Whether you’re a startup or an enterprise business, your financial plan dictates how you run your business. A robutst financial plan provides a roadmap for your business that can help you reach your goals faster.
Today’s finance teams need more than static spreadsheets to support your crucial financial planning, budgeting and reporting processes. Comprehensive business planning requires top-notch financial planning analysis software.
92% at organizations using modern planning tools have realized one or more positive business outcomes. — Harvard Business Review
The market is getting pretty crowded with different solutions, all promising to be the right one for your business. But the truth is, not all of them are equal in terms of quality and value. This is why we have handpicked the six best FP&A tools to help you make a side-by-side comparison and select the one that best caters to your unique business requirements. We will discuss their features, pros, and cons in detail.
The best financial planning analysis software compared
Your company’s financial success is a journey. As for any journey, it’s important to choose the best route, which in this context is the financial analysis software that aligns with your vision and goals.
The table below will give you a high-level, side-by-side comparison of seven tools to help you get started, followed by a more detailed discussion of each below.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $$ | $$ | $$ | $$-$$$ | $$ | $$-$$$ |
| Market Sector | Small to Mid-Market | Small to Mid-Market | Small to Mid-Market | Mid-Market | Small to Mid-Market | Mid-Market to Enterprise |
| Scalability | High | Moderate; Same limitations as MS Excel | Moderate; Same limitations as Google Sheets | High but requires extensive planning | High | Scalable but requires continual adjustments |
| Type of FP&A solution | 3rd Generation | 3rd Generation | 3rd Generation | 2nd Generation | 2nd Generation | 2nd Generation |
| Native Integration | 200+ OOTB integrations plus custom integration | 70+ OOTB | 22 OOTB integrations | Few native integrations | 100+ OOTB integrations | 7 OOTB integrations |
| Predictive Forecasting | ||||||
| Multidimensional modeling | ||||||
| Multiple scenarios and What-if analysis | ||||||
| Collaboration with access controls | ||||||
| Automated reporting | ||||||
| Dynamic Dashboards | ||||||
| Security & compliance | ||||||
| In-house implementation | Yes | Yes | unknown | unknown | unknown | No |
Drivetrain
Topping our list, Drivetrain is one of the best and few financial planning and analysis tools (FP&A) purpose-built for B2B companies. It’s a third-generation FP&A solution with a suite of features designed to enhance visibility into the financial health of companies.
Drivetrain offers a comprehensive solution that is not limited to finance leaders alone, but also caters to other departments including go-to-market teams (sales, marketing, operations and customer success) and HR. Drivetrain’s cross-functional capabilities helps teams build integrated plans. In addition, the full range of FP&A features enable CFOs and their finance pros to create more accurate budgets and forecasts, track their progress against targets in real time, and identify bottlenecks to growth.
Teams can collaborate easily within an intuitive UI that provides powerful FP&A capabilities combined with the familiarity of the spreadsheets you’re used to working with (minus all the manual work and data quality concerns).
With over 200+ popular integrations, Drivetrain automates data consolidation and helps finance professionals get real-time visibility into their business in seconds. It also facilitates rapid planning, re-forecasting and reporting, adjusting effortlessly to the growth and complexity of the business.
You can quickly uncover opportunities and identify bottlenecks in your business with Drivetrain’s one-click root-cause analysis. You can easily perform scenario analyses in minutes to quickly inform your business decisions. This is how Drivetrain powers better business outcomes.
$$
Small and Mid-market
Self-service interface (ranked #1 on G2 for ease of use)
Ability to flexibly ingest data from any system
Ability to create custom metrics quickly
Multiple templates for headcount planning, triangulation forecasting, vendor cost modeling and more based on company size
Board-ready reports and interactive dashboards
Best-in-class granular role based access control
Highly intuitive UI
Heavily focused on B2B companies
Multidimensionlal modeling with multi-currency support
Predictive forecasting capabilities
Real-time variance analysis
Scenario Planning and What-If Analysis
Drill-down into forecast and budget vs. actuals
Support complex billing scenarios
Datarails is a Microsoft Excel-based plugin that allows businesses to save their spreadsheet data into a database to extend Excel’s capabilities. It is a cloud-based platform (second-generation) that primarily focuses on helping companies with their budgeting and forecasting needs. While not purpose-built for B2B businesses, Datarails supports several FP&A use cases, including budgeting, and allows users to continue using their existing financial models in Excel.
