If you're a founder, a freelancer, or running an SME, the word "financials" probably brings a slight-to-severe feeling of dread. It’s the land of endless spreadsheets, cryptic formulas, and the nagging fear that you’ve missed a decimal point somewhere that completely tanks your projections. We've all been there. That late-night scramble, eyes burning, trying to make the VLOOKUP function play nice with the pivot table that just refuses to update... it's a special kind of purgatory.
For years, we’ve been told this is just the cost of doing business. You either hire an expensive consultant, become a spreadsheet guru yourself, or you fly blind. But what if there was another way?
I recently got my hands on a tool called EvryThink, which calls itself a "finance co-pilot." A co-pilot? I like that. It’s not promising to fly the plane for you, but to sit next to you, handle the complex controls, and make sure you don’t fly into a mountain. After playing around with it, I’ve gotta say, they might be onto something big.
So, What is EvryThink, Really?
Okay, cutting through the marketing speak. EvryThink is an AI-powered financial planning platform built specifically for the little guys: freelancers, startups, and small-to-medium businesses. It’s designed to consolidate all the scary parts of business finance—planning, budgeting, forecasting, even talent and expense management—into one, clean, and surprisingly intuitive dashboard.
Think of it less like a rigid accounting ledger and more like a financial GPS for your business. You tell it where you want to go (your revenue goals, your hiring plans), and it helps you map the best route, warning you about potential roadblocks (like, you know, running out of money) along the way. The big, flashing headline on their site is "SPREADSHEETS, NO WAY." and frankly, that's a mantra I can get behind.
Who Is This Tool Actually For?
EvryThink is pretty clear about who its audience is, and I appreciate the focus. This isn't a one-size-fits-all solution trying to compete with enterprise-level behemoths. It’s for:
- Startups: Especially in the early stages, when you need to model your burn rate, forecast your runway, and put together a financial plan that doesn’t make investors laugh you out of the room.
- Freelancers: The solopreneurs juggling multiple income streams and trying to figure out how much to actually pay themselves.
- SMEs: The growing businesses that have graduated from the back-of-a-napkin plan but aren’t ready for a full-time CFO.
They also give a special nod to Nonprofits, Education, and B Corporations, offering them free or discounted access. I love to see this. It’s a clear sign that they understand that purpose-driven organizations need powerful tools just as much, if not more, than purely commercial ventures.
Ditching the Dreaded Spreadsheet for Good
The core value proposition here is moving beyond the spreadsheet. I've built some truly monstrous Excel models in my time. Models with so many tabs and cross-references that opening the file felt like firing up a jet engine. They're powerful, sure, but they're also fragile, clunky, and utterly opaque to anyone who didn't build them.
EvryThink's approach is to break down financial planning into logical blocks: Revenue, Expenses, and Talent. You don’t need to know how to write a formula. You just need to answer simple questions. How many new clients do you plan to land? What’s your monthly marketing budget? When do you want to hire a new developer? The platform takes your answers and builds the model for you. It’s a fundamental shift from building the machine to just driving it.
A Closer Look at EvryThink's Features
Alright, let's pop the hood and see what makes this thing tick. It's not just one thing; it's how they all work together.
Comprehensive Financial Planning & Forecasting
This is the heart of the platform. You can map out all your potential revenue streams, from project fees to SaaS subscriptions. You can plan your expenses, from fixed costs like rent to variable costs like ad spend. The Talent planning module is particularly cool—you can model the financial impact of hiring new team members, including salaries and associated costs, to see how it affects your cash flow over time. It’s the kind of what-if analysis that used to take me hours to build manually.
Visit EvryThink
The AI-Powered "Co-Pilot"
"AI-powered" is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days, often with little substance. Here, it feels genuinely useful. EvryThink uses its AI to provide real-time insights based on the data you input. It’s not just showing you a graph; it's interpreting it for you. It might flag that your projected expenses are growing faster than your revenue, or show you how a 3-month delay in a product launch will impact your year-end cash balance. This proactive guidance is what makes it feel like a true co-pilot.
