Before we dive into the details, here’s a sneak peek at some of the best budgeting software solutions available today:
Business budgeting software tools enable businesses to quickly plan, implement, and manage business performance projections.
Currently, 92% of FP&A teams use spreadsheets every month to conduct their budgeting—but spreadsheets alone aren't a complete solution. They’re manual, unforgiving of errors, and Excel specifically was built for single users. Legacy FP&A software is just as problematic: challenging to deploy, inflexible, and hard to integrate with other tools.
There is no doubt that strategic finance teams will continue using Excel as a budgeting software solution. However, the copy-and-paste method of transmitting data from bank balances and payment platforms is cumbersome, time-consuming, and error-prone.
Enter the new generation of business budgeting software platforms. These tools solve Excel’s issues through integrations and automations that cut out unnecessary steps, reduce time spent on workflows, and increase the accuracy of data and forecasting.
Modern budgeting tools manipulate and analyze data more efficiently, in a much shorter space of time, and with far fewer mistakes.
Business budgeting is a company’s future financial plan for a set period of time, usually a fiscal year. It measures estimations of revenue and expenses, liability payments, and risk against organizational goals and allocates resources accordingly.
Budgeting is nothing new. Historically, it was a time-consuming but necessary manual process involving basic arithmetic on abacuses, and then on handwritten ledgers. In 1985, Microsoft transformed the business budgeting process with the release of Excel, which brought electronic spreadsheets to the masses.
Excel created a symbiotic relationship, whereby extra flexibility, capacity, and accuracy allow companies to budget and grow more confidently. As they scale, the focus shifts to more detailed forecasting, multi-scenario planning, and strategic financial management. Naturally, increasingly sophisticated budgets require more powerful systems to give a business the edge over its competitors.
We now find ourselves in a form of financial arms race, with companies striving to produce the most informed budgets as simply as possible.
The benefits of robust budgeting software platforms revolve around more efficient time use, increased forecasting reliability, improved decision-making, and a greater return on investment.
Let’s take a look at the finer details.
Now that you know what budgeting software tools are capable of, let’s see how they stack up against each other.
Cube is the real-time FP&A platform that embraces your spreadsheet. We provide a full tools platform for data management, reporting and analysis, and planning and modeling, providing you with a 360-degree view of your entire business: past, present, and future.
Cube automates all of those manual, time-intensive FP&A tasks that used to consume your days and nights and frees you up to focus on the good stuff: the high-value strategic analysis and storytelling that drives future business performance.
Here's a quick overview of Cube's benefits:
Who it’s for:
Cube is best suited for SMBs and midmarket companies.
Features:
➡️ See all of our features here.
Pricing:
Anaplan is a cloud-based financial analysis and planning platform that enables businesses to orchestrate business performance and confidently execute financial decisions.
This software lets you plan complex financial scenarios, as well as create forecasts and long-term strategies while empowering your teams to make better, data-backed decisions.
What it is for:
This software has a powerful calculation engine and is designed for medium to large organizations needing complex financial solutions.
Key features:
Pricing:
Anaplan has four different pricing plans offering increasingly complex features. They operate on a custom quote basis, so you’ll need to speak with a sales team member.
Vena combines the familiarity of Excel’s interface with Vena’s powerful growth engine. It is an enterprise-level financial planning software with various best-in-class capabilities to help finance teams streamline and improve their financial processes.
This software has several tools designed to help finance teams of all sizes collaborate better, simplify critical processes, and drive better data-driven solutions.
Who it’s for:
This software is designed to be an enterprise-level solution for medium to large-sized organizations and financial teams.
Key features:
Pricing:
Vena doesn’t provide any set monthly pricing information. You can request a demo or take a seven-day preview of their software to help you decide before committing to a plan.
Oracle PBCS is an EPM planning, budgeting, and forecasting platform. This software enables FP&A teams to make better decisions by creating data-backed, goal-oriented plans.
This software enables businesses to connect better across all departments, formulate robust financial strategies, and measure performance down to a micro level.
Who it’s for:
This software is designed for large enterprise-level organizations.
Key features:
Pricing:
Oracle has a complex pricing system that involves a minimum number of users and a three-year subscription. Here, we’ve included the minimum rate, but add-ons and premium services can cost much more.
Datarails is finance software designed to help users better manage data. This includes creating better budgets, forecasts, short and long-term plans, and all aspects of financial management.
Who it’s for:
Datarails is designed to help SMBs automate and streamline their financial processes. It uses Excel features, so it's only a good fit for teams who work exclusively on Excel.
Key features:
Pricing:
Datarails does not provide any pricing plan information. You’ll need to contact their sales team for a custom quote based on your goals, users, and integrations.
Check out our complete Datarails review.
MosaicTech is a strategic finance platform that consolidates insights across an organization, unifies data, aligns FP&A teams, and helps businesses make better decisions.
