Goal Seek for Google Sheets
Fast & private what-if analysis: pick a formula cell, a target value and a cell to change — get the answer in seconds.
Install from the Google Workspace Marketplace
Free — up to 5 runs per day, no sign-up beyond your Google account.
Privacy first: the add-on requests access to
only the spreadsheet you run it in (the non-sensitive
spreadsheets.currentonly scope). No external servers, no
tracking, no data ever leaves Google Sheets.
Details in the privacy policy.
Why this one
- Fast. A secant-guided bracketing solver typically needs only a handful of recalculations — most seeks finish in a few seconds instead of half a minute.
- Honest results. If no solution exists, it says so and shows what it tested and the closest value it found — no cryptic convergence errors. Staircase formulas (SUMIFS, FLOOR, lookup buckets) are detected and reported with the best achievable value.
- Undo-safe by design. The original content of your variable cell (value or formula, dates and formats included) is backed up before the first write and restored on cancel, on failure and even after an interrupted run — the sidebar offers the restore when you come back.
- Made for real spreadsheets. Prefills from your selection, remembers your last inputs per file, understands your locale's number format ("1.234,5" and "1,234.5"), live progress with an iteration log and a working cancel button. Full German and English UI, dark mode, screen-reader friendly.
- Advanced controls when you need them: tolerance, search bounds, starting value and evaluation limit.
How to use it
- Install from the Google Workspace Marketplace, then open Extensions → Goal Seek → Open Goal Seek.
- Choose the target cell (must contain a formula), the target value, and the variable cell the formula depends on.
- Press Seek goal. Keep the solution or restore the original value with one click.
Free plan
Goal Seek is free for up to 5 runs per day — generous for occasional what-if questions. The daily counter resets at midnight Central European Time.
Notes & limitations
- Each iteration recalculates your sheet, so very heavy spreadsheets make each step slower — the progress bar keeps you informed either way.
- Avoid inserting or deleting rows/columns while a run is active: cells are tracked by position, so structural edits during a run can shift which cell is written to.
- The variable cell should contain a plain value. If it contains a formula, the add-on asks for confirmation first and restores the formula if you don't keep the result.
- Don't point the variable cell at a cell that is filled by an
ARRAYFORMULAspilling from elsewhere: writing into a spill range blocks the array. (Restoring afterwards un-blocks it; the same applies to every Goal Seek tool for Sheets.)
Learn more
New to the technique? Read our guide: How to do Goal Seek in Google Sheets — three ways compared, with worked break-even and savings examples and a troubleshooting section.
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