$$
Small and Mid-market
Out-of-the-box templates
In-house customer support
Nice UI and dashboards
No native integrations with Google Sheets
Doesn’t integrate well with Excel 2007 despite being an Excel-based plugin
The app is resource-intensive and has a tendency to freeze up
Lacks functionality needed for advanced multidimensional modeling
Limited access controls
Multi-scenario and what-if analysis
Automated data collection
Forecast dashboard to plan operations based on future financial estimates
Financial analytics to investigate key variance drivers, headcount, and sales performance
Cube is next on our list of FP&A solutions. It is a spreadsheet-native cloud-based FP&A platform. Designed especially for finance teams, it helps finance leaders streamline financial forecasting, workflow management, and budgeting operations. The application allows accounting teams to manage payments, conduct audits, and generate financial reports.
$$
Small and Mid-market
Native Google Sheets capability (not an add-in)
UI is simple and familiar to most users (in Excel format)
Easy template creation for routine financial reporting
Very limited number of integrations with some reported as being a bit clunky
Time consuming to update and fetch different reports
Large data sync can take more than an hour
Limited capabilities for headcount planning
Multidimensional analysis capabilities are limited to 8 top-line dimensions
Drill-down capabilities are limited to the summary-level
Compatible and bi-directional with any spreadsheet, including Excel and Google Sheets
Stores all calculations in a central location
Supports multiple currencies
Designed for medium to large businesses and enterprises, Vena is a Microsoft Excel add-in. It caters to users who prefer spreadsheets but have more complex FP&A needs than they can easily manage with spreadsheets alone. Since Vena tends to push multi-year contracts, it is ideal for businesses that don’t worry about locking into a long-term contract.
$$
Mid-market to enterprise
Full functionality of Excel connected to a data model
Extensive number of standard templates to get started
Training support
Requires IT/data analyst help for integrations and reporting (including setting up their templates)
Long implementation times (in excess of 2 months and often beyond 4 months)
System slowdowns and glitches during set-up and installation
Very expensive for smaller or mid-sized companies (costs can go over $60,000 including implementation fees)
Scenarios and What-if modeling
Metrics and trend analysis
Consolidation/roll-up
Version control
Audit trail
Previously known as HostAnalytics, Planful is a cloud-based FP&A tool with a suite of financial planning, modeling, consolidation, and reporting features. Explicitly designed for finance departments, it streamlines cash flow forecasting, workforce planning, and financial close management.
$$
Small to Mid-market
Responsive customer support team (for L1 issues orfirst-line of support)
Easy reporting
Beautiful UI that enables both regular and infrequent users
Slow data retrieval and manipulation
Customization is difficult and complex making it incredibly hard to troubleshoot
Longer time-to-value owing to steep learning curve
Complex configuration required to build financial models. You cannot make quick edits to your financial model and it requires you to update numbers and settings in multiple places, failing which the model won't execute
Automated and ad-hoc reporting and analysis capabilities
Distribution features to deliver reports and financials to relevant stakeholders automatically
Has a dynamic planning engine, that supports multidimensional modeling and analysis
Rolling forecasts to adapt to changes
Workday Adaptive Planning (formerly Adaptive Insights) is an enterprise performance management (EPM) tool. While not purpose-built for SaaS, it includes financial planning features suitable for SaaS businesses.
$$-$$$
Mid-market to enterprise
Collaborative web-based interface
Known for its budgeting and reporting capabilities
Comprehensive scenario planning and what-if functionality
Too many configurations leading to errors and dependency on SIs
Offers only 7 pre-configured adapters
No root cause analysis capabilities
Long implementation times (often ~6 months to 1 year)
Heavy dependence on third-party system integrators
Ability to build annual plans using real-time, enterprise-wide data
Business modeling capabilities
Real-time financial close and consolidation
Rolling financial forecasts
Drivetrain vs. the field: 4 reasons Drivetrain should top your list for a financial planning analysis solution
The way SaaS businesses handle finance is changing rapidly. Business models are getting more complex, expenses are increasing, and revenue streams are diversifying. Drivetrain helps you stay one step ahead amidst all these changes. It offers integrated planning, real-time monitoring, and advanced analysis capabilities in an intuitive, user-friendly interface. Here are the top five reasons Drivetrain is the best FP&A software for SaaS.
1. Simple yet powerful
Finance teams require a powerful and scalable yet simple and efficient tool to enable more people to engage in high-value activities that deliver strategic impact with faster, better, proactive decision-making. Drivetrain shines in this regard by combining powerful computing and control in the hands of the end-user with ease of use to enable fast and well informed decision-making.
2. Universal decision-making tool
With Drivetrain, decision-making improves across all levels. Finance pros can connect and manipulate data independently, virtually eliminating any reliance on IT. It's powerful, self-service oriented financial reporting tool also makes the consolidated data across systems more valuable and accessible to other teams, saving time and money and removing dependency on expensive analysts and multiple tools.
