MODE

Quirk found

Category: Compatibility · Last tested 2026-09-01

Real compatibility results for the MODE 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)	Quirk found

LibreOffice version history

We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when MODE’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.

LibreOffice version	Verdict	Tested
24.2.0.3	Quirk found	2026-08-29
24.8.7.2	Quirk found	2026-08-29
25.2.0.3	Quirk found	2026-08-29
25.8.7.3	Quirk found	2026-07-29

Why isn't MODE working in LibreOffice?

MODE exists in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3, but it is not a drop-in match for Excel — our executed tests found real behavioral differences (detailed in the test results on this page). If a formula that works in Excel or Google Sheets misbehaves in LibreOffice, compare your usage against the failing cases above before assuming your data is wrong.

Discovered quirks

=MODE(A1:A4) on LibreOffice Calc returned #VALUE!, but the documented/expected result is #N/A.
Provenance
Microsoft's MODE docs state verbatim: 'If the data set contains no duplicate data points, MODE returns the #N/A error value' -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/mode-function-e45192ce-9122-4980-82ed-4bdc34973120; MISMATCH vs expected: expected '#N/A', got '#VALUE!'

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
=MODE(A1:A6)	Basic case with one clearly most-frequent value	4	4 Provenance This is Microsoft's own documented MODE example data set -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/mode-function-e45192ce-9122-4980-82ed-4bdc34973120 -- 4 appears 3 times, more than any other value	Matched
=MODE(A1:A4)	When every value in the data set is unique (no duplicates at all), MODE has nothing to return	#N/A	#N/A Provenance Microsoft's MODE docs state verbatim: 'If the data set contains no duplicate data points, MODE returns the #N/A error value' -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/mode-function-e45192ce-9122-4980-82ed-4bdc34973120	Matched
=MODE(A1:A5)	MODE works the same way on negative numbers	-3	-3	Matched
=MODE(A1:A6)	Text values and blank cells in the range are ignored when finding the mode	1	1 Provenance Only the numeric cells 1,1,2,3 participate; 1 is the most frequent among them	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
=MODE(A1:A6)	Basic case with one clearly most-frequent value	4	4 Provenance This is Microsoft's own documented MODE example data set -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/mode-function-e45192ce-9122-4980-82ed-4bdc34973120 -- 4 appears 3 times, more than any other value	Matched
=MODE(A1:A4)	When every value in the data set is unique (no duplicates at all), MODE has nothing to return	#N/A	#N/A Provenance Microsoft's MODE docs state verbatim: 'If the data set contains no duplicate data points, MODE returns the #N/A error value' -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/mode-function-e45192ce-9122-4980-82ed-4bdc34973120	Matched
=MODE(A1:A5)	MODE works the same way on negative numbers	-3	-3	Matched
=MODE(A1:A6)	Text values and blank cells in the range are ignored when finding the mode	1	1 Provenance Only the numeric cells 1,1,2,3 participate; 1 is the most frequent among them	Matched

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)

Formula	Description	Result	Expected	Verdict
=MODE(A1:A6)	Basic case with one clearly most-frequent value	4	4 Provenance This is Microsoft's own documented MODE example data set -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/mode-function-e45192ce-9122-4980-82ed-4bdc34973120 -- 4 appears 3 times, more than any other value	Matched
=MODE(A1:A4)	When every value in the data set is unique (no duplicates at all), MODE has nothing to return	#VALUE!	#N/A Provenance Microsoft's MODE docs state verbatim: 'If the data set contains no duplicate data points, MODE returns the #N/A error value' -- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/mode-function-e45192ce-9122-4980-82ed-4bdc34973120	Mismatch
=MODE(A1:A5)	MODE works the same way on negative numbers	-3	-3	Matched
=MODE(A1:A6)	Text values and blank cells in the range are ignored when finding the mode	1	1 Provenance Only the numeric cells 1,1,2,3 participate; 1 is the most frequent among them	Matched

Docs & syntax

Excel (desktop): official documentation
Google Sheets: official documentation
LibreOffice Calc: official documentation

Related how-to recipes

How to find the most frequent number in a range

Where MODE behaves differently

DGET and MODE.SNGL: #NUM! and #N/A in Excel, #VALUE! in LibreOffice
DGET with two matching rows returns #NUM! in Excel's docs and in executed Google Sheets; MODE.SNGL with no repeats is #N/A in both. LibreOffice Calc returns #VALUE! for each.
Every error code LibreOffice reports as #VALUE!
Across our 2,334-case executed corpus, 272 cases in 135 functions return #VALUE! in LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 where Microsoft documents #NUM! (244), #N/A (15), #DIV/0! (10) or #REF! (3). Google Sheets returns the documented code on 239 of the 249 it has a function for. Identical in all four LibreOffice builds tested.
#NUM! vs #VALUE!: Excel vs LibreOffice
Domain errors Microsoft documents as #NUM! - LN(0), SQRT(-16), out-of-range LARGE - return #VALUE! in LibreOffice. Google Sheets returns #NUM! on all 16, executed: LibreOffice is alone.