COUNTIF
Supported, behaves as documentedCategory: Statistical · Last tested 2026-09-01
Real compatibility results for the COUNTIF function: executed in Excel for the web, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc, with desktop Excel behavior from Microsoft’s official documentation (we do not run desktop Excel — Excel for the web is a different application and is executed separately). Syntax and links to that documentation are below.
Support matrix
| Engine | Documented | Live-tested | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | Yes | No — documented only | n/a |
| Excel for the web | — | Yes (recalc, 2026-09-01) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| Google Sheets | Yes | Yes (Drive import, 2026-08-29) | Supported, behaves as documented |
| LibreOffice Calc | Yes | Yes (25.8.7.3, 2026-07-29) | Supported, behaves as documented |
LibreOffice version history
We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when COUNTIF’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.
| LibreOffice version | Verdict | Tested |
|---|---|---|
| 24.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 24.8.7.2 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.2.0.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-08-29 |
| 25.8.7.3 | Supported, behaves as documented | 2026-07-29 |
Executed test cases
Excel for the web (executed 2026-09-01 via OneDrive recalculation)
These values come from Excel for the web, not from desktop Excel. They are two different implementations of the calculation engine, and this run measured only the web one: the corpus was uploaded to OneDrive as .xlsx, recalculated by Excel for the web on open, and downloaded again for readback. Excel for the web is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so the run is identified by its date. Where a value here disagrees with the Expected column — which is Microsoft’s documentation of the desktop product — we cannot tell you whether the web engine diverges from the desktop one or the documentation is wrong about both, because we do not run desktop Excel.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =COUNTIF(A1:A5,">20") | Count of cells greater than 20 | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A3,"a*") | Wildcard text criteria | 2 | 2 | Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A3,"APPLE") | Text comparisons in COUNTIF are case-insensitive | 2 | 2ProvenanceBoth 'apple' and 'Apple' match the literal 'APPLE' criteria regardless of case |
Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A5,">"&C1) | Dynamic criteria built by concatenating an operator with a cell reference | 3 | 3ProvenanceCriteria becomes the text ">25"; matches 30,40,50 |
Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A3,">100") | No matches -> 0 | 0 | 0 | Matched |
Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-29 via Drive import)
Google Sheets is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so this run is identified by its date. The corpus was imported to Drive as .xlsx, recalculated by Sheets, and exported back for readback.
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =COUNTIF(A1:A5,">20") | Count of cells greater than 20 | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A3,"a*") | Wildcard text criteria | 2 | 2 | Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A3,"APPLE") | Text comparisons in COUNTIF are case-insensitive | 2 | 2ProvenanceBoth 'apple' and 'Apple' match the literal 'APPLE' criteria regardless of case |
Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A5,">"&C1) | Dynamic criteria built by concatenating an operator with a cell reference | 3 | 3ProvenanceCriteria becomes the text ">25"; matches 30,40,50 |
Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A3,">100") | No matches -> 0 | 0 | 0 | Matched |
LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)
| Formula | Description | Result | Expected | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =COUNTIF(A1:A5,">20") | Count of cells greater than 20 | 3 | 3 | Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A3,"a*") | Wildcard text criteria | 2 | 2 | Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A3,"APPLE") | Text comparisons in COUNTIF are case-insensitive | 2 | 2ProvenanceBoth 'apple' and 'Apple' match the literal 'APPLE' criteria regardless of case |
Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A5,">"&C1) | Dynamic criteria built by concatenating an operator with a cell reference | 3 | 3ProvenanceCriteria becomes the text ">25"; matches 30,40,50 |
Matched |
| =COUNTIF(A1:A3,">100") | No matches -> 0 | 0 | 0 | Matched |
Docs & syntax
- Excel (desktop): official documentation
- Google Sheets: official documentation
- LibreOffice Calc: official documentation
Related how-to recipes
- How to check if a value exists in a list
- How to count cells that contain specific text
- How to count cells greater than a value
- How to count cells above the average
- How to count cells not equal to a value
- How to count checked checkboxes
- How to count how many times a value appears in a range
- How to COUNTIF across multiple columns
- How to find duplicate values in a column
- How to find the most common text value (mode for text)
- How to find values that appear in both of two lists
- How to use the COUNTIF function
- How to rank values without ties
- How to get a running count of occurrences
Where COUNTIF behaves differently
- COUNT counts booleans differently in LibreOffice vs Excel
The same =COUNT(range) returns a larger number in LibreOffice than in Excel when the range holds a TRUE/FALSE cell. Executed Google Sheets agrees with Excel. Why, and how to migrate safely.