# FP&A platforms: what AI models recommend, October 2026

Finance AI Recommendation Index, October 2026 Edition. Asked as "FP&A software" and as "financial planning and analysis platform", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. Page: https://finance-ai-index.com/planning/fpa-platforms/

**Standing:** Planful leads with 20% of first choices; verdict contested. 54 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Planful | 20% | 18% | 60 |
| 2 | Fathom | 15% | 8% | 13 |
| 3 | Vena | 13% | 20% | 60 |
| 4 | Cube | 7% | 16% | 51 |
| 5 | Abacum | 7% | 6% | 16 |
| 6 | Drivetrain | 6% | 0% | 15 |
| 7 | Centage | 4% | 6% | 16 |
| 8 | Clockwork | 4% | 0% | 10 |
| 9 | Pigment | 4% | 31% | 35 |
| 10 | Workday Adaptive Planning | 4% | 39% | 41 |
| 11 | Aleph | 2% | 0% | 16 |
| 12 | LiveFlow | 2% | 0% | 14 |

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

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

## Sources the answers cite

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

- getaleph.com: 38 answers, 58 citations
- g2.com: 35 answers, 61 citations
- drivetrain.ai: 35 answers, 58 citations
- cubesoftware.com: 33 answers, 45 citations
- learn.g2.com: 33 answers, 34 citations
- centage.com: 28 answers, 40 citations
- resources.rework.com: 28 answers, 40 citations
- datarails.com: 26 answers, 32 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://learn.g2.com/best-fpa-software (32 answers)
- https://centage.com/blog/best-fp-a-software (28 answers)
- https://drivetrain.ai/solutions/financial-planning-analysis-software (26 answers)
- https://getaleph.com/answers/top-fpa-software-2026 (24 answers)
- https://resources.rework.com/tools/fpa-planning/best-fpa-software-2026 (23 answers)
- https://cledara.com/blog/fpa (19 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/fp-a-financial-planning-analysis (19 answers)
- https://clockwork.ai/blog/best-fpa-software-small-business (18 answers)
- https://prophix.com/blog/17-best-fp-a-software-for-high-performing-fp-a-teams (18 answers)
- https://golimelight.com/financial-planning-analysis-fpa/best-fpa-software-tools (16 answers)

## Warned against

- Anaplan: 26 of 53 labels negative. "Avoid enterprise heavy platforms like Anaplan/OneStream/IBM Planning Analytics unless you have a dedicated model builder and >12-month implementation runway." (Muse Glimmer 30B, negative prompt)
- Workday Adaptive Planning: 16 of 41 labels negative. "Avoid legacy enterprise solutions (like Workday Adaptive Planning or Oracle Cloud EPM) unless you have a dedicated system administrator." (Gemini 3.5 Flash, paraphrase prompt)
- Pigment: 11 of 35 labels negative. "targeted at mid-market to enterprise users and may be overkill for smaller organizations" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Planful: 11 of 60 labels negative. "Another enterprise-grade solution that may be unnecessarily complex and expensive for smaller teams." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## Movement since September 2026

Floor: 10 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
New leader: Vena (15%) to Planful (19%). Margin 4 points, within noise.

- Clockwork: 15% to 2%, −12. Cleared the floor by 2 points · rank 3 → 13 of 73.
- Pigment: 15% to 2%, −12. Cleared the floor by 2 points · rank 2 → 18 of 73.
- Planful: 10% to 19%, +8. Inside the floor by 2 points · rank 4 → 1 of 73.
- Prophix: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 7 → 19 of 73.
- Fathom: 10% to 15%, +4. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 5 → 3 of 73.
- Drivetrain: 2% to 6%, +4. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 15 → 5 of 73.
- Abacum: 2% to 6%, +4. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 14 → 6 of 73.
- Centage: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 10 → 7 of 73.
- Workday Adaptive Planning: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 11 → 9 of 73.
- Datarails: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 8 → 10 of 73.
- LiveFlow: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 17 → 12 of 73.
- Jirav: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 12 → 20 of 73.

## 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.
