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xlwings VS NumPy

Compare xlwings VS NumPy and see what are their differences

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xlwings logo xlwings

xlwings is a Python library that makes it easy to call Python from Excel and vice versa

NumPy logo NumPy

NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with Python
  • xlwings Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-14
  • NumPy Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-13

xlwings features and specs

  • Integration with Excel
    Xlwings provides seamless integration with Excel, allowing users to manipulate Excel workbooks directly from Python without the need for VBA, making it a powerful tool for automating Excel tasks.
  • Cross-platform Compatibility
    It works on both Windows and macOS, which means you can use it across different operating systems, enhancing its flexibility for different environments.
  • Ease of Use
    Xlwings is relatively easy to learn for those who are familiar with both Python and Excel, providing a straightforward API for Excel operations.
  • Rich Feature Set
    Xlwings supports numerous Excel features, including charts, ranges, formulas, pivot tables, and even user-defined functions, giving users comprehensive control over Excel functionalities.
  • Community and Support
    There is an active community around xlwings, along with extensive documentation and tutorials, which can be very helpful when troubleshooting or learning how to use new features.

Possible disadvantages of xlwings

  • Performance Issues
    Xlwings may face performance challenges when dealing with very large datasets, as the interaction between Python and Excel can become slow compared to other optimized libraries.
  • Dependency on Excel
    Since it relies on Excel being installed on the machine, it may not be suitable for environments where Excel is not available or where a headless solution is needed.
  • Limited Visualization
    While it does support chart creation, xlwings is not designed for advanced data visualization or analytics, lacking the graphical capabilities of libraries meant specifically for data visualization.
  • Learning Curve for VBA Users
    For users coming from a VBA background, there may be a learning curve to adjust to Python syntax and xlwings' methodology, which can slow down immediate productivity.
  • Resource Intensive
    Using xlwings for simple tasks can be overkill, as it may consume more resources than necessary, impacting system performance compared to using native Excel functionalities or simpler libraries.

NumPy features and specs

  • Performance
    NumPy operations are executed with highly optimized C and Fortran libraries, making them significantly faster than standard Python arithmetic operations, especially for large datasets.
  • Versatility
    NumPy supports a vast range of mathematical, logical, shape manipulation, sorting, selecting, I/O, and basic linear algebra operations, making it a versatile tool for scientific and numeric computing.
  • Ease of Use
    NumPy provides an intuitive, easy-to-understand syntax that extends Python's ability to handle arrays and matrices, lowering the barrier to performing complex scientific computations.
  • Community Support
    With a large and active community, NumPy offers extensive documentation, tutorials, and support for troubleshooting issues, as well as continuous updates and enhancements.
  • Integrations
    NumPy integrates seamlessly with other libraries in Python's scientific stack like SciPy, Matplotlib, and Pandas, facilitating a streamlined workflow for data science and analysis tasks.

Possible disadvantages of NumPy

  • Memory Consumption
    NumPy arrays can consume large amounts of memory, especially when working with very large datasets, which can become a limitation on systems with limited memory capacity.
  • Learning Curve
    For users new to scientific computing or coming from different programming backgrounds, understanding the intricacies of NumPy's operations and efficient usage can take time and effort.
  • Limited GPU Support
    NumPy primarily runs on the CPU and doesn't natively support GPU acceleration, which can be a disadvantage for extremely compute-intensive tasks that could benefit from parallel processing.
  • Dependency on Python
    Since NumPy is a Python library, it depends on the Python runtime environment. This can be a limitation in environments where Python is not the primary language or isn't supported.
  • Indexing Complexity
    Although NumPy's slicing and indexing capabilities are powerful, they can sometimes be complex or unintuitive, especially for multi-dimensional arrays, leading to potential errors and confusion.

Analysis of NumPy

Overall verdict

  • Yes, NumPy is considered good. It is a foundational library in the Python ecosystem for numerical computing and is used globally by researchers, engineers, and data scientists.

Why this product is good

  • NumPy is widely regarded as a good library because it offers fast, flexible, and efficient array handling that is integral to scientific computing in Python. It provides tools for integrating C/C++ and Fortran code, useful linear algebra, random number capabilities, and a vast collection of mathematical functions. Its array broadcasting capabilities and versatility make complex mathematical computations straightforward.

Recommended for

  • Scientists and researchers working with large-scale scientific computations.
  • Data scientists engaged in data analysis and manipulation.
  • Engineers and developers needing performance-optimized mathematical computations.
  • Educators and students in STEM fields.

xlwings videos

Automate Excel with Python and xlwings Part 1: Install xlwings and the basic

More videos:

  • Review - Integrating Excel and Python Using XLWings (ChEn 263 - Lecture 23, Part II)

NumPy videos

Learn NUMPY in 5 minutes - BEST Python Library!

