Google Sheets vs Excel: Which Formulas Work the Same?

If you know Excel, you already know most of Google Sheets — and vice versa. The core function library is nearly identical, but a handful of differences trip people up when they move a spreadsheet between them. Here's the practical breakdown.

What works exactly the same. The everyday functions are interchangeable: SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT, COUNTIF, SUMIF, SUMIFS, IF, IFS, VLOOKUP, XLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH, CONCATENATE, LEFT, RIGHT, MID, TODAY, DATE, ROUND. The syntax and arguments match. You can copy a formula using these between the two apps and it just works.

What's Google Sheets only. Sheets has powerful functions Excel doesn't:

ARRAYFORMULA — applies a formula down an entire column in one cell, so new rows are handled automatically. =ARRAYFORMULA(B2:B*C2:C).
QUERY — runs SQL-like queries on your data: =QUERY(A:D,"select B, sum(D) group by B").
FILTER — returns rows matching a condition as a live array.
IMPORTRANGE — pulls data from another spreadsheet.
GOOGLEFINANCE, IMPORTHTML, SPLIT, REGEXEXTRACT.

What's Excel only (or stronger in Excel). Excel has dynamic-array functions and tools that Sheets handles differently or not at all, plus deeper data-model features (Power Query, Power Pivot) and some statistical functions. For ordinary formula work the gap is small; for heavy data modeling Excel pulls ahead.

The gotchas when you switch.

Array behavior differs. A formula that returns multiple values "spills" differently. In Sheets you often wrap it in ARRAYFORMULA; in modern Excel many functions spill automatically.
Argument separators by locale. Some regional settings use semicolons instead of commas inside functions. If a pasted formula errors immediately, this is a likely cause.
Cross-sheet references. Both use SheetName!A1, but Sheets sheet names with spaces need single quotes: 'Sales Data'!A1.
Volatile recalculation. Large Sheets recalculate in the cloud and can lag on big files; large Excel files calculate locally.

Practical advice. Build with the common functions whenever possible — your spreadsheet stays portable. Reach for Sheets-only functions like QUERY and ARRAYFORMULA when collaboration and auto-expanding ranges matter more than portability.