Fathom vs Spotlight Reporting: Advisory Guide 2026

The short answer for a partner choosing now

Choose the full Fathom pack when the firm wants branded management reports, KPI analysis, and three-way forecasting for a defined set of companies, and the published Gold tier matches that count. Choose Spotlight Reporting when the firm wants reporting, forecasting, and dashboards inside one accountant subscription, with industry templates and a longer published forecast horizon. Choose Fathom's lighter Portfolio plan only as a watch-list across a large client base, not as a substitute for either full pack. Neither product has been discontinued. Fathom was acquired, and its full product is now sold as Fathom Pro, which the pricing page says was formerly just called Fathom.

TL;DR: for about 25 organisations that each need a real pack, the published monthly prices sit close together, and the decision is forecast depth and what is included, not a dramatic price gap. For a hundred companies you only want to scan, Portfolio is the published cheap watch-list, and it is not the full tool.

Management reporting software is the layer that turns a closed ledger into a client pack, a forecast, and a meeting, rather than another copy of the profit and loss the ledger already prints.

Key Takeaways

• Fathom's reporting product is owned by The Access Group after an acquisition announced on 24 August 2022, and it is still sold. It is not the meeting recorder, the website analytics tool, or the real-estate brokerage that share the Fathom name.

• The Gold tier on Fathom is $450 per month for 25 companies, plus $17 per extra company. The Portfolio plan is $67 per month for 100 companies and does not include the full report, forecast, and consolidation set.

• On the US accountant price list, the Basic plan is $329 per month for up to 10 organisations, the Super VCFO 25 plan is $495 per month for up to 25, and the Super VCFO 75 plan is $995 per month for up to 75. Enterprise on both products is quote-based.

• Spotlight Reporting's accountant price card says consolidation of up to 75 entities. The same vendor's feature guide describes not-for-profit reporting through to 500+ entity groups, and Multi is a separate conversation with an account manager. Do not treat those caps as one number.

• A partner who only needs the ledger's own statements should not buy either subscription. A firm that needs the pack filed, reviewed, and chased across tools still has a handoff problem after the subscription is signed.

What you are actually comparing

The search "fathom vs spotlight reporting" points at two cloud tools accounting firms use on top of Xero, QuickBooks, or MYOB. This article is about that pair only. The management reporting product is the one published at Fathom's own pricing page. Other businesses use the Fathom name for call recording, for website analytics, and for a residential brokerage. Those are different companies, with different prices, and they are outside this choice.

Fathom has not been shut down or renamed out of existence. The Access Group announced the acquisition on 24 August 2022, when it described a base of 7,500 customers across 31 industries and 81 countries, and 2022 customer count: 7,500 according to The Access Group (2022). The product page in 2026 still carries The Access Group's name in the copyright line, and the pricing page still sells Fathom Pro and a newer Portfolio subscription. Portfolio did not replace Pro. The pricing page says Pro remains the full analysis tool, and a Portfolio company can be upgraded to Pro when that client needs the deeper pack.

Spotlight Reporting has not been renamed or withdrawn on the pages reviewed for this guide. The US accountant price list still sells a suite under that name: management reporting, forecasting, dashboards, and, from the Super VCFO 25 plan upward, Sustain for environmental, social, and governance reports. Multi, the tool aimed at franchises, associations, and large like-for-like groups, is described on that same page as a separate product to discuss with an account manager. A buyer who heard an older story about a workpapers tool should confirm they are looking at this reporting suite and these plan names before comparing a quote.

Both tools sit in the same job. A practice closes the ledger, then needs a pack a client will actually read: results against budget, a cash view, a short comment, and sometimes a group total. Xero and QuickBooks already print statements. Firms add Fathom or Spotlight Reporting when the native reports are too thin for a board cycle, a lender conversation, or a multi-entity client. A December 2025 note from an ICAEW practice that deploys both tools names five situations where that extra layer earns the fee, including multi-entity consolidation, a regular branded pack, operational KPIs beside the financials, and an integrated three-way forecast, according to PushDigits (2025). That is a practitioner's sorting rule, not a lab test, and this guide does not claim a test of either product.

