Both put a genuine agent inside your workbook. The difference is model-lock vs model-choice: Claude for Excel runs only Anthropic's models on Anthropic's plans, while EBITDAI runs the model you pick, Kimi or DeepSeek, on included usage or your own key at provider cost.
Comparison as of August 2026. Competitor pricing and limits come from their public materials and can change.
| EBITDAI | Claude for Excel | |
|---|---|---|
| Add-in price | $5/month (Lite) or $15/month (Pro); 20% off annually; Pro runs on your own key for every provider and includes the QuickBooks, Campfire and Stripe connectors. Free plan to start | Free add-in, but requires a Claude Pro ($20/mo minimum) or Max ($100+/mo) subscription |
| AI usage | AI usage included on every paid plan, dedicated to Excel rather than shared with chat and coding: 100x more usage than free on Lite, and 7.5x Lite's usage across every model on Pro. On Pro, your own key for every provider, at provider cost | Usage limits shared with all your other Claude usage on the plan; heavy modelers hit Pro limits fast. Users report reaching them in minutes on big sheets |
| Model choice | Lite runs Meta Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor. Pro adds Kimi k3, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, DeepSeek V4 Pro, Gemini 3.8 Flash and both Meta Muse tiers, or your own Kimi, DeepSeek or Gemini key, switchable mid-session | Claude models only; no own-key option |
| Agentic in the workbook | Yes: reads, writes, formats, and audits your actual cells | Yes: a real agentic add-in |
| Financial-modeling doctrine | Built in: 3-statement models, debt schedules, working capital, SaaS ARR structure | General-purpose agent on Anthropic's frontier models; you supply the methodology |
| Documented feature gaps | See /docs for current capabilities and troubleshooting | No VBA/macro support and no Excel data tables, per its documentation (as of Aug 2026) |
Sources: Anthropic's public pricing and Claude for Excel documentation, plus public user reports on usage limits, as of August 2026. Subject to change on their side.
Claude for Excel is single-vendor by design: Anthropic's models, on Anthropic's plans, at Anthropic's limits. EBITDAI runs both Kimi and DeepSeek in one pane, on included usage or your own keys, switchable mid-session, and when either provider ships a cheaper or better model, you switch that day.
Read the reviews of any bundled AI add-in and the #1 complaint is never model quality, it's the meter: limits that reset on timers and run out mid-build. Claude for Excel draws from the same usage pool as everything else you do with Claude on your plan, so a heavy Excel session competes with your chat and coding usage. EBITDAI's included usage is visible in the pane and only funds Excel work (nothing else eats it), and when it runs low you can buy extra usage on the spot or keep going on your own key on Pro at your provider's prices, with zero markup from us.
With EBITDAI you pay $5-15/month, or on Pro buy AI directly from DeepSeek (pay-per-token, a full model build costs a few cents, zero markup from us) or Kimi ($19/month flat on a Kimi Code subscription, or metered at $3/$15 per million tokens with no waitlist). With Claude for Excel, the entry price for real usage is a $20/month Pro plan, and the escape hatch when you hit its limits is a $100+/month Max plan.
Put the two subscription ladders side by side, as the providers advertise their plans in August 2026. Kimi Code starts at $19/month, right next to Claude Pro's $20, and its paid tiers scale to 5x, 15x, and 30x base credits. Claude's usage upgrades are Max at $100/month (5x Pro) and $200/month. So for a dollar less than Claude Pro you get a comparable starting allowance, and if you need more, Kimi's ladder reaches 30x base usage for less than Claude's $200 tier. In per-window terms, plan trackers show even Kimi's tier below Moderato at 300 to 1,200 calls per 5 hours against Claude Pro's reported 45 messages. EBITDAI is currently the only Excel add-in that can run on that Kimi Code subscription at all.
Anthropic's own documentation notes Claude for Excel doesn't support VBA/macros or Excel data tables today. These are early-product gaps rather than permanent limits, but if your workbooks depend on them, check before committing a workflow.
Claude for Excel brings Anthropic's excellent general-purpose models to your workbook. EBITDAI is narrower on purpose: a financial-modeling doctrine, how three statements should tie, how a debt schedule should amortize, how working capital should flow, ships as the agent's standing instructions, built by a CFA charterholder whose methodology sits behind $1B+ of raised capital.
This comparison cuts both ways. Pick Claude for Excel if any of these describe you:
From $5/month. Your own Kimi, DeepSeek or Gemini key at cost on Pro. Begin for free today, no credit card.
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