excel-cli vs spreadsheet-kit MCP
excel-cli is a plugin bundle for AI coding tools published by sbroenne. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Copilot CLI: github/awesome-copilot). spreadsheet-kit MCP is an MCP server published by PSU3D0. Marketplaces we read that list it: 1 (Official MCP Registry). As of our marketplace pass on 2026-10-16. This pair was picked by a reader, not by our comparison rule, so search engines are asked not to index the page.
Where each is published
| Marketplace |  excel-cli |  spreadsheet-kit MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot CLI: github/awesome-copilot | Listed Version: 2.3.11 Forks (GitHub): 0 Stars (GitHub): 2 Not marked · First seen |
Not listed |
| Official MCP Registry | Not listed | Listed Version: 0.11.1 Forks (GitHub): 8 Stars (GitHub): 60 Not marked · First seen |
Each figure is the marketplace's own and is never added up across marketplaces. A marketplace that publishes no figure shows none: no number is not zero.
The facts side by side
| Fact | excel-cli | spreadsheet-kit MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplaces that list it | 1 | 1 |
| Stars (GitHub) (differs) | 2 (worse) | 60 (better) |
| Forks (GitHub) (differs) | 0 (worse) | 8 (better) |
| Last release (differs) | 2026-10-14 | Not published |
| Where it runs (differs) | Installs as a plugin bundle | On your machine (ghcr.io/psu3d0/spreadsheet-mcp:0.11.1-full) |
| Transport (differs) | Not stated | stdio |
| Tools it declares | Not published | Not published |
| Environment variables it asks for | Not published | Not published |
| Licence (differs) | MIT | Not stated |
| Repository (differs) | github.com/sbroenne/mcp-server-excel-plugins | github.com/psu3d0/spreadsheet-mcp |
| Changes in the last 7 days (differs) | 6 | 0 |
| First seen | 2026-10-11 | 2026-10-11 |
Lines where the two differ have a tinted background and bold values. Where the data itself says which value is better (more marketplaces, a larger figure of the same marketplace, a fresher release, a verified mark on a marketplace that lists both), the better one is also marked green with ▲ and the worse one red with ▼. Where it runs, the transport, the tools, the settings, hooks, the bundle's parts, the licence and the week's changes are marked only as different: more or fewer is not better in itself.
What each says it does
excel-cli
Let your coding agent work with real Microsoft Excel workbooks from the terminal: formulas, Power Query, PivotTables, charts, and VBA. Same features as Excel MCP, usually with fewer AI tokens. Requires Windows, desktop Excel 2016 or later, and Node.js 18 or later.
spreadsheet-kit MCP
Agent-safe Excel workbook analysis, editing, recalc, and verification tools.
How to run each
excel-cli
No data for an automatic command: what its marketplaces declare does not say unambiguously how to connect it.
spreadsheet-kit MCP As a local MCP server: Docker image
claude mcp add --transport stdio spreadsheet-mcp -- docker run -i --rm -i --rm -v "<YOUR_WORKBOOK_DIR>:/data" ghcr.io/psu3d0/spreadsheet-mcp:0.11.1-full --workspace-root /data --transport stdioCommands built only from what the marketplaces declare; the full set for every client is on each card.
Tools each declares
Neither one's marketplaces publish a list of tools, so there is nothing to compare.
Settings each asks for
Neither one's marketplaces publish the settings it asks for.
What it can do: excel-cli · What it can do: spreadsheet-kit MCP · Compare two other plugins
Data comes from the public marketplace file https://github.com/github/awesome-copilot/blob/HEAD/.github/plugin/marketplace.json. Data comes from the Official MCP Registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io), CC0 1.0. Figures come from our own regular passes over the marketplaces, last read on . We publish no contact details for plugin publishers.