Shortcut

AI agent that builds, audits and edits Excel financial models from plain-language prompts

Freemiumshortcut.aiUpdated 19 Oct 2026

About Shortcut

Shortcut is an AI agent for building, auditing and editing Excel spreadsheets and financial models. A user describes the task in natural language, for example a leveraged buyout, a discounted cash flow or a three-statement model, and the agent creates or modifies the workbook, traces outputs back to source files and can carry the work into other Office documents such as PowerPoint. It is aimed at finance professionals including hedge funds, private equity firms, banks, asset managers, FP&A teams and accounting and consulting firms.

Best for

Building LBO and DCF and three-statement models quickly, auditing and tracing existing workbooks, repeatable finance workflows via CLI or API
LBO and DCF Modeling: Building a leveraged buyout or discounted cash flow model from a prompt and source documents.
Model Auditing: Tracing outputs in an existing workbook back to input files and flagging errors.
FP&A Reporting: Updating budgets, forecasts and variance workbooks with natural-language instructions.
Automated Spreadsheet Pipelines: Using the CLI or Platform API to run repeatable spreadsheet jobs.
Excel to Presentation: Carrying model outputs into PowerPoint materials.

Not ideal for

Users who need fully offline processing without an enterprise deployment, teams wanting predictable flat-rate usage

Popular with

Financial Analysts
Investment Bankers
Private Equity Teams
FP&A Teams
Accountants
Consultants

Screenshots

Key features

Natural-Language Model Building
Spreadsheet Editing and Auditing
Excel Add-in
Desktop Agent
Web App
CLI
Platform API
Reusable Skills and Templates
Enterprise Governance

Pros and cons

Pros

Covers Excel add-in, web, Windows desktop, CLI and API from one product.
Finance-specific focus on LBO, DCF and three-statement models with source tracing.
Permanent free tier with 20 weekly credits.
Enterprise security options include SOC 2 Type II, BYOK and on-premises deployment.
Public Platform API with webhooks and an OpenAPI spec.

Cons

Pro costs $100/month billed annually, well above general-purpose AI assistants.
Credit-based usage (2 to 15 credits per message) makes costs hard to predict; a Trustpilot reviewer reported credits cut after switching to an annual plan and slow support.
Desktop agent is listed for Windows only, and there is no mobile app.
Published benchmark claims are vendor-run, and the Teams pricing is inconsistent across pages.

Pricing

Plans as listed by the vendor on 19 Oct 2026. Check their site for current prices.

See shortcut.ai

Free

Entry plan to try the agent

20 weekly credits
web app
desktop app
Excel plugin
Google Sheets plugin

Pro

Teams

$320/month

Small teams of 2 to 15 seats

1,000 pooled monthly credits plus $100 per seat
shared workspace
usage analytics
centralized billing
shared resources

Enterprise

Custom/custom

Large organizations with custom needs

SSO
custom permissions
BYOK
private gateway
dedicated support
custom contracts and SLAs
custom integrations

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team.

7.6overall

Ease of Use: 8.0
Feature Depth: 8.3
Value for Money: 6.8
Performance & Speed: 7.8
Documentation & Support: 7.2

Platforms and integrations

Available on

Web
Windows
CLI
API

Works with

Microsoft Excel
Google Sheets
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft AppSource

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Release history

Jul 1, 2026
Published vendor-run benchmark comparing Shortcut with Claude for Excel and Microsoft Copilot on 20 finance tasks
Published vendor-run benchmark comparing Shortcut with Claude for Excel and Microsoft Copilot on 20 finance tasks.
Jul 1, 2026
Announced Pivot 0.5, a finance-specific language model
Announced Pivot 0.5, a finance-specific language model.
Aug 1, 2025
Fundamental Research Labs announced a US$33 million funding round led by Prosus
Fundamental Research Labs announced a US$33 million funding round led by Prosus.

Reviews

No reviews yet

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Frequently asked questions

Is Shortcut the same as shortcut.com?

No. Shortcut at shortcut.ai is an Excel-focused AI agent from Fundamental Research Labs. Shortcut at shortcut.com is an unrelated project-management product.

Which Excel versions or platforms does Shortcut support?

Shortcut offers an Excel add-in, a web app, a Windows desktop agent, a CLI and an API. The desktop agent is listed for Windows.

Is there a free plan?

Yes. The Free plan gives 20 weekly credits and access to the web app, desktop app, Excel plugin and Google Sheets plugin.

How do credits work?

Each message typically uses 2 to 15 credits depending on complexity. Pro includes 1,000 monthly credits and Teams share a pool of 1,000 monthly credits.

How does Shortcut handle data security?

The site lists SOC 2 Type II, zero-data-retention agreements with AI model providers, private model gateways, customer-owned storage and on-premises deployment, with a Vanta trust center linked from the homepage.

Does Shortcut have a public API?

Yes. The Platform API lets you submit prompts and files, check run status, cancel runs and download resulting workbooks. Pro and higher plans include API access.

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