The category decision comes before any brand preference. If the client book is mostly single-entity and the partner is happy presenting the ledger's own profit and loss, neither subscription is the next purchase. If the firm has already promised consolidated packs, scenarios, or a portfolio view of who needs a call this week, the ledger is no longer enough, and the rest of this guide is the comparison that matters. Firms weighing a wider set of reporting tools can also read our reporting tools for accounting firms after this head-to-head, not instead of it.

Who this is for

This guide is for a partner in an advisory-focused accounting firm who is close to signing. You already run client work on Xero, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, or MYOB. You are choosing the system that will produce the monthly or quarterly conversation, not shopping for a general ledger. You care about how many organisations a published price covers, whether a group consolidation is in that price, how far the forecast goes, and how much training is included before the first renewal.

It is also for the manager who will own the template. That person needs to know which plan includes a dashboard for every client, which plan includes one training session a year, and which plan stops at a watch-list. It is less useful for a finance team inside one operating company that has no client book, and it is the wrong page for anyone comparing meeting bots or web analytics.

Red flags: you have not confirmed which Fathom you were quoted, because a meeting-tool price has nothing to do with this reporting product. You need a public monthly price for a book larger than the top published tier, and you are treating a sales conversation as if it were a price list. You plan to rely on one consolidation number after seeing that Spotlight Reporting's own pages do not all state the same cap.

How we evaluated these tools

The weighting below is for an advisory partner, not for a single-company finance team and not for a software reviewer scoring screenshots. Six checks decide the recommendation. Portfolio coverage is heaviest because a plan that cannot hold the book you already serve is not a candidate, however polished the sample pack looks. Consolidation is next, because multi-entity clients are the usual reason a firm outgrows the ledger. Forecast horizon, the advisory pack itself, and whether a price is public each take an equal middle weight. Implementation is real, but it is last: a training session does not rescue a cap that is wrong for the book.

Each weight is paired with a minimum proof count. A criterion without that proof on a page opened for this guide is marked as not published, not as a failure of the product. No ranking score was invented, and no review-site star rating is used, because a readable rating page was not available in this research pass.

The weights sum to 100%. A product can pass the price check with the word quote-based, as long as the page says the tier is quoted rather than implying a number. A product does not pass the horizon check just because the marketing line says the forecast is long term. The year count has to be on the page. That rule is why Fathom and Spotlight Reporting do not get the same mark on forecast length later in this guide.

Our reading of the weights is simple. A firm with 20 full advisory clients should spend most of its attention on the 25% and 20% rows, then use the price row to see whether the included organisations match. A firm with a handful of deep forecasting clients and a long tail of compliance-only clients should split the tools in its head: full pack for the few, and only then ask whether a watch-list tier is worth adding. The weights are not a scoreboard the vendors can win. They are there so two partners in the same firm argue about the same factors.

Where the products differ in daily use

Read the pricing and feature pages as a partner who has to produce next month's meeting, and the products separate on seven practical points. Fathom splits a cheap portfolio view from a full Pro company. Spotlight Reporting bundles reporting, forecasting, and dashboards into the accountant plans, then holds Multi aside. Fathom states consolidated reporting for up to 300 entities on the pricing page. Spotlight Reporting's US accountant card states consolidation of up to 75 entities, while its feature guide uses a much larger figure for not-for-profit groups. Fathom lists three-way, driver-based, and long-term forecasting without a year count on the pricing page. Spotlight Reporting's feature guide states a profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow forecast for up to 5 years.

The pack itself is where the month is won or lost. Fathom Pro lists branded reports, commentary, scheduled reports, variance, and export to Excel and PDF. Portfolio companies get summary reports from an insights dashboard, not that full editor, unless the company is upgraded. Spotlight Reporting's feature guide lists an executive summary, a chart gallery, PDF reports, and Excel export and import. Chart library size: 100+ charts according to Spotlight Reporting (2026). The same guide lists cash flow forecasts for up to 5 years, and it describes not-for-profit reporting from a single entity through to 500+ entity groups.