3. Unmatched data handling capability
Drivetrain excels in data imports. It can bring in data from any system or application in any format. Its programmatic approach to imports and transformations (ETL) removes limitations. Moreover, it makes the data immediately accessible and business-ready for stakeholders to perform analysis and gain timely insights, facilitating quick decision-making.
Unlike many tools in the market, Drivetrain surpasses data ingestion and handling limitations. It doesn’t restrict the number of integrations or the ability to perform complex joins, ensuring data is valuable and accessible to stakeholders without compromise.
4. Robust multidimensional modeling for efficiency
Drivetrain’s scalable, intelligent multidimensional modeling architecture is a game-changer. It empowers users to build complex models ten times faster than other tools. The platform’s plain-English formulas, moderate Excel functions, and shallow learning curve allow users to model at the speed and dimensionality aligned with their business operations
With Drivetrain, you get the best of both worlds – a powerful yet simple FP&A solution.
Ready to discover what financial planning analysis software can do for your business?
How to choose the right software for financial analysis for your business
What is financial planning analysis software?
Financial analysis software helps finance teams plan accurately by assisting them with strategic budgeting, forecasting, and making data-driven financial decisions. The software combines financial, operational, and external data to provide valuable financial insights to achieve company-wide goals.
8 big benefits a purpose-built FP&A tool provides
A 3rd generation FP&A software helps leaders make informed decisions about the future. Here are the benefits companies are able to realize when implementing financial planning and analysis software.
1. Automatic data consolidation
Financial planning thrives on deep collaboration with all business areas (finance, operations, marketing, etc.) and relies on the data they maintain in the various source systems they use. FP&A software supports large data volumes and automates data consolidation from these different source systems, eliminating all the hassle involved in manual data consolidation and the high potential for cut- and copy-paste errors that keep you from ever being truly confident in the data you’re working with.
2. Real-time visibility
With finance analysis tools, FP&A teams can seize new opportunities by having a comprehensive view of workflows and on-demand reports. They can monitor business performance in real time with on-demand reporting, and quickly analyze their data to make proactive decisions. This is how Airmeet saved more than five days a month with Drivetrain, its 3rd gen FP&A software of choice.
The best part is we now have the same information for both financial data and business metrics visible to everyone. Drivetrain has really helped speed up collaboration between stakeholders. They don’t need to wait on us (the finance team) to publish our monthly reports to make decisions or share our spreadsheet templates to input their data.— Rajshekhar Patil, Finance Manager, Airmeet
3. More accurate forecasting
A software for financial analysis prevents financial data silos from creating blind spots in your business. It is a single source of truth that ensures decisions are based on the most current and reliable data available. Purpose-built financial analysis software helps SaaS companies forecast future revenues accurately, enabling better resource allocation and strategic planning.
4. Cross-functional collaboration
With collaboration across departments (internal and external), good financial analysis solutions allow teams to work together more closely and safely, with granular access controls. All teams can work from the same data set, creating a more cohesive and efficient workflow and confident that everyone sees only the data they need to see.
5. Flexible, adaptive planning
The ability to monitor financial performance on an ongoing basis allows you to easily implement your budget as a rolling budget, comparing actuals vs the budget every month. This, combined with variance analysis capabilities that Drivetrain provides, gives you the flexibility you need to identify and respond quickly to emerging problems and new opportunities.
6. Better data quality and version control than spreadsheets can ever provide
Spreadsheets are error-prone, lack version control, and are limited in scalability. Some of the solutions we’ve presented here function as an Excel add-in to help create the governance and structure that FP&A requires within Excel but still may have some of the limitations inherent in spreadsheets (e.g. scalability). Others offer a fully web-based solution that solves all these issues with no inherent reliance on spreadsheets whatsoever.
7. Empowered and strategic CFOs and finance teams
By automating data consolidation, metrics computations, rolling forward actuals, and other complex processes, FP&A software eliminates the tedious manual workflows that spreadsheets require. The resulting time saved can be transformative for a business, enabling finance leaders to conduct the kinds of analyses that surface deep insights for more strategic, data-driven decision-making.
8. An affordable solution for growing startups that need to scale
Growing pains can really hurt a SaaS company when it’s growing fast and spreadsheets can’t keep up with a rapidly-changing reality. Once this happens, businesses need a budgeting and reporting tool that’s affordable now and one that can scale with them. Several of the solutions we’ve compared here range in cost from $15K to $25K annually, which in comparison to enterprise-level solutions, provide a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) that smaller companies need.
