How to count cells not equal to a value
✓ Verified in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 ✓ Verified in Google Sheets (2026-08-30)Count every cell except those matching a specific value.
The formula
| App | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | =COUNTIF(A2:A6,"<>apple") | The not-equal operator is <> inside the quoted criterion. |
| Google Sheets | =COUNTIF(A2:A6,"<>apple") | Identical. |
| LibreOffice Calc | =COUNTIF(A2:A6,"<>apple") | Identical. |
How it works
COUNTIF's criterion accepts <> for "not equal": three cells (banana, cherry, banana) aren't "apple". Caution: <> also counts BLANK cells in the range as not-equal — add -COUNTBLANK(A2:A6) if you only want non-blank mismatches. To reference a cell, concatenate: =COUNTIF(A2:A6,"<>"&C1).
Verified, not just documented
We ran =COUNTIF(A2:A6,"<>apple") in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 (headless, with forced recalculation) and it returned 3 — exactly the expected result. We then ran the same formulas in Google Sheets, executed 2026-08-30: a formula-only workbook goes into Google Drive, which converts it to a Sheet and recalculates every formula with Google’s own engine, and comes back out as .xlsx carrying the values Google computed. It returned 3 for the worked example, the same value LibreOffice produced. Both engines’ numbers on this page are executed results. The Excel formula follows Microsoft’s official documented syntax — we do not run desktop Excel.
Functions used
COUNTIF — see full Excel, Google Sheets & LibreOffice compatibility for each.
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