Dashboards and training are plan-dependent on Spotlight Reporting, not a single yes for the brand. The US accountant page shows one dashboard per organisation on the Basic plan and unlimited dashboards from the Super VCFO 25 plan up. It shows one training session a year on Basic, and unlimited training on the higher named tiers. Fathom's pricing page lists unlimited users on the plans it describes, and it does not itemise a training-session count. Sustain, the ESG reporting module, is included from the Super VCFO 25 plan on the page we opened. It is not listed on Fathom's pricing page, so this guide does not claim Fathom lacks it forever. It claims only that the page did not list it.

A 5 October 2026 write-up by dataSights, which sells a competing consolidation product and says so on the page, reported three figures on Spotlight Reporting's own site at once: groups of up to 75 organisations, a 50-entity figure on other pages, and up to 500 entities in Spotlight Multi, according to dataSights (2026). Treat that as a warning to confirm the cap on the order form, not as a fourth official price. The figures this guide relies on for a buy decision are the ones on the vendor pages opened for the pricing section.

Ledger coverage is wide on both, and it is not identical. Fathom's pricing page names Xero, QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, MYOB, Excel, and FreeAgent. Spotlight Reporting's feature guide names QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, MYOB AccountRight, Sage 50, Excel, and Google Sheets, plus industry templates for hospitality, professional services, retail, real estate, and others. PushDigits, in the note already cited, describes both products pulling from Xero and QuickBooks. A firm whose clients are mostly on FreeAgent should confirm Spotlight Reporting before assuming a connector. A firm with Sage 50 files should confirm Fathom the same way.

Published prices and a year of cost

Pricing checked October 10, 2026. Every dollar figure in the table is a monthly price printed on the vendor's own pricing page in USD for this research pass. Where the page did not print a number, the cell says quote-based. Annual totals are not listed, because the pages price by the month.

Fathom prices by how many companies you connect. On the USD view of the pricing page, the Gold tier of Fathom Pro is the 25-company band. Gold tier price: $450 per month according to Fathom (2026). That same page includes 25 companies in the $450, adds $17 per extra company, and states that this works out at $18.00 per company. The Portfolio plan on that page is $67 per month for 100 companies, stated as $0.67 per company per month. Enterprise is custom pricing for 51+ companies, and the page tells a firm with more than 50 companies to ask for a quote for the whole portfolio. Prices on that page exclude sales tax. Consolidated groups are free, with no limit stated on how many groups you create. The page also offers a 14-day trial on the Pro and Portfolio paths, and it says there is no minimum term.

Do not slide the Gold extras past the point where the page switches you to Enterprise. The $17 extra-company rate is printed on the Gold tier. The same page says more than 50 companies is a quoted Enterprise plan. This guide does not multiply the $17 rate into a 60-company or 80-company total, because that would invent a price the page refused to print.

Spotlight Reporting's US accountant page, with USD selected, prints three monthly figures and one contact-us tier. Basic plan price: $329 per month according to Spotlight Reporting (2026). The same page prices the Super VCFO 25 plan at $495 per month for up to 25 organisations, and the Super VCFO 75 plan at $995 per month for up to 75 organisations. Enterprise is contact-us pricing for 75+ organisations. The page states a 14-day trial with no credit card required. The Basic card includes management reporting, forecasting, dashboards, consolidation of up to 75 entities, certification, onboarding, and one training session a year. The Super VCFO 25 plan adds unlimited dashboards, Sustain, a dedicated customer success manager, and unlimited training. Multi is not given a dollar figure. The page says to discuss it with an account manager, so Multi is quote-based.

The useful comparison for a full advisory book of 25 organisations is Gold at $450 per month against the Super VCFO 25 plan at $495 per month. Those are both full-toolkit prices on the pages opened. Portfolio at $67 per month is not in that pair. It buys a watch-list, summary reports, and 36 months of history per company, and the pricing page says a company must be upgraded to Pro for advanced analytics, custom reporting, three-way cash flow, and consolidations. A firm that puts Portfolio in a spreadsheet next to Spotlight Reporting's Basic plan will conclude that Fathom is several times cheaper. That conclusion is only true if the firm does not need the pack.

