Excel vs Google Sheets Formulas — What's Actually Different?

Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets look similar, but under the hood their formulas have critical differences that can break your spreadsheets. Here's exactly what you need to know — and how to write formulas that work on both platforms.

Formula Differences That Matter

Feature	Excel	Google Sheets
XLOOKUP	✅ Excel 365+	✅ Available
QUERY	❌ Not available	✅ Built-in
ARRAYFORMULA	Dynamic arrays (365)	✅ ARRAYFORMULA()
IMPORTRANGE	❌ Use Power Query	✅ Native
SPLIT function	❌ Text-to-Columns	✅ =SPLIT(A1,",")

QUERY — Google Sheets' Secret Weapon

=QUERY(A:D, "SELECT A,B WHERE C > 500 ORDER BY B DESC") — SQL inside a spreadsheet. Excel users need Power Query or FILTER formulas to achieve the same. No equivalent in Excel.

Array Formulas — Different Approaches

Sheets: =ARRAYFORMULA(A2:A10 * B2:B10)

Excel 365: Just type =A2:A10 * B2:B10 — dynamic arrays handle it automatically. Older Excel requires CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.

Which Should You Use?

Google Sheets is better for: collaboration, free access, QUERY function, web-based workflows
Excel is better for: 100K+ rows of data, VBA macros, Power Pivot, corporate environments
FormulaHawk works for both — generates formulas compatible with Excel AND Sheets, with platform notes for any differences

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