Microsoft Copilot for Excel vs o11: Why Native Matters

“Why should I pay for o11 if I have Microsoft Copilot?”

It’s the most common question we get. And the answer is simple: Depth.

Copilot: The Surface-Level Helper

Microsoft Copilot is great for simple tables. You can ask it to “Highlight all rows where Sales > 500,” and it works perfectly.

• The Limit: It struggles with complex, multi-sheet models. It often refuses to edit certain cells to avoid breaking things, which makes it useless for hardcore modeling.

o11: The Deep Integration

o11 is built on the COM object model. This means it has “God Mode” access to Excel’s internals.

• Complex Formulas: o11 can write a nested XLOOKUP wrapped in an IFERROR spanning three different workbooks.
• VBA-Like Power without Code: You can ask o11 to “Loop through all sheets and apply this specific formatting to the header row,” and it executes it instantly.

Conclusion

Copilot is for the casual user. o11 is for the professional.