batch jobs it's better at. Nothing about the two conflicts.
Formula results are values in cells, so a sheet that was filled by one tool keeps working after you stop using it. What doesn't carry over is the prompt engineering: a prompt tuned for one product usually needs a re-read on the other before you trust it at scale.
Questions people actually ask
Sources
- GPT for Work - Pricing · read 5 September 2026
- GPT for Work - product overview and batch limits · read 5 September 2026
- GPT for Sheets and Docs on the Google Workspace Marketplace · read 5 September 2026
- SheetAI pricing · read 5 September 2026
GPT for Sheets is a product of its respective owner and is not affiliated with SheetAI. Names and trademarks are used here only to identify the product being compared. If something on this page is out of date or wrong, tell us at contact@sheetai.co and we will correct it.
More comparisons
The same honest format, against the other tools people weigh up.
A cheap, tidy =AI function for Sheets and Excel. Good at filling columns; it is not a spreadsheet and it does not pretend to be.
Already inside Sheets if your company pays for Workspace. Helpful at the edges, but there is no formula to drag down a column.
The obvious choice if your company is all-in on Microsoft and will pay for it. It is a licence on top of a licence, and it stops at Excel.
A polished spreadsheet built around live data connectors. Strong if your numbers come from APIs; it does not reach into Google Sheets, and AI tasks are metered tightly on the cheap plans.
A heavyweight AI spreadsheet with Python, SQL and huge file support. Priced per seat at $29, and it only works inside Sourcetable.
Upload a file, ask questions, get charts and answers back. Good at analysis; you do not get a spreadsheet you can keep working in.
Brilliant general assistant, and it will analyse a file you upload. It is not connected to your spreadsheet, and copy-paste is not a workflow.
Run one real task in both
Ten credits on signup, no card. Use them on your own data - that settles the question faster than any comparison page can.
Works in your browser and Google Sheets · Setup in 30 seconds