Runway Financial Alternatives (2026): Runway Is Now cfo.ai. Prices and Options for SaaS Founders

Runway, the financial planning tool, still exists, but not under that name. On September 10, 2026 Runway Financial, Inc. rebranded as cfo.ai and relaunched around Ari, an AI agent that connects to your ledger, bank and payroll and keeps a company model current. The runway.com domain now belongs to Runway, the unrelated AI video company, which is why searches for "Runway pricing" land on video plans. cfo.ai publishes its prices: Startup at $375 per month billed yearly ($500 month to month), Growth at $1,125 per month billed yearly ($1,500 month to month), Enterprise on quote, with a 14-day free trial. If that fits, there is no need to switch. If you want something cheaper or more hands-on, the options below run from a free plan to about $27,000 a year.

What happened to Runway Financial

• Rename, not a shutdown. SiliconANGLE reported on September 10, 2026 that Runway Financial "said today it has decided to pivot away from accounting software" and "rebrand itself as cfo.ai"; it describes the old company as "primarily focused on automating financial planning and modeling" (SiliconANGLE). The company's launch release the same day calls it "the startup formerly known as Runway" (FF News).
• Same legal entity. cfo.ai's own site lists its legal name as "Runway Financial, Inc." in its structured data (read on cfo.ai on October 22, 2026).
• A different product shape. The new pitch is an agent first and a modeling canvas second: Ari "connects to your ledger, bank and payroll, keeps one model of the company current, and tells you what changed before you ask" (cfo.ai home page). The pricing page lists an MCP server and Slack app, proactive alerts, and unlimited models and scenarios from the Startup plan up.
• runway.com is someone else. The runway.com home page today belongs to Runway, the AI video and "real-world intelligence" company. If you were looking for the video tool, this page is not about it.

We found no public notice about plans for customers who signed up under the Runway name. If you are one, ask cfo.ai in writing whether your current price carries over at renewal.

What cfo.ai costs today

Prices verified on cfo.ai/pricing on October 22, 2026.

The plans differ mainly by AI usage and integrations: Startup includes up to 5 standard integrations and 500,000 synced rows a month; Growth adds 4x the AI usage, up to 8 integrations and 2 million rows; Enterprise adds premium integrations (enterprise ERPs, data warehouses), multiple workspaces, SSO and a dedicated finance partner. Extra AI credits can be bought as top-ups. Fractional CFOs get a separate partner rate "starting at $262.50 per client per month, billed annually". In a year, Startup costs $4,500 billed yearly or $6,000 month to month. Full plan detail is on our cfo.ai pricing page, and the head-to-head is cfo.ai vs Adlega.

Prices verified on cfo.ai/pricing on October 22, 2026, unchanged since our October 10 check.

Why founders look for an alternative

• Budget. $4,500 a year is reasonable for a funded team with a finance stack to connect. Before seed, or before revenue, it is a lot for a forecast you mainly need for a raise.
• You want to build the model yourself. cfo.ai's design has Ari build and maintain the model from your connected systems. Some founders want to set every driver by hand and understand each line before an investor asks.
• Few systems to connect. The value of an agent that reads your ledger, bank and payroll grows with how much data you have. With two months of revenue there is not much for it to read.
• You want a human. Some teams would rather pay for an analyst who builds the model with them.
• The rename itself. A product that changed name, positioning and domain in one quarter makes some buyers want to compare before renewing. That is a reason to check, not proof anything is wrong.

The alternatives, side by side

Prices verified on forecastr.com/pricing, jirav.com/business-pricing and cubesoftware.com/pricing (quote only, Bronze, Silver and Gold tiers) on October 22, 2026. Cube and Drivetrain medians are what buyers paid as reported by Vendr (Cube) and Vendr (Drivetrain), read the same day; Drivetrain publishes no pricing page. Adlega prices are from our pricing section; Founder and Growth are founding-member rates.