More videos:

  • Review - Python for Data Analysis by Wes McKinney: Review | Learn python, numpy, pandas and jupyter notebooks
  • Review - Effective Computation in Physics: Review | Learn python, numpy, regular expressions, install python

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to xlwings and NumPy)
Project Management
100 100%
0% 0
Data Science And Machine Learning
Spreadsheets
100 100%
0% 0
Data Science Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare xlwings and NumPy

xlwings Reviews

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NumPy Reviews

25 Python Frameworks to Master
SciPy provides a collection of algorithms and functions built on top of the NumPy. It helps to perform common scientific and engineering tasks such as optimization, signal processing, integration, linear algebra, and more.
Source: kinsta.com
Top 8 Image-Processing Python Libraries Used in Machine Learning
Scipy is used for mathematical and scientific computations but can also perform multi-dimensional image processing using the submodule scipy.ndimage. It provides functions to operate on n-dimensional Numpy arrays and at the end of the day images are just that.
Source: neptune.ai
Top Python Libraries For Image Processing In 2021
Numpy It is an open-source python library that is used for numerical analysis. It contains a matrix and multi-dimensional arrays as data structures. But NumPy can also use for image processing tasks such as image cropping, manipulating pixels, and masking of pixel values.
4 open source alternatives to MATLAB
NumPy is the main package for scientific computing with Python (as its name suggests). It can process N-dimensional arrays, complex matrix transforms, linear algebra, Fourier transforms, and can act as a gateway for C and C++ integration. It's been used in the world of game and film visual effect development, and is the fundamental data-array structure for the SciPy Stack,...
Source: opensource.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NumPy seems to be a lot more popular than xlwings. While we know about 121 links to NumPy, we've tracked only 1 mention of xlwings. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

xlwings mentions (1)

  • Blackjack model in excel
    I don't have, but looked into this. You would have to use microsoft VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) or even cleaner python with NumPy (xlwings.org) to do your modeling. Excel for input and viewing results. Source: almost 4 years ago

NumPy mentions (121)

  • Top 5 GitHub Repositories for Data Science in 2026
    The book introduces the core libraries essential for working with data in Python: particularly IPython, NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, Scikit-Learn, and related packages Familiarity with Python as a language is assumed; if you need a quick introduction to the language itself, see the free companion project, Aโ€ฆ. - Source: dev.to / 14 days ago
  • Your 2025 Roadmap to Becoming an AI Engineer for Free for Vue.js Developers
    AI starts with math and coding. You donโ€™t need a PhDโ€”just high school math like algebra and some geometry. Linear algebra (think matrices) and calculus (like slopes) help understand how AI models work. Python is the main language for AI, thanks to tools like TensorFlow and NumPy. If you know JavaScript from Vue.js, Pythonโ€™s syntax is straightforward. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Building an AI-powered Financial Data Analyzer with NodeJS, Python, SvelteKit, and TailwindCSS - Part 0
    The AI Service will be built using aiohttp (asynchronous Python web server) and integrates PyTorch, Hugging Face Transformers, numpy, pandas, and scikit-learn for financial data analysis. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • F1 FollowLine + HSV filter + PID Controller
    This library provides functions for working in domain of linear algebra, fourier transform, matrices and arrays. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Intro to Ray on GKE
    The Python Library components of Ray could be considered analogous to solutions like numpy, scipy, and pandas (which is most analogous to the Ray Data library specifically). As a framework and distributed computing solution, Ray could be used in place of a tool like Apache Spark or Python Dask. Itโ€™s also worthwhile to note that Ray Clusters can be used as a distributed computing solution within Kubernetes, as... - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing xlwings and NumPy, you can also consider the following products

Airtable - Airtable works like a spreadsheet but gives you the power of a database to organize anything. Sign up for free.

Pandas - Pandas is an open source library providing high-performance, easy-to-use data structures and data analysis tools for the Python.

Glide - Send lightning fast video messages, see responses live or whenever it's convenient. Get closer to the ones you love with video communication.

OpenCV - OpenCV is the world's biggest computer vision library

Smartsheet - Smartsheet is an intuitive online project management tool enabling teams to increase productivity using cloud, collaboration, & mobile technologies.

Scikit-learn - scikit-learn (formerly scikits.learn) is an open source machine learning library for the Python programming language.