Can QuickBooks forecast cash flow?

Partly. QuickBooks Online includes a cash flow planner that projects forward from open invoices, open bills and recurring transactions, on a rolling 90-day view. It is useful as a rough check. It does not do weekly 13-week forecasts, separate gross from net burn, or let you compare several scenarios, so anything you need to defend to a board or lender usually moves to a spreadsheet or a dedicated tool.

What is a 13-week cash flow forecast?

A week-by-week projection of cash in, cash out and closing balance for the next thirteen weeks, one quarter at weekly detail. Thirteen weeks is long enough to see a problem while you can still act and short enough that most receipts and payments are already known. It is the format lenders and restructuring advisors usually ask for.

How is cash forecasting different from budgeting?

A budget is annual, accrual-based and mainly about accountability. A cash forecast is weekly, cash-based and about solvency. Revenue recognized in March is a budget line in March and a cash line in May, when the customer pays. Running only off the budget is how a profitable company runs short of cash.

How often should a rolling cash forecast be updated?

Weekly, on a fixed day, dropping the oldest week and adding a new thirteenth. Comparing what you projected with what happened each week is what makes the forecast improve. A forecast rebuilt from scratch every month gives you nothing to compare against.

Buyer's guide

QuickBooks cash flow forecasting software, compared

Cash flow forecasting software for QuickBooks Online reads your actual bank, invoice and bill data from QuickBooks and projects your cash balance forward, usually week by week for 13 weeks and month by month after that. It replaces the spreadsheet you rebuild every month and lets you test a scenario (a hire, a late customer, a price change) before you commit to it.

QuickBooks Online has a built-in cash flow planner, and it is a reasonable starting point. It projects about 90 days from open invoices, bills and recurring transactions. Most teams move to a dedicated tool when they need weekly detail, scenarios, or a forecast they can show a lender or board. Below are the established options that connect to QuickBooks Online, what each costs, and where each one stops.

6 tools compared, listed alphabetically, not ranked. RunwayWatch is our own app; we have tried to describe it as plainly as the others. Pricing and features checked October 2026; confirm with the vendor.

How to choose

Horizon and granularity: weekly for the next 13 weeks at minimum, and monthly for 12 months or more if you plan hiring or a raise.
Scenarios: you should be able to change one assumption and see the effect on closing cash without copying the whole forecast.
Sync depth: does it read only the cash account, or open invoices and bills too, so expected receipts and payments are in the forecast automatically?
Forecast history: keeping last week's forecast next to this week's actuals is how you learn whether the forecast can be trusted.
Who it is priced for: some tools price per business, others are priced for accounting firms running many client files.

Comparison at a glance

Tool	Best for	QuickBooks Online	Starting price	Notable limit
Cash Flow Frog	Very small businesses wanting a low-cost forecast	Yes (also QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, Zoho Books, FreshBooks)	From $55/mo list for under $1M revenue; discounts shown on the pricing page	Price rises with your annual revenue
Centime	Mid-size companies that also want AP and AR automation	Yes (two-way sync of bills, suppliers and payments)	Pricing on request	Forecasting is bundled with an AP or AR subscription, not sold alone
Fathom	Businesses whose advisor already reports in Fathom	Yes (QuickBooks Online and Desktop)	Tiered by number of companies; see Fathom's pricing page	Forecasting requires the Pro plan; no annual billing option
Float	Small businesses and advisors who want a dedicated cash forecast	Yes (QuickBooks Online and Xero)	$130/mo billed monthly, or $105/mo billed annually (Essentials)	Essentials forecasts 12 months; 36 months and multi-entity need higher plans
LivePlan	Startups and single-entity small businesses	Yes (QuickBooks Online and Xero)	$40/mo billed monthly, or $30/mo billed annually (Premium, the plan with QuickBooks sync)	QuickBooks sync and dashboards need Premium; one active company
RunwayWatchOur app	Owners who want burn and runway kept current from QuickBooks	Yes, read-only connection	$49/mo per app; 14-day free trial	Runway and burn only, not a full three-statement forecast

Pricing and features checked October 2026; confirm with the vendor.