Our analysis of the price list, separate from the figures themselves, is that Spotlight Reporting sells a higher included service level inside the subscription: training counts, a named success manager from the middle tier, and Sustain. Fathom sells a lower entry to full reporting at the 25-company Gold tier, a very low price for scanning a large book, and a hard turn to a quote once the book passes 50 companies. A firm that wants the price to stay public while the book grows from 25 toward 50 should ask Fathom how the $17 extra-company rate applies before the Enterprise quote begins, and should get that answer in writing. A firm that wants the price to stay public past 75 organisations will not find it on Spotlight Reporting's accountant page either.

Fathom, in the form sold now

Fathom, in the 2026 pricing page, is two subscriptions under one brand. Pro is the tool firms already picture: branded management reports, KPI and variance analysis, three-way cash flow forecasting, scenarios, driver-based models, multi-currency consolidations with eliminations, benchmark groups, and a commentary writer. Portfolio is the newer, thinner layer for a whole client base: one view, grouping, a drill from a trend, summary reports, and a stated 36 months of history. The page says the product is powering insights for a very large installed base, and it states consolidated financial reporting for up to 300 entities, across systems and currencies. Published reach: 110,000+ businesses according to Fathom (2026). That reach figure is the vendor's own current claim on the pricing page, and it should not be mixed with the 7,500 customers named at the 2022 acquisition. The same page says Fathom is GDPR compliant, SOC 2 Type 1 certified, and ISO 27001 certified, and that the public plans include a 14-day trial.

Best fit is a firm that wants speed to a visual pack and a way to watch clients who are not yet on a full advisory retainer. PushDigits' practical split matches that reading: Fathom where visual clarity, speed of getting a pack out, and KPIs matter most. Best fit is also a firm whose groups need a stated path up to 300 entities and whose consolidated groups should not themselves become a line item, because Fathom says groups are free. Best fit is a poor description for a firm that wants ESG reports named in the price, or a published year-count on the forecast, because those items were not on the pricing page we used.

Limitations are structural, not cosmetic. Portfolio will disappoint a partner who expected the report editor, the forecast, and the consolidation on every company in the $67 plan. The upgrade path exists, and it moves that company onto Pro pricing, so a "cheap for 100" story becomes a mixed bill the moment the best clients need a real pack. Above 50 companies the public price stops. Commentary and variance still need a person who knows the client. The tool does not repair a chart of accounts that does not match how the business runs. Unlimited users remove a seat charge, and they do not remove the need for someone to own templates.

Implementation, from what the pricing and plan notes actually say, is a monthly subscription with no contract term, card payment, and a 14-day trial that includes the functionality. The firm connects a supported ledger or brings numbers in through Excel, maps the chart, and decides which companies are Portfolio and which are Pro. Benchmark groups can be referenced from a company's report, but the help material describes that as a comparison inside the company report rather than a separate report centre for the group. A sensible first month is one friendly client on Pro, one template, and a partner review of the commentary before the pack is reused. Firms that also want the production steps around the pack, not only the pack itself, can compare that shape with our workflow comparison of Fathom and other reporting tools.

Primary evidence is the pricing page for every dollar, cap, and certification named above, and The Access Group's 24 August 2022 announcement for the ownership change. Nothing in this profile is a timed test or a client quote gathered for this article.

Spotlight Reporting, in the form sold now

Spotlight Reporting, on the US accountant list opened for this guide, is a bundled practice subscription rather than a per-company slider. Basic, at $329 per month, is the launch tier: up to 10 organisations, the reporting product, forecasting, dashboards at one per organisation, consolidation up to 75 entities with currencies supported, certification, onboarding, and one training session a year. The Super VCFO 25 plan, at $495 per month, is the tier that adds the pieces many firms discover they wanted after the first quarter: unlimited dashboards, Sustain included, a dedicated customer success manager, and unlimited training. The Super VCFO 75 plan, at $995 per month, extends the organisation count to 75 and adds priority support, strategic reviews, and tailored training that includes a graduate programme. Enterprise is the quote past that point.

