ADoor vs Microsoft Excel
Excel is Microsoft's spreadsheet app, with free web versions for anyone with a Microsoft account and full versions in Microsoft 365. ADoor, your data account, keeps the lists a company works from, such as orders, prices and customers, as records that people, apps and assistants like ChatGPT read and change. Each of them gets its own access, and standard SQL runs underneath.
Where ADoor stands out
Access to one field, not the whole file
Apps that work with Excel through Microsoft Graph need the Files.Read or Files.ReadWrite permission, which is granted for files rather than for one sheet or column. In ADoor you can give an assistant the Orders list without the Margin field, or let a script add entries but never delete them.
The same list in any assistant
Microsoft's MCP option for Microsoft 365 is Work IQ MCP, with general tools for mail, calendar, files and chats. ADoor's MCP server works in ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Cursor with a sign-in, and each assistant gets its own access, never more than the person who connected it.
History for each entry
For workbooks in OneDrive or SharePoint, version history lets you see and restore older versions of the whole file. ADoor keeps a history of changes, with who made each one and the before and after, so one wrong price can be traced without rolling back everyone's work.
The products
Microsoft Excel
Excel is Microsoft's spreadsheet. Microsoft 365 Business Basic includes its web and mobile versions, alongside OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams.
- Access for apps
- Files.Read for reading, Files.ReadWrite for reading and writing
- Assistants
- Work IQ MCP, which covers Microsoft 365 in general
- Change history
- Version history for files in OneDrive or SharePoint
- Plans
- Free web versions with a Microsoft account. Microsoft 365 Business Basic is $7 per user a month, paid yearly.
ADoor
ADoor is your data account. You keep lists and tables in a workspace you own, personal or team: a reading list, an incident log, a list of customers. Describe what you want to keep track of and it's set up for you, with real Postgres underneath. Every person, app, assistant, device and job gets its own access.
- Assistants
- ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Cursor connect through MCP with a sign-in.
- Apps and scripts
- An HTTP API with keys, running the same actions assistants use
- Access
- Per space, list or field, or just the entries where a field equals a value you choose. Reading, adding, editing and deleting entries, and changing a list's fields, are separate permissions. An assistant never gets more than the person who connected it.
- Approvals
- Agents ask for more access and you approve or deny. A new device signs in only after you approve it and choose its access.
- CI jobs
- GitHub Actions signs in with short-lived access, 15 minutes by default and up to 30 days, with no stored secret.
- Revoking
- Takes effect on the next request. What was already saved stays.
- History
- A history of changes, with who made each one and the before and after
- Underneath
- Standard Postgres
- Plans
- Free for 3 tables and 100 rows. Pro is $10 a month per workspace, with 1 GB of storage.
Pricing
| Topic | ADoor | Microsoft Excel |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | 3 tables and 100 rows, with a few MB of storage | Free web versions of the apps with a Microsoft account |
| Paid plans | Pro: $10 a month per workspace, 1 GB of storage, no per-GB charges | Microsoft 365 Business Basic, $7 per user a month paid yearly |
Latency
| Topic | ADoor | Microsoft Excel |
|---|---|---|
| Published figure | Not published | Not published |
ADoor doesn't publish a latency figure, and Microsoft Excel doesn't publish one we could find. Speed depends on your network and on what you ask for.
Connectors and API
| Topic | ADoor | Microsoft Excel |
|---|---|---|
| MCP server | Hosted, with OAuth sign-in. ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Cursor. | Work IQ MCP for Microsoft 365, hosted by Microsoft |
| HTTP API | HTTP API with keys: read, add, edit, delete, and change lists and fields | Microsoft Graph Excel API for workbooks, worksheets and ranges |
| SQL access | Standard Postgres SQL through MCP and the API, within your access | No |
| Access per agent | Its own access per assistant, app, device and job, down to specific fields, or just the entries that match a value you choose | Files.Read or Files.ReadWrite per app, granted for files |
| OAuth or tokens | OAuth for assistants, keys for apps, short-lived sign-in for GitHub Actions | A Bearer access token from Microsoft sign-in |
| SDKs | Coming soon | Microsoft Graph SDKs |
| Webhooks | No | Microsoft Graph change notifications |
| Import and export | Export to CSV or JSON. Import by attaching CSV or JSON in an assistant. | Office Open XML workbooks (.xlsx); .xls isn't supported by the API |
ADoor has no sync connectors and no file storage.
Which one should you use?
Use Microsoft Excel when
you're working the numbers, building a model or sending a workbook people already know how to open.
- Calculations and charts. Formulas, charts and what-if models are what a spreadsheet is for. ADoor keeps records and has no charts.
- You already have Microsoft 365. Business Basic includes the web and mobile versions of Excel.
- One file to hand over. A workbook can go to a client or an auditor as an attachment. ADoor has no file storage.
Use ADoor when
the spreadsheet has turned into a system that people, scripts and assistants all change, and you need to decide who changes what.
Technical
- Your order service adds each order to an Orders list with an add-only key. Nobody overwrites a cell by accident, and analysts query the list in SQL.
- A nightly GitHub Actions job writes stock counts with 15 minutes of access and no stored secret. Through Graph, the same job would need a token with Files.ReadWrite.
Personal
- You keep each appliance's warranty, serial number and purchase date. When the dishwasher breaks, you ask ChatGPT on your phone whether it's still covered.
- Your job search: companies, contacts, interview dates and offers. It's private by default, and the friend coaching you sees the list without the Salary field.
Team
- Finance, ops and sales share one Price list. Sales reads, ops edits stock levels, and only finance changes prices. Each change shows who made it and the price before.
- A new laptop signs in to the team's space only after you approve it and choose what it can reach.
Business
- The shared customer workbook becomes a customer list where account managers edit their own accounts (one grant per person), support reads everything, and only finance sees Credit limit.
- An outside bookkeeper gets the Expenses list for the quarter. When the work ends you revoke the access, it stops on the next request, and what they entered stays.
Questions people ask
Can I bring my Excel data into ADoor?
Yes. Save the sheet as CSV, attach it in an assistant like ChatGPT and ask it to import the rows. You can export a list back to CSV or JSON whenever you want.
Can I keep Excel for analysis?
Yes. Export a list to CSV and open it in Excel. ADoor doesn't sync with other services, so data moves by export or through the API.
Which assistants work with ADoor?
ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Cursor connect through MCP with a sign-in. You approve each one and choose what it can reach.
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Checked October 20, 2026. Sources: Free web apps, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Excel API in Microsoft Graph, Work IQ MCP, OneDrive version history, Microsoft Graph SDKs, Graph change notifications.