# Antevon vs Microsoft Excel: a workbook to run, or a two-week audit Canonical: https://www.antevon.com/compare/excel Checked against Microsoft Excel’s public pages. Prices, features and company facts checked 21 Oct 2026. Content updated 21 Oct 2026. ## The short answer Choose Microsoft Excel to build and run the forecast in-house [14]. Choose Antevon's fixed-fee audit for a forecast and buy, move, hold or cut recommendations, with their money impact [3]. ## Who each one fits Pick Microsoft Excel when you need a general spreadsheet for organising, analysing and displaying your data [12]. Antevon serves beauty brands in the UK and EU that sell through retailers or are preparing to [3, 4]. ## When Microsoft Excel is the better choice - Keep Microsoft Excel when your product range and channels are manageable and someone can maintain and review the plan [14]. - Choose it when a capable planner wants control over formulas, assumptions and scenarios [14]. ## When Antevon is the better choice - Choose Antevon's audit when nobody owns the forecast full-time [5]. - Choose the audit when you need to compare a retailer promotion with not running it, in pounds [6]. ## How they differ When you choose Microsoft Excel, appoint an owner to prepare the history and check imported columns [15]. Antevon cleans imperfect data within the audit fee [5]. Microsoft Excel's Forecast Sheet for Windows lets you choose when the forecast ends [14]. Antevon's forecast gives a number for each product, retailer and month [5]. Desktop Microsoft Excel imports and exports compatible text files [15]. Antevon works from your sales export and retailer reports, with an hour for questions [5]. Microsoft publishes UK prices for licence plans that include Microsoft Excel [16]. The Apps for business plan includes help with billing, account access and general technical use [16]. Yurii Blazhevych, who runs Antevon's forecasts, takes your call [5]. ## Side by side Rows are the questions UK beauty brands ask us. Each line is a fact from the company’s own public pages. Check this comparison: sources and dates below. ### What it is - Antevon: Antevon describes itself as a managed demand desk for indie beauty and dermocosmetics brands. [4] - Antevon: The audit is a fixed-fee two-week forecasting project. [3] - Antevon: The optional monthly desk refreshes the forecast and maintains the decision ledger. [5] - Antevon: Antevon publicly offers a bookable two-week demand audit. [3] - Antevon: Antevon Ltd operates the public offer and website. [2] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. No additional trading aliases were established from the public pages read. - Antevon: The public trading name is Antevon. [1] - Microsoft Excel: This comparison is about running the plan inside the brand, not buying an operated forecasting service. [14] - Microsoft Excel: The brand builds and operates this workbook-based plan. [14] - Microsoft Excel: Microsoft identifies its software names and brand assets as owned by Microsoft and its group of companies. [13] - Microsoft Excel: The spreadsheet product is also called Excel. [12] - Microsoft Excel: Build and run the plan in Microsoft Excel is the DIY workbook option, using Microsoft Excel. [12] ### Who it is for - Antevon: The public audience is roughly £0.5M to £25M in revenue. [4] - Antevon: Antevon targets indie beauty and dermocosmetics brands. [4] - Antevon: The audit is for beauty brands selling through retailers or about to do so. [3] - Antevon: The stated service audience is in the UK and EU. [4] - Antevon: The audit is positioned for a founder or commercial team without a full-time owner of the forecast. [5] - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. No brand revenue band or ready-made SKU/retailer planning capacity was established. - Microsoft Excel: Excel is a general spreadsheet and analysis tool that the brand can adapt for its own planning work. [12] - Microsoft Excel: A DIY workbook can combine channel exports when the operator imports and maps compatible files. [15] - Microsoft Excel: Microsoft publishes UK Excel and business-plan pages with GBP prices excluding VAT. [16] - Microsoft Excel: The DIY choice fits a team with someone able to prepare time series, choose settings and maintain the workbook. [14] ### Who builds the forecast - Antevon: The brand brings its sales export and retailer reports and makes an hour available for questions. [5] - Antevon: Antevon cleans the imperfect data as part of the work. [5] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Responsibility for supplier lead-time, MOQ, safety-stock and connected-system parameter maintenance is not specified publicly. - Antevon: On the optional desk, Antevon refreshes each forecast number monthly and maintains the ledger. [5] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Native system installation, production integration builds and full-stack migration scope are not established for the general audit. - Antevon: The client can keep using the delivered files without adopting software or maintaining a paid login. [5] - Antevon: Cleaning imperfect data is included in the audit rather than charged as a surcharge. [5] - Antevon: The audit leaves the client with two Excel files to keep. [5] - Microsoft Excel: The workbook owner supplies and prepares the history and checks how imported columns are interpreted. [15] - Microsoft Excel: The workbook owner maintains ranges, forecast settings, refresh logic and any buying parameters. [14] - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. A demand-planning workbook build or operated implementation was