Top all-time · #3810
Python in Excel alternative: Open. Self-hosted. No limits.
Company blog · xlwings.org/blogprogrammingdata
Python in Excel alternative: Open. Self-hosted. No limits. is the company blog at xlwings.org, writing about programming and data. Since 2014, 20 different Hacker News readers have linked it 27 times, most often “Xlwings: Python in MS Excel”. The last post was in 2024, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (15) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link xlwings.org as a self-hosted option for using Python inside Excel, often as a replacement for VBA. Most comments only cite it as an option; one says they would highly recommend it.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 15 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Write add-ins, custom functions (UDFs), and macros with Python in Excel. Run locally or on your infrastructure with all the packages you need.
Most-linked posts?
- Xlwings: Python in MS Excel10 people · 10 mentions · first linked 2016-11-09
- Use Python in Excel without add-ins4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2014-09-26
- /3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-09-13
- A New Way to Automate Google Sheets with Python2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-05-20
What Hacker News says?
https://www.xlwings.org/ and https://www.pyxll.com/
Comment linking /
on “Guido van Rossum joins Microsoft”Submitted My thoughts on Python in Excel as a story · 288 points
HN discussionDear Excel team, Take a look at the top three results for "excel python" on bing.com for some great ideas on how to incorporate python into excel. --- 1.) https://www.python-excel.org 2.) https://www.pyxll.com/ 3.) https://www.xlwings.org/
Comment linking /
on “Excel team considering Python as scripting language: asking for feedback”Submitted Use Python in Excel without add-ins as a story · 251 points
HN discussionI think XLwings ( https://www.xlwings.org ) can do some of that.
Comment linking /
on “Excel Never Dies”Submitted Python for Excel: A Modern Environment for Automation and Data Analysis as a story · 196 points
HN discussionBoth Python and R can be used in Excel via several addons. Python: http://www.python-excel.org/ https://www.xlwings.org/ https://datanitro.com/ R: http://rcom.univie.ac.at/download.html https://bert-toolkit.com/ However, officially MS have chosen to move ahead with Javascript for add-ins and VBA-like automation: https://dev.office.com/docs/add-ins/develop/understanding-th... http://rockthecode.io/blog/javascript-and…
Comment linking /
on “A Look at How Traders and Economists Are Using the Julia Programming Language”Submitted The new dynamic arrays in Excel with Python and xlwings as a story · 65 points
HN discussionYou can use Pandas via the xlwings package ( https://www.xlwings.org )
Comment linking /
on “XLOOKUP for Excel”Submitted Xlwings: Python in MS Excel as a story · 3 points
HN discussionWhile I appreciate the idea.... Use Javascript to replace vba in excel http://blogs.msdn.com/b/officeapps/archive/2013/03/18/excel-... Use python to replace vba in excel http://xlwings.org/
Comment linking /
on “Show HN: Dtab – Spreadsheet for Data Science”Submitted Replace Excel VBA with Python as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI wasn't aware of that much progress on your first link.....I'm curious to know if at the same time they've put any effort into improving the half-assed Excel COM API. Totally agree on the Power Query thing, if they'd support pandas + power query + embeddable Power BI objects in Excel + seamless integration with cloud functionality (there's still no way to use Power Query in SSIS for goodness sake). Using pandas in…
Comment linking /
on “Microsoft Office could be a bigger productivity drain than Candy Crush”Submitted Python for Excel: A Modern Environment for Automation and Data Analysis as a story · 2 points
HN discussionPython has it's place. When teaching kids, I guess it comes down to two things - are you targeting the lowest barrier to entry to make something whiz-bang to appeal to the largest common denominator of "I use Facebook so I'd like to make 'computer things'", in which case, alright they can install Tampermonkey and mess with a really inconsistent language like Ecmascript5[1] then spend a lot of time explaining things…
Comment linking /
on “Free Pascal Compiler Version 3.0.0”Submitted A New Way to Automate Google Sheets with Python as a story · 2 points
HN discussionhttps://www.xlwings.org/
Comment linking /
on “Will VBA Die? (2019)”Submitted What Makes Excel's Lambda Functions so great (and what doesn't)? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionYou can do this with xlwings![0] Would highly recommend. —— [0] https://www.xlwings.org
Comment linking /
on “How a New York Times Software Engineer Ended Up Covering Miss America”Submitted Xlwings-Reports: Excel and PDF Reports with Python as a story · 2 points
HN discussionHere's the same thing with Python for Windows & Mac http://xlwings.org/ You can share the sheets too as it bundles a runtime
Comment linking /
on “Clojure Development Environment for Excel”Submitted A New Way to Automate Google Sheets with Python as a story · 1 points
HN discussionAFAIK, Python in Excel is fine, but only if you don't use Microsoft's: https://www.xlwings.org/
Comment linking /
on “VBScript deprecation: Timelines and next steps”Submitted Python Libraries for Reporting and Factsheets as a story · 1 points
HN discussionWouldn't existing excel bindings for languages accomplish this? https://www.pyxll.com/ http://xlwings.org/
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Language compiled to Excel spreadsheets?”https://www.xlwings.org/
Comment linking /
on “Microsoft is bringing Python to Excel”Reading the headline, I initially thought that Microsoft bought the company behind XLWings [1], which also enables you to use Excel directly within Excel, even locally. Not affiliated in any kind to that company, just used it in the past. [1] https://www.xlwings.org/
Comment linking /
on “Python in Excel: Combining the Power of Python and the Flexibility of Excel”
