Unsurprisingly, cash is the number one factor in your ability to keep your business growing. And if you’ve ever found yourself scrambling to keep up with payments and expenses, you know that having clarity into your spending habits is key. 🔑
Cash flow is a measure of the money moving in (cash inflows) and out (cash outflows) of your business over a given period of time. Understanding your cash flow can help you anticipate future needs, plan for growth and make the best business decisions for your cash positioning.
The good news is that there are a number of banks and cash flow management tools that specialize in helping businesses manage their finances and ensure they have enough cash on hand at all times. Let's take a look at some of the best cash flow management software to take your cash flow strategy 🚀 to the next level.
Best banks for cash flow management 🏦
Best budgeting tools for cash flow management 📈
Best accounting platforms for cash flow management 🗄
Best spreadsheet tools for cash flow management 📊
Best banks for cash flow management 🏦
Simply put, without full visibility 👀 into your finances, you can’t effectively manage your cash flow. The best banks for cash flow management offer a variety of services and products to give you greater clarity and control over your cash standing.
When looking for the right bank account, you’ll want to consider how many checking or envelope accounts they offer for spending categorization, associated account fees and whether they offer accounts payable tools to help free up cash. Let’s look at some of the best banks for cash flow management.
Relay
Relay makes it easy to understand precisely what you’re earning, spending and saving so you can make the smartest decisions for your business. You can consolidate your payments, organize your cash and automate the transfer of cash reserves all in the same place. Here’s why we think Relay truly is the best bank for cash flow clarity.
With Relay, you get up to 20 fee-free checking accounts to help you organize your cash into multiple categories. These cash flow features allow you to organize and allocate income for things like day-to-day expenses and payroll while automating the transfer of income into each account using dollar amounts or percentages.
Plus, Relay integrates AP directly into banking meaning you can manage bills and invoices from the same place where you already keep your money. 💰
Best fit:
Small businesses with 2 to 100 employees
Cash flow features:
Organize cash and expenses using 20 checking accounts
Built-in approval workflows for paying bills
Automatically sync data with best-in-class accounting integrations
Ultra-detailed banking data for meticulous expense tracking
Automatic reconciliation with accounting software
Fast payments with same-day ACH on Relay Pro
Unlimited international and domestic wires on Relay Pro
50 physical or virtual Visa debit cards
Auto-categorization for all card purchases
Secure, role-based banking access
Cons:
Accounts payable automation is only available with Relay Pro ❌
Not standalone — users need a Xero or QuickBooks Online account to receive and process invoices ❌
Trustpilot rating: ⭐ 4.5 (Source)
Verdict: Relay is best for small business cash flow management.
With up to 20 checking accounts, approval workflows and ultra-detailed banking data, you can understand precisely what you’re earning, spending and saving so you can make the smartest decisions for your business with Relay.
Mercury
One of the biggest challenges startups face is maintaining cash control while scaling. From working capital to storing funds, cash flow management can be difficult when growing quickly. Mercury offers cash flow tools that help you organize your cash flow, control user permissions, earn cash back and even secure funding.
And while Mercury is a great online banking solution for high-growth, digital-first technology startups, it doesn’t offer advanced cash transfers or accounts payable features that most small businesses need for greater cash flow transparency. With Mercury, there are no automatic account transfers because you can only move money between accounts with one-to-one account transfers.
Best fit:
Startups of all sizes
Cash flow features:
Organize cash and expenses with up to 15 checking accounts
1.5% monthly cashback on all domestic and international spend
1 savings account
Custom limits for cards
4 banking access roles
Smart automated transfer rules
Cons:
Basic banking features ❌
Transfers between accounts are 1:1 ❌
No accounts payable automation ❌
Trustpilot rating: ⭐ 3.8 (Source)
Verdict: Mercury is best for high-growth startups.
Organize expenses with up to 15 checking accounts and receive 1.5% cashback on all domestic and international spending with Mercury.
NorthOne
NorthOne is an online business banking platform designed for freelancers and sole proprietors. It offers 1 checking account and unlimited sub-accounts (also known as envelopes). While these sub-accounts let you divide your funds into separate folders, the account options are more limited as you can’t actually use envelopes as full-fledged checking accounts.
While having unlimited envelopes is handy, one of the biggest downfalls of NorthOne is the monthly $10 account fee and minimum cash balance requirements which pose additional costs for business owners.
Best fit:
Solopreneurs and freelancers
Cash flow features:
Unlimited sub-accounts to organize cash and expenses
Auto-categorization for card transactions
Automatically budget a percentage of your payments to sub-accounts
Invoice payment features available through a dedicated app
Cons:
Only 1 true checking account ❌
Only 1 debit card ❌
Wire payments are subject to a $15 fee ❌
$10 monthly account fee ❌
$50 deposit required ❌
Trustpilot rating: ⭐ 2.9 (Source)
Verdict: NorthOne is best for solopreneurs and freelancers with simple finances.
