Which AI Is Best for Data Analysis in 2026?

Spreadsheets and databases are where AI chatbots now save people the most time, from fixing a messy customer list to writing a SQL query or explaining what a sales trend means. Several platforms now work directly inside Excel and Google Sheets. To find out which AI is best for analyzing data, our research team ran a head-to-head study from September 29 to October 16, 2026.

We gave the same 400 data analysis requests to eight AI platforms, including six general AI assistants, Copilot in Excel and the data analysis tool Julius AI, producing 3,200 answers. The requests covered eight tasks, with 50 requests each, and used real datasets from sales, finance, marketing, health care and public records, ranging from 200 rows to more than one million. A panel of six data analysts and data scientists scored each answer from 0 to 100 without knowing which platform produced it. We also checked every calculation against the correct answer, compared every chart with the underlying data, and flagged any number that did not appear in or follow from the dataset.

Best AI for Analyzing Data Overall

Each platform was tested on its best available model or plan, using its built-in data tools. A platform’s overall score is the average of its scores across the eight tasks in our study, with each task weighted equally. In the table below, we rank the eight platforms from highest to lowest.

Data Analysis Scores by AI Platform (2026)

Rank	AI Platform	Model or Tool Tested	Overall Score	Strongest Task
1	Claude	Claude Opus 5.5 with Claude in Excel	90.2	Explaining Results
2	ChatGPT	GPT-6 Sol with data analysis	89.9	Building Charts
3	Google Gemini	Gemini 4 Argon with Gemini in Sheets	88.8	Working With Large Files
4	Julius AI	Julius Pro plan	87.9	Finding Trends and Outliers
5	Microsoft Copilot	Copilot in Excel (Agent Mode)	86.6	Spreadsheet Formulas
6	DeepSeek	DeepSeek V4-Pro	81.8	Writing SQL
7	Grok	Grok 4.6	81.5	Finding Trends and Outliers
8	Meta AI	Muse Spark	77.3	Explaining Results

Our researchers took three main points from this data:

• We found that Claude’s lead comes from accuracy and clear explanations. It finished first or second in six of the eight tasks and led ChatGPT by 0.3 points overall.
• ChatGPT built the best charts in the study (91.7), and judges said its data analysis tool was the easiest for beginners to use.
• Julius AI, a tool built only for data analysis, ranked fourth at 87.9. It led finding trends and outliers (91.2) but trailed on spreadsheet formulas (83.4).

Best AI for Each Data Analysis Task

We split the requests evenly across eight tasks, with 50 requests per task. The best platform changed from one task to the next, so the right choice depends on the kind of work you do. The first table below shows the winner and runner-up for each task. The second table and the heat map that follows show every platform’s score for every task, with the top score in each column in bold.

Best AI Platform for Each Data Analysis Task (2026)

Data Analysis Task	Best Platform	Score	Runner-Up	Score
Cleaning Messy Data	Claude	91.4	ChatGPT	90.2
Spreadsheet Formulas	Microsoft Copilot	91.3	Claude	90.7
Building Charts	ChatGPT	91.7	Julius AI	90.6
Statistical Analysis	Claude	91.8	ChatGPT	90.6
Writing SQL	Claude	91.2	ChatGPT	90.3
Finding Trends and Outliers	Julius AI	91.2	Claude	90.4
Explaining Results	Claude	92.6	ChatGPT	90.8
Working With Large Files	Google Gemini	89.8	Julius AI	87.9

Data Analysis Scores by Task and AI Platform (2026)

AI Platform	Cleaning	Formulas	Charts	Statistics	SQL	Trends	Explaining	Large Files
Claude	91.4	90.7	88.6	91.8	91.2	90.4	92.6	85.1
ChatGPT	90.2	89.8	91.7	90.6	90.3	89.9	90.8	85.9
Google Gemini	88.1	89.6	89.3	87.4	89.7	88.2	88.4	89.8
Julius AI	89.3	83.4	90.6	89.1	86.2	91.2	85.7	87.9
Microsoft Copilot	87.6	91.3	87.2	84.3	84.8	85.6	85.9	86.4
DeepSeek	82.4	83.6	76.8	85.9	87.1	81.2	80.3	77.5
Grok	81.6	80.9	82.4	82.7	82.3	83.1	82.8	76.2
Meta AI	77.3	76.8	78.1	76.4	77.9	78.6	81.2	72.4

