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

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

**Standing:** Vena (tied with Pigment, Clockwork) leads with 15% of first choices; verdict contested. 48 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| # | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vena | 15% | 16% | 45 |
| 2 | Pigment | 15% | 16% | 38 |
| 3 | Clockwork | 15% | 0% | 13 |
| 4 | Planful | 10% | 11% | 36 |
| 5 | Fathom | 10% | 0% | 10 |
| 6 | Cube | 8% | 8% | 37 |
| 7 | Prophix | 6% | 12% | 17 |
| 8 | Datarails | 4% | 9% | 45 |
| 9 | Aleph | 2% | 0% | 18 |
| 10 | Centage | 2% | 6% | 17 |
| 11 | Workday Adaptive Planning | 2% | 28% | 39 |
| 12 | Jirav | 2% | 15% | 20 |

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

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Planful; alternatives Pigment, Prophix, Vena
- GPT-5.4 mini: Planful, Vena; alternatives Cube, Datarails
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Drivetrain; alternatives Bob Finance, Cube, Planful
- Perplexity Sonar: Planful; alternatives Aleph, Centage, Pigment, Prophix
- Grok 4.1 Fast: Cube, Vena; alternatives Datarails, Pigment
- Mistral Small: Centage; alternatives Abacum, Aleph, Datarails, Workday Adaptive Planning
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Datarails; alternatives Planful, Prophix, Vena
- Llama 4 Maverick: Pigment; alternatives Aleph, Centage, Workday Adaptive Planning
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Pigment; alternatives Aleph, Centage, Datarails, Workday Adaptive Planning
- Kimi K2: Pigment; alternatives Aleph, Centage, Workday Adaptive Planning
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Pigment; alternatives Aleph, Centage, Cube, Datarails
- MiniMax M2.5: Pigment; alternatives Aleph, Centage, Datarails, Workday Adaptive Planning

## Sources the answers cite

63 of 72 answers came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- getaleph.com: 41 answers, 67 citations
- centage.com: 29 answers, 33 citations
- learn.g2.com: 27 answers, 34 citations
- drivetrain.ai: 27 answers, 31 citations
- cubesoftware.com: 25 answers, 44 citations
- financecopilothq.com: 23 answers, 25 citations
- golimelight.com: 19 answers, 25 citations
- cfoshortlist.com: 17 answers, 20 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://getaleph.com/answers/top-fpa-software-2026 (31 answers)
- https://centage.com/blog/best-fp-a-software (29 answers)
- https://drivetrain.ai/solutions/financial-planning-analysis-software (25 answers)
- https://learn.g2.com/best-fpa-software (25 answers)
- https://financecopilothq.com/best-fpa-software (23 answers)
- https://getaleph.com/answers/best-fpa-software-by-company-size (19 answers)
- https://clockwork.ai/blog/best-fpa-software-small-business (15 answers)
- https://board.com/guide/best-fpa-software (14 answers)
- https://cubesoftware.com/blog/best-fpa-software-tools (12 answers)
- https://golimelight.com/blog/fpa-software-for-small-business (12 answers)

## Warned against

- Anaplan: 23 of 38 labels negative. "Avoid or be cautious about enterprise platforms (Anaplan, Workday Adaptive, Planful, Pigment) unless you have the budget and need for their complexity." (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- Vena: 7 of 45 labels negative. ""would rather eat a bullet than use it again." ... Anaplan and Vena are the two with the most consistent negative sentiment" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Workday Adaptive Planning: 11 of 39 labels negative. "This platform is widely reported to cause friction due to an archaic interface and sluggish performance." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)
- Pigment: 6 of 38 labels negative. "Avoid or be cautious about enterprise platforms (Anaplan, Workday Adaptive, Planful, Pigment)" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)

## 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, September 2026 Edition, finance-ai-index.com.