INDEX+MATCH instead of VLOOKUP+MATCH, why is INDEX a better choice and how to re-write?

Hi,

I just received some great help adjusting my code: =IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A3;'[Testbook.xlsm]Sheet1'!$C:$BW;MATCH($J$2;'[Testbook.xlsm]Sheet1'!$C$2:$BW$2;0);0);0).

I use the above code to look through a pivot table in another workbook and return the value if VLOOKUP and MATCH finds a match, if not the value returned is 0 instead of N/A, that's the part I got help with using IFERROR.
While trying to find a solution myself I came across a lot of posts and guides saying that INDEX+MATCH is a better and quicker and safer formula to use then VLOOKUP+MATCH.

I work with 30-40 workbooks containing thousands of rows and up to 60-70 columns that have this kind of formula in them gathering information from other workbooks.

Can anyone explain why INDEX is better then VLOOKUP?

And if it is better, safer and faster, what would the code look like?

When trying to use INDEX I couldn't code to using match values like above.


Thanks in advance

/René

Thank you so much for the response.

Both codes seems to work equally well. I will run them in two different workbooks to see if results are consistent.

I have been looking at GETPIVOTDATA as well. Maybe I have been reading in the wrong places but it doesn't feel as dynamic as above code. It probably is if coded correctly.

Thanks again for your response, explanation and solution to my question.

/René