5 Tools to Help You Visualize and Plan Your Cash Flow

The cash flow software providers on this list can help you monitor one of the most important metrics of your business’s financial stability.

By: Emily Heaslip , Contributor, Share

Cash flow is one of the most important indicators of your business’s health. Your bank account balance can be misleading: Cash flow shows how much actual money is moving in and out of your company, rather than just what’s on paper. 

However, it’s often difficult to manually keep track of cash flow. If you’re struggling to get a clear picture of your business’s financial position, try using one of these tools to help you visualize and plan your cash flow. 

Top cash flow planning tools for small businesses

Look for a cash flow planning tool that is easy to use, integrates with your existing software, and includes forecasting features so you can plan ahead. The tools on this list all have different price points; sign up for free trials, when available, to make sure you find the right fit. 

QuickBooks

There’s a good chance you’re familiar with QuickBooks as an accounting or invoicing tool. Many businesses use QuickBooks for bookkeeping and financial planning. It also includes a cash flow management function on certain paid plans. Use QuickBooks to see your historical cash flow based on your past bank transactions and plan ahead. Paid plans start at $19/month, but for cash flow planning, you’ll need the Essentials plan at $37.50/month. 

Pulse

QuickBooks comes with a range of different accounting capabilities. Pulse is just the opposite: This app only handles cash flow planning. By focusing exclusively on cash flow, Pulse enables a much deeper dive on the business variables impacting your finances. Set recurring expenses to update automatically; monitor by week, month, or custom date range; and create growth scenarios to see how your finances will change. 

“Pulse lets you forecast and play with different scenarios to see the impact on cash-flow,” wrote American Express. “One nice feature is that Pulse lets you organize the cash-flow by the customer and project. You can gain individual insights on how to manage cash-flow for each account.”

QuickBooks comes with a range of different accounting capabilities. Pulse is just the opposite: This app only handles cash flow planning.

PlanGuru

PlanGuru offers a way to view your cash flow statement in a greater context. PlanGuru can create an integrated income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, allowing you to create financial projections for up to 10 years. It syncs with QuickBooks and Excel, making it easy to automatically upload your transactions to PlanGuru. PlanGuru is ideal for mature businesses looking to perform complex analyses. As such, it’s a little more expensive than other tools on this list. Get started with a 14-day free trial; then, pricing starts at $83/month. 

Float 

Float specializes in short- to medium-term cash flow forecasting. It’s one of the more user-friendly tools on this list, with integrations with Xero and QuickBooks that will have you up and running in three minutes. Float lets you add scenarios and budgets to understand the financial impact of making a new hire, losing a customer, or bringing on a new supplier, for example. Easily switch between daily, weekly, or monthly views of 13-week forecasts to get a clear picture of where you stand. Float offers a 14-day free trial, with pricing starting at $50/month. 

Cash Flow Frog

Cash Flow Frog is one of the top-rated cash flow apps on Capterra. It’s specially designed for small businesses to create accurate cash flow forecasts automatically. Cash Flow Frog integrates with your accounting software to pull data into cash flow statements and forecasts—no manual data entry necessary. 

“Cash Flow Frog very easily integrates with my QuickBooks Online account and lets me know about upcoming cash inflows or expenses that could sometimes surprise me. Now I just need to remember to check weekly or monthly the forecast,” wrote one reviewer. 

Cash Flow Frog offers a free trial; pricing starts at $31/month. 

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