Best fit is a firm that wants the forecast, the pack, and the dashboard in the same subscription, and that will use the training rather than treat it as a brochure line. It is a strong fit where industry templates matter, because the feature guide publishes templates for sectors such as professional services, hospitality, retail, construction, and real estate, instead of asking every firm to start from a blank page. It is the better published fit where the forecast has to run out for years: the feature guide states up to 5 years for the profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow forecast, with drivers, dynamic rules, and loan amortisation rules listed as forecasting features. PushDigits' split again matches the pages: Spotlight Reporting where deep forecasting, multi-entity work, or franchise reporting is the centre of the need. Franchise and network ranking live mainly in Multi, which is not inside the Basic price.

Limitations deserve equal space. The Basic plan's single dashboard per organisation and single annual training session will frustrate a firm that bought Basic expecting the Super VCFO 25 service level. Sustain is not included at Basic. Multi is not priced, so a franchise group that needs rankings across a large network does not yet have a number. The consolidation story is the sharpest limitation in the buying process, not necessarily in the product: 75 entities on the accountant card, 500+ entity groups in the not-for-profit feature line, and a competitor's 5 October 2026 reading that also found a 50-entity statement and an "up to 500" Multi statement. A partner should write the agreed cap into the order. Excel export is a published way out of the tool. A customer API was marked not published by the dataSights check, which is not proof that no API exists. It is proof you should not assume one in the design.

Implementation starts with onboarding that the price card says is included, plus free certification for the team. The practical work is still the firm's: report codes that map the chart of accounts, a decision about which clients get a dashboard, non-financial figures typed or imported from Excel or Google Sheets, and a rule for who edits the executive summary. AI suggestions and AI action plans are listed on the feature guide as optional help inside that summary. They draft words. They do not sign the pack. A first rollout that tries all 10 Basic organisations in week one will stall on mapping. One sector template, two clients, and the included training session is a saner start. For how client reporting tools differ once the pack has to be delivered on a schedule, see our client reporting software guide.

Primary evidence is the US accountant pricing page for the $329, $495, and $995 figures, the organisation caps, the 75-entity consolidation line, the dashboard and training split, and the 14-day trial, plus the feature guide for the 5-year forecast, the 100+ charts, and the 500+ not-for-profit wording. No customer story from the vendor's marketing is repeated here as if this guide had verified it.

An illustrative month, with the arithmetic

Picture a 25-organisation advisory book, as an illustration the reader can redo, not as a client result and not as a measured saving. The Gold tier on Fathom is $450 per month for those 25 companies, and the Super VCFO 25 plan on Spotlight Reporting is $495 per month for up to 25 organisations. The monthly gap is $495 minus $450, which is $45, and across 12 months that gap is $45 times 12, which is $540, before any sales tax the invoice adds. If the same firm only wants a watch-list over a wider book, the Portfolio plan on Fathom is $67 per month for 100 companies, which that pricing page states as $0.67 per company, and that $67 does not buy the forecast the $450 tier includes. The arithmetic still does not close the month by itself: before anyone treats cash as collected, a Xero batch payment can be filtered on Account.AccountId, and a person still has to sign the commentary that sits on top of either pack.

The handoff after the pack is built

The subscription ends at a report. The firm's risk starts at the handoff: who notices that a client's cash no longer matches the forecast, who is allowed to change the comment, and what happens when the export fails on the afternoon the meeting is booked. Neither pricing page sells that queue. This is the point where a configurable layer above the reporting tool is a real design question, and where a simpler tool should win if the design is heavier than the book.

A month-end close can be the trigger. A proposed configuration from US Tech Automations would take the Excel or PDF export that both Fathom and Spotlight Reporting publish, match the file to the client record, and open a review task for the partner who owns that client. The prerequisite is a live ledger connection plus that export, and a list of which companies are in the monthly cycle. The output is a queued draft with the pack attached, not an email to the client. A person still approves the commentary, and any AI-drafted summary from inside the reporting tool stays a draft until that approval. This is a configuration you could specify. It is not a live deployment, and it is not a result measured in a firm.

