Excel is everywhere—whether you’re tracking budgets, building models, or setting up dashboards, chances are you’ve opened a spreadsheet today. However, tasks that need to be done repeatedly, like updating values, transferring data, or formatting cells, can become a time sink.
That’s why many professionals turn to automation tools that handle the grunt work and reduce manual effort.
In this guide, we’ll cover some of the most useful Excel automation tools to save time and reduce manual work.
Summarize this article for me pleaseBest Excel Automation Tools at a Glance
| Tool | Key features | Best for | *Pricing |
| ClickUp | Streamlining spreadsheet-based project execution | All team sizes (individual, small businesses, mid-market companies, enterprises) | Free plan; Customization available for enterprises |
| Microsoft Power Automate | Process automation across Microsoft apps | Enterprise and Microsoft-centric organizations automating workflows | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $15/month |
| Zapier | Cross-app Excel automation | Mid-size teams | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $29.99/month |
| SheetFlash | Bulk Excel automation | Small teams with no-code batch automation | Free plan available; Paid plans start at $4.99/month |
| Numerous.ai | AI-powered Excel automation | Small teams and individuals | Custom pricing |
| Power Query | Data cleansing without manual labor | Analysts combining data from different sources | Free plan available; Paid Power BI integrations start at $14/month |
| Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) | Interactive forms and custom dialog boxes | Excel power users | Free plan available with Excel; No external cost |
| UiPath | End-to-end Excel automation with RPA | Small to mid-size teams | Free trial available; Paid plans start at $25/month |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | Natural language automation across MS apps | Enterprises and power users | Free plan available; Paid Copilot Pro plan available |
| Appy Pie Automate | Schedule backups and trigger-based Excel actions | Small to mid-size teams | Free trial available; Paid plans start at $12/month |
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Our editorial team follows a transparent, research-backed, and vendor-neutral process, so you can trust that our recommendations are based on real product value.
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10 Excel Automation Tools to Save Hours of Manual Work
- Best Excel Automation Tools at a Glance
- What Should You Look for in Excel Automation Tools?
- The Best Excel Automation Tools
- 1. ClickUp (Best for streamlining spreadsheet-based project execution)
- 2. Microsoft Power Automate (Best for process automation across Microsoft apps)
- 3. Zapier (Best for cross-app Excel automation)
- 4. SheetFlash (Best for bulk Excel automation)
- 5. Numerous.ai (Best for AI-powered Excel automation)
- 6. Power Query (Best for data cleansing without manual labor)
- 7. Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) (Best for Excel power users)
- 8. UiPath (Best for end-to-end Excel automation with RPA)
- 9. Microsoft 365 Copilot (Best for natural language automation across MS apps)
- 10. Appy Pie Automate (Best for scheduling backups in Excel)
- Go Beyond Microsoft Excel Automation with ClickUp
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Should You Look for in Excel Automation Tools?
Choosing the right Microsoft Excel automation tool for complex tasks depends on your workflow, team size, and task complexity. Here are the key features your next tool should have to automate manual processes in an Excel workbook:
- Ease of use: Look for tools with intuitive interfaces, low-code options, or drag-and-drop automation builders
- Task coverage: Evaluate if the tool can handle a wide range of repetitive tasks across your spreadsheets (like data import/export, Excel report generation, etc)
- Integration capabilities: Research whether the tool can integrate with the current platforms you already use so you can automate Excel workflows across your entire stack
- Scalability: Ensure it can handle growing datasets, multiple users, and complex logic as your needs evolve without slowing you down
- AI for smart features: Check for basic automation with AI Excel tools like data pattern recognition, auto-cleaning, or predictive analytics to improve accuracy
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe Best Excel Automation Tools
These Microsoft Excel automation tools help you move faster, stay accurate, and focus on work by eliminating tedious spreadsheet tasks. Pick one that meets your goals!
1. ClickUp (Best for streamlining spreadsheet-based project execution)
ClickUp is the world’s first Converged AI Workspace that combines project management, knowledge management, and chat—all powered by AI that helps you work faster and smarter.