not established as part of the selected Microsoft 365 licence. ### What the forecast covers - Antevon: The forecast is by product, retailer and month. [5] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. A standard service forecast horizon is not established from the public offer. - Microsoft Excel: Forecast Sheet uses paired time and value series; the brand must structure any product-by-retailer planning. [14] - Microsoft Excel: Microsoft says FORECAST.ETS is not available in Excel for the web, iOS or Android. [17] - Microsoft Excel: In Forecast Sheet the operator selects the forecast end date rather than accepting a fixed published planning horizon. [14] ### Retailers and sell-through - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Retailer-by-retailer sell-in versus sell-through input coverage and data-feed availability are not specified. - Antevon: The stated forecast target is what each retailer will sell, with buy decisions following from it. [7] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. retailer EDI support is not evidenced as a documented integration in the public pages read. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. Public sources read did not establish automatic separation of retailer sell-in orders from consumer sell-through. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. A native retail edi planning connection was not established for the selected Excel workbook. ### Promotions and launches - Antevon: The audit models each promotion separately and gives each forecast number a likely range. [3] - Antevon: The audit prices a retailer promotion against not running it, in pounds. [6] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. The standard method and data requirements for a product with no sales history are not specified in the public offer. - Antevon: Launch events are marked when the audit cleans sales history. [3] - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. Public sources read did not establish automatic promotion tagging or promotion-uplift modelling in the selected DIY workbook. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. Public sources read did not establish a packaged new-product launch forecasting workflow. ### Orders to suppliers - Antevon: The audit supplies buy, move, hold and cut recommendations with their money impact. [3] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Creating, sending and executing purchase orders are not established parts of the public offer. - Antevon: Purchase orders are inputs to the audit. [3] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. The public service description does not assign every PO creation, sending or supplier-follow-up step. [4] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. An audit feature for minimum-order quantities or case-pack optimisation is not established publicly. - Antevon: The audit puts a date and a price in pounds on each buy that follows the retailer forecast. [7] - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. Public sources read did not establish a packaged stock-aware replenishment engine. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. Public sources read did not establish a packaged purchase-order creation, sending or supplier-execution workflow. - Microsoft Excel: The brand or its appointed operator places and follows up purchase orders in the DIY option. [14] - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. Public sources read did not establish automatic minimum-order-quantity or pack-size rules. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. Public sources read did not establish a packaged supplier lead-time and reorder-date workflow. ### Cash - Antevon: Production sizing, cash planning and promotion calls are priced from the same forecast. [5] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. An automatic hard-budget constraint or cash-constrained optimiser is not established publicly. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. Public sources read did not establish a packaged cash-constrained buying optimiser. ### Batches and shelf life - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Batch tracking, expiry handling and shelf-life constraints are not established in the public offer. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. Public sources read did not establish batch, expiry or shelf-life-aware inventory planning. ### What it connects to - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Shopify support is not evidenced as a documented integration in the public pages read. - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Amazon support is not evidenced as a documented integration in the public pages read. - Antevon: Not in the published offer. 3PL support is not evidenced as a documented integration in the public pages read. - Antevon: Not in the published offer. ERP support is not evidenced as a documented integration in the public pages read. - Antevon: Not in the published offer. CSV file intake support is not evidenced as a documented integration in the public pages read. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. A native shopify planning connection was not established for the selected Excel workbook. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. A native amazon planning connection was not established for the selected Excel workbook. