5 Best Business Plan Software Platforms

Starting a business requires completing countless tasks, and a key early hurdle is writing a business plan. Entrepreneurs who aren’t looking for funding often think they can skip it, but that’s never a good idea. 

A sharp and detailed business plan is essentially a business owner’s commitment to and preparation for the road ahead, detailing the operations, revenues, and potential growth. It’s a lot of work, but quality business plan software can ease that burden by guiding you through the process, helping with financial projections and more.  

Yet with so many options out there, how do you know which one is right for you? This handy guide reviews the top five software choices to ensure you select the best tool for you and your business. 

1. LivePlan

LivePlan is a leader in business plan software that stands out with software that offers tips and advice for business planning, funding, and growth. LivePlan offers two competitively priced business plan software packages.

Features and Pricing

LivePlan’s Standard package costs $20 per month and includes step-by-step planning, lender-ready financial statements, a full financial forecast, and a one-page pitch builder. You’ll also have access to more than 500 sample business plans.

Their Premium package costs $20 for the first month and $40 per month thereafter and includes everything above plus industry benchmark data and “what if” guides to help you prepare for the unexpected. 

It also includes performance dashboards, real-time profit and cash forecasting, an automatic forecast builder, the ability to export sheets to Excel, and syncing with Quickbooks or Xero. LivePlan offers a 25% discount if you pay annually instead of monthly, as well as a 35-day money back guarantee.

Pros and Cons

2. Enloop

Founded in 2010, Enloop stands out with an automatically generated text tool that users can edit as they wish. Enloop offers a seven-day free trial and two paid plans.

Features and Pricing

The seven-day trial and the two paid plans (Detailed and Performance) all include a host of features. The Detailed plan costs $19.95 per month, while the Performance plan runs $39.95 monthly. 

All plans include:

• Financial Report Details – Financials generated automatically
• Automated Text Writing – Customized, editable business plan text  
• Text and Data Synced – Your financials auto-inserted into text
• Real-time score of the strength of your business plan.  
• Pass / Fail Report – Understand and address shortcomings 
• Country Currency Formatting – 100+ currency symbols and formats
• ChartsData – color charts
• Text and Image Formatting – Automatically formats text, images, tables

With the Detailed Plan you can create up to three business plans and request an analysis of three of your financial ratios. You can also have two additional contributors.

With the Performance Plan, you can have 16 of your financial ratios analyzed and collaborate with five contributors.

If you make a single annual payment, you’ll get 55% off for the Detailed Plan and a 60% discount for the Performance Plan. All the Enloop plans offer a rich array of features at affordable prices. 

Pros and Cons

3. BizPlan

BizPlan offers more than just business plan software. Signing up for their software also grants access to their crowdfunding site and other useful features.

Features and Pricing

BizPlan offers monthly ($29), annual ($249), and lifetime access ($349) payment options. Their business plan software offers full guidance as you write your plan and calculate financial statements.

Their crowdfunding platform, Fundable, can help promote your plan and raise funding from the public and investors. In addition, you can access self-guided courses and educational videos and talk with expert mentors.

A subscription also grants access to BizPlan’s Launchpad platform, which helps with customer acquisition. BizPlan is great for entrepreneurs who need guidance and access to crowdfunding sources.

Pros and Cons

4. PlanGuru

The first thing to know is that PlanGuru is not business plan software, but rather a sophisticated financial planning tool that can help prepare your company’s budget and financial plan. It’s available as either a cloud-based or desktop app.

Features and Pricing

Both apps cost $99 per month or $899 annually and include the following features: 

• Unlimited number of scenarios per company
• Import up to 5 years of financials
• Quickbooks, Xero, and Excel imports
• Budget and forecast for up to 10 years
• Pre-built 3 way forecasting structure
• Automatically solved cash flow statement
• 20+ standard forecasting models
• Formula builder to create custom methods
• Budget archive feature
• Forecast using non-financial data
• Ratios and KPIs
• Payroll utility
• Group accounts with subtotaling
• Notes payable and line of credit tools
• Consolidate unlimited number of projections
• Breakeven tool
• Business valuation
• PlanGuru Analytics & Excel Add-in Reporting Tool
• Export Reports & Dashboards to PDF, Word, Excel

PlanGuru is expensive, but if you have complex financial needs it’s a good option.

Pros and Cons

5. GoSmallBiz

GoSmallBiz offers many services for businesses beyond business plan software, including services to help businesses incorporate or maintain their business entity.

They offer one business plan software plan at a competitive monthly fee.

Features and Pricing

GoSmallBiz business plan software costs $15 per month and includes industry-specific business plan templates. You can fully customize your plan, and the software has a wizard that will guide you through the writing process. 

You can also access video tutorials, and the software will help with financial statements and projections.

Pros and Cons

How to Choose a Business Plan Software 

When choosing business plan software, look for features that fit your needs. For example, if your business model is complex, you might prefer a tool that offers more guidance. If you’re just looking to create a standard business plan, look for an option that offers the basics at a reasonable price. 

Be sure to check out customer reviews to get an idea of the service quality and product usability. 

Pros and Cons of Business Plan Software 

Business plan software comes with pros and cons, detailed below. 

How We Tested Business Plan Software

As a leading entrepreneurial advisory site, we take our responsibilities seriously. We understand that countless entrepreneurs, and potential entrepreneurs, rely on our judgments and insights, particularly when it comes to creating their business plan.

As a result, our writers do their utmost to gain a comprehensive understanding of the services offered and the actual customer experience. In this case, we:

• Examined every single page of the business plan softwares’ websites
• Reviewed all of their offerings
• Put ourselves in the customer’s shoes, creating an account
• Communicated with customer service via chat, email and phone
• Gained a full understanding of the customer experience and service value

Thanks to this full immersion in the actual customer experience, our reviewer and team are able to provide the most complete and insightful review of these business plan softwares.

Which Business Plan Software is the Best? 

After a thorough review of the top tools, we choose LivePlan as the best option. Their software is easy to use and offers guidance throughout the process. The software helps craft a polished business plan that’s ready to present to investors – and that’s just about the best possible compliment! 

To top it off, LivePlan also provides quality customer service and solid value. As a result, we highly recommend LivePlan to all small business owners.