# Financial modeling and scenario planning: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Finance AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "financial modeling software" and as "scenario planning tool for finance", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://finance-ai-index.com/planning/financial-modeling-and-scenario-planning/

**Standing:** Microsoft Excel leads with 14% of first choices; verdict contested. 66 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft Excel | 14% | 24% | 17 |
| 2 | Cube | 12% | 0% | 32 |
| 3 | Vena | 12% | 5% | 21 |
| 4 | Datarails | 11% | 0% | 20 |
| 5 | Google Sheets | 9% | 15% | 13 |
| 6 | Drivetrain | 6% | 0% | 11 |
| 7 | Prophix | 6% | 10% | 10 |
| 8 | Workday Adaptive Planning | 6% | 35% | 17 |
| 9 | Planful | 3% | 11% | 19 |
| 10 | Abacum | 3% | 7% | 15 |
| 11 | Jirav | 2% | 0% | 10 |
| 12 | Pigment | 2% | 8% | 12 |

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Datarails; alternatives Cube, Drivetrain, Planful, Prophix One
- GPT-5.4 mini: Datarails, Planful; alternatives Anaplan, Vena
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Aleph, Cube; alternatives Abacum, Bob Finance, Pigment, Vena
- Perplexity Sonar: Datarails, Limelight; alternatives Abacum, Workday Adaptive Planning
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Cube, Datarails, Drivetrain, Jirav; alternatives Abacum
- Mistral Small: Abacum; alternatives Cube, Datarails
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Cube; alternatives Datarails, Jirav, Planful, Vena
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Vena, Workday Adaptive Planning; alternatives Fathom, PlanGuru
- Kimi K2: Drivetrain; alternatives Mosaic, Pigment
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Datarails; alternatives Abacum, Cube, Lucanet xP&A, Mosaic
- MiniMax M2.5: Drivetrain; alternatives Abacum, Cube, Datarails, Pigment
- GPT-6 Luna: Workday Adaptive Planning; alternatives Cube, Vena
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Datarails; alternatives Cube, Drivetrain, Mosaic, Planful

## Sources the answers cite

71 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- drivetrain.ai: 38 answers, 59 citations
- abacum.ai: 29 answers, 34 citations
- datarails.com: 24 answers, 26 citations
- learn.g2.com: 21 answers, 24 citations
- barchart.com: 20 answers, 20 citations
- guideflow.com: 19 answers, 22 citations
- cubesoftware.com: 17 answers, 20 citations
- fathomhq.com: 14 answers, 16 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://drivetrain.ai/solutions/financial-modeling-software (32 answers)
- https://datarails.com/best-financial-modeling-software (22 answers)
- https://barchart.com/story/news/3006151/best-fpa-software-for-financial-modeling-in-2026-top-10-tools-with-pricing (19 answers)
- https://abacum.ai/blog/best-financial-modeling-software-tools (17 answers)
- https://fathomhq.com/blog/the-6-best-financial-modelling-software-tools (14 answers)
- https://hebbia.com/resources/best-financial-modeling-software (14 answers)
- https://drivetrain.ai/solutions/financial-modeling-software/scenario-planning-analysis (12 answers)
- https://cubesoftware.com/blog/financial-modeling-software (10 answers)
- https://farseer.com/blog/financial-modeling-tools (10 answers)
- https://abacum.ai/blog/scenario-planning-software-how-to-choose-the-right-solution-for-your-finance-team (9 answers)

## Warned against

- Anaplan: 18 of 24 labels negative. "Avoid for Mid-Market: Anaplan's licensing and implementation costs are significant" (Claude Haiku 4.5, paraphrase prompt)
- Workday Adaptive Planning: 6 of 17 labels negative. "cannot afford enterprise FP&A software (like Workday Adaptive Planning or Anaplan, which cost tens of thousands of dollars annually)" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, budget prompt)
- Microsoft Excel: 4 of 17 labels negative. "Overly complex Excel hacks: Circular references, OFFSET/INDIRECT functions, or hard-coded constants breed errors and slow performance." (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt)
- Mosaic: 2 of 12 labels negative. "Avoid discontinued tools: Causal, Pry, and Mosaic have been acquired and shut down" (Kimi K2, budget prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 10 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: Datarails (19%) to Cube (12%). Margin 2 points, within noise.

- Datarails: 19% to 11%, −9. Inside the floor by 1 point · rank 1 → 4 of 75.
- Vena: 6% to 12%, +6. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 5 → 2 of 75.
- Google Sheets: 13% to 7%, −6. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 2 → 6 of 75.
- Abacum: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 21 → 9 of 75.
- Planful: 4% to 2%, −3. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 6 → 13 of 75.
- Pigment: 4% to 2%, −3. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 8 → 15 of 75.
- Mosaic: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 13 → 21 of 75.
- Jirav: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 19 → 14 of 75.
- Cube: 11% to 12%, +2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 3 → 1 of 75.
- Microsoft Excel: 11% to 12%, +2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 4 → 3 of 75.
- Workday Adaptive Planning: 4% to 5%, +1. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 8 of 75.
- Anaplan: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 10 points · rank 113 → 75 of 75.

## Record

- Method: https://finance-ai-index.com/methodology/
- Raw judge labels and full responses: https://finance-ai-index.com/data/
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Finance AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition, finance-ai-index.com.