With NorthOne, solopreneurs can auto-categorize transactions and organize cash with unlimited sub-accounts for basic cash flow management.
Best budgeting tools for cash flow management 📈
If you want to stay on top of your cash flow, budgeting is essential. Budgeting tools will allow you to make sure that you have enough money coming in and going out with spending rules, forecasts and accounting integrations. The right budgeting tool for cash flow management will depend on your business needs and the size of your team.
Spendesk
Spendesk is a great budgeting tool for businesses looking to streamline their cash flow by automating payments so that you don't have to worry about chasing down late payments or missing checks.
Spendesk allows you to set up automatic recurring payments so that any time an invoice goes out, your clients will be charged immediately without having to worry about remembering when they need to make those payments.
Best fit:
Small to large businesses with complex finances
Cash flow features:
Set card spending rules
track spending across your company in real-time
Automated receipt collection
Create supplier rules to map payments
Integrate transactions into your existing accounting tools
Upload supplier invoices
Cons:
Need to upgrade to Essentials for multi-step approval flows, expenses categories tracking and advanced control rules on cards ❌
Need to upgrade to Scale plan for spending dashboard reporting ❌
Rating: ⭐ 4.2 (Source)
Verdict: Spendesk is best for small to large business budgeting.
Spendesk allows you to set spending rules, automate receipt collection and upload invoices for greater visibility into your spending habits.
Float
Float is a visual cash forecasting software tool that helps to provide more clarity to your company’s budgets and cash standing using scenario planning.
With Float, you can create forecasts by combining data from different sources in one place, see your financial information on your dashboard and make changes when needed with drag-and-drop functionality.
Best fit:
Medium to large sizes businesses
Forecasting features:
Visual reporting for greater cash flow clarity
Automatically imports invoices and bills to track against your projections
Models different hypothetical cash situations
Integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero
Syncs to your accounting software so you can see incoming cash and outgoing expenses
Cons:
Not ideal for day-to-day forecasting ❌
Pricing can get expensive ❌
Maximum of 6 months of historical data is displayed ❌
Rating: ⭐ 4.4 (Source)
Verdict: Float is best for medium to large business budgeting scenario planning.
With Float, large businesses can use visual reporting to model hypothetical cash situations and understand their spending habits.
PlanGuru
PlanGuru is a cloud-based business budgeting tool focused on budgeting, forecasting and strategic planning with the help of scenario analytics.
PlanGuru offers budgeting features such as future cash flow projections, debt modeling and financial management ratios, so you can budget and plan ahead. Unlike other budgeting tools, with PlanGuru you can also import historical data to view budget vs. actual reports and build rolling forecasts for more detailed data.
Best fit:
Small businesses and non-profits
Forecasting features:
Budget and forecast up to 10 years in the future
Automatically creates cash flow statements and balance sheets
Imports up to 5 years of historical and actual results data
Compatible with QuickBooks Online, Xero and Excel
Cons:
Payroll utility, breakeven tool, business valuation and project consolidation tools aren’t available through the cloud app ❌
Rating: ⭐ 4.0 (Source)
Verdict: PlanGuru is best for small business cloud-based budgeting.
PlanGuru automatically creates cash flow statements and gives small businesses the ability to forecast cash scenarios up to 10 years in the future.
Scoro
Scoro is a budgeting software tool that allows you to plan and track your cash flow by analyzing forecasts, managing your invoices and comparing budgeting scenarios.
With Scoro you can manage cash expenses and resources, analyze financial data and manage project budgets in one dashboard. And unlike other budgeting tools, Scoro also offers time management tools to better prioritize work.
Best fit:
Agencies and business firms
Forecasting features:
Combines tools for budgeting, CRM and project management
Offers cash flow planning and forecasting
Compares budget scenarios to actual revenue, costs or profit
Offers role-based permissions for privacy
Integrates with Xero and QuickBooks Online
Cons:
Built for agencies and consultancies, so may not be ideal for other business types ❌
Tailored more toward budgeting than cash flow forecasts ❌
Rating: ⭐ 3.8 (Source)
Verdict: Scoro is best for agency budgeting.
Agencies and business firms can use Scoro to analyze financial data, track cash flow and better prioritize work.
Best accounting platforms for cash flow management 🗄
Accounting software takes the manual work out of cash flow management. With the right accounting tools, you won’t have to waste time manually decoding your transaction data. The best accounting platforms will help you track all of your expenses, income and profit in real time with automated expense categorization and cash flow statements. Here's a list of the best accounting platforms for managing your cash flow.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is a small business accounting and budgeting tool used by small business owners and their accountants all over the world. QuickBooks Online is packed with budgeting features including expense tracking, budget plans and custom reporting.
