RunSmart
LivePlan
The Best Small Business Financial Planning Alternative
Choosing between LivePlan and RunSmart comes down to how you use your financial data and what decisions you want to make. Both platforms help you plan for the future, but they approach financial planning from different angles and are optimized for different user needs. This page helps explain those differences so you can decide which approach fits your needs.
How LivePlan and RunSmart Are Fundamentally Different
The Core Question:
Do you primarily need a structured business plan and budgeting framework, or do you need ongoing, operational, decision-focused financial planning and forecasting? That distinction explains most of the differences between the two platforms.
Who Each Platform Is Built For
Each platform is designed for a different type of user and workflow. Understanding who it’s built for is often the fastest way to determine which one fits your needs.
Key Difference: Structured Planning vs Decision Support
Operational Planning Is Where the Tools Diverge Most
Business Health: Interpretation vs Insight
Another difference is how insight is delivered:
Summary Comparison
Decision Factor
Choose LivePlan If…
Choose RunSmart If…
Primary User
Business Owner, startup, budget creator
Business Owner / Operator
Main Goal
Structured business planning
Planning & decisions
Comfort with Finance
Medium to high
Low to moderate
Planning Focus
Templates & benchmarks
Operational decisions
Output Style
Business plans and budgets
Actionable guidance
Decision Support
Ongoing decisions & planning
Direct insight & guidance
Conclusion
LivePlan and RunSmart are not substitutes in the traditional sense — they reflect two different approaches to financial planning:
Understanding that difference usually makes the choice clear.
Disclaimer
This comparison is based on publicly available information and our understanding of each platform’s intended use cases. Product features and capabilities may change over time.
Frequent Asked Questions
More asnswers to common questions about how RunSmart works and what you can expect.
Many FP&A platforms are built for dedicated finance teams and require significant setup, configuration, and ongoing financial modeling. RunSmart is designed to give business owners powerful financial intelligence and planning capabilities without the complexity of traditional FP&A software.
Simply connect your QuickBooks account and RunSmart automatically analyzes your financial performance, generates forecasts and insights, monitors your financial health, tracks budgets, and produces professional reports without requiring you to build or maintain complicated financial models.
No. RunSmart is designed to make complex financial information easier to understand, even if you don't have a background in finance or accounting.
Plain-language insights, helpful tooltips, and an extensive library of help articles explain financial concepts and results throughout the platform. RunSmart also includes an AI-powered chatbot that can answer questions and explain unfamiliar financial concepts in simple terms whenever you need additional help.
No. RunSmart's financial analysis and forecasts are powered by custom-built statistical algorithms and deterministic financial logic—not generative AI.
This ensures consistent, repeatable financial calculations grounded in your actual business data rather than AI-generated interpretations or predictions.
Unlike financial planning tools that rely on fixed growth assumptions or manually maintained models, RunSmart uses advanced statistical forecasting algorithms to identify historical trends, seasonality, and patterns in your financial data.
RunSmart automatically evaluates multiple forecasting methods and selects the best-fitting model for each financial line item, delivering sophisticated, data-driven projections that automatically update as new financial information becomes available.
Standard and Premium plan users can begin using RunSmart with less than 24 consecutive months of QuickBooks history. While financial forecasting will not be available until 24 months of historical data are available, you can still analyze your historical financial performance, monitor your business's financial health, review key financial metrics, compare your performance against industry benchmarks, and generate professional reports depending on your plan.
Once your business reaches 24 consecutive months of historical QuickBooks data, financial forecasting is automatically enabled. This allows RunSmart's statistical forecasting models to better identify longer-term trends and seasonal patterns, helping produce more reliable forecasts. The more historical data you have for RunSmart to work with, the more reliable the results.
Pro plan users require at least 24 consecutive months of historical QuickBooks data before using RunSmart. The Pro plan is designed for businesses that need advanced forecasting, scenario planning, budgeting, workforce planning, automated reporting, and other forward-looking financial planning capabilities, all of which depend on sufficient historical data to produce reliable results.
No. RunSmart currently supports financial forecasting and planning for individual business entities. It does not support consolidating multiple companies into a single financial model or budgeting by QuickBooks class.
You can manage multiple businesses as separate projects, with each company's financial information analyzed and forecasted independently.
No. RunSmart requires a connection to QuickBooks Online, which is currently its only supported accounting platform. RunSmart automatically uses your QuickBooks financial data to generate forecasts, financial health insights, and reports without manual data entry.
