# Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) vs SeaTable

> SeaTable scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)'s 58.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) leads on security & auth. Both do sheets read. Category scores, facts, verdicts…

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- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

SeaTable scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)'s 58.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) leads on security & auth. Both do sheets read.

- Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API): grade C, 58.5/100, rank #450 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-excel-graph.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-excel-graph.json
- SeaTable: grade B, 66.3/100, rank #241 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/seatable.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/seatable.json

## Which one, for what

### Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) (C)

Good for: Agents working on .xlsx files that already live in a Microsoft 365 tenant, and for using Excel's calculation engine through function endpoints.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 65 against 59

Watch for: Reference pages list delegated permissions only and mark application permissions as not supported

### SeaTable (B)

Good for: Teams that want typed tables hosted in Germany or on their own server, with an agent reading and writing rows through a per-base token or the official MCP server.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 69 against 62
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 15
- Maintenance & community, 76 against 53

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- No incidents deducted, where Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) loses 4 points for them

Watch for: Monthly API call quotas by plan, 3,000 for a whole Free team, 10,000 per user on Plus and 50,000 per user on Enterprise


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) | SeaTable | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 62 | 69 | SeaTable +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 81 | Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 74 | SeaTable +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 59 | Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 15 | 30 | SeaTable +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 76 | SeaTable +23 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 75 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **58.5 · C** | **66.3 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) | SeaTable |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Microsoft | SeaTable GmbH |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0` | `https://cloud.seatable.io` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth | API key |
| Pricing | Your plan | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (SDKs) | Proprietary cloud service under the Terms of Service for SeaTable Cloud. The MCP server is MIT. SeaTable Server Enterprise Edition is licensed under an EULA |
| Tools exposed | none | 21 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.seatable/seatable` |
| Last release | 2025-09-19 | 2026-09-04 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-10-01 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-01 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 835 stars, 2.9M npm/wk, 1.6M PyPI/wk | 103 npm/wk, 1.7k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API).** Ranges, tables, charts and 366 worksheet function endpoints are reachable over REST with a public OpenAPI, and a non-persistent session lets an agent test changes without saving them. The reference pages list delegated permissions only, with Files.ReadWrite as the least privileged scope, and writes take no idempotency key.

**SeaTable.** API tokens are limited to one base and to read-only or read-write, and the official MCP server marks every tool as read-only or destructive. The Free plan allows 3,000 API calls a month in total, and base calls are capped at 200 a minute. The status page showed the base API degraded for 0.77 per cent of 30 days.

## Before you call either

### Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)

1. Create a session with POST /workbook/createSession and send `workbook-session-id` on every call. Persistent sessions expire after about 5 minutes idle
2. Set `persistChanges` to false when you only need a calculation or a chart image, so nothing is saved to the file
3. Send one request at a time per workbook and wait for each response. Microsoft warns that parallel writes cause throttling, timeouts and merge conflicts
4. Add rows in one call with a two-dimensional `values` array, and check the table before repeating a row add that returned 504
5. Read bounded addresses such as A1:D500. A whole-column range such as C:C returns null for values, and writes to it are refused

### SeaTable

1. Create an API token for the one base with read-only permission unless writes are needed, then exchange it at `/api/v2.1/dtable/app-access-token/` for a Base-Token
2. Renew the Base-Token before it expires after 3 days, and send it as `Authorization: Bearer` to `/api-gateway/api/v2/dtables/{base_uuid}/`
3. Read `x-ratelimit-remaining` and `x-ratelimit-reset` on every base call. SeaTable Cloud allows 200 base calls a minute and answers 429 with no body
4. Batch writes to save the monthly quota. One call appends or updates up to 1,000 rows over REST and 100 over MCP
5. Over MCP, prefer `update_rows` and `delete_rows` to `query_sql`, which can run UPDATE and DELETE, and call `get_schema` before writing

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) or SeaTable?

SeaTable scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)'s 58.5 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) leads on security & auth.

### Do Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) and SeaTable need an API key?

Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) uses an OAuth sign-in. SeaTable needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) and SeaTable without installing anything?

Yes. Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) has a hosted endpoint at https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0 and SeaTable at https://cloud.seatable.io.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-seatable.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-seatable.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "microsoft-excel-graph", "b": "seatable"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare microsoft-excel-graph seatable`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-excel-graph.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/seatable.json

## Other comparisons with Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) or SeaTable

- [Airtable vs Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtable-vs-microsoft-excel-graph.md)
- [Baserow vs Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baserow-vs-microsoft-excel-graph.md)
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- [Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) vs Smartsheet API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-smartsheet.md)
- [Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) vs Teable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-teable.md)
- [Airtable vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airtable-vs-seatable.md)
- [Baserow vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baserow-vs-seatable.md)
- [Grist vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grist-vs-seatable.md)
- [NocoDB vs SeaTable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nocodb-vs-seatable.md)
- [SeaTable vs Smartsheet API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/seatable-vs-smartsheet.md)
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