When looking for a business plan software with performance tracking to start or grow your business, there are a number of excellent options out there for you to choose from. When sitting down at a restaurant, the more items you can select from on a menu, the more difficult it can be to make a choice.
As you may know by now if you’ve read our article “Brixx vs Float – A Cash Flow Forecasting And Scenario Planning Showdown”, here at Brixx, we enjoy a bit of healthy competition and have done some of the heavy lifting for you by researching the leading forecasting software and business planning tools available and comparing them to what we have to offer.
In this post, we take a closer look at LivePlan – business planning software that helps you plan, fund and grow your business. According to their website, LivePlan easily helps you write a business plan, secure funding, and get insights to help you reach your business goals.
We compare the key features of both LivePlan and Brixx in the article below.
In this post, I’ll be covering:
Comparing key features
Comparing available integrations
Comparing pricing structures
Final thoughts
Be sure to take Brixx for a test drive with the bike shop demo or sign up for a Brixx Free plan to explore our array of features.
Read our full series of comparison posts here:
We’ll begin our comparison of LivePlan and Brixx by looking at their key features. While we have more insight into the functionality of our own software, we’ve decided to play fair and compare only the features as listed on the LivePlan and Brixx websites. Each software speaks more about their features on their website, where you can dive into some more details but for the purpose of this comparison, we’ll stick to a quick overview.
LivePlan
Business planning
One-page plans
Step-by-step guidance
500+ sample plans
Automatic financials
Lender-ready themes
Financial performance tracking and forecasting
Sharing and collaboration
Solutions for entrepreneurs and small businesses; public accountants; SBDC, WBC, VBOC; educators; enterprises; incubators and accelerators; and offer a LivePlan + Quickbooks bundle
Brixx
10 year Cash flow projections and cash flow tracking
Professional reports with automated double entry accounting (P&L and Balance Sheet)
Forecast calculators
Multiple scenario testing
Forecast vs actuals comparison
Move any part of the plan on a drag and drop Timeline
Create a visual representation of your business
Allows for teams, sharing and live collaboration
Solutions for startups, businesses and accountants
One of Brixx’s most popular features is it’s teamwork, sharing and collaboration options. Paul Denning, Yamaha’s World Superbike – Team Principal, shares how the team places importance on teamwork and collaboration to complete their goals.
When looking at the financial forecasting capabilities of each of these platforms, LivePlan’s main focus is on their ability to help companies and startups produce business plans to help them succeed, resulting in their financials being less flexible than Brixx’s. However, LivePlan does offer the ability to produce forecasts up to 5 years in length versus Brixx, which allows you to produce forecasts up to 10 years ahead. Depending on what your main reason is behind your choice of platform, forecast length should be something to be taken into consideration based on your company’s needs.
We know that businesses are often on the fence, debating whether to use a more traditional financial forecasting method like Excel or Google Sheets versus a specialized financial forecasting software like Brixx or a business plan and performance tracking tool like LivePlan. Take a look at our article “Excel And Google Sheets vs Software For Financial Forecasting” for some tips to help you decide.
Comparing available integrations
Automation is king in today’s digital world and having seamless integration options puts business planning tools like LivePlan and Brixx far above those without.
Both the LivePlan platform and the Brixx tool offer add-on options for the Xero accounting system. Boasting a seamless Xero setup and integration, each of these tools aid in the planning, projection and management of business cash flow. Not sure how to use Xero with a tool like Brixx? No problem, we go over this integration in the video below.
LivePlan business plan software currently has an additional integration available versus Brixx but we are excited to announce that we will soon begin work on an integration with Quickbooks. We expect Brixx to quickly become a staple Quickbooks business forecasting tool for startups, businesses and accountants alike once this integration is released.
Don’t worry, we’ll keep you updated on our Quickbooks accounting integration – keep your eyes on the Brixx Blog or join our newsletter by visiting the Brixx website.