A cash change in the ledger can be the second trigger. A proposed US Tech Automations step would read the Xero batch-payment filter Account.AccountId, compare the collected amount with the forecast cash already sitting in the draft pack, and write an exception note onto the same review task. The prerequisite is permission to read that Xero field and access to the exported forecast. The output is the note, with the identifier and the amount visible to the reviewer. The partner decides whether the exception changes the meeting. Nothing in that step sends itself, and no timing or recovery rate is claimed for it.

Firms often stitch this handoff in Zapier, Make, or n8n, or build it in-house with the ledger API and a shared folder. Those tools can keep a run history, retry a failed call, branch when an export is empty, and store audit evidence, provided someone actually configures those paths. The buyer then owns observability, idempotency so a repeated run does not open two tasks, escalation when the retry still fails, access control over who can see client numbers, and maintenance when a column in the Excel export moves. A proposed US Tech Automations design could hold the review gate, the export prerequisite, and the escalation path as one configuration, with the same human sign-off before a pack is released. The difference is who designs and maintains that path. It is not a claim that the connectors are unable to do the steps when a capable person builds them.

The honest limit is fit. A five-client firm whose partner builds the pack inside one tool and hands it over in the meeting does not gain much from a second system. The reporting tool, used directly, is the simpler win. The orchestration question starts when more than one person touches the pack, when the cash exception has to be noticed without opening every file, or when the firm needs a record that a human reviewed the comment. That is a workload question, not a slogan.

Common mistakes that waste a renewal

The first mistake is comparing Portfolio at $67 per month with a full Spotlight Reporting subscription. The pages do not describe the same product. Portfolio is a watch-list with summary reports. The $329, $495, and $995 Spotlight Reporting tiers include reporting and forecasting. A fair full-pack comparison at 25 organisations is $450 against $495.

The second mistake is assuming the largest consolidation number is already inside the cheapest plan. The Basic card says up to 75 entities. The feature guide's not-for-profit line says 500+ entity groups. Multi is a separate discussion. A franchise roll-up priced off the Basic plan will be wrong even if every other feature looks right.

The third mistake is buying on a single secondary write-up. dataSights, a competitor, found 75, 50, and 500 on Spotlight Reporting's own material on 5 October 2026. Those cannot all be the cap on your order. Ask which product and which page the quote follows, and keep the answer with the proposal.

The fourth mistake is skipping the ledger. PushDigits' note is blunt that a reporting layer on a chart of accounts that does not match the business produces packs nobody trusts. Mapping, eliminations, and non-financial KPIs are the implementation, not a follow-up project for next year.

The fifth mistake is confusing the Fathom name. A quote from a meeting product, an analytics product, or a brokerage has no bearing on Gold at $450 or Portfolio at $67. If the proposal does not point at the reporting product The Access Group sells, stop and ask for the right quote.

A checklist before you commit

Work the list in order. Stopping at the first "no" is a successful outcome. It means you are not ready to sign, not that the project failed.

1. Name the book. Count the organisations that need a full pack, and count separately the ones that only need a watch-list. Do not use one number for both.

2. Place each count on a published tier. Full pack near 25 organisations is Gold at $450 or the Super VCFO 25 plan at $495. A watch-list of 100 is Portfolio at $67. Past 50 companies on Fathom, or past 75 organisations on Spotlight Reporting, you are in quote-based territory.

3. Write down the consolidation cap you are relying on, and the page it came from. If you need more than 75 entities in Spotlight Reporting, do not assume Basic includes it. If you need Multi, ask for Multi's price before you compare.

4. Confirm the forecast length you will actually show a lender or a board. Spotlight Reporting publishes up to 5 years. Fathom publishes three-way and long-term forecasting without a year count on the pricing page, so ask for the horizon in writing if a five-year view is a requirement.

5. Match training to the people who will build templates. One session a year is the Basic plan. Unlimited training and a named success manager start at the Super VCFO 25 plan. Fathom does not publish a session count on the page we used.

6. Decide the handoff. If one partner builds and presents the pack, stay inside the tool. If a team must review commentary and cash exceptions, specify the export, the reviewer, and what happens when the file fails, whether you configure that in the reporting tool's own share options or above it.