Financial planning and analysis software has come a long way
Many companies still use spreadsheets for their FP&A. However, there are some pretty significant limitations inherent in spreadsheets for FP&A. Accuracy is a big one. Data and formulas have to be manually entered into a spreadsheet, making them inherently error-prone. There’s also no easy way to be certain that the numbers you’re looking at are current, which is why accurate planning with spreadsheets is difficult.
These fundamental issues catalyzed the creation of a new category of technology – what we now know as modern FP&A software and have driven its continued evolution.
The table below will help you understand the different levels of maturity of these tools in terms of their FP&A features and how far each has evolved from spreadsheets.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web application that replaces spreadsheets | ||||||
| Web application that integrates with spreadsheets | ||||||
| Application uses a spreadsheet for calculations | ||||||
| Add-in for spreadsheet applications |
Source: Adapted from FP&A software classifications developed by Paul Barnhurst (The FP&A Guy).
We didn’t have to wrestle with spreadsheets anymore. With a single source of truth and a familiar Excel-like interface, Drivetrain instantly clicked with department heads. They didn’t need to rely on us (finance team) for budgets or variance reports which were completely automated now. It empowered everyone across the organization to be more autonomous and increased accountability.— Abhishek Bajaj, Whatfix Finance Lead
Real-world use cases for a financial planning analysis software like Drivetrain
In SaaS, there’s little room for error. By some measures, more than 90% of SaaS startups fail and 40% never make profits. Most of the reasons that lead to these failures stem from one underlying problem—poor planning and limited visibility.
This was a big problem for LambaTest, a fast-growing software testing infrastructure platform, that is, before the company sat down for a demo with Drivetrain.
LambdaTest was struggling to plan and forecast their revenue and expenses and more importantly get a clear and comprehensive view of its sales funnel. The company was grappling with data silos in Zoho CRM and Google Sheets in its effort to track its revenue-generating activities. They were looking for a SaaS budgeting software that could help in planning, budgeting, forecasting and reporting activities in one single solution.
Drivetrain proved pivotal for LambdaTest, streamlining its annual planning and enabling the company to create its annual financial plan in a fraction of the time it was taking before.
Drivetrain also enabled teams across departments to track performance seamlessly resulting in more than 30 people across departments, each using the platform in different ways to meet different needs. Now, LambdaTest has unprecedented visibility into its business and can turn insights into action even faster to spot new opportunities.
Now, I can focus more on long term initiatives, such as experiments to improve the productivity of the sales team.— Kushank Poddar, Lambdatest’s head of Sales Strategy
LambdaTest's shift from founder-driven sales to data-centric scalability was only possible with the real-time visibility Drivetrain was able to provide.
See how Drivetrain can level up your FP&A processes
Features
1. Native Integrations
Your tech stack is your secret weapon and the best FP&A software will empower you to wield it more effectively. As a SaaS company, your day-to-day business requires you to utilize several platforms. To leverage this information to make solid business plans, it’s important to pull all the information you need into your planning software.
Seamless integrations with all the source systems that contain key data are essential when choosing financial planning and analysis software. The best FP&A tools will integrate with a wide variety of source systems.
For example, with more than 200 native integrations, Drivetrain effortlessly ingests and automatically maps financial and business data across ERP, CRM, HRIS, and billing systems, including any data that resides in custom fields.
This maximizes business efficiency by creating a single source of truth. With reliable, business-ready data that you can sync on demand, you can directly manipulate, analyze, and surface timely insights to create sound financial plans.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native integrations with top 6 ERPs | ||||||
| Native integrations with top CRM, HRIS, Billing & BI tools | ||||||
| Integration with Excel and Google Sheets | ||||||
| Excel/CSV upload download |
2. Predictive Forecasting
Forecasting is a critical part of financial planning and analysis. Both long-term and short-term financial planning require you to predict future revenues, expenses, and cash flows (see cash flow forecasting software). A financial planning tool or a financial forecasting solution powered by predictive analytics enables SaaS businesses to make more data-driven decisions. It also helps them identify hidden risks and opportunities early on.
Financial analytics tools like those that Drivetrain provides allow you to access historical data in real time. You can select from various predefined forecasting methods, change their assumptions, and make futuristic predictions—all on the same unified dashboards.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rolling forecast | ||||||
| Driver based forecasting | ||||||
| Pre-configured forecast methods | unknown | unknown |
3. Scenario planning and what-if analysis
Effective financial planning involves strategically defining and timing future resource deployments. Businesses need to consider different scenarios to avoid losing sight of what matters. Scenario planning and what-if analysis can help CFOs guide the company through considerable uncertainty, contemplating various paths of possibilities. Software with these two capabilities helps businesses become more agile and forward-thinking.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sensitivity Analysis | ||||||
| What-If Analysis | ||||||
| Unlimited Scenarios | ||||||
| Driver-based budgeting and forecasting | ||||||
| Custom data modeling |
4. Multi-dimensional modeling
Financial planning involves many moving parts and several variables (beyond financial figures). This is why selecting software that allows you to create multi-dimensional financial models, reports, and dashboards that meet your specific needs is vital.
