Best Rolling Forecast Tools in 2027: 6 Picks Compared

Key Takeaways

• Choose by the question you must answer every week. A cash-first tool answers whether cash lasts the next 13 weeks, while a planning tool answers how the P&L, balance sheet and scenarios move over a longer window.

• A rolling forecast keeps the same forward window: each closed period is replaced with actual results, and a new period is added at the far end.

• Four of the six vendors here publish at least one plan price on their own pricing page: Float, Fathom, Jirav and LivePlan. Datarails and Abacum are quote-based.

• Float is the clearest published fit for a cash forecast fed by Xero. Jirav's published starting prices sit on its accounting-firm plans. LivePlan publishes the lowest per-month figure in this set, but its pricing page does not mention rolling forecasts.

• Confirm the rolling feature, the forecast horizon and the accounting connection in a live demo before you buy, because several vendor pages do not state them.

• TL;DR: a rolling forecast is only as current as its connection to your books, so verify that connection before you compare prices.

Pick the category before the brand

A rolling forecast is a projection that keeps the same forward window, so each week or month the closed periods are swapped for actuals and a new period is added at the end. The term covers cash, P&L and balance sheet forecasts, which is why the first question is which one your firm needs.

For a small accounting business the choice usually splits into three categories. A cash-first tool connected to your ledger is the shortest path when the question is cash for the next quarter. A planning product that models the P&L and balance sheet fits when the question is whether the firm's own profit holds up across scenarios. A spreadsheet-first product fits a team that already runs its model in Excel and wants to keep it there.

Older survey: around 40% of companies had adopted rolling forecasts according to FP&A Trends Group (2017). The same report says only around 20-25% of those companies were satisfied with the results, so adoption alone is not evidence that a tool works.

How we evaluated these tools

This is an informed buyer's guide built from public pages, not a hands-on test. Each criterion carries a weight that reflects how much it changes the buying decision for a small accounting business. The weights are our judgment, and no vendor supplied them. Where a vendor page is silent, the matrix below says "Not stated" rather than filling the gap.

The weights total 100%. The two heaviest criteria are rolling mechanics and the accounting connection, because a forecast that does not refresh from the books fails the weekly review even when its price is right.

Feature matrix from public pages

The matrix records only what each reviewed page states. "Not stated" means the page did not say, not that the feature is missing.

Float's Xero page says Xero's built-in tool covers up to 180 days, while Float forecasts reach 36 months, and that Float imports bank transactions, invoices and bills on a set cadence. Xero sync cadence: invoices and bills every 24 hours according to Float (2026). The connection is one-way and read-only, so Float can read Xero data but cannot change it.

Jirav's help center sets out its rolling workflow in 5 steps: set a plan of record, clone it into an active plan, move the forecast start date, build a variance report, and carry the active plan into next year, according to Jirav (2026). That workflow is the strongest rolling-mechanics evidence in this set, and it is a planning workflow rather than a cash view.

Datarails' guide, last updated September 23, 2026, says its platform provides rolling and scenario features and lets teams keep working in Excel, according to Datarails (2026). Fathom's pricing comparison lists rolling forecasts, but the text the page exposed did not show which plan includes them, so that gap needs a direct question.

What the tools cost

Pricing checked October 26, 2026. Only prices printed on each vendor's own pricing page appear below. Third-party listings were used to cross-check plan scope, never as a source for any figure in the table.

Float's Growth plan costs $265 a month billed monthly or $215 a month billed annually, for companies above £2m in revenue, and its Growth and Scale plans include 36-month forecasts. Float's Small Business plan starts from £99 a month, and its prices exclude VAT, according to Float (2026). Some third-party listings show different Float figures, so use the vendor page for any purchase decision.

Pro plan price: $450 a month for 25 companies according to Fathom (2026). Fathom prices by connected company, so cost rises as you connect more client files, and its Enterprise tier is quote-based for groups above 50 companies.

Jirav's Controller Essentials plan starts at $50 a month and CFO Enterprise at $150 a month, according to Jirav (2026). The pricing page gives starting prices only and does not say what each plan covers, so ask about user limits and forecast length before comparing.

