Top Best Excel Recovery Tools in 2025: Repair, Restore, and Rebuild Lost Data

There are various instances when a user faces corruption, malware attacks, or accidental deletions, leading to their Excel files being lost. This problem can disrupt the normal workflow, and without a reliable Excel recovery tool, you risk permanent damage to the file or, worse, the deletion of content.

With an advanced algorithm, users can identify damaged areas and recover them with precision. Moreover, most modern recovery tools can even restore large, password-protected files, with complex formulas, and more. So, go through this article and learn the top tools to decide which one to choose.

Part 1. Why You Need the Top Best Excel Recovery Tools in 2025

When it comes to why there is a need for excel file recovery software, you can look at the following points to understand:

1. High Risk of Corruption: Due to reasons like abrupt system shutdowns during save operations, hard‐drive or network storage errors can disrupt the Excel file, which requires an expert tool.
2. Complex Files: Excel workbooks use lots of formulas, pivot tables, and embedded objects, which need software to avoid corruption or instability.
3. Data Integrity: If a file has hidden corruption, the integrity of your report gets compromised, which requires a reliable recovery tool to fix it.
4. Business Productivity: When a spreadsheet with essential data becomes unavailable or corrupted, you lose more than the file, making users rely on recovery tools.
5. Improved Recovery: Users can turn to the built-in repair features of Excel, but for serious corruption, external tools are needed.

Part 2. Criteria for Choosing the Top Best Excel Recovery Tools in 2025

There are multiple factors you should look for in an excel file recovery tool before you go looking for one, some of which are as follows:

1. Recovery Rate: The Excel recovery program should be capable of recovering corrupted or deleted Excel files at a high percentage, along with all kinds of data.
2. Compatibility and Supported Formats: You are supposed to find a tool that can work with all the Excel file formats, e.g., XLS, XLSX, and others.
3. Friendliness: It has to be user-friendly, preferably in the form of an intuitive user interface, such as a preview of the data before recovery and batch features.
4. Performance of Tool: An efficient tool should perform fast scanning and repair processes, even with large Excel files or multiple files.
5. Security & Integrity: It must guarantee data security by not overwriting original files during recovery and maintain the integrity of recovered data.

Part 3. The Top Best Excel Recovery Tools in 2025 You Can Try

This part will provide you with all the best excel recovery tool so that you can decide which one to get for a successful recovery:

1. Wondershare Recoverit

Recoverit is the most recommended file recovery software for dealing with complex situations of deleted Excel files due to its powerful scanning system. With a near-perfect success rate of 99.5%, this software can handle any corruption scenario and deal with it seamlessly. Moreover, its scanning system scans your selected system and returns the file with no missing data.

Users can recover permanently deleted Excel files with intact media, data, graphs, and more within seconds. The system has strict security and data-protection guidelines that ensure that your data is not accessed by unauthorized parties.

Key Features

1. Preview Option: You can review all essential details, values, and information in your recovered Excel file before downloading.
2. Advanced Scanning: There are quick and deep scanning options, each performing an efficient scan of your drive or external drive.
3. Filter Feature: Users can narrow down the search by adjusting the file type, name, size, and more to ensure the recovery of the specific Excel files.

Comprehensive Easy Guide On How to Restore Lost Excel Files Using Recoverit

1. Choose the Desired Location to Begin Processing

   Head to the “Hard Drives and Locations” tab, select the drives from the available choices, and begin the scanning procedure.

   

2. Filter Scanning and Select Excel Files

   Once the scanning begins, open the "Filter" option, and set different file types or sizes to narrow down the search. When the results pile up, choose the lost Excel files to open them in a "Preview" window.

   

3. Review Excel File and Recover

   When selected, review all the file details before pressing the "Recover" button.

   

2. DataNumen Excel Repair

DataNumen is among the preferred excel file data recovery software programs and is a strong and effective program capable of fixing damaged Excel files. Using its sophisticated recovery technology, users can restore severely damaged spreadsheets, including all data. Moreover, the tool offers a batch recovery feature, letting you restore multiple lost files.

Pros

• High recovery rate while restoring formulas, formatting, and worksheet names.
• Broad compatibility with multiple Excel file formats and versions (.xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, etc.)

