Shortcut AI

AI agent that builds, edits and analyses Excel workbooks for finance teams, with source notes back to the filings.

Starting price: Free plan; Pro from 100 US dollars / month
Free trial: Free plan with 20 credits per week
Output: Edited or newly built Excel workbooks with working formulas and charts, plus written analysis, Word and PowerPoint documents and PDFs

Overview

Shortcut AI, sold at shortcut.ai as Shortcut, is an AI agent for spreadsheet work aimed at finance teams such as hedge funds, private equity firms, banks and FP&A departments. It builds and edits Excel models from plain-language requests, or only reads and answers questions about a workbook. It runs as an Excel add-in, a web app, a Windows desktop app, a command-line tool and a Platform API, and it is billed by monthly credits with a free weekly allowance.

Our take

Pick Shortcut AI if your analysis lives in Excel models built from filings and you want each figure to carry a note pointing back to the document and page it came from. Because the paid tiers are billed annually and every request spends credits, try the free weekly credits on one real model before committing. If the job is a quick chart from a CSV rather than a financial model, a lighter chat-based analysis tool is the better fit and costs less.

Key Facts

Category	AI Data Analysis
Starting price	Free plan; Pro from 100 US dollars / month Pro is shown at 100 US dollars a month billed annually, with credits refreshing monthly; the pricing page does not give a price for monthly billing. Teams is 320 US dollars a month plus 100 US dollars per seat a month, also billed annually.
Free trial	Free plan with 20 credits per week
Output	Edited or newly built Excel workbooks with working formulas and charts, plus written analysis, Word and PowerPoint documents and PDFs
API	Platform API for asynchronous spreadsheet jobs, included from the Pro plan
Hosting	Excel add-in, web app, Windows desktop app and command-line tool; the vendor also offers on-premise deployment

Features

Data sources and file types: The open Excel workbook and any attached files, including filings, PDFs, CSVs and zip archives; the desktop app and CLI can open local files and folders synced from OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box, and databases or internal APIs can be reached through MCP connectors. A Google Sheets add-on is also available
Charts, tables and summaries: Builds and edits workbooks, including dashboards and charts, or answers read-only in Ask mode with summaries and review; other outputs such as documents, presentations and analysis are downloadable from the chat
Formulas and code: Builds models with linked Excel formulas in the workbook itself; the workspace keeps the code behind a chart, and the desktop Excel mode on Windows can work with VBA and macros
Traceability to the source: On request, or through a skill that writes them, the agent adds a note to a cell naming the source file, the page and the figure; selecting the cell opens the cited document inside the app at that page with the figure highlighted
File size and row limits: The workspace accepts attached files of any type up to 5 GB; row limits are not stated, and Platform API quotas are given in the live API reference
Data handling and privacy: The privacy policy describes a "Help improve Shortcut" setting, on by default for individual Pro accounts and Teams members, under which conversations may be retained and used to train models, and states that Enterprise data is never used for model training. The vendor lists SOC 2 Type II, zero-data-retention agreements with model providers, bring-your-own-key encryption, a private LLM gateway and customer-owned storage
Export and sharing: Edits land in the workbook itself, and generated workbooks, documents and decks can be downloaded; projects with shared files can be shared with people or a whole team to view, edit or manage
Integrations and API: Platform API at api.shortcut.ai: submit a prompt with a workbook and supporting files, get a run ID, poll or receive a signed webhook, and download the resulting .xlsx; MCP connectors in the desktop app, CLI, add-in and web app, and a plugin for Claude Code and Codex

Integrations

Microsoft Excel
Google Sheets
Claude Code
Codex

Deployment and Support

Deployment: Cloud (SaaS)
Browser-based
On-premise
Support: Email helpdesk
Community forum
Onboarding: Documentation and knowledge base
Guided onboarding

Pros and Cons

Strengths

Free plan with 20 credits a week across web, desktop, Excel and Google Sheets
Cell notes link a figure to the source file and page it came from
Works inside Excel as an add-in and also without Excel in the browser
Platform API for unattended spreadsheet jobs from the Pro plan

Limitations

Every request spends credits, typically 2 to 15 per message by the vendor's figure
Pro and Teams prices are shown only for annual billing
Model training on conversations is on by default for Pro and Teams accounts
The deepest Excel features, including VBA, need the desktop app on Windows

Pricing

Free

0 US dollars / month

20 free credits per week; access on web, desktop app, Excel plugin and Google Sheets plugin.
Pro

100 US dollars / month

Billed annually, credits refresh monthly. 1,000 monthly credits, unlimited file creation and edits, Platform API access.
Teams

320 US dollars / month

Plus 100 US dollars per seat per month, billed annually. 1,000 pooled monthly team credits, shared workspace and resources, usage analytics and central billing.
Enterprise

Not stated

Custom pricing. Adds SSO and custom permissions, bring-your-own-key and a private gateway, dedicated support, custom contracts and SLAs, and optional unlimited seats or credits.

Alternatives and Comparisons

Last verified: 2026-11-06

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