Float vs CFO Pal
Float is a dedicated cashflow forecasting tool that connects to Xero, QuickBooks, and FreeAgent. It does one thing and does it well. CFO Pal is a broader platform that includes cashflow forecasting alongside P&L reporting, budget tracking, management accounts, and proactive alerts. The right choice depends on what you actually need.
Where Float excels
Float is purpose-built for cashflow forecasting and scenario planning. It lets you create multiple forecast scenarios (best case, worst case, expected), model the impact of hiring decisions or large purchases, and visualise your projected cash position over time. If cashflow visibility is your only problem, Float is a strong tool.
Where CFO Pal goes further
CFO Pal includes cashflow forecasting but wraps it inside a broader financial management platform. You also get automated P&L reports, a balance sheet summary, budget vs actuals tracking with colour-coded status, management accounts delivered as a PDF board pack, gross margin monitoring, debtor tracking, and proactive alerts sent via email, SMS, or WhatsApp. Every Monday morning, you receive a plain English summary of your financial position without logging in.
Float does not generate a P&L. It does not track budgets. It does not produce management accounts. It does not send you weekly summaries or urgent alerts. If you need more than just a cashflow forecast, CFO Pal covers the full picture.
Pricing
Float starts at around £49/month for their Essentials plan, with scenario planning on a higher tier. CFO Pal is £199/month + VAT. We are more expensive, and it is worth being straight about why: Float is a dedicated cashflow forecasting tool, and it is a good one. CFO Pal is doing a wider job: forecasting, P&L and balance sheet reporting, budget tracking, a management accounts pack, proactive alerts and an AI analyst that explains what any of it means: all included, with no higher tier to buy. If forecasting is the only gap you have, Float is the cheaper answer. If you are trying to replace not having a finance function at all, compare CFO Pal against what that costs instead.
Whichever tool you compare it to
What CFO Pal does differently
Set Float aside for a moment. Five things are true of CFO Pal against every product on this list, and each one is enforced by a test in our own code rather than by a sentence on a page.
It only ever reads. We connect to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage and never write anything back. Our job is interpretation, not bookkeeping, so there is nothing we could break in your ledger.
The AI is not allowed to do arithmetic. Every figure it quotes is calculated first from your accounting data and handed to the model as fact. An answer containing a monetary figure that is not already in that data fails our test suite.
If the numbers do not reconcile, it says nothing. Before any AI output is written, we check that the balance sheet balances, that the profit and loss agrees with the ledger, and that cash bridges from one month to the next. If a check fails, the model is not called and you are told why, rather than handed a confident figure that is wrong.
It starts the conversation. A written brief lands every Monday and an alert arrives the day something moves, whether or not you log in. A dashboard waits to be opened. A finance director does not.
Xero, QuickBooks and Sage are treated the same. Every check runs on every platform, so a business with two companies on two systems, or a firm with a mixed client base, gets one way of working.
Feature by feature
Both tools forecast cash. The difference is everything either side of the forecast, whether anything reports on the month you just had, and whether anything tells you when the picture changes.
| Capability | CFO Pal | Float |
|---|---|---|
| What it's built to do | Run the whole finance function: report, forecast, monitor, warn | Forecast cash, in depth |
| Cashflow forecasting | 8, 12 and 16 weeks, with what-if scenarios | Core strength, deeper modelling |
| Scenario planning | Included | Available on higher tiers |
| P&L and balance sheet reporting | Generated monthly, PDF export | Not a reporting tool |
| Budget vs actuals | Pace tracking and transaction drill-down | |
| Management accounts pack | Fourteen sections, board-ready | |
| Proactive alerts | Email, SMS and WhatsApp, same day | You open the dashboard |
| Weekly written summary | Every Monday, no login needed | |
| Plain-English analysis of your numbers | Questions answered from your ledger, no per-question charge | You read the charts |
| Revenue concentration and debtor analysis | ||
| Accounting integrations | Xero, QuickBooks, Sage | Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent |
| Price | £199/month + VAT | From around £49/month |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card required | Free trial offered |
Float pricing and features as published at the time of writing (August 2026). Check float.co.uk for current details.
Full detail on what's included is on the features page.
More than a forecast. A full CFO.
Cashflow forecasting, P&L, budgets, management accounts, and proactive alerts. All from £199/month + VAT.
Connects to Xero, QuickBooks & Sage · UK data residency · No card required