A free Excel alternative for tracking your portfolio

Portfolio Terminal is a free alternative to tracking a portfolio in Microsoft Excel: it reads your broker's file instead of asking for formulas, and works out dividends, FIFO gains and what is inside your ETFs. Excel is the better pick if you want to build every formula yourself; its Stocks data type is free, but the STOCKHISTORY function needs Microsoft 365, from $9.99 a month in the US.

prices checked October 5, 2026by Julien Esnault, who makes Portfolio Terminal9 sources

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01Which one

Microsoft Excel or Portfolio Terminal: who each one suits

choose microsoft excel if
  • You want to design every formula, layout and chart yourself.
  • Your tracker is a few rows you update by hand, in a Microsoft 365 plan you already pay for.
  • You want your investments in the same workbook as a budget or other data.
choose portfolio terminal if
  • You want broker files read for you instead of copy-pasting rows.
  • You want FIFO realized gains, a dividend calendar and the companies inside your ETFs without writing them.
  • You hold several brokers or currencies and want one total, repriced through the day, with no formula to maintain.
02Side by side

The same eight questions, asked of both

side by sidechecked October 5, 2026
QuestionMicrosoft ExcelPortfolio Terminal
Free planThe Stocks data type works with a free Microsoft account; the STOCKHISTORY function needs a paid plan.[1]Free with no holding limit. A guest mode works without an account.[2]
Paid plansMicrosoft 365 Personal: $9.99/month or $99.99/year (US).[3]Nothing to buy today. A Pro plan is in development at $9/month billed yearly ($11 monthly), with a waitlist.[2]
How holdings get inManual: paste or import broker files and build the sheet yourself.[1]Upload a CSV or Excel file or a PDF statement, paste a table, or drop a screenshot from any broker. Transaction-history CSVs from 10 brokers are read directly, plus a generic format. No automatic broker sync.[4]
DividendsBuild it yourself.[1]Dividends received by month and year, a 12-month projection, and the next ex-dividend dates of your holdings.[5]
What is inside your ETFsNo.[1]Yes. The companies inside your funds, from the issuers' full holdings files for 30 US ETFs and the top 10 holdings for other funds.[6]
Realized gainsBuild it yourself with formulas.[1]FIFO lot by lot, or average cost, with a CSV export in IRS Form 8949 column order.[7]
Tax reportsNone.[1]None.
PlatformsWindows, Mac, web, iOS, Android.[3]Web. Installable on a phone or desktop home screen (PWA); no app-store app.[8]
03Limits

Best for, and one honest limit each

fit and limits2 tools

Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft, Redmond, USA

Best forPeople who already pay for Microsoft 365 and want to build every formula themselves.

LimitQuotes are delayed and not for trading; STOCKHISTORY needs a paid plan and has no history for most popular index funds, including the S&P 500.[9]

Portfolio TerminalJulien Esnault, independent developer, France

Best forInvestors with US or European brokers who want a free web tracker with ETF look-through, FIFO gains and risk in plain English, without linking a bank login.

LimitNo automatic broker sync: you re-import a file or a screenshot when your holdings change. Prices come from Yahoo Finance and can lag the market by several minutes.[4]

04Switching

Moving from Microsoft Excel

steps3 steps
  1. 01Copy your holdings table from Excel (symbol, quantity, average cost) and paste it, or upload the CSV your broker exports for the dated trades.
  2. 02Check every line Portfolio Terminal read before it is saved: symbols, quantities, prices and dates.
  3. 03Keep the workbook for whatever else it does; only the portfolio tabs move.
05Questions

Microsoft Excel alternatives: what people ask

questions4 answered

Is there a free alternative to Excel for tracking stocks?

Yes. Portfolio Terminal is free with no holding limit and reads broker files, so there are no formulas to write. Google Sheets with GOOGLEFINANCE is the free spreadsheet option; Google says its quotes may be delayed up to 20 minutes.

Does Excel's stock data cost money?

The Stocks data type works with a free Microsoft account. The STOCKHISTORY function, which pulls price history, needs a Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, Business Standard or Business Premium plan; Personal costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year in the US (checked October 5, 2026).

Can I move my Excel portfolio into Portfolio Terminal?

Yes. Paste the holdings table, or upload the transaction-history CSV from your broker to keep every buy date. Each line is shown for review before anything is saved.

What can Excel do that Portfolio Terminal can't?

Custom formulas and layouts, and mixing your portfolio with any other data. Portfolio Terminal also has no automatic broker sync: when your holdings change, you import a new file or screenshot.

Other trackers, same eight questions

Or see all of them on one grid: the best free portfolio trackers, compared.

SharesightalternativeSnowball AnalyticsalternativegetquinalternativeParqetalternativeDeltaalternativeFinaryalternativeKuberaalternativePortfolio PerformancealternativeGoogle Sheetsalternative

Sources, read on October 5, 2026

Prices and plans are quoted as each vendor prints them, in its currency, on the day above. They change; the linked page is the one to trust. Found something out of date? Write to julien.esnau@gmail.com and the page is corrected with the date.

  1. [1]support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-a-stock-quote-e5af3212-e024-4d4c-bea0-623cf07fbc54
  2. [2]portfolio-terminal.com#pricing
  3. [3]microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products
  4. [4]portfolio-terminal.com/import
  5. [5]portfolio-terminal.com/dividend-tracker
  6. [6]portfolio-terminal.com/etf-overlap
  7. [7]portfolio-terminal.com/csv-portfolio-tracker
  8. [8]portfolio-terminal.com/llms.txt
  9. [9]support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/stockhistory-function-1ac8b5b3-5f62-4d94-8ab8-7504ec7239a8
Try it on your own holdingsFree, no card, no bank login. Import a file or a screenshot and check every line before it is saved.Start Free Migration

Portfolio Terminal is made by the author of this page, so read the comparison with that in mind: every statement about Microsoft Excel links to Microsoft Excel's own pages, and Portfolio Terminal's limit is stated as plainly as theirs. Nothing here is investment advice.