This software will connect with your existing tech stack, take some weight off your financial team, and streamline how you produce budgets and analyze your financial data.
Who it’s for:
This software is designed for small to medium-sized companies, helping FP&A teams better organize, manage, and analyze their financial data.
Key features:
Pricing:
Mosaic does not provide any pricing plan information. If you reach out to their sales team, they’ll give you a demo of the software and provide a custom quote.
Workday Adaptive Planning is a budgeting and financial planning software designed to help finance and FP&A teams streamline their workflows and improve how they use their data to budget and forecast.
This software makes consolidating any number of spreadsheets and other data sources a breeze. You can organize, plan, model, budget, and quickly analyze your financial data once it’s in Workday.
Who it’s for:
This software is ideal for businesses of any size that need a modern software solution for collecting, organizing, and analyzing their financial data.
Key features:
Pricing:
Pricing is available upon request. Workday offers a free demo and a free trial if you’re interested in using the software before committing.
Prophix is budgeting, planning, and reporting software. This software provides organizations with all the tools they need to automate and integrate their budgeting and forecasting processes. You can consolidate data, streamline workflows, and produce detailed reports on the backend.
Who it’s for:
This software is for organizations of all sizes looking for a robust budgeting solution.
Key features:
Pricing:
Prophix provides pricing upon request, but you can ask for a demo.
Centage is an intelligent planning, budgeting, and forecasting software. This cloud-based software delivers a robust suite of financial planning and analytics tools to help users gain deeper insights into their financials.
Small to medium-sized businesses can get the same level of detailed financial insights usually enjoyed by larger organizations using Centage.
Who it’s for:
This software is designed for small to medium-sized businesses that require detailed, analytical insights into their financial health.
Key features:
Pricing:
Centage does not provide any set pricing plans. You can get a quote and see a demo of the software by reaching out to their sales team.
Budgyt is a budgeting and financial planning software that emphasizes simplifying, organizing, and managing data.
With an intuitive interface and a central dashboard displaying all your key financial information at a glance, anyone can take their budgeting to the next level.
Who it’s for:
This software is designed for small to medium-sized businesses and nonprofits looking for an all-in-one solution to streamline their budgeting and financial planning.
Key features:
Pricing:
Budgyt has started hiding its prices online but has recently displayed $199/mo to $699/mo. They also have discounted rates for nonprofits.
Planguru is an Excel and QuickBooks-compatible budgeting software. It’s designed to help small to medium-sized businesses streamline how they organize their data and improve their budgeting.
This software enables you to forecast and budget up to 10 years into the future. It also includes cash flow projections, ratios, and financial modeling tools.
Who it’s for:
This software is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses and nonprofits.
Key features:
Pricing:
PlanGuru offers two pricing tiers:
Float is a cash flow and forecasting scenario planning software. This software helps users clearly see all future incoming and outgoing cash, create and compare “what if” scenarios, and make better financial decisions.
This software easily organizes financial information and provides financial clarity with real-time data and many smart features.
Who it’s for:
This software is for individuals and businesses using QuickBooks Online, Xero, or FreeAgent who want better insights into their financials.
Key features:
Pricing:
Float has three pricing plans, depending on how many users and the features you want.
OneStream is an EPM platform that combines a whole host of FP&A services in one place. It offers solutions from budgeting and forecasting to financial close and consolidation, ESG reporting and planning, and transaction matching.
Who it’s for:
OneStream is a comprehensive service for companies looking to scale. It is particularly interested in capturing clients currently using SAP and Oracle and offers dedicated migration tools to do so.
Key features:
Pricing:
You need to contact OneStream for a demo before finding out the pricing structure they’ll offer to your company.
Jedox is a versatile FP&A solution that integrates well with existing business systems. It is dedicated to streamlining a range of finance processes through automation and AI.
Who it’s for:
Jedox pitches its product mainly at enterprise-level companies as well as for mid-market organizations.
Key features:
Pricing:
Jedox has three price tiers, starting around $160 per month, but asks that you get in touch with them for full transparency.
Scoro is a far-reaching service that combines budgeting, project management, CRM, and reporting features for a fully united business headquarters on the cloud.
Who it’s for:
This is designed for small to medium-sized businesses seeking an all-encompassing solution to manage their financial planning, projects, and customer relationships in one place.
Key features:
Pricing:
Scoro offers three pricing plans:
There is also an Ultimate plan available with custom pricing for advanced needs.
QuickBooks is a widely used business budgeting and accounting software designed to help small and mid-sized businesses manage their finances.
Its features support budgeting, expense tracking, invoicing, and reporting, all within an accessible interface.
With integration options and a scalable structure, QuickBooks accommodates various business needs, from day-to-day expense management to more comprehensive financial oversight. This tool also offers customization to suit different business types and industries.
Who it’s for:
QuickBooks is ideal for small and mid-sized businesses seeking an affordable, user-friendly solution for budgeting, expense tracking, and basic financial reporting.
