# Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) vs Smartsheet API + MCP

> Smartsheet API + MCP scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)'s 58.5 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do sheets read. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-smartsheet
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-smartsheet.md (~2,350 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-smartsheet.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-excel-graph-vs-smartsheet.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- 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

Smartsheet API + MCP scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)'s 58.5 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do sheets read.

- Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API): grade C, 58.5/100, rank #399 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-excel-graph.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-excel-graph.json
- Smartsheet API + MCP: grade B, 67.6/100, rank #190 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smartsheet.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/smartsheet.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.

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

### Smartsheet API + MCP (B)

Good for: An agent working inside a company that already runs projects in Smartsheet on a Business plan or above, especially row-level reads and batched writes, workflows and dashboards.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 15
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 53
- Transparency & trust, 82 against 75

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

Watch for: API and MCP access need a Business plan or higher, from $19 a member a month billed yearly with a three-member minimum


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) | Smartsheet API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 62 | 65 | Smartsheet API + MCP +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 88 | Smartsheet API + MCP +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 74 | Smartsheet API + MCP +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 66 | Smartsheet API + MCP +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 15 | 20 | Smartsheet API + MCP +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 80 | Smartsheet API + MCP +27 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 82 | Smartsheet API + MCP +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **58.5 · C** | **67.6 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) | Smartsheet API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Microsoft | Smartsheet Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0` | `https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Your plan | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (SDKs) | Proprietary service under Smartsheet's User Agreement and Developer Agreement. The SDKs on GitHub are Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 83 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2025-09-19 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-10-01 | 2021-07-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-01 | 2026-05-20 |
| 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 | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| 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 | 82 stars, 47k npm/wk, 312k 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.

**Smartsheet API + MCP.** The REST API has a public OpenAPI 3.0.3 spec with 187 operations, Markdown docs and llms.txt, and the hosted MCP server loads its 83 documented tools by toolset. API access needs a Business plan or higher, and the status page lists eight incidents marked major or critical between 15 July and 21 September 2026.

## 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

### Smartsheet API + MCP

1. Send writes to one sheet one at a time. Parallel updates with the same token return error 4004
2. Batch row changes, up to 500 rows a call, and add `allowPartialSuccess=true` to get per-row failures instead of a failed batch
3. On error 4003 (HTTP 429) wait at least 60 seconds before retrying. The limit is 300 requests a minute per token, 30 for attachments and cell history
4. Through MCP, call `get_columns` before filtering or writing. Column names are case-sensitive and guesses fail validation
5. Use the regional host that matches the account (api.smartsheet.com, .eu or .au). Tokens don't work across regions

## Questions

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

Smartsheet API + MCP scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API)'s 58.5 (C), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) and Smartsheet API + MCP need an API key?

Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) uses an OAuth sign-in. Smartsheet API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

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

Yes. Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Graph workbook API) has a hosted endpoint at https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0 and Smartsheet API + MCP at https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0.


## For agents

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

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