BEST OF

Best Business Budgeting Software of April 2023

Business budgeting software helps you manage, track and forecast budgets to see how your business is performing financially.

Feb 27, 2023

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This may influence which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money.

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 might 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.

Best Business Budgeting Software

Our pick for

In-depth forecasting

PlanGuru

PlanGuru

PlanGuru

Starting at

$99/per month

Promotion

14-day free trial

Why we like it

PlanGuru offers much more detailed budgeting and forecasting features than typical accounting software does. For example, 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. Just be aware that building these formulas and identifying relevant drivers might be a learning process.

Pros

  • Offers more than 20 forecasting methods including percentage of other accounts, growth rates and assumptions, and key performance indicators.

  • Predicts cash flow and can create budget forecasts for up to 10 years.

  • Can import chart of accounts data from QuickBooks Online or Xero.

  • Scenario analysis tool helps your business plan for “what if” situations.

Cons

  • There will be a learning curve if you’re not familiar with using various projection methods.

  • Accounting data isn’t synced daily. QuickBooks Online integration updates scenarios with actual results on a monthly basis.

Our pick for

Cash flow management

Float

Float

Float

Starting at

$69/per month

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

Promotion

14-day free trial

Why we like it

Float’s functionality doesn’t get quite as granular as PlanGuru 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. 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.

Pros

  • Forecasts cash flow for up to three years.

  • Automatically imports QuickBooks Online and Xero data daily.

  • Scenario planning tool prepares your business for “what if” situations.

  • Streamlined user interface makes it easier to use than some competitors.

Cons

  • Focuses on cash flow only, as opposed to other apps that incorporate profit and loss budgets, etc. This can be limiting for businesses that need a more holistic view of their financials.

Our pick for

Financial planning and analysis

Centage

Centage Planning Maestro®

Centage

Starting at

N/A

Quote-based

Promotion

N/A

Why we like it

If you’re a visual person, Centage Planning Maestro’s dashboard does a great job of displaying revenue percentage by department, 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. In addition to your typical revenue and expense planning, the software lets you import data from your HR software to set budgets for each employee. This is especially helpful if you run a larger small business with a considerable workforce.

Pros

  • Scenario planning tool helps your business prepare for “what if” situations.

  • Can use non-financial drivers, like hours worked or square footage, to calculate expense and revenue budgets.

  • Customizable performance dashboard drills into historical trends and comparisons.

  • In-depth financial planning and analysis tools can accommodate medium-size businesses with dedicated finance teams, too.

Cons

  • Accounting software integrations cost extra.

  • Getting used to various customization options is a learning process.

  • Quote-based pricing isn’t transparent.

Our pick for

Simple budget reports

Xero
Learn more

on Xero's secure website

Xero

Xero

Starting at

$13/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $37, $70.

Promotion

75% off

for first three months or free 30-day trial.

Learn more

on Xero's secure website


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. Just keep in mind that long-term cash flow predictions require a subscription to the highest-tier Established plan. Before you can run reports, you need to enter budgets for each of your accounts. Xero speeds up the process by letting you use preset formulas that adjust an account’s budget by a fixed amount or percentage each consecutive month. Once that’s finished, 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.

Pros

  • Includes budget summary and budget variance reports. You can also add budget columns to other reports, like profit and loss.

  • Can create separate budgets for each tracking category.

  • Predicts cash flow for up to 90 days.

Cons

  • Less detailed insights than standalone budgeting software.

  • No phone number for customer support listed.

Read Full Review

Our pick for

QuickBooks users

QuickBooks
Learn more

on QuickBooks Online's secure website

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks

Starting at

$30/month

Additional pricing tiers (per month): $55, $85, $200.

Promotion

50% off

for first three months or free 30-day trial.

Learn more

on QuickBooks Online's secure website


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, choose the fiscal year you want to budget for and whether you want to see results separated by quarter, month or year. Once the budget has been created, the budgets vs. actuals report will compare your actual account balances vs. projected balances side by side. QuickBooks Online forecasts your cash flow, too, and lists all of the future events and predictions that the forecast is based on. From there, you can edit a future event to see how it would change your forecasted balance.

Pros

  • Includes budget overview and budget vs. actuals reports.

  • Forecasts cash flow for up to 90 days and displays historical cash balance and money in vs. money out trends.

  • Can set budget targets by customer, class or location.

Cons

  • Less detailed insights than standalone budgeting software.

  • Can be expensive.

Read Full Review

What is business budgeting software? 

Business budgeting software helps you manage, track and forecast budgets to see how your business 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 February 27, 2023

To recap our selections...

NerdWallet's Best Business Budgeting Software of April 2023

  • PlanGuru: Best for In-depth forecasting
  • Float: Best for Cash flow management
  • Centage Planning Maestro®: Best for Financial planning and analysis
  • Xero: Best for Simple budget reports
  • QuickBooks Online: Best for QuickBooks users