Index › Planning and analysis › September 2026 Edition

Financial reporting and dashboards

Asked as “financial reporting software”, and as “finance dashboard tool”, on behalf of a mid-market B2B company. 48 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.

Standing

Sage Intacct

Contested

27% of first choices, contested.

ShowinginAll 41 categories in the September 2026 Edition →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.

Small business

QuickBooks Online38%ContestedStanding →Mid-market

Sage Intacct27%ContestedThis page Enterprise

Microsoft Power BI19%ContestedStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company. Ordered by share.

ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant

Sage Intacct0%18accepted challenger

Fathom24%17accepted challenger

Vena6%18accepted challenger

Microsoft Power BI23%26accepted challenger

Datarails0%11accepted challenger

Cube0%12accepted challenger

Oracle NetSuite0%11accepted challenger

QuickBooks Online25%12criticized challenger

Show the six products at 0%, ordered by negative rate

Looker Studio36%14criticized challenger

Metabase27%11criticized challenger

Looker21%14accepted challenger

Tableau21%19accepted challenger

Xero18%11accepted challenger

Domo10%10accepted challenger

Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.

Head to head

Sage Intacct vs Fathom Sage Intacct vs Vena Fathom vs Vena

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default

Negative label rate →

Accepted challengerEndorsed leader

0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative40%

Key

Sage Intacct27%

Fathom12%

Vena6%

Microsoft Power BI4%

Datarails4%

Cube2%

Oracle NetSuite2%

QuickBooks Online2%

Tableau0%

Looker0%

Xero0%

Domo0%

Metabase0%

Looker Studio0%

02What they warned about

One of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Qwen 3.7 Flash, Kimi K2, GLM 4.7 FlashX and MiniMax M2.5 changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.

Microsoft Excel

100%

5 of 5 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“**Spreadsheets (especially Microsoft Excel)** ... experts consistently warn against them for anything beyond small-scale, ad-hoc work.” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt

Looker Studio

36%

5 of 14 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 1 hard negative

“**Looker Studio** if you need **external client reporting** or true white-label delivery, because one comparison notes hidden connector costs, no true white-labeling” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt

Microsoft Power BI

23%

6 of 26 labels negative · 5 of 12 models

“Power BI is the classic example — it's extremely popular and powerful, but its DAX formula language and data modeling require real expertise.” DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt

IBM Cognos Analytics

57%

4 of 7 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 3 hard negative

“Avoid adopting it fresh; if you already use it, evaluate a migration path to modern cloud-native BI tools.” Gemini 3.5 Flash, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

59 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 725 links across 260 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

worldmetrics.org

21 answers · 28 citations · 10 models

ramp.com

vendor site · Ramp17 answers · 18 citations · 8 models

fanruan.com

14 answers · 15 citations · 8 models

softwareadvice.com

14 answers · 14 citations · 9 models

getfairview.com

12 answers · 20 citations · 9 models

productive.io

vendor site · Productive12 answers · 13 citations · 6 models

thecfoclub.com

11 answers · 14 citations · 7 models

highradius.com

vendor site · HighRadius11 answers · 11 citations · 7 models

drivetrain.ai

vendor site · Drivetrain10 answers · 11 citations · 7 models

golimelight.com

10 answers · 10 citations · 6 models

rollstack.com

10 answers · 10 citations · 6 models

zipdo.co

vendor site · Zipdo10 answers · 10 citations · 9 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

ramp.com/blog/financial-reporting-software

16 answers · 8 models

softwareadvice.com/accounting/financial-reporting-comparison

10 answers · 7 models

thecfoclub.com/tools/best-financial-reporting-software

10 answers · 7 models

getfairview.com/blog/best-financial-dashboard-software

9 answers · 9 models

highradius.com/resources/Blog/best-financial-reporting-tools

9 answers · 7 models

sigmacomputing.com/blog/best-financial-dashboard-software

9 answers · 9 models

worldmetrics.org/best/finance-dashboard-software

9 answers · 9 models

drivetrain.ai/solutions/financial-reporting-software

8 answers · 6 models

golimelight.com/blog/best-financial-reporting-software

8 answers · 6 models

greatstartuptools.com/best-financial-dashboard-software

8 answers · 8 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.