Key features:
Pricing:
Quickbooks offers a wide range of tiers, with Payroll as an additional extra.
FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting and budgeting software for small businesses, freelancers, and service-based companies.
It provides tools for managing invoices, tracking expenses, and monitoring budgets on a simple interface that supports financial organization.
FreshBooks also offers integration with a variety of business tools, helping users stay on top of their financial data without needing advanced accounting knowledge.
Who it’s for:
FreshBooks is ideal for freelancers, small businesses, and service-based companies that need an easy-to-use budgeting and accounting solution with invoicing and reporting features.
Key features:
Pricing:
FreshBooks offers flexibility at different pricing levels, as well as add-ons and custom pricing models:
Finmark is a business budget app that helps organizations manage budgets, track expenses, and forecast future financial performance.
It provides a platform for building financial models, scenario planning, and integrating with other tools to streamline financial workflows.
With a focus on scalability, Finmark is particularly useful for growing businesses that need more than just basic budgeting tools, offering insights that support data-driven decision-making.
Who it’s for:
Finmark is best suited for growing businesses, startups, and finance teams that need advanced financial planning and scenario modeling to manage their budgets and forecasts.
Key features:
Pricing:
Finmark’s pricing depends on your current annual revenue.
SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) is an enterprise-level financial planning and budgeting software.
Designed for large organizations, SAP BPC integrates with SAP’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other business systems for comprehensive financial management across departments.
It allows finance teams to collaborate on detailed financial planning while staying compliant with accounting standards and corporate policies.
Who it’s for:
SAP Business Planning and Consolidation is intended for large enterprises that require integration across complex business systems.
Key features:
Pricing:
SAP BPC offers customized pricing based on the scale of implementation, number of users, and specific business needs, tailored to the requirements of large enterprises.
Pigment is a financial planning and budgeting software designed to help businesses manage their budgeting, forecasting, and performance analysis.
Its visual interface and features allow finance teams to model data, collaborate in real time, and make informed decisions.
Pigment is suitable for organizations that require detailed financial planning with a focus on scalability, flexibility, and team collaboration, supporting businesses through complex financial processes.
Who it’s for:
Pigment is ideal for mid-sized to large businesses that value collaboration, scalability, and advanced budgeting and forecasting capabilities.
Key features:
Pricing:
Pigment offers custom pricing depending on the size of your business and other factors.
Jirav is an FP&A solution that offers tools for modeling complex financial data, creating detailed budgets, and running forecasts to inform decision-making.
With an emphasis on scalability and ease of use, Jirav is suitable for businesses looking to streamline their financial processes and gain deeper insights into their financial performance.
Who it’s for:
Jirav is well-suited for mid-sized businesses and growing companies that need robust budgeting, forecasting, and reporting tools.
Key features:
Pricing:
Jirav doesn’t provide specific figures or pricing tiers but estimates at least $20,000 per contract.
Causal is a financial planning tool that builds flexible, data-driven budgets, forecasts, and financial models.
With a coherent interface, it uses AI to create financial models based on your chart of accounts. It also connects to human resources, customer relationship management, accounting, and ERP apps.
Who it’s for:
Causal is suitable for small to mid-sized businesses, startups, and finance teams with an eye on AI.
Key features:
Pricing:
Causal provides tiers for reporting, modeling, and growth with custom pricing. However, their startup program is available for $99 per month for six months.
Choosing the right budgeting software depends heavily on your business’s size, industry, and specific financial needs.
Below are key features to consider to ensure your choice aligns with your organization’s unique requirements:
Small businesses often need budgeting software that’s easy to use, affordable, and capable of handling essential tasks without unnecessary complexity.
Key features to prioritize include:
Many small businesses benefit from software that integrates with accounting platforms they may already use, like Excel or Google Sheets, helping consolidate financial management without overwhelming the team.
Best business budgeting software for small businesses:
For mid-sized businesses, budgeting software should offer more advanced features, such as:
Growing teams with more complex budgets will need scalable tools that integrate well with other business systems (like CRM and HR platforms). This helps to unify data and improve collaboration across departments.
Best business budgeting software for mid-sized businesses:
Large enterprises often require comprehensive budgeting software that can forecast complex financial scenarios, consolidate vast amounts of data across multiple departments, and integrate with ERP systems.
Key features include:
These tools typically offer extensive customization and reporting options, allowing finance teams to tailor outputs for various stakeholders.
Best business budgeting software for enterprises:
As you can see, there's no “one-size-fits-all” regarding business budgeting software tools. However, there are still some excellent tools on the market. Organizing data, automating workflows, and producing budgets has never been easier for finance and FP&A teams.
To choose the best budgeting software, you simply need to compare your current needs and future ambitions with what these tools offer.
For a hands-on experience, book a live demo and see how Cube can streamline your FP&A processes today.