Are you about writing a business plan and you need a software? If YES, here are 27 best professional business plan software online both free and paid options.
Once an entrepreneur gets a business idea, the next thing he or she should think about is to write a business plan that would help actualize the goals of setting up the business. For most people, writing business plans can be tedious and complex, thus making them shy away completely from it.
In this our tech driven world, things are getting simplified and it is the same with business plan writing. Today, there are a number of software applications that can enable a business person write an excellent business plan for his or her new business idea.
By using a software to guide you through the writing process, or investing in a service that taps into an extensive research network to write your business plan for you, you can save yourself a lot of time and focus your strength on other aspects of your business.
If you are a startup entrepreneur who does not have the kind of money it takes to hire professional business plan writers, you can simply get a reliable business plan writing software to do the job for you at a much lower cost. In this article, we have put together a couple of reliable business plan writing software that can help you out of this problem, as well as the prices they go for.
27 Best Business Plan Writing Software Online (FREE & Paid)
1. LivePlan
- Cost – $9.95 to $139.92 per year
LivePlan has always bagged the top spot whenever it comes to the best business plan software you can find online. This is because the creators of this app provided a slick and interactive service that offers a step-by-step business plan approach to businesses. This business plan writing software also boasts of a rich collection of cloud-based features, and online learning tools. The software also provides easy-to-use templates built to meet your specific goals.
As an added bonus, LivePlan offers advanced financial services that automatically calculate the financial outcomes of your business for the next five years. And if you’re a QuickBooks or Xero user, you can easily import your data into LivePlan’s system to gain a bird’s-eye view of how your business is performing from a financial standpoint.
Its simple and straightforward subscription-based pricing offers an annual and monthly package. Its annual package is priced at a healthy $139.92 per year. If you’re not willing to pay that much up front, opt for its monthly package at $19.95 per month, and enjoy the first month for only $9.95.
2. BizPlanBuilder
- Cost – $19.97 to $97.00
BizPlanBuilder is yet another business plan writing software that has been helping small businesses out over the years. This intuitive software provides a simple wizard that walks users through effective business planning. With its premade, industry-specific templates, BizPlanBuilder can help you craft a functional business plan that reflects your business goals.
While it provides solid business plan services, its flagship service surrounds financials. With a single link, business owners can share their plan with investors online. So instead of sending bulky attachments, users can present their plan directly in a browser using modern navigation.
BizPlanBuilder’s financial tools also come with calculators, charts, and graphs, show financial projections, cost analyses, and budget sheets. The software also allows users to import financial data from their accounting software program into the app to make it easier to work on.
In addition to its business planning and financial features, BizPlanBuilder offers real-time collaboration, which means multiple team members can view and edit the business plan simultaneously. The pricing for BizPlanBuilder starts at $19.97 per month. BizPlanBuilder has 2 different plans such as – Start-Up or Strategic Planning at $19.97 per month and Windows App and Cloud-Based BizPlanBuilder at $97.00 per year.
3. GoSmallBiz.com
- Cost – $39 per month
Founded by NFL Hall of Famer and veteran entrepreneur Fran Tarkenton, GoSmallBiz.com provides hundreds of business-specific templates that generate the exact documents business owners need for their business plans. In addition to these features, this business plan writing software has online calendar management that can schedule meetings, appointments, and customer events while setting up automated reminders.
Another great feature of this online software is its financial statements and projections. Business owners can perform sales and profit analyses and look over income, cash flow, and balance sheets.
For those who are new to business planning, GoSmallBiz.com offers a slew of online learning tools, including business mentoring, business courses, and weekly updates. It also offers users help from a real CEO and business planning expert, so you can be rest assured knowing that you’ll never be steered in the wrong direction.
In terms of pricing, GoSmallBiz.com is priced at an affordable $39 per month. But you can test the waters by opting for their 60-day free trial.
