Excel Versions and Free Web Availability

Quick answer: Microsoft’s free route is Excel for the web, accessed with a Microsoft account in a browser. It is not a free license for the Windows or Mac desktop application. Microsoft’s free web apps page is the starting point for that browser edition.

Checked October 20, 2026. This reference checks official documentation, not application execution. We did not sign in, create an account, install Excel, run a workbook or capture native screenshots.

Which Excel do you have?

Treat these as different environments when selecting a tutorial:

Excel for the web: the browser service covered by the free-access route here. Record the browser, operating system and date of use rather than assigning it a desktop release number.
Excel for Microsoft 365: a subscription desktop product when the plan includes desktop applications. A Microsoft account alone does not establish that entitlement.
A purchased desktop edition, such as Excel 2024: a separately licensed product, not the free browser edition. Instructions and feature availability must match that edition and platform.

Microsoft’s free-apps and subscription comparison explains the account and desktop-access distinction. Do not begin a paid trial to follow a tutorial described as free. If sign-in or account creation is unavailable to you, the browser-dependent exercise cannot be completed through this route yet.

Identify an installed desktop release

For an existing Windows installation, Microsoft’s version-identification guide directs you to Account, or File → Account/Help when appropriate. Product Information identifies the product; About Excel provides fuller version and architecture details.

Record the product name and build, not simply “Excel.” Include Windows or macOS when reporting a mismatch. These identification instructions do not require buying a desktop edition and do not claim we tested one. Likewise, a screenshot of an installed desktop ribbon is not evidence that the same command exists in the free web application.

A concrete browser limitation: VBA

Microsoft states that Excel for the web cannot create, run or edit VBA macros. It can open and edit a workbook containing them while retaining existing macros. See working with VBA macros in Excel for the web.

Therefore, a macro button that does nothing in the browser is not by itself proof of a broken calculation. First establish whether the workflow depends on VBA. Do not remove macros or overwrite the original file just to make a browser exercise work; use a disposable copy. This page does not certify other desktop-only workflows, external connections or add-ins for web use.

A proposed free-web smoke check

This is an original manual exercise with calculated expected answers, not an executed Excel test. Use an account you are already permitted to access and a new disposable workbook:

Enter 12 in B2 and 18 in B3.
Enter =SUM(B2:B3) in B4. The expected answer is 30.
Change B3 to 20. The expected answer becomes 32.
After the service indicates saving has finished, reopen the disposable workbook and inspect both the formula and displayed total.

If the formula appears as text, check that it begins with = and was entered into an editable cell. If the workbook is read-only, resolve editing access rather than changing formulas. Record the exact error and environment if the calculation differs. Passing this small check does not demonstrate desktop parity or validate a complex imported workbook.

Continue with the SUM guide, Excel tutorials or the Excel hub.