The platform turns spreadsheet-heavy workflows into collaborative, automated task systems.
How? The ClickUp Table View manages budgets, inventories, and timelines with added structure, accountability, automation, and data extraction capabilities. Where Excel stops at rows and formulas, ClickUp introduces relational databases, task linking, and powerful views to help your team act on data rather than just store it.
Once your data is structured, you can set up ClickUp Automations to auto-assign tasks, trigger notifications when a campaign moves to ‘Ready to Launch,’ or auto-update a Custom Field when tasks are marked complete.
Let’s say you’re managing a product launch. When a new task is tagged as ‘Launch Asset,’ a ClickUp Automation can assign it to the design team, set a due date three days later, and notify the stakeholders instantly.
This work is reflected in ClickUp Dashboards, which provide a real-time, visual, and dynamic report of everything happening across your ClickUp Table View. Instead of manually exporting Excel charts or pivot tables, you can visually create widgets that track campaign performance, project completion rates, or budget consumption.
Want to know how many client requests are overdue or how much time your team spent on each campaign? Generate a ClickUp Dashboard that updates automatically as your team works in the Table View and your automation runs in the background.
Check out this video on setting up ClickUp Dashboards 👇
If your work is in Excel, CSV, TSV, or JSON files, use the Spreadsheet Importer to transfer data into ClickUp. You can import directly into existing Lists or Spaces, reuse field mappings across teams, and link your data to existing statuses, priorities, and subtasks.
ClickUp best features
- Sort, filter, and group your data, apply Custom Fields like budgets, owners, deadlines, and create Dependency Relationships between tasks
- Trigger automated summaries, data analysis, or project updates using ClickUp Brain in any task or Custom Field
- Choose from 1,000+ ClickUp Integrations or use custom webhooks to sync tools like CRMs, calendars, analytics, and dev platforms
- Switch between different LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, etc., from within ClickUp Brain
ClickUp limitations
- Too many features can overwhelm a new user (however, ClickUp University offers a guided process to understand how it works)
ClickUp pricing
free forever
Best for individual users
Free Free
Key Features:
60MB Storage
Unlimited Tasks
Unlimited Free Plan Members
unlimited
Best for small teams
$7 $10
Everything in Free +
Unlimited Storage
Unlimited Folders and Spaces
Unlimited Integrations
business
Best for mid-sized teams
$12 $19
Everything in Unlimited +
Google SSO
Unlimited Message History
Unlimited Mind Maps
enterprise
Best for many large teams
Get a custom demo and see how ClickUp aligns with your goals.
Everything in Business +
White Labeling
Conditional Logic in Forms
Subtasks in Multiple Lists
* Prices when billed annually
The world's most complete work AI, starting at $9 per month
ClickUp Brain is a no Brainer. One AI to manage your work, at a fraction of the cost.
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (9,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (4,000+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about ClickUp?
A TrustRadius review reads:
⭐️ Bonus: How Clickup AI Agents can save hours of manual work
Manual data management can be tedious and time-consuming. AI Agents automate repetitive tasks, making your workflow faster and more efficient.
- Automate data entry and cleanup: AI agents can import, validate, and clean data from multiple sources, reducing manual effort and errors
- Generate reports instantly: Set up automations to create and update reports, charts, and dashboards in real time—no more manual calculations
- Auto-assign tasks and reminders: Trigger task assignments or follow-up reminders based on data changes or deadlines
- Summarize and analyze data: Let AI quickly summarize large datasets, highlight trends, and provide actionable insights
- Retrieve and share information instantly: Use AI-powered assistants to answer questions or fetch specific data—no more searching through endless rows
2. Microsoft Power Automate (Best for process automation across Microsoft apps)
Power Automate is Microsoft’s low-code, cloud-based automation platform that lets you design, build, and scale workflows across desktop apps, cloud services, and websites without heavy IT involvement.
It empowers you to identify automation opportunities through task and process mining, and it streamlines repetitive work—whether you’re triggering actions when Excel values change, managing approval flows, or syncing data between apps.