ModelDirect“What is the best financial reporting software for a mid-market B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which finance dashboard tool would you recommend to a mid-sized B2B company?”Comparative“What are the top reporting tools and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best financial reporting software for a company with a limited budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 500 person company evaluating a financial reporting software. What should we look at?”Negative“Which reporting tools should I avoid or be cautious about?”

Claude Haiku 4.5Sage Intacct, Vena

Five alternatives

Datarails, FineReport, Maxio, Oracle NetSuite, Planful

Microsoft Power BIChanged

Three alternatives

Datarails, Maxio, Tableau

no first choiceZoho Books

Three alternatives

G-Accon, LiveFlow, Xero

no first choicenothing named

GPT-5.4 miniSage Intacct

One alternative

Oracle NetSuite

against: QuickBooks OnlineDatarailsChanged

Four alternatives

LiveFlow, Planful, Vena, Workiva

Microsoft Power BI

Seven alternatives

BIRT, JasperReports, Looker, Qlik Sense, SSRS / Paginated Reporting tools, Tableau, ThoughtSpot

against: SAP Crystal ReportsQuickBooks Online

Four alternatives

Fathom, Microsoft Power BI, Xero, Zoho Books / Zoho Analytics

no first choicenothing named

Gemini 3.5 FlashCube, Pigment

Five alternatives

Aleph, Datarails, Oracle NetSuite, Planful, Sage Intacct

against: QuickBooks Online, XeroMosaicChanged

Three alternatives

Cube, Datarails, Pigment

against: Anaplan, Workday Adaptive PlanningMicrosoft Power BI

Five alternatives

Looker, Looker Studio, Qlik Sense, Tableau, ThoughtSpot

Syft Analytics, Zoho Books

Three alternatives

Fathom, Wave, Xero

against: Jirav, Venano first choiceagainst: Oracle Hyperion, SAPagainst: IBM Cognos Analytics, JasperReports, Manual Excel/Google Sheets Reporting Workflows, Pentaho, SAP Crystal Reports, SQL Server Reporting Services, Salesforce, legacy Sage

Perplexity SonarSage Intacct

Three alternatives

Datarails, Prophix, Vena

Sage IntacctHeld

Two alternatives

Fathom, Sigma Computing

no first choiceagainst: MetabaseZoho Books

Two alternatives

QuickBooks Online, Xero

against: Waveno first choiceagainst: Bloomerang, Databox, DonorPerfect, Funnel, Improvado, Looker, Looker Studio, Metabase, MicroStrategy, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, Qlik, Tableau

Grok 4.1 FastSage Intacct

Two alternatives

Datarails, Vena

FathomChanged

Two alternatives

Fairview, Spotlight Reporting

against: Microsoft Power BI, PlectoMicrosoft Power BI

Five alternatives

Domo, Looker, Qlik Sense, Tableau, Zoho Analytics

against: Grafana, Looker StudioWave

Two alternatives

QuickBooks Online, Zoho Books

against: FathomSage Intacct

Two alternatives

Cube, Workiva

against: Domo, Fivetran, Looker, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Xero

Mistral SmallSage Intacct

Two alternatives

Fairview, Vena

FathomChanged

Two alternatives

Plecto, Sigma Computing

no first choiceWave

Three alternatives

QuickBooks Online, Xero, Zoho Books

no first choicenothing named

DeepSeek V4 FlashSage Intacct

Four alternatives

Datarails, Maxio, Oracle NetSuite, Vena

FathomChanged

Four alternatives

Cube, Jirav, Microsoft Power BI, Mosaic

Microsoft Power BI, Zoho Analytics

Three alternatives

Looker, Qlik Sense, Tableau

Wave

Two alternatives

Xero, Zoho Books

against: FathomAcumatica, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle NetSuite, Sage Intacct

Two alternatives

SAP, Workday

against: BIRT, FastReports, JasperReports, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, SAP Crystal Reports, SQL Server Reporting Services

Llama 4 MaverickSage IntacctSigma ComputingChanged

Three alternatives

Fathom, Microsoft Power BI, Plecto

no first choiceno first choiceno first choiceagainst: Funnel, IBM Cognos Analytics, Improvado, Looker Studio, Oracle BI Publisher, SAP BusinessObjects, SQL Server Reporting Services, Swydo