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. A native three pl planning connection was not established for the selected Excel workbook. - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. A native erp planning connection was not established for the selected Excel workbook. - Microsoft Excel: Excel documents text/CSV imports and exports, which the operator can use for compatible brand exports. [15] ### What your team still does - Antevon: Not in the published offer. A formal approval matrix for forecast sign-off and cash commitments is not published. - Antevon: The brand signs its retailer promotions after the desk’s profit read. [5] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Responsibility for ongoing operational exceptions and their response times is not fully specified publicly. - Microsoft Excel: The brand retains forecast sign-off, buying authority and cash approval in this DIY workflow. [14] - Microsoft Excel: The workbook owner investigates unusual demand, stockouts and commercial events and decides whether to adjust the model. [14] ### Getting started - Antevon: The audit takes two weeks from when the data lands, not from payment. [3] - Antevon: The audit draft arrives on day 13 and the walkthrough call is on day 14. [3] - Antevon: The audit asks for 12 to 24 months of sales, purchase orders, a stockist list and a promotion calendar. [3] - Antevon: The client supplies a sales export, retailer reports and an hour for questions. [5] - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. No public time to a reviewed, decision-ready brand forecast was established. - Microsoft Excel: A basic Excel forecast needs historical values on a consistent timeline and an operator to prepare and choose the series. [14] - Microsoft Excel: Desktop co-authoring has version, sign-in, file-format and cloud-location requirements. [20] ### Support and UK presence - Antevon: Yurii Blazhevych takes the call and runs the forecast. [5] - Antevon: The audit includes a working session through the first decisions on day 14. [5] - Antevon: The monthly desk refreshes the numbers, maintains the ledger and reads retailer promotions before the client signs. [5] - Antevon: Antevon lists a registered office at Manorfield, Church Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 6EA. [2] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. A staffed UK operating office is not established from the public registered-address statement. - Antevon: Antevon Ltd states that it is registered in England and Wales under company number 17404379. [2] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. UK support hours, time-zone coverage and response-time commitments are not specified publicly. - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Named or independently verified UK clients are not established from the allowed public pages. - Microsoft Excel: Apps for business advertises support for billing, account access and general technical usage. [16] - Microsoft Excel: Microsoft identifies Reading as its UK headquarters. [21] - Microsoft Excel: Companies House lists MICROSOFT LIMITED, company 01624297, as active with its registered office at Microsoft Campus in Reading. [22] - Microsoft Excel: Apps for business advertises around-the-clock technical and account support. [16] - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. No named UK brand running this exact DIY forecasting workflow was verified. ### How it is charged - Antevon: Antevon publishes from-prices for both the audit and the monthly desk; the final fee is scoped on a call. [8] - Antevon: Neither the audit nor the monthly desk is billed by the hour. [10] - Antevon: The audit fee depends on product and retailer count, is quoted on the first call, and is fixed once agreed. [8] - Antevon: Half the audit fee books the slot and half is paid on delivery. [8] - Antevon: Data cleaning is part of the audit work, not a surcharge. [10] - Antevon: The optional monthly desk is scoped to the catalogue and retailer count. [10] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. A separate minimum purchase or initial commitment beyond the published from-prices is unknown. - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Whether a separate setup or onboarding fee applies is unknown. - Antevon: There is no surcharge for cleaning imperfect audit data. [5] - Antevon: Not in the published offer. Trial availability and trial terms are unknown from the public pages checked. - Antevon: The full terms for working together are in each signed engagement letter, not the website terms. [2] - Antevon: The monthly desk is optional after the audit. [10] - Antevon: The audit files keep working without an ongoing software login or subscription. [10] - Antevon: The monthly desk has rolling 30-day notice. [8] - Microsoft Excel: The selected Microsoft 365 licence plans have exact public scoped UK prices. [16] - Microsoft Excel: The DIY cost separates any extra licence spend from the team time needed to run the plan. [16] - Microsoft Excel: Not confirmed. No separate public demand-planning workbook setup fee was established for this DIY option. - Microsoft Excel: The business trial terms say one month free, a credit card is required and the subscription converts to paid unless cancelled during the trial. [16] - Microsoft Excel: Microsoft says MCA subscriptions have a seven-day prorated cancellation window after start or renewal; outside it, turn off recurring billing for the end of the term. [19] - Microsoft Excel: Paying an MCA annual subscription monthly does not make it a cancellable monthly commitment. [19] - Microsoft Excel: The annual price anchors are yearly-paid auto-renewing subscriptions. [16] ### Anything else - Antevon: Audit exports and reports are used only to build the client’s files, not shared outside Antevon and deleted on