Formula Bot

Formula Bot was an AI-powered spreadsheet and data-analysis tool developed to help users work with Excel and Google Sheets using natural-language instructions. It began with a focused purpose: allowing users to describe what they wanted to calculate and receive an appropriate spreadsheet formula without having to manually construct complex functions. The product later expanded beyond formula generation into broader data analysis, visualization, data transformation, document processing, and automation.

Formula Bot is now called Better Analyst. The official rebrand states that the same accounts, files, conversations, dashboards, and workflows remain available, with the product expanding from spreadsheet assistance into a broader analytics platform.

The original Formula Bot workflow centered on converting plain-English instructions into Excel and Google Sheets formulas. Users could describe a calculation, generate a formula, and receive an explanation of an existing formula. The Formula Generator supports common spreadsheet operations including lookups, references, logical functions, mathematical calculations, statistics, text processing, and date functions.

The platform has since developed into a full AI data-analysis workspace. Better Analyst allows users to upload Excel files, CSV files, PDFs, and other supported documents, connect external data sources, and ask questions about their information in natural language. The system can return insights, charts, analysis, and exports without requiring users to write SQL or Python themselves.

Natural-language data analysis is one of the central capabilities. Users can ask questions such as which customers generated the most revenue, how sales changed over time, or which trends appear in a dataset. The platform interprets the request, analyzes the underlying data, and produces an answer with supporting visualizations where appropriate.

Formula Bot’s current successor also provides code transparency. Better Analyst can generate Python, SQL, and R code for analytical tasks, allowing users to inspect the code behind an analysis. This can be useful for users who want to understand or verify how a result was calculated rather than relying solely on an unexplained AI response.

Data visualization is another major capability. Users can create charts, graphs, dashboards, and reports from uploaded or connected data. Better Analyst can also turn completed analysis into presentations, including exports to PowerPoint or Google Slides.

The platform supports numerous data sources. These include Google Sheets, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Power BI, Tableau, Airtable, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Supabase, Microsoft SQL Server, Google BigQuery, and Snowflake. This allows users to analyze connected business data rather than repeatedly exporting and uploading files.

Formula Bot also developed capabilities for PDF and document data extraction. Better Analyst can convert tables and information from PDFs into structured spreadsheets, making it useful for working with reports, statements, and other documents that would otherwise require manual data entry.

Automation has become another part of the platform. Users can create recurring tasks that run daily, weekly, or monthly. These workflows can be used for recurring analyses, reports, data processing, and other repetitive activities. Paid plans provide increasing numbers of scheduled tasks and connected data capabilities.

Better Analyst also supports AI-powered data enrichment. Users can create new columns from existing information, including sentiment classifications, extracted entities, keywords, and other structured information. This extends the original Formula Bot concept from generating formulas to helping users prepare and enrich datasets.

The platform is intended for a broad range of data users, including marketing teams, sales teams, finance teams, operations teams, analysts, researchers, and people who regularly work with spreadsheets but do not necessarily have SQL or programming skills.

Formula Bot was originally launched in 2022. Public accounts of its development trace the initial product to the summer of 2022, with the first proper paid launch taking place in September 2022.

The rebrand to Better Analyst represents a shift from a specialized formula-generation product to a broader analytics platform. Instead of focusing only on spreadsheet formulas, the current product covers the workflow from connecting and preparing data through analysis, visualization, reporting, presentation, and recurring automation.

Pricing

Formula Bot is now sold under the Better Analyst pricing structure. The current public plans are:

• Free: $0/month
• Starter: $20/month, or $14/month equivalent when billed annually
• Max: $40/user/month, or $28/user/month when billed annually
• Business: $80/user/month, or $56/user/month when billed annually

The Free plan includes 10 messages and 25 AI Actions per month. Starter provides 250 messages and 2,500 AI Actions, while Max provides unlimited messages and 5,000 AI Actions per seat. Business provides unlimited messages and 15,000 AI Actions per seat.

Review

Formula Bot’s evolution into Better Analyst makes it considerably broader than its original spreadsheet-formula purpose. The platform now combines formula generation, natural-language data analysis, visualization, dashboards, document processing, data connectors, enrichment, reporting, and automation.

Its main strength is the ability to interact with data conversationally. Users can upload spreadsheets or connect databases and ask questions without manually constructing formulas or SQL queries. For users who regularly work with business data but do not have advanced technical skills, this can reduce the amount of manual preparation required.

Another useful feature is code transparency. Better Analyst can expose generated Python, SQL, and R code, providing a way for technically experienced users to inspect the underlying analysis. The platform also supports multiple external data sources, which makes it suitable for workflows involving more than just Excel or Google Sheets.

The main considerations are usage limits and plan differences. The Free and Starter tiers restrict monthly messages and AI Actions, while advanced collaboration, connected-data, automation, and embedding capabilities become more prominent on higher plans. AI-generated formulas and analysis should also be checked before being used in important financial, operational, or business decisions.

For users who knew Formula Bot primarily as an AI Excel formula generator, the current Better Analyst product represents a substantial expansion into general-purpose AI analytics.