Standard plan price: $15 a month, paid annually according to LivePlan (2026). LivePlan's Premium plan is listed at $30 a month paid annually on the same page.

Datarails lists three quote-based tiers, Professional, Premium and Expert, according to Datarails (2026). Rework's comparison, updated August 21, 2026, lists Abacum as quote-only with a demo required, according to Rework (2026).

Vendor profiles

Float

Float suits a firm that runs its books on Xero and wants a cash view that refreshes on a regular rhythm. Its Xero page describes a read-only connection, and its forecasts are framed around cash flow rather than a full P&L. Float's pricing page describes separate plans by revenue band, so confirm which band the firm falls into before you request a demo.

The limitations are the scope and the currency. The Small Business price is shown in pounds, the Growth and Scale prices are shown in dollars, and all prices exclude VAT. Implementation means connecting the Xero ledger, letting the first import finish, and then setting the forecast window and review cadence. Float is the clearest published fit in this set for a cash-first question.

Fathom

Fathom suits a bookkeeping or advisory firm that manages several client companies and wants one reporting layer. Pricing follows the number of companies connected, as shown on Fathom's pricing page, so the cost model fits a firm whose client count is stable.

The limitations are the unknowns. The comparison lists rolling forecasts, but the text did not confirm which plan includes them, and its cash-flow landing page says it maintains live forecasts without naming the accounting systems it reads from, per Fathom's cash-flow page. Before you connect client files, confirm that the plan you buy includes rolling forecasting.

Jirav

Jirav suits finance teams that want a formal plan of record and an active plan that the team measures against. Its help center describes that cycle in detail, including the variance report, and it publishes starting prices for accounting-firm plans on its pricing page. Rework notes that these monthly plans are aimed at accounting firms rather than direct corporate buyers.

The limitations are the missing scope. The pricing page gives starting prices and no plan contents, so the buyer must ask what each tier includes. Implementation starts with building the plan of record from the current budget. Expect the first cycle to take the most work, because the baseline sets every later variance.

LivePlan

LivePlan suits smaller businesses that want a profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow forecast in one plan. Its pricing page describes the goal as creating projected statements "without complicated spreadsheets," and it lists up to 10 scenarios for best-case and worst-case planning, per LivePlan's pricing page.

The limitations are the gaps on that page. It does not mention rolling forecasts or the number of forecast years, and its Team column appears without a price. Connecting accounting software updates forecasts from actual results, so the prerequisite is a supported accounting connection. Confirm both the rolling feature and the connection on a live call before you buy.

Datarails

Datarails suits a team that wants Excel to remain the working surface. Its guide lists rolling and scenario features and says teams can stay in Excel, per Datarails' guide. Pricing is quote-based across three tiers, according to Datarails' pricing page.

The limitations are the missing connections and the sales-led process. The pages reviewed name no accounting system Datarails reads from, so ask which ledgers and file sources the model can use. Implementation means migrating the existing Excel model, which is the work that determines timing more than the license does.

Abacum

Abacum suits teams where scenario modeling is the main job. The homepage reviewed describes scenario planning, and Rework lists Abacum as quote-only with a demo required. Its pages do not name rolling mechanics or any accounting integration in the text reviewed, so both need to be confirmed with the vendor.

The limitations follow from that gap. A buyer should request a quote and ask for a demonstration of a rolling update, plus the exact list of supported ledgers. Abacum belongs on a shortlist only if scenario depth matters more than a cash view tied to the books.

Who this is for

This guide is for an owner or operations lead at a small accounting business who needs a current cash or P&L view before the next hiring or client decision, and who can name the ledger the forecast should read from.

Red flags: there is no single system of record for bank data, invoices and bills; the expectation is that software will replace the monthly review; or the firm needs a formal multi-year budget before its monthly close is stable.

