Best Runway (now cfo.ai) alternatives for startup financial planning (2026)

Runway, the financial planning tool for startups, rebranded as cfo.ai on September 10, 2026 and launched an AI CFO called Ari. Teams usually look for Runway alternatives when the model outgrows the product's opinions, not the price: when every assumption has to become a dimension, or a change that should take minutes needs support or SQL.

The best Runway alternatives depend on what you've outgrown. If you want your model back in a spreadsheet with live data underneath, look at Aleph or Cube. If you want a web planning app with more modeling depth, look at Abacum, Drivetrain or Pigment. If you're very early and mostly need a plan for investors, LivePlan or a good template is enough.

Bottom line: Stay on cfo.ai (formerly Runway) if you're pre-Series A, one person owns the model and presentation matters more than depth. Move if your model needs formulas the interface won't express, you're reconciling messy entity or customer data, or the AI-CFO direction isn't what you bought. Aleph is our pick for teams that want the model in Excel or Google Sheets on live data; Abacum and Drivetrain are the strongest web-native alternatives.

What happened to Runway?

Runway Financial, the startup FP&A company founded by Siqi Chen, now operates as cfo.ai. Its September 10, 2026 announcement describes the company as "cfo.ai (formerly Runway)" and introduces Ari, an AI agent that connects to a company's systems to build models, forecast cash and run scenarios. The old Runway product pages now redirect to cfo.ai.

Two practical notes if you're comparing older lists. First, runway.com now belongs to a different company, Runway AI, the generative video business, so links to "Runway" in older roundups may not go where you expect. Second, cfo.ai hasn't published a migration or support plan for existing Runway models that we could find, so if you're a current customer, ask your account team directly what changes for you.

Why teams look for Runway alternatives

The reasons that come up in public reviews and competitor comparisons are consistent, and they're mostly about the model, not the money.

• Large models slow down. As the number of entities, products and scenarios grows, performance becomes the complaint.
• Everything has to fit the product's structure. Runway models are built around its own logic, so assumptions that don't fit become workarounds. Advanced modeling has needed SQL.
• Formula flexibility is limited. Finance teams used to Excel hit cases the interface won't express, and changes start depending on support.
• Messy data needs cleaning first. Reconciling inconsistent customer or entity names usually happens outside the tool.
• The product is changing. With the cfo.ai rebrand, the focus has moved to an AI CFO for founders. That's a real product, but it's a different purchase from the planning tool many teams bought.

None of these mean Runway was a bad choice. They're what happens when a startup's finance function grows past the stage the tool was designed for. The usual trigger is the first full-time finance hire: the founder built the model to tell a story, and the new hire needs a model they can audit, extend and reconcile to the books every month.

Should you stay on cfo.ai?

Stay if you're pre-Series A or early Series A, one person (often the founder) owns the model, and what matters most is a clean board view of burn, runway and hiring. That's what the product was built for, and the AI CFO direction is aimed at exactly that buyer. cfo.ai publishes its pricing: Startup at $375 a month billed annually and Growth at $1,125 a month, with a 14-day trial.

Move if a finance hire now owns the model, you need formulas and structures the interface won't let you build, or your board wants answers that need data from several systems reconciled first.

Runway alternatives compared (2026)

The clearest way to split the alternatives is by where the model lives: in your spreadsheets on live data, or inside a web planning app.

Pricing and setup claims come from each vendor's own site, checked October 2026. Two names you'll still see on older Runway alternatives lists are no longer live options: Finmark's site now redirects to BILL, and Causal now describes itself as part of Lucanet.

The best Runway alternatives, one by one

Aleph

Aleph is the pick for teams that want to leave a web modeling app and get their model back into Excel or Google Sheets, without going back to manual exports. It connects to the accounting system, CRM, billing and HRIS through more than 150 connectors and syncs that data into the spreadsheets through two-way add-ins, so formulas are just formulas again.

• Strengths: full spreadsheet flexibility on live data; works in both Excel and Google Sheets; scenarios and versions stored centrally; AI analysis on top of the same data.
• Considerations: quote-based pricing; if your team wants to stop using spreadsheets entirely, a web-native app may suit your culture better.

Cube

Cube keeps finance in Excel or Google Sheets with a governed data layer behind it. It's a fast first platform for small teams that are comfortable in spreadsheets.

• Strengths: works in both Excel and Google Sheets; three published plan tiers (Bronze, Silver and Gold), with MCP integration listed on the upper tiers.
• Considerations: prices are quote-only; very large or multi-entity models can push the spreadsheet layer. See our Cube alternatives breakdown for how it compares.

Abacum

Abacum is the strongest web-native planning workspace for startups moving into mid-market, with collaborative budgeting and department-owner input. It raised a $60M Series B led by Scale Venture Partners.

• Strengths: collaborative workflows for budget owners; an Excel connector for teams that still want to pull numbers into a sheet.
• Considerations: the team's daily modeling moves into the app, and pricing isn't published. Our Abacum alternatives page covers the rest of the field.