4. Business Plan Pro
- Cost – $99.95 to $159.95
Business Plan Pro is reputed to be the number one best-selling business plan software for ten years straight. As an industry leader among small-business owners, Business Plan Pro offers a flock of top-notch technical and customer support to help new business owners succeed.
Plus, it offers clear instructions and cutting-edge funding tools to create a solid business plan and impress investors. With Business Plan Pro, you also get over 500 complete sample business plans you can use for inspiration or edit directly.
More than a million entrepreneurs have used Business Plan Pro. That includes everyone from first-time business owners to leaders at more than half of the Fortune 500. Business owners can sign up for Business Plan Pro’s Standard edition for $99.95 per month. Or upgrade to the Premier edition for a flat rate of $159.95. Keep in mind that you can cancel anytime if you’re not satisfied.
5. OnePlace
- Costs – $5/mo to $99/mo
OnePlace plays an important role in business plan writing, especially for freelancers. It allows you to track the time you spend on each task. When time is applied, OnePlace automatically calculates leftover effort, which helps you plan more effectively for future projects and tasks.
OnePlace allows businesses to store plans and other documents that can be accessed by members of the team. You can assign an estimated time for a task and keep track of the actual effort spent on the task. It will report on actual versus estimated time so you can compare how well you are meeting your projections.
As an added bonus, OnePlace offers affordable pricing. In fact, its basic plan, which offers limited features, is free. If you need more robust features, move up to its Enterprise plan ($5/mo.), Bronze plan ($24/mo.), Silver plan ($49/mo.), or Gold plan ($99/mo.). OnePlace also offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required.
6. PlanGuru
- Cost – $99 per month
PlanGuru is yet another comprehensive, and powerful software package in the business plan writing space. Some of the features of this business planning software include; a flexible budgeting that can handle a simple small business, or a larger multi-department operating budget, and financial forecasting that uses multiple methods, including intelligent and turn-key methods – twenty methods in total.
Historical results can also be imported with the general ledger import utility which can then be applied to produce a rolling forecast. The company also offers PlanGuru Launch, a service to bring in expertise that starts at $250 per hour of assistance.
In addition, the software provides business plan writing and management tutoring for entrepreneurs that are still struggling aspects of their business.
A significant downside of this awesome software is the cost, with the least expensive plan costing $99 per month, which only includes a single user, and additional users cost $29 each per month. While there is no free trial, PlanGuru does offer a 30 day money back guarantee.
7. Business Sorter
- Cost – AUD$12 – $768 AUD/year 33% discount
Business planning can be complex and implementation is an ongoing process. Business Sorter provides a really simple, cost-effective way to put together a plan and execute it. Business Sorter promises to simplify and speed up business planning, and claims to be able to flesh out a plan in an hour or two, via a novel 273 card sort system that covers many common situations.
The card sort system lets you work out the basis of your plan in 1–2 hours, instead of many hours or even days. The ability to reword cards is included, or also to add cards to the already expansive deck, so no worries if there is not a pre-made card for your situation.
Unlike some sites that have videos, the educational resources here are provided as PDFs and Word files, which can be quicker to access, but harder to follow for some learners. The lowest tier plan, Basic, starts at $12 monthly, with an annual discount of $80 on an annual basis, is fully featured, and includes up to three team leaders.
8. Enloop
- Cost – $9.95 to $39.95
Enloop lets you try its business plan creation capabilities for free with a no-charge version using simple text and no images. If you want anything else more than that, you need to pay at least $19.95 per month. With a paid version, Enloop helps company owners create business plans quickly and easily.
One of the coolest features of Enloop is it’s EPS (Enloop Performance Score). As you create your business plan, Enloop assigns a score to your plan which is displayed as you move through each step of your plan. This score is Enloops scoring of the projected success of your business, which is calculated as a score (1-1000) using Enloop’s proprietary algorithm.
Enloop’s free version lets a single user create a single business plan with three-year forecasts, PDF file output, and a business report card. Enloop’s three paid levels, which range from $9.95 per month to $39.95 per month, add features such as financial ratio analysis, rich text formatting in report creation, and additional users, plans, and charts. Enloop can also let you invite other people to contribute to the same plan.