Here is what our team took from the task-level results:

• We found that five different platforms won at least one task. Claude won four, and ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Julius AI and Microsoft Copilot won one each.
• Working with large files produced the widest gap of any task, 17.4 points between Google Gemini (89.8) and Meta AI (72.4). Google Gemini led this task because it analyzed the largest files in full during our tests.
• Copilot in Excel led spreadsheet formulas (91.3), since it writes formulas directly into the workbook and checks them against the data. Claude in Excel was close behind at 90.7.

Accuracy: Correct Calculations, Accurate Charts and Invented Numbers

A data analysis is only useful if the numbers are right. We checked all 6,180 calculations in the platforms’ answers, such as averages, growth rates and totals, against the correct answer for each dataset. We compared every chart with the data it was built from, and flagged every answer that included a number that was not in the data and could not be calculated from it. We also recorded the largest file each platform could analyze in full. The table below is sorted by the share of calculations that were correct.

Accuracy Results by AI Platform (2026)

AI Platform	Calculations Correct	Charts That Matched the Data	Answers With an Invented Number	Largest File Analyzed in Full (Rows)
Claude	97.8%	93.2%	1.4%	500,000
ChatGPT	97.1%	95.4%	2.1%	1,000,000
Julius AI	96.4%	94.8%	1.9%	1,000,000
Google Gemini	95.9%	94.1%	2.8%	2,000,000
Microsoft Copilot	95.2%	92.6%	2.6%	1,048,576
DeepSeek	93.6%	84.7%	5.3%	100,000
Grok	91.8%	88.3%	6.2%	250,000
Meta AI	88.4%	85.9%	8.7%	50,000

Our researchers drew three conclusions from the accuracy data:

• We found that Claude got the most calculations right (97.8%), followed by ChatGPT (97.1%) and Julius AI (96.4%). All three run code to do the math, which cut down on arithmetic mistakes.
• ChatGPT made the most accurate charts, with 95.4% matching the data exactly. DeepSeek had the lowest rate at 84.7%, most often because of mislabeled axes or missing data points.
• Meta AI added a number that was not in the data to 8.7% of its answers, and Grok did so in 6.2%. These invented figures most often appeared when a platform could not read the whole file and filled in the gaps.

Best AI Models for Analyzing Data, Including Free Options

Many platforms give free users a different model or fewer data tools than paying subscribers. We tested 13 models and plans across the eight platforms, including each platform’s free option. The table below ranks every one we tested.

Data Analysis Scores by Model and Plan (2026)

Rank	Model or Plan	Platform	Available On	Score
1	Claude Opus 5.5	Claude	Paid	90.2
2	GPT-6 Sol	ChatGPT	Paid	89.9
3	Claude Sonnet 5.5	Claude	Free and paid	89.4
4	Gemini 4 Argon	Google Gemini	Paid	88.8
5	Julius Pro plan	Julius AI	Paid	87.9
6	Gemini 3.8 Flash	Google Gemini	Free and paid	87.3
7	GPT-6 Luna	ChatGPT	Free and paid	87.1
8	Copilot in Excel (Agent Mode)	Microsoft Copilot	Paid	86.6
9	Julius (free plan)	Julius AI	Free	84.2
10	GPT-6 Astra (Copilot app)	Microsoft Copilot	Free and paid	82.4
11	DeepSeek V4-Pro	DeepSeek	Free	81.8
12	Grok 4.6	Grok	Free and paid	81.5
13	Muse Spark	Meta AI	Free	77.3

Our team took three main points from the model-level results:

• We found that Claude Sonnet 5.5 is the best free AI for analyzing data, scoring 89.4, behind only Claude Opus 5.5 and GPT-6 Sol.
• Paying for Microsoft Copilot added the most of any platform: Copilot in Excel scored 4.2 points higher than the free Copilot app, because it works directly inside the spreadsheet.
• Julius AI’s free plan scored 84.2, 3.7 points below its Pro plan, which allows larger files and more analyses each month.

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