1. Spreadsheet templates
The default, and for good reason: free, flexible, and every investor can open one. Free startup model templates from firms like Graphite Financial and Slidebean give you a three-statement structure to fill in.
Best for: pre-seed and seed teams, or anyone who needs a full model for a raise and has the discipline to keep it current. The catch: a spreadsheet is only correct the day you build it, and its formulas break silently as it grows.
2. Dedicated startup modeling tools
Purpose-built to replace the modeling spreadsheet with something more structured and harder to break. Tools positioned here include Sturppy and Forecastr, which help founders build projections and scenarios without wiring up formulas by hand.
Best for: founders who genuinely need a full projection, for a raise or a board, but do not want to maintain it in Excel. The catch: you are still building and owning a model, which is real work whatever the interface.
3. FP&A platforms
The heavier category: budgeting, actuals-versus-plan reporting, and integrations with your accounting and CRM data. Finmark, Abacum, Jirav, Mosaic and Baremetrics’ forecasting all live around here, aimed at finance teams more than solo founders.
Best for: companies with a finance hire, multiple scenarios, and enough data flowing to justify the integrations. The catch: cost and setup assume someone owns the numbers full time, which most early startups do not have.
4. Lightweight runway trackers
The newest category, and the honest place for us to put ourselves. A runway tracker is not financial modeling software. It does not build a three-statement model or forecast a fundraise. It answers the narrower question most early founders actually have day to day: how many months of cash are left, what is my burn, where is MRR going, and what changes them.
Plainhub is one: you record money events in plain words and runway, burn and MRR stay live, with no bank logins and no model to maintain. Best for: founders who want the key numbers current without building or owning a model. The catch: if you need a full projection for a Series A board deck, a tracker is not that, and one of the categories above is the right tool.
How to choose
Match the tool to the complexity you have, not the one you imagine. If your main question is runway, a template or a tracker is enough. If you are raising and need a defensible model, move to a template or a dedicated modeling tool. If you have a finance owner and integrated data, an FP&A platform earns its cost. The most common mistake is buying the heaviest tool first and never keeping it current, which is worse than a simple number you actually trust.
Product details and pricing in every category change often, so confirm on each vendor’s own site before you commit. To pressure-test the specific numbers first, the cash runway, burn rate and cash flow forecast calculators are free and need no signup.