# Who has the easiest budgeting and forecasting tool to migrate to for a finance team moving off Excel-based budgeting?

<p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">We're looking at which <a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/categories/budgeting-and-forecasting">budgeting and forecasting tools</a> make the easiest migration path for a team that's been running everything in Excel and wants to keep that familiarity while gaining more structure.</p><ol>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/datarails/reviews"><strong>Datarails</strong></a> is built specifically to stay Excel-connected, and reviewers describe it as a dream to use once set up, since the data can be extracted right back into Excel rather than forcing a totally new interface.</li>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/vena/reviews"><strong>Vena</strong></a> reviewers specifically praise the Excel-native structure paired with controlled workflows, with one describing it as keeping Excel's flexibility while eliminating the version-control chaos that came with pure spreadsheets.</li>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/liveflow/reviews"><strong>LiveFlow</strong></a> turns Excel and Google Sheets themselves into the reporting layer, syncing real-time data from QuickBooks directly into spreadsheets reviewers already use, so the migration is closer to upgrading the spreadsheet than replacing it.</li>
<li>
<a class="a a--md" elv="true" href="https://www.g2.com/products/workday-adaptive-planning/reviews"><strong>Workday Adaptive Planning</strong></a> offers an Office Connect feature that refreshes live data inside familiar Excel models with a single click, letting teams keep their existing spreadsheet structure while pulling from a governed source underneath.</li>
</ol><p class="elv-tracking-normal elv-text-default elv-font-figtree elv-text-base elv-leading-base elv-font-normal" elv="true">For teams that made the jump from pure Excel, was the learning curve mostly about the new tool, or was it more about getting your own team's data and templates cleaned up first?</p>

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- Posted at: 3 days ago
- Author title: SEO Content Specialist
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## Comments
### Comment 1

&lt;p&gt;I’d expect cleaning up the existing models to be harder than learning the new platform. Years of Excel budgeting often leave behind inconsistent formulas, duplicated assumptions, and processes that only one person understands. I’d use the migration as an opportunity to standardize those models first, then judge the new tool on how much familiar Excel flexibility it preserves without recreating the same version-control problems.&lt;/p&gt;

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- Posted at: 1 day ago





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