Best Budgeting and Forecasting Tools 2025

Suffice it to say, every business leader would agree they want profits up and losses down, right? To achieve and maximize revenue growth, you must be able to accurately forecast and budget for the future. Budgeting and forecasting tools make this task easy to accomplish with utmost accuracy. 

Let’s take a look at the best budgeting and forecasting software, as well as uncover how to choose the best financial forecasting software for your business’ unique needs.

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What is Budgeting vs Forecasting Software?

Budgeting and forecasting are often conflated terms because they both have to do with finances and require taking a forward-looking approach. While they work hand-in-hand, budgeting and forecasting software is slightly different due to the nuances of their duties. 

Budgeting is based on expectations about what a business will earn in a set period, and includes how the business will allocate these earnings (money) to accomplish its goals. Budgeting takes into account both revenues and expenses. 

Forecasting is a prediction of future economic conditions based on present and historical data. With forecasting software, businesses can apply statistical models to accurately predict what’s upcoming, including potential opportunity and risks, along with how to plan for them. 

How to Choose Budget and Forecast Tools?

Before we dive into the best forecasting software and the best budgeting software, let’s see what criteria is worth going through on your journey of selection. It’s helpful to consider: 

1. Business Growth

If you’ve ever added a new technology within your organization, you know that it requires change management, acceptance, training, and time. As such, you’ll want to select a software now that can grow with your changing business needs over time. This way, you won’t have to upgrade in the near future again. 

2. Current Challenges

What does your business need to forecast and budget? Think about your current challenges, along with what capabilities you wish to unlock. For example, do you need advanced analytics? Is market volatility a big topic on your list? 

3. Existing Tech Stack

What current tools do you use? You’ll want to ensure that your newest addition will work alongside your existing tech stack so that data can transfer easily and communication lines remain open. 

4. Business Users

Perhaps most importantly, who will be using the budgeting and forecasting tools? How well-versed are your team members with technology? The top-tier tools tend to be those that require no coding and can be utilized by everyone, regardless of their technical acumen, so that the tool is desirable rather than standoffish. 

What is the Best Budget and Forecasting Software?

With the aforementioned list in mind, it’s time to explore our favorite budgeting and forecasting tools for your perusal. 

1. SolveXia - The Best Finance Automation Solution 

We’re kicking off with SolveXia because of the robust capabilities that it delivers to finance teams of any size. SolveXia is a low-code financial automation platform that automates spreadsheet-driven data and manual processes. 

By deploying SolveXia, your finance team can run processes 85x faster with 90% fewer errors, allowing businesses to allocate their human resources to value-add work rather than redundant, manual labor. 

With SolveXia, you can automate key finance processes, including: reconciliation, expense management, rebate management, revenue reporting, and process optimization. 

Its revenue management capabilities mean that your team can access rapid data modeling and what-if scenario modeling in real-time so that stakeholders and key decision makers can make informed decisions without delays. Plus, with audit trails and secure data, everyone can rest assured that sensitive financial information remains protected. 

Features: 

• Low-code solutions
• Modern cloud architecture 
• Process automation 
• Predictive analytics 
• Centralized and bank grade secure data 

Pros: 

• Fully customizable 
• Quick to deploy 
• Customizable and automated reporting 
• Powerful SQL-based database for storage and processing 
• Audit trails 

2. Phocas

Phocas is a business intelligence and financial analysis platform. One of its standout functions is its ability to centralize data across departments, which makes its forecasting and trend analysis highly trustworthy. 

Features:

• Customizable dashboard
• Security controls
• Collaborative workflows 
• AI feature 

Pros:

• Quick to provide insights 
• Can utilize different forecasting functions per department 

Cons: 

• Steep learning curve 
• Includes a lot of data which may be overwhelming to grasp at first 

3. Anaplan

Anaplan’s financial management platform is designed for finance and FP&A teams. It made the list as one of the top selections for large-sized companies because you can easily connect people and data at scale. 

Features:

• Cost and profitability analysis
• Scenario modeling
• Financial reporting
• Management reporting 

Pros:

• User-friendly interface 
• Personalized dashboards 
• API integrations 

Cons: 

• Security may be considered broad 
• Custom-builds require effort and time 

4. IBM Planning Analytics

IBM Planning Analytics is a great tool for businesses that wish to analyze financial data points for forecasting. With access to both AI and IBM experts, its users have resources to leverage to help with financial goal-setting. 

