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9 Best Business Budgeting Software Tools of 2024

Business budgeting software helps you manage, track and forecast budgets to see how your business is performing financially.
By Hillary Crawford, Karrin Sehmbi
Last updated on June 4, 2024
Edited by Sally Lauckner
Fact checked and reviewed

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Business budgeting software helps ensure your business is on track to meet its financial goals. Some business owners use spreadsheets as their main budgeting tool; however, the downsides are manual data entry and the risk of human error. If you prefer a more automated approach to the process, business budgeting software could be a better alternative. The best tools let you create account budgets, run budget variance reports, forecast cash flow and, in some cases, choose between different projection methods or plan for worst-case scenarios.
Conveniently, accounting software typically covers the basics with income and expense tracking, budget creation tools and customizable financial reports. For more detailed insight into strategies for cutting costs and boosting revenue, you may prefer to sync your accounting software with a separate budgeting app.
Here are our top picks for business budgeting software tools and what makes them stand out.

Sponsored partner picks for

In-depth forecasting

PlanGuru

Cash flow management

Float

Best Business Budgeting Software Tools

Product
Promotion
Learn more

QuickBooks Online

Learn more

on QuickBooks Online's secure website

5.0/5

Best for All-in-one budgeting software

$35/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $65, $99, $235.

70% off

for first three months or free 30-day trial.

Learn more

on QuickBooks Online's secure website

Xero

Learn more

on Xero's secure website

5.0/5

Best for All-in-one budgeting software

$20/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $47, $80.

95% off for 3 months

plus get a $300 Amazon voucher (terms apply).

Learn more

on Xero's secure website

Zoho Books

Learn more

on Zoho Books' secure website

4.5/5

Best for All-in-one budgeting software

$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $20, $50, $70, $150, $275.

14-day free trial

of the Premium plan.

Learn more

on Zoho Books' secure website

PlanGuru

Best for In-depth forecasting

$99/per month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $299.

14-day free trial

Float

Best for Cash flow management

$69/per month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $119, $249.

14-day free trial

Centage Planning Maestro®

Best for Financial planning and analysis

N/A

Quote-based.

N/A

Futrli

Best for Software integrations

$35/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $200, $375, $500.

14-day free trial

LivePlan

Best for Startups

$20/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $40.

N/A

Budgeto

Best for Easy to use business budgeting software

$25/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $30, $35, $40, $45.

14-day free trial

Our picks for

All-in-one budgeting software

If you already use (or are planning to use) one of these top accounting solutions, then the features and reports they offer will likely satisfy your business budgeting software needs.

QuickBooks Online

Learn more

on QuickBooks Online's secure website

Starting at
$35/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $65, $99, $235.

Promotion
70% off

for first three months or free 30-day trial.

Learn more

on Xero's secure website

Starting at
$20/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $47, $80.

Promotion
95% off for 3 months

plus get a $300 Amazon voucher (terms apply).

Zoho Books

Learn more

on Zoho Books' secure website

Starting at
$0

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $20, $50, $70, $150, $275.

Promotion
14-day free trial

of the Premium plan.

Our pick for

In-depth forecasting

PlanGuru

Starting at
$99/per month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $299.

Promotion
14-day free trial

Our pick for

Cash flow management

Float

Starting at
$69/per month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $119, $249.

Promotion
14-day free trial

Our pick for

Financial planning and analysis

Centage Planning Maestro®

Starting at
N/A

Quote-based.

Promotion
N/A

Our pick for

Software integrations

Futrli

Starting at
$35/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $200, $375, $500.

Promotion
14-day free trial

Our pick for

Startups

LivePlan

Starting at
$20/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $40.

Promotion
N/A

Our pick for

Easy to use business budgeting software

Budgeto

Starting at
$25/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $30, $35, $40, $45.

Promotion
14-day free trial

NerdWallet’s picks for the best business budgeting software

QuickBooks Online

Best for all-in-one budgeting software
Why we like it: QuickBooks Online’s Plus and Advanced plans come with basic tools that’ll familiarize you with the budgeting and forecasting process. To start out, determine whether you want to create a profit and loss budget, to track performance against predictions, or a balance sheet budget, to track your financial position over time. Then choose the fiscal year you want to budget for and whether you want to see results separated by quarter, month or year. QuickBooks Online has a planning tool to help you see how future adjustments will affect your cash flow. The software also enables you to set budget targets by customer, class or location. Read our full QuickBooks Online review.

Xero

Best for all-in-one budgeting software
Why we like it: If you already use Xero for accounting, you’ll be happy to know that simple budgeting features are at the tips of your fingers. Before you can run reports, you need to set up the primary budget for your organization, then you can create separate budgets for each category you’d like to track. Once you’ve set up your budgets, you can run the budget variance report or even add a budget column to a separate report, like your profit and loss statement, to compare numbers. Read our full Xero Accounting review.

