Is Claude better than ChatGPT for financial modeling?
Both now work inside Excel, which changes the question. Claude for Excel and ChatGPT for Excel are add-ins that read your workbook and make changes in place. Claude for Excel is available on Claude's paid plans, and OpenAI made ChatGPT for Excel generally available in May 2026.
Claude's strength is a model someone else built. It traces how a number flows through the tabs, explains a formula chain in plain words, changes an assumption without breaking the links and finds the error that stops the balance sheet from balancing. Every answer points to the cells behind it, which is what a reviewer needs. Anthropic is clear about the limits: no macros or VBA, and no audit-critical calculations without a person checking them.
ChatGPT's strength is speed on a fresh build. It is good at laying out a model from a description, writing formulas, explaining modeling concepts and producing scenario versions quickly. OpenAI pitches its add-in for building and updating models and running scenarios.
In investment work, most of the hours go into other people's models: the seller's model in the data room, a portfolio company's budget, a borrower's covenant compliance workbook. That is where Claude is stronger today. Neither should be trusted with a number headed to an investment committee until a person has checked it against the source.
A quick test settles it for your team. Hand both the same messy model with one planted error, ask each to find it and explain the fix, and keep the one that finds it and shows its working.