7. Check the ledger connectors against your actual client files, including FreeAgent and Sage 50, before you standardise the firm on one brand.

8. Only then look at a broader shortlist. Our ROI framing of Fathom beside other reporting tools is a later step, after this head-to-head is clear.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Fathom in this search the meeting recorder?

No. The Fathom in this comparison is the management reporting product The Access Group acquired, announced on 24 August 2022, and still sells as Fathom Pro and Fathom Portfolio. Meeting software, website analytics, and a real-estate brokerage use the same first name and are not priced in the table above. If a proposal's web address is not the reporting product, the $450 and $67 figures do not apply to it.

Which published plan covers 25 client organisations?

The Gold tier on Fathom covers 25 companies at $450 per month, with $17 per extra company printed on that tier. The Super VCFO 25 plan on Spotlight Reporting covers up to 25 organisations at $495 per month and includes unlimited dashboards, Sustain, a dedicated customer success manager, and unlimited training. Fathom's Portfolio plan covers 100 companies at $67 per month, but it is the watch-list, not the full pack. Basic on Spotlight Reporting stops at 10 organisations for $329 per month.

Does either product publish a per-user price?

No. Fathom's pricing page says unlimited users on the plans it describes, and it charges by company. Spotlight Reporting's US accountant page charges by organisation count and plan, not by a named seat price. A firm comparing these tools with software that bills per person should not convert either price into a user rate. The published unit is the company or organisation.

Is Spotlight Multi included in the Basic plan?

No. The US accountant page describes Multi as a separate tool and tells the buyer to discuss it with an account manager, so its price is quote-based. The Basic plan does include consolidation of up to 75 entities inside reporting. The feature guide's not-for-profit line, which mentions 500+ entity groups, is not the same sentence as the Basic price. Confirm which product your group would sit in before you treat 500 as purchased.

Do consolidated groups cost extra on Fathom?

The pricing page says consolidated groups are free and that there is no limit on how many groups you can create. That is not the same as saying every underlying company is free. Companies still sit on the Gold, Portfolio, or Enterprise allowance. A group of ten companies still needs those companies connected and counted under the company pricing rules.

When is a simpler tool the better buy than adding another system?

When the ledger's own statements are enough, when one person builds the pack and presents it, or when a small Zapier, Make, or n8n setup is already maintained and the book is only a handful of clients. In those cases US Tech Automations is the wrong extra layer, because a review queue nobody opens is cost without a handoff. Stay in Fathom or Spotlight Reporting, or in the ledger itself, until more than one person must review the pack or a cash exception has to be caught without opening every file.

Which tool is the safer default for a mixed book?

There is no single safer default. Use Portfolio on Fathom for the long tail you only need to scan, and use either Gold or the Super VCFO 25 plan for the clients who get a real meeting, based on whether you value the included training and the published 5-year forecast more than the $45 monthly gap at 25 organisations. If the mixed book is mostly groups above 75 entities, get the Spotlight Reporting cap in writing, and read Fathom's 300-entity consolidation line against the same groups before you decide.

The choice, by the work you already have

If your next quarter is a visual pack, KPI conversations, and a clean watch-list for everyone else, Fathom's split between Gold at $450 per month and Portfolio at $67 per month matches that shape, with the 300-entity consolidation line and free groups as the structural points to verify against your largest client. If your next quarter is three-way forecasts measured in years, industry templates, and training that is counted in the contract, Spotlight Reporting's Super VCFO 25 plan at $495 per month is the published match, and you should settle the 75 versus 500 consolidation wording before the order is signed. If the book is past the public tiers, both vendors are quote-based, and a verbal number is not a price from these pages.

The subscription is the pack. The firm still has to move that pack through review. Where that handoff is real, see how US Tech Automations configures this as a proposed review step on top of the export, with a person still signing. Where the handoff is one partner and one login, buy the reporting tool and use it directly. Either way, the decision is the tier that matches the book you have, on the page dated for this check, not the sample report that looked best in a webinar.