THE HONEST COMPARISON · NO STRAWMEN
Let's say it plainly: for simple cleanup jobs, DIY is the right answer. Dedupe 300 rows on exact email? Do it in Excel. One-off format fix? Ask ChatGPT. This page is about the line where that stops being enough — and why crossing it quietly is how customer data gets destroyed.
[email protected] and [email protected] — same person or two people? A script guesses. GPT guesses confidently. Guessing wrong here doesn't crash; it silently merges two customers and nobody notices until a report is questioned months later.
"It's mostly fine" isn't an outcome when finance asks where 400 rows went. The deliverable has to be a proof — input = clean + merged + exceptions, ±0 — not a file and good vibes.
The migration date doesn't move. Your senior's hours cost more than this whole batch. And whoever signs off needs an audit trail they can defend to their boss — "the AI said so" isn't one.
We're not going to tell you Excel can't dedupe. It can. The question is what happens when it can't quite — visibly or invisibly.
| Capability | DIY / Excel | GPT / script | Fiverr generalist | Ames |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple exact-key dedupe (<1k rows) | YES — do it yourself | Yes | Yes | Overkill (use our free sample instead) |
| Ambiguous matches handled safely | Guessed by hand | Guesses confidently | Varies; usually guesses | Flagged, never auto-resolved |
| Row-level change log (before → after) | No | Not by default | Rarely | 100% of edits, reversible |
| Count identity proof (input = out, ±0) | Manual, error-prone | Can be scripted if you insist | Rarely provided | Scripted + independently recounted |
| Formula-injection guard | No | Unless you remember | Unlikely | Neutralized automatically |
| Acceptance criteria before start | You define them yourself | — | Rarely written down | Half-page scope, verbatim criteria |
| Someone else's senior time consumed | Yours, heavily | Prompting + verifying = yours | Managing them = yours | Near zero after scope sign-off |
| Fixed price known in advance | Your salary, uncounted | $20/mo + your time | Scope creep common | $150–300 pilot · $300–800/batch ≤10k |
| Data handling contract (NDA, deletion, no production access) | Internal anyway | Check your provider's policy | Varies wildly | Sandbox-only · NDA · verified deletion on request |
| Defect fixed free after delivery | You fix it | You fix it | Often gone by then | One revision round included |
The list feeds revenue, compliance, or a boardroom number. Getting it quietly wrong costs more than any batch fee.
Duplicate keys that aren't exact, conflicting values, fields nobody can explain. Judgment rows exist — they need handling, not guessing.
A boss, client or auditor will ask "how do we know nothing was lost?" The answer needs to be a document, not a shrug.
Run your messiest export through ChatGPT yourself — then send the same file to us. You'll get back the clean file plus the change log, exceptions and ±0 reconciliation. Then decide which one you'd defend in front of your boss.
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