Download Microsoft Excel for PC, Windows 11/10 & Mac (Free Trial)

To download Microsoft Excel for a Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC, sign in at m365.cloud.microsoft/apps with the account that holds your Microsoft 365 or Excel licence and select Install apps. If you do not have a licence yet, Microsoft 365 Personal includes Excel with a one-month free trial, Excel on its own costs $179.99 for one PC or Mac, and Excel for the web is free in any browser.

This guide covers every official route: the free web and mobile versions, the trial, the one-time purchase, installing on Windows and Mac, installing Excel without the rest of Office, the offline installer, and fixes when Excel will not install or activate.

Microsoft Excel download options for PC, Mac and mobile

What you install depends on the device and on the licence attached to your Microsoft account. Every route below ends on a Microsoft, Apple or Google page.

Your situation	Where to get Excel	Price
Windows 11 or 10 PC, Microsoft 365 subscriber	Sign in and select Install apps	Included in your plan
Try the desktop app first	Microsoft 365 Personal free trial	Free for one month, then renews
Buy Excel once, no subscription	Excel one-time purchase	$179.99 for 1 PC or Mac
Excel plus Word, PowerPoint and Outlook	Compare Microsoft 365 plans	From $99.99 a year
Any browser, nothing to install	Excel for the web	Free with a Microsoft account
iPhone or iPad	Excel on the App Store	Free download
Android phone or tablet	Excel on Google Play	Free download

A site that offers a free Excel .exe with no sign-in is not distributing Microsoft’s software, whatever the page says.

Download Microsoft Excel from the official Microsoft sources

Microsoft distributes Excel from its account portal and sells it from its own Store pages. These are the pages to start from:

• Microsoft 365 install instructions: sign in at m365.cloud.microsoft/apps, then select Install apps.
• Excel one-time purchase: $179.99 for one PC or Mac, compatible with Windows 11, Windows 10 or macOS.
• Microsoft 365 plans: Personal, Family and Premium, each with a one-month free trial.
• Office Deployment Tool: Microsoft’s free tool for installing Excel on its own.
• Microsoft 365 offline installer: for slow or unreliable connections.

Is Microsoft Excel free?

Excel for the web is free, and so are the Excel apps for iPhone, iPad and Android. A Microsoft account gets Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the web at no cost, with 5 GB of cloud storage.

The Excel desktop app for Windows and Mac is paid. Microsoft’s US prices are:

Plan	Price	What you get
Microsoft 365 Personal	$99.99/year or $9.99/month	Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote desktop apps for 1 person, 1 TB of cloud storage
Microsoft 365 Family	$129.99/year or $12.99/month	The same apps for up to 6 people
Microsoft 365 Premium	$199.99/year or $19.99/month	Family plus higher Copilot usage
Excel one-time purchase	$179.99	Excel only, for 1 PC or Mac, no subscription

Each Microsoft 365 plan offers a one-month free trial. After the trial, the subscription renews automatically unless you cancel it in your Microsoft account. Any site selling a cheap Excel product key is not selling a licence Microsoft recognises; this guide on how to get a product key for Microsoft Office explains where genuine keys come from.

Check the Microsoft Excel system requirements before you buy

Microsoft lists these requirements on the Excel product page.

Requirement	PC	Mac
Operating system	Windows 11 or Windows 10	macOS (recent versions)
Processor	1.6 GHz, 2-core	Recent Mac
Memory	4 GB RAM (64-bit), 2 GB (32-bit)	4 GB RAM
Disk space	4 GB available	10 GB available
Display	1024 x 768	1280 x 800
Graphics	DirectX 10 card for hardware acceleration	Not listed
Also required	Internet access and a Microsoft account

How to install Microsoft Excel on Windows 11 and 10

The download starts from your account, not from a product page. Sign in with the account that holds the Microsoft 365 or Excel licence.

1. Go to m365.cloud.microsoft/apps and select Sign in.
2. Sign in with the Microsoft account, or the work or school account, that owns the licence.
3. With a Microsoft account, select Install apps, then Install. With a work or school account, select Install apps > Microsoft 365 apps.
4. Select Run in Edge, Setup in Chrome, or Save File in Firefox.
5. Select Yes at the Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? prompt.
6. Wait for You’re all set! Office is installed now, then select Close.
7. Open Start, type Excel, and open it.
8. Accept the licence agreement the first time Excel opens to activate it.

