Twitter/X

On 2026-02-12 @brett_finance ran a head-to-head

2026-02-12 · 16:16 UTC ·@brett_finance ·1 min read

Brief

Brett (@brett_finance) compared @tryshortcutai and Claude for Excel on 2026-02-12 by giving both his short-term Excel budget as input and asking for a long-term personal financial model. Shortcut far outperformed Claude in planning and questioning, so Brett will keep Shortcut’s model and discard Claude’s; further FP&A tests are planned.

Why it matters

On 2026-02-12 @brett_finance ran a head-to-head: he gave @tryshortcutai and Claude for Excel identical inputs (his short-term Excel budget model) and asked each to build a long-term personal financial model.

Key details

  • @tryshortcutai “won by a mile.” Brett said Claude for Excel felt like “hiring someone out of college with Excel skills and access to the internet,” while Shortcut felt like “hiring someone who has worked as a financial analyst for 5 years.”
  • Shortcut produced better planning, asked more useful questions, and identified what mattered; Brett will delete Claude’s model and keep Shortcut’s. This was test 1 (basic: no connections or heavy research); more FP&A-focused tests are planned.
Source evidence

title: @brettfinance: I gave @tryshortcutai and Claude for Excel the same test: build a long term personal financial model...
author: @brettfinance
contenttype: tweet
publication: Twitter/X
published: 2026-02-12T16:16:03+00:00
sourceurl: https://x.com/brett_finance/status/2021981636972232942

word_count: 170

I gave @tryshortcutai and Claude for Excel the same test: build a long term personal financial model.

I gave them both the same inputs - my short term excel budget model.

The results were wildly different. @tryshortcutai won by a mile.

The simplest explanation I can give is that Claude in Excel is like hiring someone out of college with Excel skills and access to the internet.

But shortcut is like hiring someone who has worked as a financial analyst for 5 years.

Both can get the job done but the difference is felt every step along the way.

Shortcut definitely did a better job of planning and asking questions to know what mattered versus didn't - which is the reason I'll end up deleting the model that Claude built and keeping the one Shortcut built.

This was only test 1 and was pretty basic in terms of capability (no connections, no heavy research, etc.) - just a financial model.

We'll see what happens as the tests get more FP&A-focused.