QuickBooks is a great tool for tracking your expenses because it’s easy to set up and intuitive to use. And when you bank with Relay, you can send comprehensive transaction data and monthly statements to QuickBooks Online for faster, more meticulous bookkeeping.
Best fit:
Small to midsize businesses
Accounting features:
Import and categorize your expenses
Create custom rules to categorize your expenses and run reports
Snap and save photos of receipts
Automatically sorts expenses into categories to keep things organized
Built-in cash flow statement
Multiple users for ease of collaboration
Robust integration partners
Cons:
Steep learning curve for people without formal training in finance ❌
Requires additional time to set up ❌
Rating:
Verdict: QuickBooks is best for small to medium-sized business accounting.
With QuickBooks, businesses can track spending, categorize expenses and run reports for greater visibility into their transaction data.
Xero
Xero is a cloud accounting software that offers small business budgeting features to better control your cash flow. It allows you to keep track of bills and receipts, track your spending between accounts and automate tasks like invoicing and reporting.
Plus, Xero's budgeting features allow you to create budgets for any expense category and view your spending vs. budget over time.
Best fit:
Small businesses
Accounting features:
See an up-to-date picture of your cash flow
Generate budget reports
Automate tasks like invoicing and reporting
Allow employees to submit expenses, manage leave and send invoices
Robust integration partners
Unlimited users
Cons:
Not ideal for larger businesses ❌
Limited cash flow reporting features ❌
Rating: ⭐ 4.2 (Source)
Verdict: Xero is best for small business accounting.
Xero allows businesses to automate invoicing, generate reports and even manage leave for more streamlined accounting automation.
Freshbooks
Freshbooks is a cloud accounting tool that offers basic budgeting tools for small businesses. With Freshbooks, you can create and view estimates and manage your budget with their expense tracking system. Unlike other accounting platforms, Freshbooks doesn’t offer dedicated cash flow features.
Best fit:
Freelancers and small businesses with simple finances
Accounting features:
Track expenses and generate income statements
Auto-categorization of expenses
Automatically import expenses from your bank
Multi-currency expenses
Cons:
No dedicated cash flow report ❌
Limited features for complex enterprise budgeting ❌
Rating: ⭐ 3.4 (Source)
Verdict: Freshbooks is best for simple freelance accounting.
Freshbooks is designed to help freelancers and small businesses track and categorize expenses for greater spending visibility.
Best spreadsheet tools for cash flow management 📊
When it comes to cash flow management, spreadsheets can help you track and anticipate cash flow. The best spreadsheet tools for cash flow management allow you to track your income and expenses, as well as identify areas where you can save money or increase revenue. Here are some of the most popular types of spreadsheet tools.
Google Sheets
Google Sheets is a free and powerful tool that businesses can use to make the most of their cash flow budgets. Not only is it flexible, but it's also collaborative, making it a good choice for companies of all sizes.
The biggest advantage that Google Sheets has over other spreadsheet tools is that it offers almost the same level of functions at absolutely no cost.
Best fit:
Businesses of all sizes
Spreadsheet features:
Completely free to use
Built for collaboration with team members
Cash flow statement templates available
Seamlessly connects with other Google apps
Can export as raw data and import into any other system
Cons:
Slightly fewer functions than Microsoft Excel ❌
Verdict: Google Sheets is the best free spreadsheet tool.
Google Sheets offers a robust suite of features to take your cash flow visibility and reporting a step further at no cost.
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel remains the gold standard for budgeting spreadsheet tools. Exel’s flexibility makes it easy to use while offering a robust sweet of capabilities. Microsoft Exel offers templates that can help you predict whether your business will have enough cash to meet its obligations and charts to view your projected monthly balances.
Best fit:
Businesses of all sizes
Spreadsheet features:
Highly customizable cash flow templates and charts
Large number of functions available for cash flow analysis and financial modeling
Integrates with the rest of Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 suite of tools
Collaboration with team members through mobile, desktop and web
Cons:
Steep learning curve for custom needs ❌
Easy to make mistakes and for formulas to break ❌
Verdict: Microsoft Excel is the best comprehensive spreadsheet tool.
Microsoft Excel offers the most spreadsheet features to help you customize and visualize data for better business budgeting.
Take your cash flow strategy to the next level with Relay 🚀
With so many tools out there, it can be tricky to find the best way to manage your cash flow effectively. Relay makes it easy with a crystal-clear picture of your cash flow so you can make more intelligent and informed decisions about your money.
If you’re ready to take your cash flow management strategy to the next level, get a clear picture of what you’re earning, spending and saving with a free Relay account!