Zoho Books

Best for all-in-one budgeting software
Why we like it: If you already use Zoho Books for accounting, then you can also put it to use for your business budgeting needs. The software lets you build budgets and view budget variance reports to get a better sense of how your business is performing in relation to the budget you’ve set. Zoho Books also has some helpful automated functions when it comes to budgeting, including the ability to create a budget from your previous years’ actuals and auto-fill data. Keep tabs on your budget with profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow reports. Read our full Zoho Books review.

PlanGuru

Best for in-depth forecasting
Why we like it: PlanGuru offers much more detailed budgeting and forecasting features than typical accounting software does, including more than 20 forecasting methods, and it can predict cash flow and create budget forecasts for up to 10 years. Instead of guessing what an account budget should look like any given month, you can create custom projection formulas based on financial and non-financial drivers. Keep in mind there may be a learning curve for building these formulas and identifying relevant drivers.

Float

Best for cash flow management
Why we like it: Float’s functionality doesn’t get quite as granular as PlanGuru’s does, but for business owners who want a more user-friendly experience, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The software has a clean user interface and analyzes historical accounting data to suggest budget values for you if you’re not sure where to start. This is a plus for business owners who need more features than their accounting software offers but are still relatively new to budgeting. Float’s business budgeting software forecasts cash flow for up to three years and automatically syncs with Xero to give you a real-time view of your cash flow and forecasting. The app also helps businesses plan for worst-case scenarios with a dedicated tool that shows how certain events, like losing a valuable client, would affect cash flow.

Centage Planning Maestro

Best for financial planning and analysis
Why we like it: Centage Planning Maestro’s dashboard visualizes top-line data for a number of criteria, along with yearly financial comparisons and monthly trends. The amount of information can be overwhelming at first, but business owners who take a more in-depth approach to financial planning and analysis will appreciate it.  Advanced financial planning and analysis (FP&A) tools can accommodate medium-size businesses with dedicated finance teams, too.

Futrli

Best for software integrations
Why we like it: Futrli, which was acquired by Sage in 2022, makes business budgeting software designed for forecasting and predictions. It integrates directly with top accounting software solutions, specifically Sage, QuickBooks Online and Xero. Futrli offers more than 60 reporting and dashboard templates and robust budget variance tools. It also gives you a three-year forecasting view that updates daily. The least-expensive plan, Single, is designed for small businesses and sole proprietors.

LivePlan

Best for startups
Why we like it: At its core, LivePlan is software designed to guide you through the business planning and startup process. It takes the guesswork out of drafting a complete business plan, creating a business pitch deck and refining your business strategy. Most notably, though, LivePlan helps you build and check your business financials — answer some straightforward questions and prompts, and the software will construct a visualized forecast. LivePlan integrates with QuickBooks and Xero, so it can keep up with your business budgeting needs as they evolve. To get access to LivePlan’s ongoing budgeting tools, including analytics dashboards and accounting integrations, you’ll need the Premium plan.

Budgeto

Best for easy to use business budgeting software
Why we like it: Budgeto’s business budgeting software stands out for its simple interface and intuitive user experience. Before you begin using the software, you’re prompted to enter some basic information about your business, including the country in which it’s based and the currency in which it operates. This ensures the financial budgets, forecasting and reports conform to the specific needs of your business. Budgeto also makes it easy to share your budgets with your business collaborators and import your accounting data from QuickBooks Online or Xero (provided you choose the respective upgrade option).

What is business budgeting software? 

Business budgeting software helps you manage, track and forecast business budgets to see how your company is performing financially. It should have strong reporting capabilities that allow you to generate and manage financial statements, like cash flow reports and profit and loss statements, and compare actual income and expenses against projected figures. 
While some accounting software products have budgeting tools, there are distinct solutions that dig a little deeper if you want to predict how a particular business decision could affect your cash flow. Before you dive into your options, consider how pricing, user experience, accounting tools and more will play into your decision-making process.
Last updated on June 4, 2024

Methodology

NerdWallet independently reviews accounting software products before determining our top picks. We collect the data for our software ratings from products’ public-facing websites and from company representatives. Information is gathered on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy.
NerdWallet’s accounting software ratings favor products that are easy to use, reasonably priced, have a robust feature set and can grow with your business. The best accounting software received top marks when evaluated across 10 categories and more than 30 subcategories. Learn more about how we rate small-business accounting software.
These ratings are meant to provide clarity in the decision-making process, but what’s best for your business will depend on its size, growth trajectory and which features you need most. We encourage you to research and compare multiple accounting software products before choosing one.
NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.
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