Features:

• AI Forecasting
• Drag-and-drop functionality with Microsoft Excel 
• Mobile capabilities 

Pros:

• Real-time insights 
• Automated financial processes 
• Predictive analytics 

Cons: 

• Requires some coding knowledge 
• Large reports may fail
• Steep learning curve 

5. Board 

Board is an enterprise planning platform for predictive analytics and financial intelligence. It brings together data across departments so that teams can have greater visibility for decision making regarding budgets and forecasts in a centralized and visual manner. 

Features:

• Data visualization 
• Data security 
• Integrated information 
• Easy installation 

Pros:

• No code platform 
• Multi-language support 
• Scalable 
• Customizable for your needs 

Cons: 

• Outdated user interface 
• Dedicated resources needed 
• Limited third-party integrations 

What are the Key Features of Budget and Forecasting Tools?

We’ve covered how to choose the best budget and forecasting tools based on your business needs, as well as some of our top picks. But, what exactly should you be looking for when researching all the options out there? 

Here’s a checklist that covers the basic key features of these technologies. 

1. Advanced Analytics

Advanced analytics are what empower accurate forecasting and allow for your team to focus on high-level tasks, all the while, the software is performing the calculations. 

2. Data Processing

With automated data processing, you get to wave goodbye to manual data entry, which leads to errors and lost time. 

3. Data Integration

For forecasting and budgeting to be accurate, it’s of paramount importance that all your data is centralized and connected. With existing systems, this is only made possible through data connectors and integrations. 

4. Custom Reporting

Every stakeholder and business leader has their own concerns and perspectives when reviewing data and insights. With customized reporting, each person can gain access to user-friendly reports and dashboards that provide what they need most at-a-glance. 

5. Automated Workflows

Budgeting and forecasting tools remove manual labor and data tasks from your team’s workload. The best finance software, like SolveXia, provides drag-and-drop functionality, along with pre-built templates, so that anyone is able to design automated workflows without hassle. 

What are the Benefits of Budget and Forecasting Tools?

Budget and forecasting tools provide a lot of upsides to an organization of any size, including:

1. Increased Accuracy

Advanced algorithms, automated data processing, and data integration result in fewer to no manual errors. As a result, businesses gain access to more precise and timely forecasts and budget expectations to make smarter decisions. 

2. Improved Collaboration

With cloud-based tools and secure data storage, any user can access the information they need from wherever they may be. Process automation also lends itself to increased transparency, thereby removing key person dependencies and bottlenecks from threatening workflow productivity. 

3. Minimized Overspending

When you can trust your financial forecasts and budgets, your business can reduce the risk of overspending and protect cash flow. 

4. Rectify Issues

Data can help you locate any potential issues before they grow out of control. Forecasting can shine a light on possible upcoming problems, so your team members and leaders can take action now to minimize losses and shift course as needed. 

5. Support Investment

Forecasting tools that deliver accurate predictions for the future can assist investors and stakeholders in knowing whether to invest in your business or not. With trustworthy data that shows upside, there’s no reason why they’d want to say no! 

6. Promote Scalability

As data volume grows, you want to make sure that your tech stack can keep up. That’s why it’s important to choose from the best forecasting and budgeting tools that support scalability and never compromise performance, no matter how large data sets may grow. 

What are the Different Types of Budget and Forecasting Tools?

Before you go, it’s useful to be aware that there are different types of forecasting tools available. When you know what you’re looking for, it’s always easier to find it. 

1. Budgeting and Forecasting Software

This is the type of software we have referenced throughout this whole article. It is technology that is designed to handle financial details, like expense planning, revenue estimated, and budgeting. 

2. Sales Forecasting Software

As the name implies, sales forecasting software is dedicated to sales, such that it can be used to analyze different marketing strategies, like the use of discounts versus rebates, for example. The goal of this software is to assist sales teams in meeting their goals and maintaining the proper inventory levels. 

3. Demand Forecasting Software

Demand forecasting software helps to understand customer behaviors and trends so that businesses can optimize inventory levels. 

4. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software

ERP software is made to centralize all of a business’ core processes and efforts, including HR, finance, manufacturing, procurement, etc. It provides a centralized view and single source of truth to enhance visibility, decision making, and access to data. 

Closing Thoughts

There are plenty of benefits that come along with utilizing budgeting and forecasting tools. While it’s impossible to fully know the future, budgeting and forecasting technology can give you a pretty good estimate of what to expect. 

With this type of data-backed knowledge, you can remain confident in your decision making capabilities so that what you do today can support tomorrow’s business goals.