Con

• It can freeze due to incompatibility with other operating devices.
• Does not support the recovery of formatting.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“The simplicity of the software but above all its effectiveness, as it allows you to recover any damaged Excel file quickly and easily…” - Itaete Batista S.

Negative Review

“MS Excel needs to be installed on PC where the corrupted file is located in order to run this tool.” - Richard V.

3. Kernel for Excel

It leverages advanced QFSCI algorithms that enable quick and precise extraction of lost data from your device. Furthermore, this excel file recovery software preserves the file's original structure and integrity. Kernel for Excel offers users 2 recovery modes: Single File and Multiple File Mode, which cater to individual file repairs and batch processing needs.

Pros

• Supports quick and accurate recovery of complex Excel file components.
• Offers a preview option before saving the repaired document.

Cons

• The free version is limited to viewing repaired files without saving.
• Lacks a search feature to locate specific data.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“Indeed the greatest recovery tool that I have ever used. It worked beyond my expectations. In a few minutes, it had recovered my .xls sheet without losing any single data. Thanks.” - Alex Adkiew

Negative Review

“Tool features can't do anything with my corrupted excel files” - jakehurtsland

4. Recuva

By using Recuva, you can ensure excel file recovery, as it covers deleted Excel files from hard drives and more. It also provides quick and deep-scanning options, where users can recover a wide variety of file types with this tool. In addition, its easy, wizard-based interface and preview option make it user-friendly for all classes of users. And we have a review of Recuva.

Pros

• Provides both a quick and deep scan for thorough recovery.
• Supports recovery from various storage devices and multiple file types.

Cons

• Limited to the Windows platform and doesn’t support macOS or Linux.
• Lacks advanced recovery features like a virtual hard drive.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“Recuva is a decent free tool for Windows to recover files from flash drives. I used it a few times before I switched to Mac and bought Disk Drill.” - Heretostay59

Negative Review

“At no point is this free which makes it just as useless as every other data recovery programme that claims to be free.” - Candice

5. ExcelFIX

Catering to the employees' or students’ demand for an excel recovery tool, this software is an efficient choice, covering different corruption types. Moreover, ExcelFIX lets you access the inaccessible spreadsheets before exporting. The software extracts data from the corrupted files and saves it into new, error-free files or folders on your device.

Pros

• Known for its robust recovery algorithms and high success rates.
• Allows preview of recovered data before finalizing the recovery.

Cons

• The free demo version has limitations on data recovery.
• Some advanced Excel file features might not be fully supported.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“Excellent!. Great Softaware!!! I could recover my spreadsheetThanks very much” - Anonymous user

Negative Review

“While the demo version appeared to recover my file correctly, the actual file was unusable.” - kimplace

6. Recovery Toolbox for Excel

This excel recovery tool is compatible with a wide variety of file formats and versions and is also highly effective in recovering different content. Recovery Toolbox for Excel is a good tool since it is simple and can be used to recover any version of Excel. For better understanding, it accepts both the XLS and XLSX formats for all versions of Excel.

Pros

• Has useful logs of errors, which makes troubleshooting easier.
• Interface is easy to use and intuitive to both novices and experts.

Con

• The free version can only be used to view recovered data.
• May not recover all severely corrupted files.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“I spent a whole day working on a paper for grad school and when I went to open it later, i got a notification in word saying it couldn't be opened because there was unreadable text…” - Verified User in Medical Practice

Negative Review

“It do not recover any thing. Sorry.” - Eugene

7. SysTools Excel Recovery

SysTools reads and writes different types of Excel files, including XLS and XLSX, and restores a large range of Excel elements. It contains formulas, charts, tables, hyperlinks, and others, which means that there is minimal loss of data. The application provides such functions as batch recovery, selective recovery, and preview of recovered data.

Pros

• Facilitates the recovery of several Excel files in a batch.
• Recovers extensive Excel elements for accurate results.

Cons

• You can only preview recovered data without saving.
• Limited to the Windows platform.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“We have used Systools to recover data off a crash drive for an employee that had important sales data that wasn't backed up. It found the lost directory and all of our data was retrieved…” - Verified User

Negative Review

“Unable to migrate most of the data. Despite multiple attempts, the tool only migrated a fraction of the total number of items in the Sharepoint lists…” - Matt

8. RecoveryFIX for Excel

Another tool that can be relied on is RecoveryFIX excel file recovery software, which provides two recovery modes for a seamless recovery process. These can handle multiple corrupted files simultaneously. The tool thoroughly scans corrupted spreadsheets to recover a wide range of Excel elements while maintaining the file's structural integrity.