Adlega

Our product, so weigh this accordingly. Adlega is a self-serve, driver-based model for SaaS: you set drivers such as starting MRR, growth, churn, pricing and a hiring plan, and it produces a 36-month forecast with MRR, ARR, churn, CAC, LTV, burn and runway as standard outputs. An AI CFO answers questions about the model and explains how each number was calculated. The free plan covers one model; Founder is $49 a month or $490 a year. The honest gap against cfo.ai is data: cfo.ai reads your ledger, bank and payroll today, while Adlega's Stripe, Chargebee, Google Analytics and Google Ads integrations are still rolling out. The Founder plan includes one actuals-sync integration; beyond that you enter or import your numbers yourself.

Forecastr

Every Forecastr plan includes a dedicated finance expert, and buying starts with a demo. At $5,000 a year, Essentials costs about the same as cfo.ai Startup billed yearly; the difference is a person instead of an agent. Our Forecastr vs Adlega page has the detail.

Jirav

Jirav is built for plan vs actuals and departmental budgeting rather than a founder's first model. Direct plans start at $10,000 a year with no free trial. See Jirav pricing.

Cube and Drivetrain

Both are full FP&A platforms for a finance team, priced by quote. Buyers on Vendr paid a median of about $22,000 (Cube) and $27,000 (Drivetrain) a year, so they make sense once you have a finance lead and several systems to connect. See Cube pricing and Drivetrain pricing.

A spreadsheet

Still a fair answer before revenue. Start from our SaaS financial model template and check the cash math with the runway calculator.

What the first year costs

List prices multiplied by 12 where a vendor quotes per month; read October 22, 2026. Excludes AI credit top-ups, implementation fees and taxes.

How to decide

• Stay on cfo.ai if you have a ledger, bank and payroll to connect and want an agent that watches them and tells you what changed. That is what you pay for.
• Pick a self-serve model if you are pre-seed or seed, mostly need a forecast you can defend in a raise, and want to set the drivers yourself.
• Pick a service such as Forecastr if you would rather have a person build the model with you.
• Pick an FP&A platform (Cube, Drivetrain, Jirav) once a finance lead owns budgets across departments.

Moving a model off Runway or cfo.ai

1. Export what you have while your account is active: assumptions, actuals and any scenario you showed investors.
2. Write down the drivers, not the cells. Starting MRR, new customers per month, churn, price, hiring plan and fixed costs are what you will re-enter. The SaaS financial model guide lists them.
3. Rebuild and reconcile. Check that the new model's runway and burn match the old one for the same month before you trust either.

FAQ

Is Runway Financial shutting down?

No. Runway Financial renamed itself cfo.ai on September 10, 2026 and still operates under the legal name Runway Financial, Inc. The product is now built around Ari, an AI CFO agent.

Is runway.com the same company as Runway Financial?

No. runway.com is Runway, the AI video company. Runway Financial, the planning software, is at cfo.ai.

How much does Runway Financial cost now?

As cfo.ai: Startup $375 per month billed yearly or $500 month to month, Growth $1,125 billed yearly or $1,500 month to month, Enterprise on quote. There is a 14-day free trial.

What is the best Runway alternative for a SaaS startup?

It depends on stage. Before or around seed, a self-serve SaaS model such as Adlega (free plan, then $49 a month) or a spreadsheet is enough. If you want a person to build the model, Forecastr starts at $5,000 a year. With a finance team and several systems, look at Cube or Drivetrain.

Does cfo.ai have a free plan?

No permanent free plan is listed. There is a 14-day free trial, and during its launch month the site advertises "your first model, free".

What are the alternatives to Causal and Runway?

Both left the founder market in different ways: Causal now sits inside Lucanet and Runway became cfo.ai. See our Causal alternative page and the best SaaS financial modeling software roundup.

Related: Mosaic alternatives, Finmark alternative, Pry alternative, AI financial modeling, and the scenario calculator.

Where Adlega is weaker

Adlega is self-serve: you build the model yourself. The AI CFO guides you and explains every number, but no analyst builds it for you, so a founder who wants the work done by a person may prefer a done-for-you service. Its integrations (Stripe, Chargebee, Google Analytics, Google Ads), forecast-vs-actuals and scenario comparison are still rolling out on the Growth plan, so today most numbers come from the drivers you enter rather than synced data. And it is built around SaaS metrics, so a business without recurring revenue will get less from it than from a general-purpose planning tool.