Advanced AI capabilities are built into the platform: natural language flow authoring (powered by Copilot), AI-suggested automations, and integrated models for processing documents, images, and generating content. All this is wrapped in enterprise-grade governance, security, and monitoring tools to ensure your automation efforts scale safely and effectively.
Microsoft Power Automate best features
- Monitor ROI through built-in analytics tools that show exactly how much time you’re saving with each automation
- Use process mining to identify bottlenecks in your Excel-based workflows and optimize them for better efficiency
- Create self-healing automations that adapt to changes in your spreadsheet templates or data structures, thanks to AI capabilities
Microsoft Power Automate limitations
- The desktop flow runner can crash due to a slight change in the UI in the target application
- Error handling can be challenging and time-consuming
Microsoft Power Automate pricing
- Free
- Power Automate Premium: $15/user per month (billed annually)
- Power Automate Process: $150/user per month (billed annually)
- Power Automate Hosted Process: $215/user per month (billed annually)
Microsoft Power Automate ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (600+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (200+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Microsoft Power Automate?
A G2 reviewer says:
🧠 Fun fact: Reports suggest more than 90% of employees experience increased productivity and lowered stress levels due to work automation.
3. Zapier (Best for cross-app Excel automation)
With Zapier, you can build Zaps—automated workflows that link Excel with thousands of other apps. These Zaps let you set triggers and actions so routine updates, notifications, or data transfers happen automatically, without manual effort.
For instance, you might create a multi-step workflow where new customer feedback from a Google Form instantly adds a row in your Excel sheet. That same Zap can then update related cells with calculated values and trigger a follow-up task in your project management spreadsheet tool.
By chaining multiple apps and actions, Zapier helps teams move data seamlessly across systems and keep spreadsheets up to date without copy-pasting.
Zapier best features
- Clean up and format incoming data before it reaches your Excel sheets using Zapier’s built-in data transformation tools
- Set up conditional logic to route different types of data to specific Excel sheets based on custom rules
- Add time delays between steps to control when actions happen
Zapier limitations
- Debugging can be a challenge if a Zap fails due to an app error
- Includes a learning curve in building complex and multi-step Zaps
Zapier pricing
- Free forever
- Professional: $29.99/user per month
- Team: $103.99/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Zapier ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (1,300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,000+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Zapier?
A G2 reviewer shares:
📮 ClickUp Insight: 21% of people say more than 80% of their workday is spent on repetitive tasks. And another 20% say repetitive tasks consume at least 40% of their day.That’s nearly half of the workweek (41%) devoted to tasks that don’t require much strategic thinking or creativity (like follow-up emails 👀).
ClickUp AI Agents help eliminate this grind. Think task creation, reminders, updates, meeting notes, drafting emails, and even creating end-to-end workflows! All of that (and more) can be automated in a jiffy with ClickUp, your everything app for work.
💫 Real Results: Lulu Press saves 1 hour per day, per employee using ClickUp Automations—leading to a 12% increase in work efficiency.
4. SheetFlash (Best for bulk Excel automation)
SheetFlash is a no-code Excel add-in that brings workflow automation directly into your spreadsheet. It replaces complex macros and VBA scripts with a visual card-based system—each Action Card represents a step in your automation sequence.
SheetFlash allows you to record and document multi-step workflows in a human-readable format, making repeated tasks transparent and transferable.
Because it operates entirely within Excel, installation is seamless via the Add-in menu, with no external setup required. It’s designed to accelerate complex data transformations, so tasks that might otherwise take hours can be completed in minutes—streamlining operations for users of all technical backgrounds.
SheetFlash best features
- Create Projects to organize daily, weekly, or monthly automations
- Use AI to fetch external data and transform internal spreadsheet information, reducing research and processing time
- Modify logic or task order without scripting
SheetFlash limitations
- The free plan restricts users to saving only one project
- Storage capacity is capped at 5MB per action in the free version
SheetFlash pricing
- Free forever
- Standard: $4.99/license per month
- Premium: $8.99/license per month
SheetFlash ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
What are real-life users saying about SheetFlash?