9. Tarkenton GoSmallBiz
Cost – $99 per year or $14.95 per month
GoSmallBiz from Tarkenton Companies, Inc. is a web-based, template-driven system that offers business planning tools and other resources for small businesses. It begins at $99 per year or $14.95 per month. It can also be purchased as part of a $39-per-month Tarkenton GoSmallBiz membership, which includes other services such as business consultations, a website builder, an HR document builder, customer relationship management (CRM) with email marketing, and more.
Delivered entirely over the web, GoSmallBiz from Tarkenton Companies, Inc. works using a template-driven organization that offers not only business planning tools, but a host of other resources for small businesses, especially learning and mentoring.
Tarkenton GoSmallBiz started out in 1996 doing education and advocacy for small business start-ups. Founded by former NFL player Fran Tarkenton, the company’s main service is to provide consultants who respond to questions about small business owners.
10. Restaurant Success Kit
- Costs – $97
If you aren’t looking for a largely pre-researched and pre-written plan, you may want to consider the Restaurant Success Kit package that is available from RestaurantFunds.com. This package includes an easy-to-use fill-in template that is designed to help restaurant entrepreneurs create effective business plans, as well as a number of other resources designed to be helpful to restaurant owners with various aspects of operations.
The business plan portion of the kit includes several template plan versions, including options that are appropriate if you are creating a plan document to submit to banks or investors for funding consideration. The kit also includes market and demographic research sources and an ebook that can help you more fully understand the process of creating a plan for your restaurant business.
Beyond the planning portion, the kit includes a comprehensive financial software package designed especially for restaurants. Additional kit features include a guide for effective marketing, restaurant operations resources, loss prevention strategies, information about franchising versus opening your own restaurant concept and more. The Restaurant Success Kit costs $97 and comes with a one year money-back guarantee.
11. Business Plan Pro
- Cost – $99.95 to $159.95
Business Plan Pro is considered as among the most widely-used business planning application in the business community for almost a decade, outselling all other similar software apps combined. For years, it is a regular entry in the top 10 bestsellers list of Amazon, business applications category. Business Plan Pro is designed to help new and existing businesses of all sizes to easily draft and complete business plans compliant to SBA standards.
With Business Plan Pro, you can remove the guesswork out of drafting and writing a business plan. Business Plan Pro includes 500 sample business plans for hundreds of business types. You can use the built-in Sample Plan Browser to select one sample that suits your business. Trusted by over 1 million entrepreneurs, the tool has been among the leading business plan software solutions for businesses for more than 10 years now.
This business plan software is available in two editions:
- Premier – $159.95; Its a the top seller, with more tools you need to succeed.
- Standard — $99.95, it just gives you what you need to get started with your plan.
12. Bplans
Bplans is another online provider of business plan templates, but goes beyond that with additional pitch and SWOT analysis templates. There are also business plan guides, industry reports, and a free course on writing a business plan.
Bplans also publishes a lot of free-to-use articles on business planning, financials, and tax reporting, to help ensure you can keep your figures and projections accurate and compliant. Bplans may not be a software per-say, it is website that provides free business plan templates that can enable you craft your own. This site offers a free, basic template to download.
13. SCORE
Score is a nonprofit business mentorship program that offers free business plan templates for both startup and established businesses, as well as planning tools for nonprofits. Their startup business plan is made up of a narrative along with financial worksheets.
The template includes over 150 questions to establish the body of the business plan you are trying to create and the questions can be answered in any order. The executive summary, however, should be completed last. The goal of this completed template is to provide you with a fluid narrative.
14. Office.com
Another software where you can get free business plan templates to write your own is office.com. The Microsoft Office site offers a gallery of templates, including business plan checklists, financials, presentations and marketing. These templates are useful if you want a specific template, rather than a general business plan. In addition, there is a PPT for business presentations for when you are ready to showcase your business to potential investors.