A Microsoft 365 install puts Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote on the PC alongside Excel. If you bought a product key, redeem it first at microsoft365.com/setup so the licence is added to your Microsoft account.

Install Excel without the rest of Office using the Office Deployment Tool

The Microsoft 365 installer has no app picker, so it always installs the full suite. The free Office Deployment Tool (ODT) lets you name the product your licence covers and exclude every app you do not want.

1. Download the Office Deployment Tool from the Microsoft Download Center and run it to extract setup.exe and sample configuration files.
2. Create a configuration file, for example excel.xml, that names your product ID and adds an ExcludeApp line for each app you do not want, such as Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.
3. Open an administrator Command Prompt in the folder that holds setup.exe.
4. Run setup.exe /download excel.xml to fetch the installation files.
5. Run setup.exe /configure excel.xml to install Excel.

The Download Center lists ODT version 16.0.20430.20146, published on 19 October 2026, at 3.1 MB. The Office Deployment Tool guide walks through the configuration file in more detail.

Install Excel offline with the Microsoft 365 offline installer

A slow line, a proxy or a firewall can stop the normal setup part way. Microsoft publishes an offline installer for that case. You still need the internet to download it and to activate Excel afterwards.

1. Open Microsoft’s offline installer page and select the download button for your plan.
2. In the Install window, select Offline installer from the Choose a version drop-down.
3. Select your language, then select Install.
4. Open your Downloads folder and double-click O365HomePremRetail.img to mount it as a virtual drive.
5. Open the Office folder on the virtual drive and run Setup64.exe for 64-bit or Setup32.exe for 32-bit.
6. Wait for You’re all set.
7. Connect to the internet, open Excel and accept the licence terms to activate it.

Microsoft Excel download for Mac

Excel for Mac installs from the same account portal: sign in at m365.cloud.microsoft/apps, select Install apps, and open the downloaded package. Installing it needs an administrator account on the Mac.

What you want	Package Microsoft serves	Size
Excel on its own	Microsoft Excel installer package (version 16.114)	About 1.19 GB
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote	Microsoft 365 and Office installer package (version 16.114)	About 2.93 GB
Excel on an iPad	Excel on the App Store	Free download

The package does not activate Excel. Sign in with your licensed account when Excel first opens. Excel for Mac is 64-bit.

Excel 64-bit vs 32-bit

Install 64-bit Excel. Microsoft installs the 64-bit version of Microsoft 365 automatically unless you select 32-bit before installation starts, or unless the PC already has a 32-bit Office app installed. Add-ins compiled for 32-bit Office do not run in 64-bit Office, and the reverse is also true, so pick 32-bit only when an essential 32-bit add-in has no 64-bit version. To switch later, uninstall Microsoft 365 first, then reinstall and pick the other version.

How to check your Excel version and update it

1. Open Excel and select File > Account.
2. Read the version and build under Product Information.
3. Select About Excel to see whether the install is 64-bit or 32-bit.
4. Select Update Options > Update Now.
5. On a Mac, open Help > Check for Updates to run Microsoft AutoUpdate.

The guide to check for Microsoft Office updates covers update channels and what to do when Update Now is missing.

How to check a Microsoft Excel installer is genuine

1. Check the address first. Genuine downloads start from m365.cloud.microsoft, microsoft.com or the Microsoft Download Center.
2. On Windows, right-click the downloaded file and select Properties.
3. Open the Digital Signatures tab, select the signature, then select Details.
4. Confirm the signer name reads Microsoft Corporation. A missing Digital Signatures tab means the file did not come from Microsoft.
5. Close any page offering an Excel licence key far below Microsoft’s price, or a “free full version” setup file.

Fix Microsoft Excel not installing on Windows 11 or 10

The install fails part way through

1. Restart the PC and start the install again.
2. Run the Microsoft 365 setup troubleshooter from Microsoft’s Microsoft 365 troubleshooters page.
3. If it still fails, uninstall Office completely, restart, and install again from Install apps.

Setup runs for hours and never finishes

1. Confirm at least 4 GB of free disk space on the system drive.
2. Pause other downloads and streaming on the network.
3. Switch to the offline installer and run Setup64.exe from the mounted .img file.

There is no Install option after you sign in

The subscription has lapsed, the sign-in used a different account, or, for a work or school account, no licence has been assigned to you.

