For merger models in an investment banking team, the “best” software is usually:

1) Microsoft Excel

Best overall and industry standard
Most M&A and merger models are still built in Excel because it’s:

• Highly flexible
• Easy to audit
• Widely used by bankers and clients
• Ideal for complex, custom transaction logic

Why it’s the default

• Builds fully integrated sources & uses, purchase accounting, EPS accretion/dilution, synergy analysis, debt schedule, and valuation work
• Everyone on the team can open and edit it
• Easy to present in pitchbooks and board materials

Common add-ons

• Bloomberg Excel Add-in for market data
• Capital IQ / FactSet / Refinitiv add-ins for comps and financial data
• Macabacus or similar tools for formatting, shortcuts, and model auditing

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2) Macabacus

Best productivity layer for Excel-based banking modeling
Macabacus isn’t a replacement for Excel; it’s a toolkit that makes modeling much faster and cleaner.

Useful for:

• Faster formula navigation
• Auditing links and precedents
• Formatting consistency
• Model templates and shortcuts

If your team does a lot of merger models, Macabacus is often the most valuable “software” after Excel itself.

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3) Capital IQ / FactSet / Bloomberg

Best for data, not model building These platforms help with:

• Company financials
• Trading comps
• Transaction comps
• Historical market data
• Consensus estimates

They’re essential inputs for merger models, but they’re not usually where the model itself is built.

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4) Workday Adaptive Planning / Anaplan / Oracle Hyperion

Better for corporate FP&A, not classic banking M&A models These are more useful for:

• Enterprise planning
• Budgeting and forecasting
• Scenario planning at companies

They’re generally not the primary tool for an investment banking merger model.

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Practical answer

If you’re in an investment banking team, the best setup is usually:

Excel + Macabacus + Capital IQ/FactSet/Bloomberg

That combination is the standard for building merger models efficiently and professionally.

If you want, I can also give you:

1. the best merger model template structure, or
2. a comparison of Excel vs. Airtable/Anaplan/other tools for banking modeling.