The options in more detail

Cash Flow Frog

Cash Flow Frog connects to QuickBooks Online and several other ledgers and forecasts up to 36 months with scenarios. Pricing is set by annual revenue, so the entry tier is inexpensive for a business under $1M and rises as you grow. It is a sensible first step up from the QuickBooks planner when budget is the main constraint.

Centime

Centime combines payables, receivables and rolling daily, weekly or monthly cash forecasting. Its QuickBooks Online integration syncs suppliers, bills, purchase orders and payments in both directions. Because forecasting comes with the AP or AR product rather than on its own, it makes most sense if you also want to change how you pay bills or collect.

Fathom

Fathom is a reporting and analysis platform with three-way forecasting (profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow together), budgets and scenarios on its Pro plan. Pro is priced per company, with bundles for firms that run many client files, which is why accountants and fractional CFOs often already have it. If yours does, ask them before buying a separate tool.

Float

Float is built for one job: cash forecasting on top of QuickBooks Online or Xero. It supports 13-week and longer forecasts and scenario planning, and is priced per account with unlimited users. The entry plan is aimed at companies under £2m revenue and covers 12 months. Longer horizons need Growth ($265/mo), and multi-entity consolidation needs Scale plus an add-on. It suits a business that wants a forecast and nothing else.

LivePlan

LivePlan started as business-plan software and now builds projected profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow forecasts that update from QuickBooks Online actuals, with budget-vs-actual dashboards. The Premium plan, which is the one that connects to QuickBooks Online, is still among the least expensive options here. Forecasts are monthly and built around a plan, so it fits a founder planning the year better than a controller managing weekly cash.

RunwayWatchOur app

RunwayWatch is our app. It tracks gross and net burn and projects runway from QuickBooks Online, and lets you model a hire or a cut against it. It is narrower than Float or Fathom: it is about runway, not a full three-statement forecast. If you need a full forecast, use one of the tools above; if runway is the number you steer by, RunwayWatch is the focused option, and our free cash runway calculator and 13-week starter template need no signup.

Start a 14-day free trial →How RunwayWatch works →Free Cash Runway Calculator →Free 13-Week Cash Flow Starter →

Which one fits

If you only need a better view than the QuickBooks planner and want to keep cost low, start with Cash Flow Frog or LivePlan. If cash forecasting is a weekly management discipline and you want 13-week detail with scenarios, Float is the most focused option. If your accountant or fractional CFO already uses Fathom, ask them to add a forecast rather than buying a second tool. If you are also replacing how you pay bills or collect, look at Centime.

If the question is simply how many months of cash you have and what a hire does to it, RunwayWatch answers that directly from QuickBooks Online; for a full 13-week forecast with scenarios, Float remains the closer fit.

Common questions

Can QuickBooks forecast cash flow?: Partly. QuickBooks Online includes a cash flow planner that projects forward from open invoices, open bills and recurring transactions, on a rolling 90-day view. It is useful as a rough check. It does not do weekly 13-week forecasts, separate gross from net burn, or let you compare several scenarios, so anything you need to defend to a board or lender usually moves to a spreadsheet or a dedicated tool.
What is a 13-week cash flow forecast?: A week-by-week projection of cash in, cash out and closing balance for the next thirteen weeks, one quarter at weekly detail. Thirteen weeks is long enough to see a problem while you can still act and short enough that most receipts and payments are already known. It is the format lenders and restructuring advisors usually ask for.
How is cash forecasting different from budgeting?: A budget is annual, accrual-based and mainly about accountability. A cash forecast is weekly, cash-based and about solvency. Revenue recognized in March is a budget line in March and a cash line in May, when the customer pays. Running only off the budget is how a profitable company runs short of cash.
How often should a rolling cash forecast be updated?: Weekly, on a fixed day, dropping the oldest week and adding a new thirteenth. Comparing what you projected with what happened each week is what makes the forecast improve. A forecast rebuilt from scratch every month gives you nothing to compare against.