A Reddit user writes:
5. Numerous.ai (Best for AI-powered Excel automation)
Numerous.ai makes Excel think like ChatGPT. It integrates generative AI directly into Excel and Google Sheets with the simple =AI() (or =NUM.AI) function.
You can prompt ChatGPT inside your spreadsheet for tasks like summarizing text, cleaning data, categorizing items, or generating copy—no API, coding, or setup needed. This tool empowers individuals and teams to automate bulk tasks, use spreadsheets like power users, and prototype AI workflows efficiently.
Numerous.ai best features
- Generate campaign content directly in your spreadsheet software—create AdWords keywords, Facebook ad structures, and SEO content without context-switching
- Clean up messy data entries automatically using AI, saving hours of manual formatting and standardization work
- Test AI prototypes and share results with your team using the structured spreadsheet format
Numerous.ai limitations
- Your efficiency in Numerous.ai depends on the proficiency of third-party AI apps
Numerous.ai pricing
- Free
- Pro: Custom pricing
Numerous.ai ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
What are real-life users saying about Numerous.ai?
A user says:
👀 Did you know? 96% of organizations find it challenging to modify or rebuild automations.
6. Power Query (Best for data cleansing without manual labor)
If you’ve ever opened Excel, imported a messy CSV, and spent half an hour cleaning it, you know the pain of repetitive data prep. Power Query eliminates that burden. It lets analysts connect to, transform, and combine data from multiple sources through a step-by-step, visual interface—no coding required.
You can shape, filter, and restructure data once and save those steps so they run automatically the next time. Whether merging multiple spreadsheets, pulling from databases, or transforming raw files into clean tables, Power Query turns repetitive cleanup into a repeatable workflow. For business users, that means less time wrangling and more time analyzing.
Power Query best features
- Remove columns, change data types, split or merge columns, and sort data with simple point-and-click operations that Power Query remembers and repeats
- Import data from various sources, including database templates, CSV files, and web pages, then shape it exactly how you need it
- Clean messy data by handling missing values, finding and replacing text, unpivoting data for pivot tables, and combining multiple data sources into one clean dataset
Power Query limitations
- Initial setup requires learning the Power Query interface and basic M code concepts
Power Query pricing
Power Query is part of the Power BI ecosystem
- Free Forever
- Power BI Pro: $14/user per month (billed annually)
- Power BI Premium Per User: $24/user per month (billed annually)
- Power BI Embedded: Custom pricing
Power Query ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1,800+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Power Query?
A Reddit user says:
📖 Also read: How to Use Excel for Project Management
7. Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) (Best for Excel power users)
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is Microsoft’s built-in scripting language for Excel and other Office apps. Accessible from the Developer tab, it allows you to automate repetitive tasks, customize spreadsheets, and even build cross-application workflows.
VBA can record macros that replay your actions, or let you write code to create entirely new functions tailored to your business rules. It can respond to events—like data entry, workbook opening, or sheet updates—making automation dynamic and context-aware. Beyond Excel, VBA can link across Word, Outlook, and Access, turning the Office suite into a programmable environment for end-to-end automation.
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) best features
- Create automated Excel reports by pulling data from multiple sheets, calculating totals, and formatting them consistently
- Build interactive forms and custom dialog boxes to automate data entry tasks and inform decision-making
- Access Excel’s object model to manipulate ranges, charts, and workbook behavior
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) limitations
- There’s a learning curve if you want to go beyond basic macro recording
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) pricing
- Free Forever
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough reviews
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
What are real-life users saying about Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)?
A Reddit user says:
📖 Also read: Best Airtable Alternatives & Competitors
8. UiPath (Best for end-to-end Excel automation with RPA)
UiPath offers a powerful suite of Excel automation activities built specifically for handling complex tasks across spreadsheets. Whether you need to update hundreds of cells, manage data across multiple worksheets, or execute calculations across workbooks, these pre-built activities streamline the process.
