Liveplan

Liveplan Rating

Feature analysis

1. Business planning tools

We used LivePlan to draft a complete business plan from scratch, and the process was smooth. The platform gives you a clear structure, walks you through each section, and provides helpful prompts and sample text along the way.

For traditional business plans, especially those meant for banks or funding applications, it does a solid job.

LivePlan also lets you add, remove, rename, and rearrange most chapters and sections. However, the overall experience still feels structured around creating a formal business plan. This can work well for founders who want clear guidance, but it may feel less flexible for teams that prefer a more open-ended planning process.

Its strategic planning tools are also narrower than those offered by Upmetrics. LivePlan includes an Idea Canvas for working through a business concept, but it does not offer the same range of canvases and visual planning frameworks for areas such as business models, value propositions, goals, and strategy.

Founders who do more brainstorming and visual planning may therefore find Upmetrics more flexible.

2. AI Business Planning

We tried LivePlan's built-in AI while drafting a business plan, and it handled basic writing tasks well. It suggested content, reworked awkward sentences, and helped improve the structure and wording of different sections. When you already know what you want to say, it can make the writing process faster.

LivePlan's AI now goes beyond simple editing. It can also help with market research, forecasting, and reviewing a plan for gaps or weak sections. That gives first-time founders useful support across several parts of the planning process.

The limitation is the depth of that support. LivePlan can help draft and improve the content, but it does less to help you work through the decisions behind it.

We still had to define the positioning, narrow the customer segments, test the assumptions, and decide how the business case should be framed.

Upmetrics takes a more focused approach through specialized analysts for market research, competitive analysis, plan review, financial forecasting, and compliance. Instead of offering broad suggestions, each analyst provides deeper guidance for a specific part of the planning process.

3. Financial Forecasting and Reporting

LivePlan's forecasting tools are one of its strongest features. When we entered revenue, expenses, payroll, and funding details, the platform automatically created projected profit and loss, cash flow, and balance sheet statements.

The process is structured and easy to follow, even if you do not have much forecasting experience. You enter the assumptions behind the business, and LivePlan handles the calculations and connects the financial statements for you.

Its what-if scenario tool is also useful. We could compare different versions of the forecast and see how changes in sales, hiring, or spending affected the results without rebuilding the entire model.

The main limitation is the forecast period. LivePlan supports forecasts of up to five years, which may be enough for most traditional business plans but can feel restrictive for businesses that need a longer-term view.

The forecasts also depend heavily on the assumptions you enter, so the numbers still need to be reviewed carefully.

Upmetrics supports forecasts for up to 10 years and includes a dedicated financial forecasting analyst. It helps review assumptions, identify weak areas, and provide more focused guidance while you build the projections.

Combined with AI-assisted suggestions for revenue, expenses, and other inputs, this gives founders more support when creating longer-term financial plans.

4. Collaboration and Workflow

LivePlan provides the main collaboration tools most founders need. You can invite contributors or guests, control access, leave comments on plan sections, and add notes to forecast items. This works well for collecting feedback from teammates, advisors, clients, or investors.

It also supports multiple companies and client plans, while plan version history lets users review and restore saved versions.

The limitations become clearer when several people need to work together. LivePlan does not offer real-time co-editing, so team members need to coordinate changes rather than edit the same plan simultaneously.

It also organizes work around individual company plans rather than separate collaborative workspaces. This can make it harder for consultants or larger teams to keep multiple clients, projects, and collaborators clearly separated.

For solo founders and small teams reviewing plans together, LivePlan should be enough. Upmetrics is better suited to teams and consultants that need real-time editing and separate workspaces for multiple projects.

5. Pitch and Export

LivePlan covers the essentials for exporting a business plan. We could quickly generate a one-page summary and export the full business plan as a PDF or Word document. The reports looked clean and were ready to share with lenders, investors, or other stakeholders.

LivePlan also includes a built-in Pitch feature. However, it generates a one-page business summary rather than a complete slide-based pitch deck. That works well for giving lenders or investors a quick overview, but it is not designed to replace a full presentation.

The limitations become more noticeable when you need to customize your pitch for different audiences. Branding and layout options are fairly limited, and creating multiple versions usually requires editing the exported files outside the platform.

Upmetrics goes further by offering a dedicated pitch deck builder that creates a complete investor presentation alongside the business plan.

Founders can customize slides, update the deck as the business plan changes, and present a more detailed story without switching to another tool.

Price comparison

LivePlan's pricing is simple and fixed. Standard costs $20 per month or $15 per month when billed annually. Premium costs $40 monthly or $30 with annual billing, so paying yearly saves 25%.

The Standard plan covers the core planning tools: a step-by-step business plan builder, financial forecasts, more than 550 sample plans, AI writing support, collaboration, and plan exports.

It is mainly suited to founders who need to create a professional business plan and supporting financial statements.

Premium adds the tracking and analysis layer. This includes what-if scenarios, performance dashboards, real-time profit and cash forecasting, market research, industry benchmarks, QuickBooks Online and Xero integrations, automated forecasting, and Excel export.

If you only need a plan document, Standard should be enough. Premium makes more sense if you plan to keep using the forecast after the plan is complete.

There is no lower-priced package for individual advanced features. If you need scenarios, accounting integrations, or performance tracking, you have to upgrade to the full Premium plan.

LivePlan does not offer a free trial of the paid software, although its Idea Canvas is free to use. Paid plans come with a 35-day money-back guarantee, but the refund is not automatic. You must contact LivePlan by email or chat within the first 35 days to request it.

LivePlan also offers a LivePlan Expert add-on for $30 per month. It includes priority assistance and up to four 30-minute one-on-one video sessions each month.

However, this type of onboarding or expert support is often included at no extra cost by competing business planning platforms, so the add-on can make LivePlan noticeably more expensive for users who need regular guidance.

Alternatives to Liveplan

LivePlan does a good job of helping founders create structured business plans, especially when one person is leading the process. It covers the core planning, forecasting, and feedback tools most solo founders and small teams need.

The limitations become clearer when several people or projects are involved. LivePlan supports contributors, guests, comments, and multiple company plans, but its collaboration and workspace setup is less flexible for teams managing several clients or working closely together.

It may also feel limited if you want deeper AI guidance, longer financial forecasts, or a complete pitch deck builder. If those features matter to you, these LivePlan alternatives are worth considering.

Upmetrics

Upmetrics is the closest all-in-one alternative to LivePlan, especially for founders, consultants, and teams that need more than a structured business plan builder.

Its main advantage is the added support around the plan. Teams can edit together in real time, manage separate workspaces, and organize multiple clients or projects without passing drafts back and forth.

Upmetrics also provides more focused AI guidance. Its specialized analysts help users research the market and competitors, review the plan, examine financial forecasts, and identify compliance gaps. This is useful when you are still working through key decisions, not just polishing content you have already written.

It also supports forecasts of up to 10 years and includes a complete slide-based pitch deck builder for presenting to lenders or investors.

Upmetrics is a better fit for users who want deeper guidance, closer collaboration, and more flexibility. LivePlan remains the simpler choice for creating a traditional plan with a well-established forecasting process.

Conclusion

LivePlan remains a dependable choice for creating a structured business plan and financial forecast. It is easy to follow and works particularly well for founders who prefer a traditional, guided planning process.

But choosing a planning tool is not only about completing one document. It should also fit how you expect to research, revise, collaborate, and present the plan over time.

For users who want more flexibility and guidance beyond the initial plan, Upmetrics is the stronger alternative. LivePlan is better for a straightforward planning experience; Upmetrics is better suited to founders, consultants, and teams whose planning needs are likely to grow.