1. Sign out and sign back in with the account that bought the licence.
2. Open Services & subscriptions in your Microsoft account and renew the plan if it has expired.
3. On a work or school account, ask your Microsoft 365 admin to assign a licence that includes the desktop apps.

Excel installs but will not activate

1. Connect the PC to the internet.
2. Open Excel and select File > Account.
3. Check which account the copy is tied to under Product Information, and sign in with the licensed account if it differs.
4. Complete the Activation Wizard if it appears.

A Something went wrong message during setup has its own fixes in the guide to the Something went wrong error in Office.

How to uninstall Microsoft Excel

Excel from Microsoft 365 is part of one installation, so uninstalling it on Windows removes the whole suite.

1. Press Windows + I and open Apps > Installed apps.
2. Find your Microsoft 365 or Office product and select Uninstall.
3. If the entry refuses to go, use Microsoft’s uninstall support tool from its Uninstall Office from a PC page.
4. To remove Excel alone and keep the other apps, run the Office Deployment Tool again with an ExcludeApp ID="Excel" line.
5. On a Mac, open Finder > Applications and drag Microsoft Excel to the Bin.

Moving to a new PC? The guide on how to transfer Microsoft Office to a new computer covers signing out of the old one first.

What you can use instead of Microsoft Excel

Tool	Where it comes from	Best for
Excel for the web	Microsoft, free with an account	Editing .xlsx with Excel formulas intact
Excel for iPhone, iPad and Android	App Store and Google Play, free	Reviewing and editing sheets away from a desk
Numbers	Apple, free on a Mac	Spreadsheets on a Mac with no subscription
Google Sheets	Google, free with an account	Browser editing with live sharing
LibreOffice Calc	The Document Foundation, free	An offline desktop spreadsheet at no cost

Install the desktop app when you rely on Power Pivot, VBA macros or large data models. Other office and productivity apps for PC include Anki and thinkorswim.

Microsoft Excel download FAQ

Is Microsoft Excel free?

Excel for the web and the Excel mobile apps are free. The desktop app for Windows and Mac needs Microsoft 365, from $99.99 a year with a one-month free trial, or a one-time Excel licence at $179.99.

What is the official Microsoft Excel download page?

Licensed users install Excel from m365.cloud.microsoft/apps by selecting Install apps. To buy it, use Microsoft’s Excel Store page or the Microsoft 365 plans page on microsoft.com.

Does Microsoft Excel work on Windows 11?

Yes. Microsoft lists Windows 11 and Windows 10 as the supported PC systems for Excel, with a 1.6 GHz 2-core processor, 4 GB of RAM for 64-bit and 4 GB of free disk space.

How big is the Microsoft Excel download?

On Windows, the small setup file streams Excel and the rest of Microsoft 365 during installation, so keep 4 GB of disk space free. On a Mac, the Excel-only installer package Microsoft serves is about 1.19 GB.

Is there a Microsoft Excel offline installer?

Yes. Choose Offline installer in the Microsoft 365 Install window, then mount the downloaded .img file and run Setup64.exe or Setup32.exe. Activation still needs an internet connection.

Is there a Microsoft Excel download for Mac?

Yes. Sign in at m365.cloud.microsoft/apps on the Mac and select Install apps, or buy the one-time Excel licence, which covers one PC or one Mac.

Is Microsoft Excel 64-bit?

By default, yes. Microsoft 365 installs the 64-bit version unless you choose 32-bit before setup or a 32-bit Office app is already installed. Excel for Mac is 64-bit.

Is it safe to download Microsoft Excel from other sites?

No. Third-party download sites and cheap key sellers are not Microsoft licence channels, and a modified installer can carry malware. Install from your Microsoft account and check the file is signed by Microsoft Corporation.

Which Microsoft Excel version is current?

Microsoft 365 keeps Excel up to date automatically. Check yours under File > Account > Product Information. On a Mac, the current installer package Microsoft serves is version 16.114.

Why will Microsoft Excel not install?

The usual causes are a lapsed subscription or the wrong account, an earlier partial install, a slow or filtered connection, or too little disk space. Restart, run the Microsoft 365 setup troubleshooter, or use the offline installer.

Can I install just Excel without Office?

Yes. Buy the one-time Excel licence, or use the Office Deployment Tool with a configuration file that excludes the other apps from your Microsoft 365 install.

Is Microsoft Excel free for students?

Excel for the web is free for everyone with a Microsoft account. Many schools also provide Microsoft 365 through a school account; check with your school’s IT department.