A seamless Excel add-in lets you use point-and-click selection of cells, tables, and ranges—no need to manually input cell references or formulas. This tight integration makes building workflows much more intuitive, allowing you to visually configure Excel operations without coding any of the low-level details.
UiPath best features
- Build visual Excel workflows using drag-and-drop activities
- Create visual automations in UiPath Studio
- Use AI to classify documents and extract structured data
UiPath limitations
- Lacks barcode scanning feature
- The studio can lag with larger or complex workflows
UiPath pricing
- Basic: $25/user per month
- Standard: Custom pricing
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
UiPath ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (7,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (700+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about UiPath?
A G2 user writes:
👀 Did you know? 78% of companies already use AI in at least one business function.
9. Microsoft 365 Copilot (Best for natural language automation across MS apps)
Say you ask Excel, “Summarize revenue trends over the last quarter,” and instantly receive charts, insights, and recommendations. Microsoft 365 Copilot makes that possible.
Built directly into Microsoft 365 apps—including Excel, Word, Outlook, and Teams—Copilot uses natural language prompts to create, analyze, and visualize data in context. In Excel, it doesn’t just generate formulas or charts; it can highlight key drivers, identify outliers, and suggest scenarios based on your actual business data.
Because it’s grounded in your organization’s documents, emails, calendars, chats, and spreadsheets, Copilot provides contextual responses instead of generic outputs. The result is a more natural way to think, analyze, and work—helping you move from raw data to insights faster than ever.
Microsoft 365 Copilot best features
- Pull relevant content from recent meetings, emails, or chats
- Ask questions about your data and get contextual answers
- Turn natural language into Excel actions—no more hunting through menus or remembering complex formulas
- Get data analysis help with instant insights and visualizations
Microsoft 365 Copilot limitations
- Only works with Excel files stored in Microsoft’s cloud
- Can occasionally provide irrelevant suggestions
Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing
- Free Forever
- Microsoft Copilot Pro: $20/user per month
Microsoft 365 Copilot ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (80+ ratings)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
What are real-life users saying about Microsoft 365 Copilot?
A Reddit user shares:
10. Appy Pie Automate (Best for scheduling backups in Excel)
Need to update inventory sheets based on sales data?
Appy Pie Automate makes it effortless to connect Excel with your favorite apps—like e-commerce platforms, CRMs, or marketing tools—without any coding.
Whenever a new event occurs (such as a sale or a new contact), you can automatically add or update rows in Excel tables. This removes the need for manual copying, pasting, or formula transfers, and lets your team focus on insights instead of repetitive tasks.
Appy Pie Automate best features
- Set up time-based or event-triggered actions to update Excel files when specific conditions are met
- Schedule automated backups of important Excel files to prevent data loss
- Build custom Excel workflows using a visual, no-code interface that feels natural even if you’ve never automated anything before
Appy Pie Automate limitations
- The more complex your Excel automations become, the higher the pricing tier you’ll need
Appy Pie Automate pricing
- Standard: $12/user per month (billed annually)
- Professional: $30/user per month (billed annually)
- Business: $80/user per month (billed annually)
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Appy Pie Automate ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (1,380+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (1,390+ reviews)
What are real-life users saying about Appy Pie Automate?
A G2 reviewer writes:
👀 Did you know? 41% of salespeople believe that a complete integration of AI in their organization would encourage unprecedented growth.
Summarize this article for me pleaseGo Beyond Microsoft Excel Automation with ClickUp
Automating Excel tasks saves time but often requires significant manual effort, leaving you struggling with disconnected files, limited collaboration, and manual oversight. If your team is growing or your business processes are becoming more complex, consider upgrading to an integrated platform.
With ClickUp, you can manage your data with Table View, eliminate busywork with 100+ Automations, build real-time Dashboards, and import your existing Excel sheets in minutes.
Ready to upgrade your automation experience? Sign up for ClickUp for free and avoid spreadsheet sprawl!
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