Unlimited AI in Excel: The Two Cheapest Strategies
August 18, 2026 · 6 min read
The official AI Excel add-ins all share one design decision: they meter you. Claude for Excel draws from your Claude plan's limits, which heavy modeling can exhaust in a single session on the $20 Pro tier. ChatGPT's Excel agent draws from a shared credit pool that resets on a timer. The fix they sell is a bigger plan: $100, then $200 a month.
Because EBITDAI runs on a key you bring, there is a second path: pay your model provider directly, at cost, with no markup and no meter from us. Two providers make that path dramatically cheaper than any frontier subscription. Here is the real math on both.
Strategy 1: the flat-rate maximalist (Kimi Code)
Kimi Code is a coding subscription from Moonshot AI: $19/month for its base tier, flat. Its k3 model speaks the same API format as Claude, and in our benchmark suite it passes the same modeling scenarios we use to test every provider: three-statement builds, debt schedules, working capital, charts. It is the model our own production testing runs on by default. For financial modeling work, the quality gap between k3 and the frontier subscriptions is far smaller than the price gap.
The usage gap is the story, and there are published numbers. Kimi's Andante tier, one step below Moderato at ¥49/month (under $7), allows 300 to 1,200 API calls per 5-hour window with a weekly refresh, per third-party plan trackers; Moderato, at $19/month, sits a tier above that. Claude Pro is reported at 45 messages per 5-hour window, shared with everything else you do on the plan, and Claude for Excel reviewers describe burning Pro's limits in minutes on heavy sheets. Same-window arithmetic puts Kimi at 7x to 25x the calls, from a cheaper tier. Calling it 10x the usage of a $20 Claude plan is the conservative middle of that range. Claude's own fix is Max at $100/month (5x Pro) or $200/month; Kimi's ladder reaches 30x base usage for less than that top tier.
The natural base is EBITDAI's Pro ($15/month), which already includes 7.5x more usage than Lite across every model, plus your own keys and the QuickBooks, Campfire and Stripe connectors, so the flat-rate subscription layers on top with the included usage as overflow. All-in:$34/month, flat, for effectively unlimited daily modeling, or $31/month on EBITDAI's annual billing. The most cost-effective way to run EBITDAI all day.
The one catch:
Kimi Code currently has a waitlist for new subscriptions. In our experience it clears in one to two weeks; your mileage may vary. If you do not want to wait, there are two instant starts: a pay-as-you-go Kimi key from the Moonshot Open Platform (same k3 model, metered at about $0.11 per full model build, no waitlist), or Strategy 2 below. EBITDAI switches models mid-conversation, so nothing is lost by starting on either and adding the subscription when your spot opens.
Strategy 2: the pay-per-penny minimalist (DeepSeek)
DeepSeek has no subscription at all. You create an API key, top up a few dollars, and pay per token: $0.22 per million input tokens and $0.66 per million output tokens off-peak, doubling to $0.44 and $1.32 at peak hours (V4-Flash). At those rates, a complete financial model build costs a few cents in our production benchmarks.
Run the arithmetic forward: $10 of DeepSeek credit buys 200 to 300 full model builds in a month. Set against a $20 Claude Pro plan that its own users describe exhausting in a heavy session or two, ten dollars of DeepSeek is plausibly on the order of 100x the delivered work per dollar. The number is imprecise by nature, because Claude sells you a capped allowance and DeepSeek sells you work, and that difference is exactly the point.
The trade-offs: you top up a balance rather than set-and-forget, costs scale if you are truly heavy (though almost nobody is at these prices), and DeepSeek's reasoning model is a step behind the frontier on the hardest problems. For everyday modeling, editing, and analysis, it is the cheapest capable option in existence.
Side by side
| Setup | Monthly cost | What you get | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| EBITDAI Pro annual + Kimi Code | $31 flat | All-day modeling, no meter; ~10x a $20 Claude plan's usage | Kimi waitlist, ~1-2 weeks in our experience |
| EBITDAI + DeepSeek key | $15/month | $10 of credit ≈ 200-300 model builds | Top-ups; a step behind frontier on hardest problems |
| Claude for Excel (Pro) | $20 | Metered; heavy sessions hit limits fast per its users | Real relief starts at $100-200/month |
| ChatGPT for Excel (Plus) | $20 | Shared credit pool, 5-20 credits per task | Caps reset on a timer, no model choice |
Provider pricing as advertised, August 2026. Usage comparisons reflect our production benchmarks and the providers' published tier structures; metered plans vary by workload.
Which one should you pick?
If you model daily, join the Kimi waitlist now and run DeepSeek while you wait. If you model a few times a week, DeepSeek alone may be all you ever need, and your total AI bill will be closer to a coffee than a subscription. Either way the add-in is the same: one pane in Excel, both providers, switch anytime. Each path has a dedicated setup guide: using a Kimi Code subscription in Excel and using DeepSeek in Excel. Setup steps for both are in the key tutorial, and the full cost table lives at /compare.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kimi Code really waitlisted?
Yes, new Kimi Code subscriptions currently go through a waitlist. In our experience it clears in one to two weeks, though your mileage may vary. If you do not want to wait, start with the DeepSeek strategy today and switch to Kimi later; EBITDAI lets you swap models mid-conversation.
How much DeepSeek usage does $10 buy?
DeepSeek's V4-Flash rates are $0.22 per million input tokens and $0.66 per million output tokens off-peak, doubling to $0.44 and $1.32 at peak hours. In our production benchmarks a complete financial model build costs a few cents, so $10 covers 200 to 300 full model builds in a month. Most users never spend close to that.
Is Kimi's k3 model actually good enough for financial modeling?
In our benchmark suite, k3 passes the same modeling scenarios we use to test every provider, including three-statement builds, debt schedules, and working capital, and it is the model our own testing runs on by default. For modeling work, the quality conversation is much closer than the price difference suggests.
What does EBITDAI itself cost?
$5/month on Lite, with 100x more usage than free, on Meta Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor, or $15/month on Pro, with 7.5x more usage than Lite across every included model; annually $48 and $144 (20% off). Your own API keys for every provider come with Pro. There is a free plan: 150 AI requests a week on Meta Muse Spark 1.3, where Meta trains on everything you send with it. On your own keys, EBITDAI never marks up tokens; your AI spend goes to your provider at their prices.