15. Free-Plan
Cost – free
This software is basically a comprehensive Word-based document that contains a detailed framework for building your business plan, including sample text, tables and charts, as well as a manual with section-by-section assistance. Free-Plan is ideal for new and established businesses looking to expand and in need of a business plan for internal or external use. Their micro-plan is designed for startups and very small businesses.
16. U.S. Small Business Administration
This site allows you to fill out a template online, with instructions on what to include in each section. Next to each category, tips and examples are provided as an additional resource. After completing the template, you can generate your business plan and save it to your computer as a Word document.
17. BizGym.com
This Online business planner allows you to fill out a template on the site section by section, tracks your progress on the plan, and allows you to share the plan once it’s completed. BizGym’s recent update offers a collaborative platform with multiple pricing options, including a free “Inventor” plan. Through this application, you can access resources such as a deck builder, budget builder and pivot plan.
18. Business Plan Software
Cost – $129.95
Business plan software is a business planning system that consists of business plan wizard, complete financials, detailed examples, PowerPoint presentation, and color charts and graphs.
This software is second to none. You can convert a simple idea into a master plan, you have at your disposal a set of tools of infinite utility. Not only that, you can also collaborate with your work team, develop your plan, bet on it and follow its progress.
Starting Price – $129.95
19. QuickPlan Restaurant
Cost – $50 to $195
QuickPlan is a business plan writing software that is targeted at restaurants. The software offers a number of industry-specific pre-researched restaurant business plan packages. The QuickPlan Restaurant package is designed for medium-size, single-location full service restaurant and bar enterprises, but options are available for other types of establishments.
QuickPlan actually has several niche-specific plan software options within the food service industry, including versions specific to Mexican restaurants, chicken wing establishments, delicatessens, multi-unit operations and many others.
New QuickPlan packages are released each year, so be sure to verify exactly what is available when you are ready to start working on your plan. The cost for the complete 2012 version QuickPlan Restaurant package is $195; the cost of a download only version is $50 lower.
20. MAUS MasterPlan Lean
Cost – $299.00/one-time
MAUS MasterPlan Lean is challenging the status quo of contemporary business planning. This revolutionary tool takes you through a simply questions and answer format, guiding you through the entire process, presenting to you a stunning business plan with a complete set of financials. The MasterPlan Lean software drives accountability with goals and actions produced throughout the business plan. This means that you will be held accountable to staying on track with the business plan as you grow!
MasterPlan will save you 50-90% of the time, and give you the best chance of successfully creating a highly professional business or marketing plan tailored to your business. MasterPlan business planning software is more advanced than a set of templates that you modify. It is a premium technology platform that works in the background to automate and calculate as much as possible for you.
Overall, this software is a fantastic online software for doing business in medium and large sized companies.
Starting Price $299.00/one-time
21. getlaunched
Cost – $28.48/month
getlaunched is a business plan writing software solution that simplifies business plan generation and evaluation. getLaunched is business plan software that includes features such as collaboration, and financial projections.
This software requests reasonable quantity of data for planing, and the dashboard design is good and the tools provided are very practical. product pricing starts at .48/month
22. Knowlium
Cost – $19 to $49
Knowlium is a business plan software made specially for startups. This software includes drag/drop section, customizable pagination, and infographic widget. The software provides a drag/drop tool to help develop and collaborate on a business plan for your startup. A financial dashboard is available to monitor the status of your business in real-time and you can present your business plan with Custom Branding, embedded Infographics, and Revision Tracking Code to enhance your business solutions.
It also features a customizable paging system and infographic widget. Knowlium Plot helps you stay updated on the digital efforts of your competition, influencers and other key players in your field and strategically improve your market position and take advantage of decisive intelligence gathered from various sources to enable you get the best of opportunities faster while minimizing the risk of threats as much as possible.