Qwen 3.7 FlashSage Intacct

Six alternatives

Fathom, Looker Studio, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Oracle NetSuite, Planful, Vena

against: AnaplanAleph, PigmentChanged

Three alternatives

Board, Prophix, Sigma Computing

against: FathomMicrosoft Power BI

Four alternatives

Looker, Looker Studio, Metabase, Tableau

Wave

Three alternatives

FreshBooks, Xero, Zoho Books

against: Oracle, SAPno first choiceagainst: Oracle E-Business Suite, QuickBooks Online, SAPagainst: ChartBlocks, Google Sheets, IBM Cognos Analytics, Looker Studio, Metabase, MicroStrategy, Microsoft Excel, QlikView, Redash, SAP BW

Kimi K2Sage Intacct, Vena

Two alternatives

Cube, Datarails

Fairview, FathomChanged

Four alternatives

Jirav, Mosaic, Sage Intacct, Spotlight Reporting

against: Looker StudioMicrosoft Power BI, Tableau

Three alternatives

Domo, Looker, Zoho Analytics

Zoho Books

Seven alternatives

Fathom, FreshBooks, Joiin, Looker Studio, QuickBooks Online, Wave, Xero

no first choiceagainst: Oracle Hyperion, SAP BPCagainst: Apache Superset, ChatGPT/AI Writing Tools for Reports, Grafana, IBM Cognos Analytics, Looker, Microsoft Power BI, Redash, SAP BusinessObjects, Tableau

GLM 4.7 FlashXDatarails, Vena

Four alternatives

Cube, HighRadius, Sage Intacct, Workday Adaptive Planning

against: Fathom, OneStreamFathomChanged

Three alternatives

Cube, Klipfolio, Microsoft Power BI

Microsoft Power BI, Tableau

Eight alternatives

Amplitude, Baremetrics, ChartMogul, Databox, Domo, Looker, Metabase, Qlik Sense

Wave

Four alternatives

Akaunting, Frappe Books, GnuCash, Manager.io

no first choiceagainst: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau

MiniMax M2.5Sage Intacct

Four alternatives

Cube, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, Oracle NetSuite, Workday Adaptive Planning

Fathom, Microsoft Power BIChanged

One alternative

Sigma Computing

Microsoft Power BI

Four alternatives

Looker, Qlik Sense, Tableau, ThoughtSpot

Wave

One alternative

Xero Analytics

no first choiceagainst: Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel

Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record

Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.