You should be able to tailor inputs, calculations, and outputs as per your organization's unique requirements. Most importantly, you should be able to model at the speed and dimensionality of your business operations.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-Memory Multidimensional Calculation Engine | ||||||
| Rolling Budget | ||||||
| Real-time view of Forecast and Budget vs. Actuals | ||||||
| Unlimited Planning Window (long range planning) | ||||||
| Multi Subsidiary Consolidation | ||||||
| Natural Language Formulas | ||||||
| Driver Based Budgeting and Forecasting | unknown | |||||
| Custom Data Modeling | ||||||
| Multiple Scenario Planning | ||||||
| Model Templates |
5. Collaboration with Role Based Access Control
FP&A involves tapping into the collective expertise of individuals from different departments, such as sales, marketing, and operations, to drive financial excellence. The SaaS financial planning software you choose should break down silos and foster cross-functional collaboration. By creating a single space for multiple departments (both technical and business users) to collaborate, you can boost transparency and provide a single source of truth.
Another thing to consider is how users collaborate within the FP&A application. The ability to merely comment within the application will likely fall short, especially without detailed role-based access. An absence of this feature could pose a privacy challenge as finance teams collaborate with various teams with potentially conflicting priorities in their efforts to validate numbers and assumptions.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commenting Threads | ||||||
| Fine-Grained Role Based Access Control | ||||||
| Slack Notifications |
6. Automated reporting and dynamic dashboards
Automated reporting processes can save businesses time and money by ensuring that reports are generated consistently and accurately. Similarly, dynamic dashboards support visual clarity by breaking down complex data into charts and graphs. The right visuals help non-finance teams screen financial data, identify trends, check outliers, and recognize patterns.
Select the financial planning analysis software that offers interactive dashboards with automated reporting features for faster, more informed decision-making.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drill down to transaction-level | ||||||
| Drill down by any dimension | ||||||
| Global- and chart-level filters | ||||||
| Automated 3-Way financial statements | ||||||
| Text callouts/ notes in dashboards | ||||||
| Reporting templates | unknown | unknown |
7. Security and compliance
Cyber threats are increasing both in number and sophistication. The financial planning analysis software you choose should adhere to industry best practices for data security and compliance. Look for an FP&A tool that includes encryption, access controls, regular security audits, and frequently updated security policies. Also, keep an eye out for the company’s certifications, such as FASB, SOC 2, and ISO 27001.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SOC 2 Type II | ||||||
ISO 27001 | unknown | |||||
Fine-Grained Role Based Access Control | ||||||
Audit trail |
8. Onboarding, training and customer success
There’s always a learning curve with any new tool. However, a great onboarding experience can help your teams adopt the product quickly and leverage it to its full potential. An in-house implementation team, interactive walkthroughs, self-service support, and quick customer service will ensure your questions are resolved in a timely manner that will reduce your time to value.
| Software/ Platform | Drivetrain | Datarails | Cube | Vena | Planful | Workday Adaptive Planning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Implementation time | 4-6 weeks | unknown | 2 to 3 months | >2 months | >3 months | > 4 months |
| In-house implementation | Yes | unknown | unknown | No | unknown | No |
| White-glove onboarding | ||||||
| Self-service management (admin) | ||||||
| Dedicated customer support/success |
FAQ
What is financial planning and analysis software?
FP&A software helps you consolidate data from different sources for analysis and decision-making. The best financial planning and analysis software is generally easy to understand and designed for everyone in the organization (not just finance teams). You can leverage it to understand your business better and make higher-quality data-driven decisions.
What does an FP&A tool do?
A financial planning and analysis software optimizes the financial health of your business through sound planning, forecasting, and budgeting. It offers key insights to make informed financial decisions, strategically align resources with strategic goals, and adapt to changing market conditions.
How do I choose an FP&A tool?
Consider the features and functionalities below before selecting an FP&A tool.
- Native integrations
- Predictive forecasting
- Scenario planning and what-if analysis
- Multi-dimensional modeling
- Collaboration
- Automated reporting and dynamic dashboards
- Security and compliance
- Onboarding, training and customer success.
