Around 40% of small businesses carry over $50,000 in debt, and 13% owe a jaw-dropping $500,000 or more. Debt can be a resource for growth, sure, but it can also feel like a heavyweight pinning you down.
And finances aren’t the only thing business owners are wrestling with. There’s hiring, marketing, product launches and all the other fires that need constant putting out. Meanwhile, managing cash flow or tracking numbers on spreadsheets eats up precious hours—hours you could spend growing your business or sleeping through the whole night for a change.
Here’s the good news: there are some awesome financial management tools that make life easier. Want to calculate interest on a loan? Done. Forecast cash flow? No problem. These platforms are life savers, whether you’re running a startup or an established business.
In this article, we’ll sort through the options, covering their features, integrations and user reviews to help you pick the right one for your company.
Fuelfinance makes managing your finances simpler and smarter. It’s a cloud-based platform combining AI and expert insight to automate data collection and improve decision-making. You get reliable financial forecasting for startups and SMBs, opportunities for growth and plans for the future—all backed by solid, actionable data.
A personalized dashboard shows your financial health in real time. See your cash flow, profit and loss and balance sheet data all in one place. It’s clear, organized and easy to understand, so you can make smart decisions fast. It also imports data from accounting software and suggests the key KPIs to follow for maximum success.
Fuelfinance isn’t only about data collection and dashboards, though.
You also get real, human support. A dedicated financial expert works with you at all times. Think of them as your outsourced CFO, offering advice and ongoing support to guide you toward your financial goals.
With Fuelfinance, you can focus on growing your business, knowing your financial data is in expert hands.
Sam’s story is a perfect example of what Fuelfinance does for SMBs.
As the founder of Testimonial Hero, Sam previously felt stuck in uninspiring and non-proactive financial systems and collaborations. Fuelfinance changed that. The platform helped reduce his company’s finance and accounting costs by a whopping 50%. With weekly advice, easy-to-read dashboards and in-depth analytics on key agency metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (LTV) and conversion rates, Sam gained confidence in his financial decisions and peace of mind. As he shared, “We cut our costs in half, we’re getting way more, and I can sleep way better at night!”.
Ready to manage your finances with confidence?
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With Fuelfinance, every business can manage finances like a pro—pre-seed startups included.
Fuelfinance Bootstrap is a financial management plan designed for pre-seed founders. It offers the essential tools to scale without running out of cash. With clear dashboards, P&L reports, a QuickBooks integration and excellent financial management literacy resources, you can optimize finances, impress investors and confidently grow your businesses.
With Fuelfinance, you get both AI and human support in all features:
Fuelfinance works seamlessly with over 350 tools to boost your financial management.
Connect to accounting software like QuickBooks to pull in and manage data. Sync with solutions like Gusto and Deel to handle your payroll management tasks directly within Fuelfinance. Customer relationship management (CRM) integrations, including Salesforce and Hubspot, let you manage finances, track leads and send trigger emails—all from one place. Fuelfinance also supports analytics and data management tools like Google Analytics and Google Sheets, so you can easily import and view your data in familiar formats.
Fuelfinance has an impressive 5 out of 5 star rating on Capterra.
Cube is a cloud-based financial planning and analysis (FP&A) tool that integrates with Excel and Google Sheets. It connects with existing enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) to quickly access financial details and supports multi-currency evaluations.
The tool offers customizable dashboards that display key financial metrics like revenue forecasts, expenses and variance analysis of financial transactions. Businesses can tailor these dashboards to show the most relevant data for decision-making. For example, a company might choose to display departmental spending breakdowns or customer acquisition costs.
See also: Cube vs. Datarails
Cube connects with CRM tools like Hubspot and Salesforce. Businesses can also connect it to QuickBooks, Power BI and Databricks to optimize financial planning, data visualization and advanced analytics.
Cube scores 4.5 out of 5 stars on G2.
Datarails is a business budgeting software and forecasting tool for companies that track their finances with Excel. It uses AI to automate data aggregation and reporting. The FP&A Genius assistant answers financial questions instantly using historical data, while Storyboards helps build presentations and uncover the context behind businesses’ data.
Datarails automatically syncs changes to a centralized database whenever users update financial data. It also notifies relevant teams of these changes, ensuring real-time communication across departments.
See also: Datarails competitors
Datarails integrates with business intelligence tools like Power BI and Tableau, CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce and accounting tools like Xero and QuickBooks. These integrations help centralize data and access all insights in one place.
Datarails has a 4.8/5 rating on Capterra.
Pigment is a business planning platform that helps finance and HR teams collaborate on financial plans and forecasts. It allows headcount planning to align hiring with revenue goals.
Teams can also create multidimensional plans with financial modeling software that analyzes financial data from various angles, such as country, department, cost center and time frame. This enables businesses to forecast, budget and analyze financial performance from different viewpoints for more accurate planning.
See also: Pigment competitors
Teams can connect Pigment to ERP and accounting software like NetSuite and Sage Intacct to get a unified view of their data. The platform can also sync with data management tools like Snowflake and Azure SQL to ensure teams work with up-to-date information.
Pigment has 4.6 out of 5 on G2.
Anaplan is another financial management solution that helps businesses manage their financial performance. It integrates data from ERP systems and CRM platforms to support financial planning and analysis.
The platform uses its Hyperblock calculation engine to efficiently handle large datasets. Instead of recalculating all data, it updates only the changed sections based on user inputs, ensuring speed and accuracy.
Teams can create four types of dashboards with Anaplan:
See also: Anaplan competitors
Anaplan connects with CRM tools like Salesforce and data management platforms like Tableau. It also supports Power BI integration for better data visualization. Anaplan offers APIs that let teams connect with other tools they use.
