ROUND vs MROUND: to decimals or to a multiple
ROUND snaps to a number of decimal PLACES; MROUND snaps to the nearest MULTIPLE of whatever you give it. "Round to 2 decimals" is ROUND; "round to the nearest quarter / nickel / 15 minutes" is MROUND. Choosing by the unit you're thinking in makes the formula read itself.
The differences at a glance
| ROUND | MROUND | |
|---|---|---|
| Rounds to | A number of decimal places | The nearest multiple of a value |
| 2.37 → | ROUND(x,1) = 2.4 | MROUND(x,0.25) = 2.50 |
| Direction | Nearest (ROUNDUP/DOWN force it) | Nearest (CEILING/FLOOR force it) |
| Whole-number step | ROUND(x,0) | MROUND(x,5) for nearest 5, MROUND(x,1) = nearest integer |
| Negative sign rule | Works with any sign | Number and multiple must share a sign, or MROUND errors (#NUM!) |
| Compatibility | Universal | Universal (both verified in every version we test) |
Which should you use?
- ROUND — Decimal precision: currency to cents (2 places), trimming display noise, ROUND(x,-2) for the nearest hundred. It's the everyday rounder.
- MROUND — Real-world increments: prices to the nearest 0.05 or 0.25, quantities to case sizes, and time to 15-minute blocks with MROUND(t,TIME(0,15,0)). Anything sold or billed in fixed steps.
Compatibility (from executed tests)
Both execute identically in every version of Excel, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice we test. One MROUND gotcha that's the same everywhere: the value and the multiple must have the same sign — MROUND(-7,5) errors, MROUND(-7,-5) is fine. For forced-direction multiple rounding, CEILING and FLOOR are the cousins (see ROUNDUP vs CEILING).
Example formulas
| Money to cents | =ROUND(A2,2) |
| Price to nearest nickel | =MROUND(A2,0.05) |
| Time to nearest 15 min | =MROUND(A2,TIME(0,15,0)) |
Full per-version details on each function page: ROUND · MROUND.