Pros

• Supports single and batch file recovery modes for flexible usage.
• Recovers a comprehensive array of Excel data types, preserving file integrity.

Cons

• Recovery speed may be slower compared to competitors.
• The full version costs more than similar recovery tools.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“Just few days back unexpectedly we experienced a major infrastructure failure. As our school’s IT infrastructure were largely expanded and stored million researched and laboratories files, we always wanted to look for a well disaster recovery plan…” - Blake Marky

Negative Review

“Didn't recover my files well, lagged a lot, and get stuck with large Excel files recovery. Not recommended” - Roxy Foniex

9. R-Excel

R-Excel by R-Tools Technology can execute excel file recovery, as it's designed to recover corrupted and deleted Excel sheets. It has IntelligentRebuild technology, which rebuilds damaged Excel files without corrupting original data. In addition, the software is compatible with a large variety of versions of Excel, starting with Excel 5.0 up to Excel 2007.

Pros

• Support of various device types, including RAID arrays and NAS servers.
• The sector-level scanning to locate and retrieve Excel files in multiple formats.

Cons

• Recovery capabilities can be limited with severely corrupted files.
• No preview feature to view recoverable data before saving.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“Fixed my corrupted test file perfectly.” - designrob

Negative Review

“Very basic interface, but no complaints” - designrob

10. Excel Repair Toolbox

With a wide range of corrupted Excel file types, from XLS to XLTM formats, this excel file data recovery addresses corruption scenarios. Its step-by-step interface guides users through the process, gathering the files, and allowing them to recover. Moreover, the tool supports both old and current Excel formats, making it more accessible to users' needs.

Pros

• Recovers a range of data, including tables, images, text, and formulas, from damaged files.
• Offers a preview function that lets users review recovered data before saving.

Cons

• Cannot recover specific elements, like sorting settings, hyperlinks, comments, and merged cells.
• Lacks batch repair functionality for processing multiple files simultaneously.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“one of the best tools i could use to recover excel files. The automatic preview of recovered data before saving receives positive mentions, allowing verification prior to file restoration” - Reny Martin

Negative Review

“Excel Repair Toolbox was a waste of time and money. The software claims to be free, but after downloading, it immediately asks for payment to actually recover your files—the "trial" version just lets you preview…” - Laila Woodsworth

11. Stellar Repair for Excel

The software excels at fixing various corruption issues, recovering data from tables to conditional formatting rules, while preserving cell integrity and layout. Stellar allows users to verify all recoverable data before saving, and its search tool makes locating Excel files easy. Moreover, it supports nearly all existing Excel versions and is recommended by spreadsheet experts worldwide.

Pros

• Supports large-sized and multiple Excel files for repair in batches.
• Provides single-file and batch recovery modes.

Cons

• Batch repair speed may decrease with huge files.
• Limited format support is shown by this tool.

User Reviews

Positive Review

“It helps to recover data from inaccessible Excel file easily. Complete data without losing formats and pivot table can be recovered with it.” - Abhishekh G.

Negative Review

“The basic version just repair the first lines of the spreadsheet, but the price of the premium version it's correct related to the time that you can save.” - Dan T.

Part 4. Why Recoverit Tops the List of the Best Excel Recovery Tools in 2025

Now, let's go through a more comprehensive way to understand all these excel recovery tools by reading through this comparison table:

Benefits of Recoverit

1. High recovery rate and support for all major file types and storage media.
2. Intuitive, 3-step recovery process, which requires no advanced technical knowledge.
3. Provides preview, search, and filter features that enable efficient recovery.
4. Offer secure, malware-free operation with ongoing updates and strong privacy protections.
5. Compatible with all devices, like Windows, Mac, external drives, and more.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this article provided users with a detailed rundown on the lost Excel file matter, which you can solve using the best excel recovery tools. You learned about reasons and criteria for what to look for in a recovery tool to ensure its efficiency. Moreover, after going through the comparison table, Wondershare Recoverit is the sole winner with all the necessary features needed to recover Excel files.