Prompt	Model	Version string	Time (UTC)	Searched	Sources	Latency
Direct recommendation	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 18:21	yes	9	7 s
Direct recommendation	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 19:10	yes	3	6 s
Direct recommendation	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 19:44	yes	13	20 s
Direct recommendation	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 20:24	yes	20	5 s
Direct recommendation	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:38	yes	30	15 s
Direct recommendation	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:44	yes	5	4 s
Direct recommendation	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:50	yes	8	12 s
Direct recommendation	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 18:42	yes	5	2 s
Direct recommendation	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 20:59	no	0	30 s
Direct recommendation	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 19:37	yes	10	20 s
Direct recommendation	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 20:08	yes	17	58 s
Direct recommendation	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:16	no	0	49 s
Paraphrase	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 20:18	yes	17	8 s
Paraphrase	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:27	yes	3	5 s
Paraphrase	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 20:02	yes	12	26 s
Paraphrase	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:20	yes	20	5 s
Paraphrase	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 18:17	yes	25	14 s
Paraphrase	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 20:00	yes	5	4 s
Paraphrase	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 20:06	yes	15	19 s
Paraphrase	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:54	yes	5	3 s
Paraphrase	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:22	yes	10	32 s
Paraphrase	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 19:17	yes	8	53 s
Paraphrase	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:22	yes	34	83 s
Paraphrase	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 18:36	yes	5	17 s
Comparative	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 19:00	yes	9	9 s
Comparative	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:33	no	0	10 s
Comparative	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 17:57	yes	7	22 s
Comparative	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:25	yes	20	9 s
Comparative	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 19:42	yes	13	9 s
Comparative	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:07	yes	14	13 s
Comparative	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 20:31	yes	19	17 s
Comparative	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 17:58	yes	5	3 s
Comparative	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:40	yes	10	26 s
Comparative	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 20:04	yes	10	23 s
Comparative	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:52	yes	19	37 s
Comparative	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:08	yes	5	20 s
Budget constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 19:55	yes	9	7 s
Budget constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 20:09	no	0	5 s
Budget constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 20:12	yes	21	21 s
Budget constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 19:26	yes	20	6 s
Budget constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 19:06	yes	13	8 s
Budget constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:56	yes	9	7 s
Budget constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 19:14	yes	15	18 s
Budget constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 20:59	yes	5	3 s
Budget constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 18:36	yes	5	25 s
Budget constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:27	yes	9	21 s
Budget constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:07	yes	30	44 s
Budget constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 19:39	yes	10	34 s
Scale constrained	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 19:54	no	0	5 s
Scale constrained	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 18:38	no	0	8 s
Scale constrained	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 21:19	no	0	41 s
Scale constrained	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:17	yes	20	9 s
Scale constrained	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 20:14	yes	12	10 s
Scale constrained	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:17	no	0	6 s
Scale constrained	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 20:07	yes	14	17 s
Scale constrained	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 18:33	yes	5	4 s
Scale constrained	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:13	yes	5	27 s
Scale constrained	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 19:05	no	0	57 s
Scale constrained	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 19:05	yes	18	119 s
Scale constrained	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:06	no	0	58 s
Negative framing	Claude Haiku 4.5	`claude-haiku-4-5-20251001`	2026-09-17 19:50	no	0	2 s
Negative framing	GPT-5.4 mini	`gpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-17`	2026-09-17 19:48	no	0	5 s
Negative framing	Gemini 3.5 Flash	`gemini-3.5-flash`	2026-09-17 18:46	yes	17	20 s
Negative framing	Perplexity Sonar	`sonar`	2026-09-17 18:41	yes	20	7 s
Negative framing	Grok 4.1 Fast	`spacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex`	2026-09-17 19:31	yes	44	16 s
Negative framing	Mistral Small	`mistral/mistral-small via mistral`	2026-09-17 19:05	yes	5	5 s
Negative framing	DeepSeek V4 Flash	`deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks`	2026-09-17 20:40	yes	20	20 s
Negative framing	Llama 4 Maverick	`meta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock`	2026-09-17 19:52	yes	5	3 s
Negative framing	Qwen 3.7 Flash	`alibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba`	2026-09-17 19:13	no	0	31 s
Negative framing	Kimi K2	`moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita`	2026-09-17 18:38	yes	20	50 s
Negative framing	GLM 4.7 FlashX	`zai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai`	2026-09-17 18:15	yes	19	66 s
Negative framing	MiniMax M2.5	`minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax`	2026-09-17 20:59	yes	15	37 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings

Adaptive Insights read as Workday Adaptive Planning

Excel read as Microsoft Excel

FastReport read as FastReports

Google Looker Studio read as Looker Studio

IBM Cognos read as IBM Cognos Analytics

NetSuite read as Oracle NetSuite

NetSuite ERP read as Oracle NetSuite

Oracle Cloud ERP read as Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP

Prophix One read as Prophix

QuickBooks read as QuickBooks Online

Sigma read as Sigma Computing

Syft read as Syft Analytics

Vena Solutions read as Vena

Wave Accounting read as Wave

Unresolved, counted raw

Bloomerang

ChartBlocks

ChatGPT/AI Writing Tools for Reports

Crazy Egg

DonorPerfect

Frappe Books

Manual Excel/Google Sheets Reporting Workflows

Omni

Oracle BI Publisher

Phocas

Power BI Paginated Reports

QlikView

Rollstack

SAP BW

SSRS / Paginated Reporting tools

Swydo

legacy Sage

Discontinued, still offered

No shut-down product was recommended here.

Financial reporting and dashboards

By buyer segment

01The standing

Recommended versus criticized

02What they warned about

03What they cite

Sites the answers cite

Pages the answers cite

04How they answered

05The record

Normalization in this category

Also in planning and analysis