9 Best Business Budgeting Software Tools of 2024 (2024)

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.

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 for up to 90 days and lets 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.

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. Xero Analytics gives you access to basic, short-term cash flow and future predictions reporting. Note that long-term cash flow predictions (up to 90 days) require a subscription to the highest-tier Established plan. 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. Read our full Xero Accounting review.

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. You can even factor asset, liability and equity accounts into your budgets. 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.

Why we like it: PlanGuru offers much more detailed budgeting and forecasting features than typical accounting software does, including more than 20 forecasting methods that enable you to look at assumptions and key performance indicators, percentage of other accounts and growth rates. 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. The software can also predict cash flow and create budget forecasts for up to 10 years. Keep in mind there may be a learning curve for building these formulas and identifying relevant drivers.

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.

Why we like it: 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, Centage 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. In-depth financial planning and analysis (FP&A) tools can accommodate medium-size businesses with dedicated finance teams, too.

Why we like it: Futrli’s business budgeting software is built for forecasting and predictions, and 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.

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 refining your business strategy, creating a business pitch deck and drafting a complete business plan. Most notably, though, LivePlan helps you build and check your business financials — just answer some straightforward questions and prompts, and the software will construct a visualized forecast. Then, with a few additional inputs, you can use the software to check your forecast in comparison with other similar businesses to feel confident about the forecast you’ve set. 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.

Price: Free.

Why we like it: Spendesk, a spend management software company designed for larger businesses with full finance teams and multiple departments, offers a free version of its budgeting software called Collaborative Budgets. While the software is very basic and lacks the capabilities any of the paid software on this list can offer, it may serve your needs if your business is still in its early stages or if you’re a self-employed professional with limited budgeting requirements. You need only provide your name, email address, the name of your business and the number of employees to create an account and get started. This free version of the software enables you to create an unlimited number of separate budgets to track, and you can invite colleagues to collaborate on the budgets. For each, you’ll enter your total budget and the amount you’ve spent so far, and then the software will generate a tracking bar to visualize your spend versus your remaining budget. To add expenses, you can upload receipts, and the software will automatically read, detect and fill in relevant information, including the payment amount and expense date. And, should you find yourself with greater budgeting and spend management needs as your business grows, Spendesk has plenty to offer in that arena and will have already earned your trust and interest.

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.