We have some great news about Solver -- the free version available for use with Microsoft Excel. Most Solver.com visitors know that our company, Frontline Systems, developed the Solver in Microsoft Excel for Windows and Macintosh, on an "OEM basis" many years ago, which we licensed to Microsoft for inclusion in every copy of Excel. But not everyone is up-to-date on Excel for the Web: Since Microsoft did not choose to "port" the desktop Solver to the Web, we decided to offer this ourselves: Way back in November 2015, we launched the free Solver App on Microsoft AppSource. It's remarkable to us that "Solver for the Web" has been available for nearly 10 years!
But even more striking is the sharp rise in users clicking Get It Now on Microsoft AppSource for this rather old Solver -- close to 500,000 in calendar 2024 alone! And that has motivated us to launch a major update of the free Solver -- available right now for everyone (we're still updating the screen shots on AppSource). If you click the Add-Ins icon on the Home tab in Excel, search on and select Solver, you'll immediately get this new App:
For a 2-minute overview video of what the new free Solver can do, click here. Below, we discuss some of the major improvements -- but we recommend watching the video first!
Saving and Restoring Model Definitions
Back in 2015, Microsoft was in the early stages of "building out APIs" (Application Programming Interfaces, in JavaScript) for the Web version. The early Solver App used all the then-available APIs -- but this left us with some key limitations. Most notably, we could not use the same mechanism to "save the model definition" -- your selections of decision variables, constraints and objective, or your parameter settings for Solver Engines -- in the workbook, that we used in the desktop Excel Solver. Skipping the technical details, model definitions are automatically saved, and when you re-open your workbook, the model definitions are automatically restored (without any action on your part). But ... due to limited APIs, model definitions created in Excel desktop could not be automatically restored in Excel for the Web, and vice versa -- model definitions created in Excel for the Web could not be automatically restored in Excel desktop.
In our major update of the free Solver, we've used the latest APIs to overcome this limitation: Model definitions created in Excel desktop are automatically restored in Excel for the Web, and vice versa: model definitions created in Excel for the Web are automatically restored in Excel desktop. All you have to do is open your workbook, click the Solver icon on the Home tab Ribbon, and your optimization model is ready to go -- you can click the green arrow to solve immediately!
Solving Models 10x Faster
Since Excel for the Web operates through a browser, and the compute power required to solve meaningful optimization models is not available in a browser, the Solver App sends the model workbook to Frontline Systems' cloud service called RASON to run the optimization and return a solution. (Yes, 10 years ago we had already launched a cloud service for optimization and simulation models -- and we've operated that cloud service 24x7 for more than a decade, solving thousands of user models every day!) But again back in 2015, there were limitations on how quickly we could accomplish this work in the cloud -- so typically, the time taken from "clicking Solve" to getting back a solution -- say 30 seconds -- was quite a bit longer than you'd experience in Excel desktop -- often just a few seconds.
But by now, we've come up with ways to greatly speed up that process of sending the workbook to the RASON cloud service, and getting back a solution. In our 2025 Solver App -- available right now for everyone -- solve times in Excel for the Web are often just a few seconds, quite competitive with Excel desktop!
Far More Example Models at Your Fingertips
In the original (2015) Solver App, we found ways to offer one example -- our classic Product Mix model -- with the software: You could click a button Insert Example and a new workbook would be created (in the browser in Excel for the Web), with all the data, formulas, comments, formatting, and Solver model definitions needed for a complete optimization model. You could then just click the green arrow to solve, and -- after about 30 seconds -- the optimal solution would appear in-place in the Excel workbook. That was good, but now we can do better.
In our 2025 Solver App -- available right now for everyone -- you can click the button Open an Example as pictured above, and choose any of 26 example workbooks! The examples range from finance and investment (capital budgeting, stock and bond portfolio optimization) to manufacturing (machine allocation, inventory planning, process operation) to distribution and logistics (transportation of goods, partial loading) to personnel (call center and airline crew scheduling, workforce reorganization). Again you just click on an example to open a new workbook -- in the browser or in desktop Excel -- with all the data, formulas, comments, formatting, and Solver model definitions needed for that model. (And yes, these examples work in both Excel desktop and Excel for the Web!)
An Airline Crew Scheduling Example
One of the 26 examples included (and solvable) with the new free Solver App formulates and solves (a small version of) the airline crew scheduling problem -- matching pilots and flight attendants with flights as an aircraft flies from one airport to another (called a "rotation"). The model ensures that each scheduled flight has (exactly one) crew, that crews are returned to their "home airport" whenever possible at day's end, and that personnel costs are minimized. Here's how it looks, immediately after you click the "Airline Crew Scheduling" link in the list above:
and here's how it looks just seconds after you click the green arrow to find an optimal schedule:
This "new and improved" Solver App is free to use, with no license expiration date (a "freemium" product) -- we absorb the cost of compute time used to solve your models on our RASON cloud service on Microsoft Azure. But it has the same model size limits as the Solver that comes with Excel desktop: Up to 200 decision variables, and up to 100 constraints in addition to simple bounds on the decision variables. Of course, Solver.com visitors know that we specialize in solving much larger models -- with thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of decision variables and constraints -- solving directly in Excel, on our RASON cloud service, or in custom programs using our Solver SDK.
Analytic Solver®: Our Super-Powerful Upgrade
Our key "paid upgrade" product for Excel is Analytic Solver® -- which not only solves much larger models much faster, but also enables you to analyze risk with Monte Carlo simulation, solve optimization models with uncertainty and risk, model discrete decisions with both decision trees and decision tables, and even building machine learning models quickly, often for predictions to feed your optimization and simulation models! As you'd expect, models you created in the free Solver (for either Excel desktop or Excel for the Web) can be solved immediately in Analytic Solver -- just open your workbook and solve!
And in the new free Solver App, it's easier than ever to start a free trial of this powerful upgrade product: Just click the button Try Analytic Solver®. You'll see a dialog like this:
When you click Try it free for 15 days ... then allow Excel to "get the Analytic Solver App" ... you'll immediately have Analytic Solver Cloud Version, in Excel for the Web (or Excel desktop)! You'll need a few seconds to complete a simple registration form (one dialog) to obtain your free trial license -- then you'll be ready to start solving! And you'll find an incredible range of resources at your fingertips, from even more example models (nearly 150!) to online Help, Wizards, Guided Mode, Live Chat with our technical support staff, an AI Agent pre-trained on all our User Guides and Reference Guides so you can just ask questions, and even an AI Assistant for your Excel model that helps you fix errors and make enhancements!
Analytic Solver Desktop Version is also available, and easier than ever to try: Just click here, or click the Download link you see in our top blue menu bar. Then click the link "Download Analytic Solver® Desktop (Windows) (SolverSetup program)". The difference is that Analytic Solver Desktop Version is installed (by running the SolverSetup program) on your own Windows PC, and your model is analyzed and solved entirely on your own PC. When you start a free trial or purchase a license to use Analytic Solver, you get both the Desktop and Cloud versions, for the same price. And as you'd hope, models you create in one version can be run immediately in the other version -- just open your workbook and solve!
It's never been easier to learn, build and solve models, and achieve significant business outcomes -- often major cost savings -- with optimization models and methods. If you haven't ready, try it today!