A recent study shows that poor budgeting management (or its poor understanding) significantly contributes to the failure of small businesses. SMBs often have trouble even reviewing their expenses and spending, let alone more complex financial metrics.
Fortunately, we have modern technology to help. These ten best business budgeting software tools help you plan better while also automating processes, so you don't have to worry about manual inputs and misstypes.
Let’s see which one is best for your needs.
Fuelfinance is a cloud-based financial planning and analysis software that helps businesses keep their finance in check and make data-driven decisions for steady and wise growth. We help small businesses and startups meet all of their financial needs from a single dashboard.
Need proof? Here are some of our recent results:
Plus, G2 nominated us as a “High Performer” in the categories of Budgeting and Forecasting, Financial Analysis, and Cash Flow Management.
The Fuelfinance dashboard gives you all the crucial business financial information in an easy-to-understand way. Your current state is neatly organized in key SaaS metrics and three basic financial statements – profit and loss (P&L), cash flow data and balance sheet. But, if you like the traditional Excel-like look, you can easily export all data to Google Sheets.
Other features include:
Sign up for a demo to try it out for free.
Fuelfinance integrates with plenty of popular tools you already use, such as:
Users love Fuelfinance for its feature-rich toolbox combined with an intuitive interface, which shows in great user ratings:
Cube is a comprehensive financial analysis tool with good financial planning and strategy capabilities. It works as an add-on to Excel or Google Sheets but organizes the data in a more visual manner than spreadsheets, with graphs and charts.
Cube Software has a decent integrations list, including:
Customers usually rate this business budgeting software quite highly:
The few complaints refer to the complexity and occasional integration difficulties.
Annaplan is a comprehensive planning platform with tools for optimizing multiple business operations – finance, sales & marketing, supply chain, HR and workforce. This suite of features is practical for enterprises and large businesses. However, if you’re a small or medium company that just needs to focus on finance and budgeting, you may find its features (and cost) a bit much.
Anaplan is a full-service business planning suite, but it can also work in tandem with other apps, such as:
For the most part, Anaplan meets the expectations of enterprise customers, with some complaints regarding occasional slower performance when dealing with large data sets. Here are its ratings on popular software review sites:
See also: Anaplan competitors
Planful is a financial performance management platform that can also help you with plans for operations, HR, sales and marketing. This business budgeting tool is a good QuickBooks alternative, as it also covers accounting and consolidation processes.
Planful offers more than 1,400 pre-built connectors. It integrates with accounting software, business intelligence platforms, CRMs and ERPs. Popular connectors include:
According to users, the platform is versatile and flexible, suitable for both finance teams and human resources. Customers also appreciate seamless integration with numerous BI tools. Complaints mention a dated interface and difficulties in using the planning feature. Here are its ratings:
See also: Planful competitors
Workday Adaptive Planning is a cloud-based enterprise budgeting and forecasting software. It helps businesses adapt to changing conditions, improve collaboration and make informed decisions based on real-time data.
This business budgeting tool’s dashboards centralize all your data, offering convenient access to reports on key metrics and various scenarios, with options to drill down into details and explore further.
The platform connects with various data sources, including ERP, CRM and HR systems. This integration opens access to trusted data across the organization, enhancing the accuracy of planning and forecasting. Some popular integrations include:
Users appreciate Workday's integration with tools like Excel and other systems, allowing them to consolidate data seamlessly and provide real-time updates. The downsides that users mention include the tool being slow and the formulas difficult to use. Here are its ratings:
Vena Solutions is a financial planning tool that integrates with Microsoft Excel. It provides organizations with budgeting, forecasting and reporting capabilities, enhancing collaboration within teams. The platform automates repetitive financial processes, significantly reducing the time spent on budgeting and improving overall efficiency.
Vena Solutions integrates scattered data into a centralized database, bringing your financial and operational data together into one dashboard. It connects with tools like Sage Intacct, Oracle, QuickBooks and NetSuite.
Users like the layout of the tool, offering easy access to all crucial capabilities. However, some of them report experiencing unexplained data losses. Its ratings on software review sites are:
See also: Vena competitors
Pigment combines people, data and processes in one platform, helping businesses create and manage their plans and resources. It provides an intuitive interface, facilitates collaboration and has tools for real-time data analysis.
Pigment connects with ERP and accounting tools like Sage Intacct and NetSuite. It also integrates with many HR and ATS systems such as Greenhouse, Lever and Workday Adaptive Planning.
Larger companies appreciate Pigment's integration with different HR and finance tools. Its data updates make it a good solution for collaborative planning and sales performance management. However, some users find it challenging to master the tool's extensive functionality. Here are its ratings:
See also: Pigment competitors
Datarails is a financial planning and analysis platform for Microsoft Excel users. It’s a QuickBooks alternative that automates financial processes such as data consolidation, reporting and planning. Finance teams using Datarails can keep their existing Excel spreadsheets and models while enhancing efficiency.
Datarails works with over 200 integrations, including accounting software, ERP systems, payment solutions, HR systems and CRM platforms. Some popular integrations include Xero, Oracle NetSuite, BambooHR and Shopify.
Users value the varied feature set, reporting automation and forecasting accuracy. However, a few people remarked that the setup process was slower than they had hoped. Its ratings on software review sites are:
See also: Datarails competitors
Prophix is a business budgeting software solution that lets you create a custom dashboard from scratch. Start with a blank canvas and select tiles for various metrics, choosing their position and adjusting the size. You can select a table view that looks like Excel or turn your data into graphic visuals.
Profix offers multiple integrations to enhance its corporate performance management (CRP) capabilities. Some commonly integrated systems include Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, SAP, Salesforce, Dell Boomi and Power BI.
Users appreciate the automation features that streamline budgeting, forecasting and reporting processes. However, some feedback points to challenges with processing speed during complex operations, such as running forecasts or large reports. The ratings are as follows:
Jedox is an enterprise performance management (EPM) software for planning, analytics and reporting across various business functions, including finance, sales and human resources. The software utilizes a cell-oriented, multi-dimensional, in-memory OLAP database, making it practical for budgeting, forecasting and data consolidation tasks.
Jedox extracts data from databases such as Microsoft SQL, Oracle and IBM. It also integrates with ERPs and CRMs like Salesforce and Oracle NetSuite, as well as analytics tools like Tableau.
Users appreciate the seamless data integration and the ability to combine financial and operational data from various sources. They don't like that the tool requires a stable internet connection for optimal functionality. Its ratings are:
Here are a few tips that will help you choose the right business budgeting software:
Note that none of these tools provide pricing information. That’s because business budgeting software solutions have plans tailored to the individual business’ needs. You’ll need to contact these providers for custom quotes.
The budgeting process can feel daunting, especially if you're doing it manually and starting from scratch. But with the right business budgeting software platforms, the experience can be easy and – we dare say – fun.
Fuelfinance is a small business financial management solution that lets you create an accurate budget fast, even if you don't know complex formulas. Skip messy spreadsheets and complex processes, and check out this tool made by experts – featuring automatic data pulling and a financial expert always ready to help.
Book a demo to try it out for free.
Fuelfinance is considered one of the best financial reporting and business budgeting tools due to its user-friendly interface, all-in-one financial data and advanced automation.
Yes, Excel can be used as a budgeting tool. It has various templates and features that allow users to create personalized budgets. However, it’s not the most complex or intuitive option.
QuickBooks is primarily an accounting software. If you want to create practical business budgets, consider alternative options. For example, if you're looking for a small business budgeting software, Fuelfinace could be a better fit.
Creating a budget plan for your business involves several steps:
We even created a business budget template you can use.