Users rate Anaplan with 4.3 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
Planful automates accounting and finance management. It uses AI to offer real-time insights into an organization's financial health and cost performance. Its predictive analytics highlights potential financial trends.
Businesses can create custom dashboards with Planful’s drag-and-drop tool. Users can drill down into detailed data or zoom out for a broader view. This ensures key insights are clear without juggling multiple chart versions.
See also: Planful competitors
Businesses can integrate Planful with CRM platforms like Salesforce, ERP tools like Oracle and accounting software solutions like QuickBooks. This way, Planful merges financial data, operational insights and customer information for more informed financial decision-making.
Planful has a 4.3/5 score on G2.
Vena is financial planning software that works as an Excel add-on. It automates reconciliations and version control and provides pre-configured budgeting and financial planning templates.
Vena users can also access reporting financial tools to create and track custom KPIs and visualize financial data through graphs and dashboards.
See also: Vena competitors and Vena vs. Datarails
Vena integrates with Sage Intacct, Oracle and Microsoft 365 tools, as well as QuickBooks. These integrations help automate data collection, reporting and forecasting.
Vena has 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterrra.
NetSuite, a cloud-based ERP platform, offers financial management, CRM and eCommerce capabilities in one platform.
It automates tasks like matching invoices to purchase orders and bank reconciliation using real-time data. Finance teams can easily create budgets and reports, such as balance sheets and income statements. It also allows inventory tracking and scenario modeling to explore different financial outcomes.
The NetSuite Financial Management tool works within the NetSuite environment. It also offers the NetSuite Connector, a paid add-on. This connector lets businesses link their point-of-sale systems, Shopify POS or Oracle Simphony POS, so sales and payment data syncs directly with NetSuite. It can also connect to Salesforce CRM to sync financial data between both systems.
Users rate NetSuite with 4 out of 5 stars on G2.
Xero is cloud-based accounting software that helps businesses manage invoicing and expenses. Its dashboard gives a real-time snapshot of finances, including cash flow, invoices and spending.
Xero lets teams create custom reports on, e.g., expenses and profitability, displayed through easy-to-understand charts and graphs. It also synchronizes daily bank data, ensuring accurate bookkeeping. Plus, it offers cash flow predictions, which help businesses prepare for future inflows and outflows.
See also: Xero alternatives
Businesses can extend Xero’s functionalities with integrations like eCommerce platforms such as Shopify, the marketing tool Mailchimp and the project management platform Accelo. This way, they can further optimize operations and see all business data in one place.
Xero’s score on G2 is 4.4 out of 5 stars.
Expensify simplifies tracking and reporting company expenses. Users can upload receipts and log cash expenses. It connects accounting, HR, payroll management and travel systems into one platform.
Expensify automates expense reporting by scanning receipts, syncing credit card transactions and matching them to receipts. An Insights and Custom Reporting feature provides real-time data on company spending, covering categories like employees, departments and projects. Users can create visual reports to analyze this data.
Expensify offers HR platform integrations like Gusto and Deel, accounting software like Xero and QuickBooks, and receipt integrations with companies like Uber and Delta. This helps businesses access and manage data from various sources and automate tasks like reporting and payments.
Users rate Expensify with 4.4 out of 5 on Capterra.
Every business is different, and so are its finances. That’s why it’s important to consider your specific needs when choosing the right financial management tool.
You need to be clear about what you want to achieve with your financial management tool. Will you use it to track cash flow? Or perhaps improve budgeting and forecasting? Here are some additional questions to help you define what problems you want to solve:
No matter your industry, your business data likely comes from several sources. For example, if you’re a SaaS company, you probably use tools like Salesforce for CRM, Stripe for payments and Jira for project management. To keep all of this data in sync and make sense of it, you’ll need a financial management platform that connects easily with the specific apps you’re already using.
Depending on the type of business and its stage of development, the features and capabilities you need from a financial management tool will vary. To pinpoint what you need, think about the metrics that matter most to your business.
Does your company rely more on revenue growth or cash flow statements for decision-making? Do you frequently track profitability or operational efficiency?
You need a solution that presents the metrics that matter to you in a way that’s easy to understand.
You need more than just software that combines your data and generates basic reports. You need a true financial partner who understands your unique needs and can grow alongside you.
A big part of this is having a strong support system in place. You don’t want to be left to handle complicated financial tasks alone. The right financial tool should give you clear insights from your data, help you understand it and make the most of it. This includes access to knowledgeable support, whether for troubleshooting or strategic advice.
Running a small business or startup brings exciting moments—like launching a new update or landing a big client. But let’s be honest, managing finances isn’t usually one of them. That’s where Fuelfinance comes in. It turns your financial challenges into opportunities.
Fuelfinance simplifies everything. It gives you clear, actionable insights into your finances. And when we say actionable, we mean it. Your dedicated manager provides advice based on your unique data to help you make smart decisions. Plus, you’ll get forecasts showing you what’s coming and reports focusing only on the key metrics that truly matter to your growth.
If this sounds like something that could make managing finances easier—and help you sleep better at night—book a demo today to try Fuelfinance.
Financial management tools simplify budgeting, tracking financial KPIs and forecasting trends. They offer finance-specific features, such as customized dashboards and real-time insights, that help reduce errors and provide a deeper understanding of finances.
A financial tool helps you manage, analyze and improve your finances. It simplifies complex data and turns it into clear insights. This way, you can make better financial decisions without wasting time on manual calculations.
Some of the most commonly used financial management tools include Fuelfinance, Google Sheets, Excel and QuickBooks.
The best financial tool for your business depends entirely on your needs. It should make tracking the KPIs that matter to you easy, offer clear and customizable dashboards and include expert support to help you manage your business finances confidently.