Drivetrain

Drivetrain is a web planning platform for teams that have outgrown spreadsheets and want more modeling structure than Runway offered.

• Strengths: a large integration catalog (its site lists 800+ connectors), and an FAQ that says most implementations take 4 to 6 weeks.
• Considerations: it's another web app, so you trade spreadsheet freedom for structure; pricing isn't published.

Jirav

Jirav suits fractional CFOs and accounting firms that build forecasts and dashboards for many clients. It's one of the few tools here with published prices, starting at $50 a month, and it lists Excel and Google Sheets among its integrations. See our Jirav alternatives for the comparison.

Datarails (FinanceOS)

Datarails automates consolidation and reporting for teams that want to stay in native Excel. It relaunched as FinanceOS in March 2026, with its Excel FP&A features still available. It's a better fit for consolidating and reporting actuals than for the driver-heavy startup models Runway users usually build.

Pigment

Pigment is a flexible web planning platform built for larger companies that plan across sales, workforce and finance together. It now markets AI agents for modeling and analysis and an MCP server. For most startups leaving Runway, it's more platform than they need today, but it's worth knowing if you expect to scale fast.

Bob Finance (formerly Mosaic)

HiBob acquired Mosaic in February 2025 and the product now ships as Bob Finance inside HiBob's HR platform. HiBob describes it as the first mid-market FP&A tool fully integrated within an HCM platform, so it fits companies already on HiBob that want headcount and financial plans in one place. Our Mosaic alternatives guide covers what the acquisition changed.

Fathom and LivePlan

Two lighter options for very different jobs. Fathom is built for advisors producing reports across many small clients, with published pricing. LivePlan is for very early founders who mainly need a business plan and a basic forecast for a pitch.

Which Runway alternative fits your stage?

Stage is the fastest filter, because the job of the model changes as the company grows.

• Pre-seed and seed: the model's job is to show investors a credible plan and keep an eye on burn. A template, LivePlan or cfo.ai itself is usually enough. Don't buy a platform you'll spend more time configuring than using.
• Series A: the first finance hire arrives and the model has to reconcile to the books every month. This is where most teams leave Runway. Spreadsheet-native tools (Aleph, Cube) suit a hire who thinks in Excel; web apps (Abacum, Drivetrain) suit a team that wants structure from day one.
• Series B and beyond: budget owners, multiple entities and board packs that tie to audited numbers. Look for live connections to every source system, version control and permissions, which narrows the list to the more established platforms in the table.

How to choose a Runway alternative

Answer three questions in order.

1. Who owns the model? If it's still the founder, a lighter tool or cfo.ai itself may be enough. If it's a finance hire, pick the tool that hire can change without support.
2. Where do you want to work? If your team thinks in formulas, a spreadsheet-native tool gives the flexibility back. If you want structure and a shared app, go web-native.
3. What does the board ask for? Burn, runway and hiring can come from almost any tool here. Cohorts, unit economics and multi-entity reporting need live data from several systems, which narrows the list fast.

Whatever you pick, run the board metrics the same way you did before. The burn multiple, defined by David Sacks as net burn divided by net new ARR, is one investors still use, and every tool above should be able to calculate it from your actuals. If you're not sure you need a platform yet, our guide on when to move from Excel to FP&A software covers the signals, and the best FP&A software by company size shows what fits each stage.

What to ask in a demo when you're leaving Runway

Bring your real model to every demo, and ask each vendor to show rather than tell.

• Rebuild one of our Runway assumptions, say a hiring plan with ramp times, while we watch. How long did it take, and could our finance hire change it alone?
• Connect our accounting system and one other source live. How fresh is the data, and how do we fix a mapping when it's wrong?
• Show the same model with 3 scenarios and 24 months. Does it stay fast?
• How do we get a number out to the board deck: export, sync, or live link?
• What does the price look like when we add 5 more users or a second entity?

If a vendor can't rebuild a simple Runway assumption on the call, the migration will be harder than the sales process suggests.

Migrating your model off Runway

Plan the move around what transfers and what doesn't.

• What carries over easily: historical actuals (they come from your accounting system, not Runway), your chart of accounts, the hiring plan as a list of roles and start dates, and headline assumptions like growth rates and churn.
• What you rebuild: formula logic, dimension structures and any scenario setup. Treat this as a chance to simplify.
• How to run it: rebuild the core three statements first, check the new model against one closed month in Runway, then add scenarios. Keep the old model read-only until the first board meeting on the new one.

For a starting structure, our SaaS financial model template covers the standard build, and our guide to cash flow and runway forecasting software covers the cash side.

Where Aleph fits

Aleph is for startups whose model has outgrown a web planning app but who don't want to go back to pasting exports into spreadsheets. It connects your accounting, billing, CRM and HR systems and keeps the model in Excel or Google Sheets, so the finance team can change any assumption with a formula and the actuals underneath stay current. Book a demo to see your Runway model rebuilt on live data.