The pricing for Knowlium Plot starts at $19.0 per month. Knowlium Plot has 3 different plans such as – Solo at $19.0 per month, Startup at $29.0 per month and Business at $49.0 per month.
23. PlanMagic Business
Cost – $69.95 to $119.95
PlanMagic Corporation is a united states software company that was founded in 1995, and offers a software title called PlanMagic Business. PlanMagic Business has been seen as the Leader in business plan software service. The software now boasts of 12 new versions.
The software offers an easy to use interface, trend-setting business specific planning templates, presentation template, fully automated financial forecasts, with products and personnel wizards, automated charts and state-of-the-art financial analysis tools, several bonus tools and lots of business related information. The Advanced Edition offers analysis and reporting tools not even common in most high-cost accounting software.
Costs start at $69.95/one-year/1user. The Advanced Edition (AE) is $119.95 and offers 2 investor pitches, executive dashboard, state-of-the-art analyses and scenarios as well as an interesting Web marketing guide.
24. EquityNet
Cost – $199 per month
EquityNet provides a free, industry-leading tool that helps businesses and entrepreneurs connect to funding sources that fit their growth plans, including thousands of investors.
The primary focus of EquityNet is right there in the name: a network for getting and providing equity. This is an investor site that also has a business planning tools as part of its overall feature set. The service begins at $199 per month, and certainly helps you create your business plan, but only as part of the process for getting your venture funding rather than being all about ongoing planning or writing the official document.
Think of EquityNet as crowdfunding, with a good documentation process since the company boasts qualified investors willing to help businesses raise anywhere from $10,000 to $10 million.
25. iPlanner.NET
Cost – $24 to $59
iPlanner is a secure enterprise business planning tool that is offered as an online service. The application is designed to meet the needs of small business owners, advisors, investors, and serial entrepreneurs. You can use it to easily write and share your business plans online.
iPlanner.NET was launched in 2007 and has been helping entrepreneurs develop their business plans either as an individual business plan software, or in conjunction with a mentor to review the project online and in real-time. iPlanner.NET helps businesses to raise finance for growth, better understand and manage risks, and communicate the company’s <a class="wpil_keyword_link" title="Business model" Business model to the team.
The pricing for iPlanner.NET starts at $24.0 per month. iPlanner.NET has 2 different plans such as – Professional at $24.0 per month and Corporate at $59.0 per month. iPlanner.NET also offers a custom plan based on the customer’s request.
26. The Business Plan Shop
Cost – $22 to $53.73
The Business Plan Shop provides a good-enough business plan writing aid, but mainly for people who know what needs to be in the document. For this reason, this software is not too useful for beginners or those looking for plan writing guidance.
The Business Plan Shop provides a serviceable business plan creation tool which begins at $22 to $53.73 for a three-month subscription. Aside from creating the plan, the software is also capable of forecasting for three to five years. The application does a good job of walking entrepreneurs and business owners through collecting financial projections and descriptive text, and then generates an attractive business plan document. However, unlike much of the competition, the app doesn’t provide much guidance on what exactly to write in your business plan.
27. Atlas Business Solutions Ultimate Business Planner 5.0
Cost – from $99.00
Atlas Business Solutions (ABS) Ultimate Business Planner 5.0 is yet another reliable business plan writing software that is available to entrepreneurs. This software will start you off using a fairly intuitive-looking wizard that takes you through the process of building a business plan as well as a financial projection.
The good part here is that it contains advanced functionality, though the software is still capable of helping beginning entrepreneurs as well. Ultimate Business Planner begins at $99.00 per year for a single-user license. That price decreases slightly the more users you add, so for 10 users, for example, the cost is only $549.
To start using ABS Ultimate Business Planner 5.0, get set for a lengthy interview process and some smart decision making. The software asks you to enter information about your company; answer questions about your assets, liabilities, and equity; enter your projected monthly income and expenses; and then write and assemble the business plan. In the company section, you’re asked a series of questions about the company name, contact information, income tax form, customer credit policy, and the start date of the plan.