A decision checklist

1. Name the ledger the forecast reads from. If the vendor does not support that system in writing, stop and ask.

2. Set the horizon first: 13 weeks for a cash decision, a longer window for a plan.

3. Ask for a live demo of one rolling update: close a month, watch the window roll, and confirm that actuals replace the forecast. For the comparison step, the budget-vs-actual reporting dashboard comparison shows how to set up the variance view.

4. Get the plan scope in writing for the price you are quoted, including users, entities and forecast length.

5. Assign a review owner and a cadence: weekly for cash, monthly for the P&L.

Common mistakes

• Comparing prices across currencies or billing periods, such as pounds against dollars or monthly against annual.

• Assuming a feature exists because a logo or a comparison row mentions it.

• Buying a planning suite when the real question is cash next quarter.

• Skipping the actuals check, so the forecast drifts away from closed months without anyone noticing.

• Treating a third-party listing as the vendor's own price.

Building it yourself or using a configured workflow

Zapier, Make and n8n can move bank, invoice and bill data into a forecast sheet. When they are configured for it, they can keep run histories, retries, error branches and audit evidence. The difference is ownership: the buyer designs and maintains idempotency so a rerun does not double-count invoices, the escalation path, the access controls and the upkeep when an API changes.

US Tech Automations could configure a proposed workflow for this job, though it is not a live deployment. The trigger is a scheduled run each Monday or a new bill appearing in the ledger. The action pulls open invoices and bills from the ledger through an API or a scheduled export and writes them into the forecast sheet. The output is a variance summary of forecast against bank actuals, sent to a review queue. Prerequisites are API credentials or export access and a named forecast owner, and the human review point is the owner approving any change to the forecast before the summary leaves the firm.

A second proposed workflow would watch receipts. When actual receipts land below forecast by a threshold the firm writes down in advance, the workflow creates a task for the owner with the affected invoices listed. The threshold must be set by the firm, and the owner decides whether to change the forecast or to chase the payment.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations: if the only question is a 13-week cash view from Xero, a published cash-first product already covers that job with less setup. If one person updates a spreadsheet once a month, a template costs less to keep. If the firm needs a planning suite with its own approval workflow, start with one of the planning products above.

A worked example in hours

Consider an illustrative 12-person firm that rebuilds its own 13-week cash view by hand. If pulling bank and invoice data takes 3 hours each week, the view costs 39 hours a quarter, because 13 weeks times 3 hours is 39. If a configured pull cuts that weekly work to 45 minutes, the quarter uses 9.75 hours, because 13 times 0.75 is 9.75. The firm returns 29.25 hours a quarter to the team, which is 39 minus 9.75. This is a calculation for a hypothetical firm, not a customer result, and the saving only holds if the review step still happens every week.

Frequently asked questions

Which tool is the best starting point for a small accounting business?

There is no single winner, so start with the question you must answer every week and the ledger you already use. A cash-first tool fits a Xero-based firm that needs cash visibility, and a planning product fits a firm that needs scenarios.

Do Float and Fathom both support rolling forecasts?

Float's pricing page states a 13-week rolling forecast for short-term cash management. Fathom lists rolling forecasts in its comparison, but the plan that includes them was not confirmed from the page text.

Is a rolling forecast the same as a budget?

No. A budget fixes targets for a year, while a rolling forecast keeps moving forward and replaces closed months with actual results.

Why are Datarails and Abacum not priced?

Both vendors publish quote-only pricing, so you need a quote to get a figure. Rework lists Abacum as quote-only with a demo required.

Can a no-code tool do this instead?

Yes, if you own the design. Zapier, Make and n8n can move the data, but you must design and maintain the retries, controls and audit trail yourself.

Do the published prices include VAT?

Float's pricing page says its prices exclude VAT, so add it before comparing with a total you pay. Check the other vendors' pages for their own tax treatment before you compare totals.

Conclusion

Start with the question you must answer each week, then check the ledger connection before you compare any price. If you need a cash view tied to Xero, Float is the clearest published option in this set. If you need a planning workflow, confirm the plan scope for Jirav or LivePlan first, and treat the quote-based tools as a sales-led step. For a configured version of the workflow above, with its prerequisites and review points, see how US Tech Automations configures this.