Comparing pricing structures
When looking at choosing a business planning and performance tracking software, finances are of utmost importance as you’d want to get a quality tool for a price that won’t make your accountant cringe at year-end. We’ve taken a look at the various packages offered by the LivePlan tool and Brixx to help give you an overview of pricing structures.
For convenience, all pricing structures are reflective of annual billing amounts, with the monthly payment structures available on each of the LivePlan and Brixx websites.
LivePlan For Businesses
Standard – $180 (approximately £130) per year, billed annually
Step-By-Step Instructions
One-Page Pitch Builder
500+ Sample Plans
Full Financial Forecast
Automatic Financial Statements
Premium – $360 (approximately £260) per year, billed annually
Includes everything in Standard, plus:
Industry Benchmark Data
LiveForecast
Financial Forecast Scenarios
Key Performance Indicators
Syncs with Xero & QuickBooks
Performance Dashboards
Milestone Planner
Brixx For Business
Brixx Free – £0
1 organisation
1 plan
1 year forecast
Unlimited sharing
Budget report
Income + Cost
forecasting
Financial dashboard
Essentials – £108 per year, billed annually
1 organisation
1 plan
1 year forecast
Unlimited sharing
Full report suite
3-way forecasting
Financial dashboard
Tax calculations
Cash payment terms
Actuals vs Forecast
Business – £228 per year, billed annually
1 organisation
3 plans
1 – 5 year forecasts
Unlimited sharing
Full report suite
3-way forecasting
Financial dashboard
Tax calculations
Cash payment terms
Actuals vs Forecast
Xero integration
Professional – £348 per year, billed annually
Unlimited organisations
5 Plans
1 – 10 year forecasts
Unlimited sharing
Full report suite
3-way forecasting
Financial dashboard
Tax calculations
Cash payment terms
Actuals vs Forecast
Xero integration
Account Manager
Additionally, both LivePlan and Brixx offers a free version. LivePlan offers a 60-day money back guarantee that acts as a free trial and Brixx offers a 7 day free trial.
Both the LivePlan business planning software and Brixx offer Partner Programs for accountants, bookkeepers and business coaches alike with preferred pricing structures and additional features.
LivePlan For Accountants
The LivePlan for Advisory Program $720 (approximately £525) per year, billed annually
As a member you receive
3 Companies (+1 free!)
Additional Companies are $180/year (If 20+ companies are needed, you can contact LivePlan support)
Unlimited users
1 Free company for your practice
Full access to LivePlan
Onboarding support
Co-branded reports and software
Quarterly CPE webinars
Sales resources for your firm
Priority support
LivePlan Method resource guides
Option to get certified as a LivePlan Expert Advisor
Deliver additional services and advice to your clients
Save time building business plans
Collaborate and share business models with clients
Develop further revenue and profit streams
Differentiate your business with Brixx Partnership
Promote your business with the Brixx Partner assets on your website
When comparing these two heavyweights, their pricing structures are some of the most reasonable when looking at what’s on offer. Depending on what kind of tool your business or practice is looking for, we’re prepared to call this comparison round a draw.
You can read more about the Brixx Partner Program and its benefits in our article “Financial Forecasting For Accountants – The Brixx Partner Program”.
Final Thoughts
LivePlan may be our most interesting competitor yet as they specialize more in business plans designed to help you fund and grow your business with forecasting and modelling options available within the platform as additional features. But here at Brixx, we welcome the challenge of showcasing how our financial modelling and business planning software can benefit your startup, business or accounting practice. In terms of getting more bang for your buck, Brixx certainly seems like the logical choice when it comes to financial forecasting and business scenario planning and with the Quickbooks accounting integration in the works, who knows where the future will lead!
Enjoyed our comparison of the LivePlan business plan and performance tracking software? If you haven’t already, take a look at the rest of our comparison posts:
“You can model scenarios with accelerated growth due to funding or advertising spend, or slow the business growth down to see how those factors change the outcome.”
Jack Berryman – MintMech
5/5
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