request. [11] - Microsoft Excel: Nothing recorded yet. Words used in the table: - SKU: one product in one size or shade - MOQ: the smallest order a supplier accepts - PO: a purchase order, your order to a supplier - Lead time: how long a supplier takes to deliver - Sell-through: what shoppers bought at the retailer - EDI: the data link large retailers use for orders and sales - GMV: total sales through your online store - BOM: the list of parts that go into a product - 3PL: a warehouse company that stores and ships for you - ERP: a business system for stock, orders and accounts ## Published prices Each price is the company’s own list price, as its page shows it, with the date we checked it. We do not estimate a price a company does not publish. ### Microsoft Excel - Microsoft 365 Apps for business is £9.80 per user per month, paid yearly, excluding VAT, for the stated Microsoft 365 software scope. [16] Checked 21 Oct 2026. - Microsoft 365 Business Basic is £5.40 per user per month, paid yearly, excluding VAT, for the stated Microsoft 365 software scope. [18] Checked 21 Oct 2026. - Microsoft advertises a free Excel for the web option, which is not the same scope as a paid business or desktop plan. [12] Checked 21 Oct 2026. ### Antevon - The audit is from £2,500 as a one-off fee; tax is not stated. [8] Checked 21 Oct 2026. - The desk after the audit is from £2,500 per month; tax is not stated. [9] Checked 21 Oct 2026. ## Switching or using both Keep Microsoft Excel alongside Antevon if you want the forecast and decision record delivered as two files you keep [5]. ## Questions people ask ### Is there a free version of Microsoft Excel? Yes, Microsoft Excel for the web is free to use [12]. The FORECAST.ETS forecasting function is not available there, or on iOS or Android [17]. ### Can Antevon keep the forecast up to date? The optional monthly desk refreshes each forecast number and maintains the record of decisions [5]. The desk is a retainer scoped to your product range and retailer count, not billed by the hour [10]. ### When does the audit start? The two weeks start when your data arrives, not when you pay [3]. The draft arrives on day 13, followed by a walkthrough call on day 14 [3]. ### What happens to the data I send? Antevon uses audit exports and reports only to build your files and shares them with nobody outside Antevon [11]. You can ask for deletion, with full confidentiality terms in the engagement letter [11]. ## Sources and dates Antevon wrote this page. Each fact about Microsoft Excel comes from a public page, read on the date shown. Antevon's own column follows the same rule. We read these pages on 21 Oct 2026. 1. Brand kit · Antevon, https://www.antevon.com/brand 2. Terms · Antevon, https://www.antevon.com/terms 3. The 2-week audit · Antevon, https://www.antevon.com/audit 4. llms.txt (antevon.com), https://www.antevon.com/llms.txt 5. Antevon · Know how much you'll sell, before you make it., https://www.antevon.com/ 6. What a November promotion has to sell to pay back · Antevon, https://www.antevon.com/notes/november-promotion-payback 7. Only 2 left, and the factory needs four weeks · Antevon, https://www.antevon.com/notes/low-stock-alert-supplier-order-date 8. The 2-week audit · Antevon, https://www.antevon.com/audit 9. llms.txt (antevon.com), https://www.antevon.com/llms.txt 10. Antevon · Know how much you'll sell, before you make it., https://www.antevon.com/ 11. Privacy · Antevon, https://www.antevon.com/privacy 12. Microsoft Excel | Free Online Spreadsheets Software, https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/excel 13. Trademark and Brand Guidelines | Microsoft Legal, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/trademarks 14. Create a forecast in Excel for Windows | Microsoft Support, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/create-a-forecast-in-excel-for-windows 15. Import or export text (.txt or .csv) files | Microsoft Support, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/get-started/import-or-export-text-txt-or-csv-files 16. Microsoft 365 Apps for business | Microsoft 365, https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/business/microsoft-365-apps-for-business 17. FORECAST.ETS function | Microsoft Support, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/functions/forecast-ets-function 18. Microsoft 365 Business Basic | Microsoft 365, https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/business/microsoft-365-business-basic 19. Cancel your Microsoft business subscription in the Microsoft 365 admin center | Microsoft Learn, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/commerce/subscriptions/cancel-your-subscription?view=o365-worldwide 20. Collaborate on Excel workbooks at the same time with co-authoring | Microsoft Support, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/get-started/collaborate-on-excel-workbooks-at-the-same-time-with-co-authoring 21. Reading - Microsoft UK, https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/about/offices/reading/ 22. MICROSOFT LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK, https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01624297 Got something wrong? Contact us at corrections@antevon.com. We reply within 5 working days. Microsoft Excel is a trade mark of its owner. Antevon is not affiliated with Microsoft Excel. Antevon Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 17404379. Registered office: Manorfield, Church Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 6EA. hello@antevon.com More comparisons: https://www.antevon.com/compare (markdown: https://www.antevon.com/compare.md)