Ready for Fundraising
Anyone who has raised capital knows the pain of preparing financials for an investor deck. It's a high-stakes, high-stress process. EvryThink aims to simplify this by helping you generate clean, professional, and defensible financial models. You can easily create different scenarios—a conservative case, a realistic case, and an optimistic one—to show investors you’ve thought through all the possibilities. This feature alone could be worth the price of admission for many startups.
EvryThink Pricing: What's the Damage?
Pricing is always the million-dollar question, isn't it? Or in this case, the €16.66 question. EvryThink uses a classic tiered approach, which I think is smart. It lets you grow into the platform.
Here’s a quick breakdown of their plans:
| Plan | Price | Best For | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ignite | Free | Founders, freelancers, and side hustlers | Core features, 1 user, limited models |
| Accelerate | €16.66 / month | Growing businesses | Unlimited models, 5 users, more modules (Sales, Marketing) |
| Pinnacle | Custom Quote | Scaling businesses | Unlimited users, bank feeds, API access, scenarios |
The Ignite plan is a fantastic entry point. It's a genuine freemium offering, not just a time-limited trial. For a freelancer or a boot-strapped founder, this is a no-brainer. The Accelerate plan feels like the sweet spot for most growing SMEs. At less than the cost of a few fancy coffees a month, you get multi-user access and more powerful modules. The Pinnacle plan is for when things get serious—scaling teams that need direct bank integrations and API access.
The Good, The Bad, and The Nitty-Gritty
No tool is perfect. After my time with EvryThink, here's my honest take on the pros and cons.
What I Really Like
The simplicity is just… chef’s kiss. The interface is clean and doesn't overwhelm you. The AI-powered insights are genuinely helpful and feel like a glimpse into the future of business software. The free plan is incredibly generous, and the scalability means you won’t have to jump ship to another tool a year down the line. Plus, the multi-currency and multilingual support is a huge win for anyone operating internationally.
A Few Caveats
Of course, to get the really juicy features like bank feeds and advanced scenario planning, you need to be on the highest-tier plan. That’s pretty standard, but something to be aware of. Also, while it’s perfect for its target audience, a massive enterprise with incredibly complex departmental budgeting and legacy systems might find it a bit too streamlined. But then again, that's not who it's for.
My Final Verdict: Is EvryThink Worth It?
Yes. A resounding yes, for the right person.
If you are a founder, a freelancer, or an SME leader who breaks out in a cold sweat at the thought of opening Excel, EvryThink could be a game-changer. It lowers the barrier to entry for sound financial management. It democratizes the kind of forecasting and planning that used to be the exclusive domain of finance pros.
It's not going to replace your accountant—you still need someone for taxes and compliance—but it will make you a much more informed and proactive business owner. It gives you the power to ask the right questions and understand the financial implications of your decisions before you make them. And that, in the chaotic world of building a business, is priceless.
Frequently Asked Questions about EvryThink
Can I really start using EvryThink for free?
Absolutely. The Ignite plan is completely free and is designed for early-stage founders and freelancers. It gives you access to the core planning features without a time limit or needing a credit card to sign up. You can upgrade later if your needs grow.
Is EvryThink difficult for someone who isn't a finance expert?
Not at all. In fact, that's the whole point. The platform was designed from the ground up to be intuitive for non-finance users. It guides you through the process with simple questions rather than asking you to build complex formulas. If you know your business, you can use EvryThink.
How does the AI in EvryThink actually help me?
The AI acts as an analytical layer on top of your data. Instead of just showing you a chart of your projected cash flow, it will provide written insights, like "Warning: Based on your current hiring plan and sales forecast, you will reach a negative cash balance in 8 months." It helps you spot trends and potential issues proactively.
How is this different from accounting software like QuickBooks?
That's a great question. Accounting software like QuickBooks is primarily focused on recording the past—logging transactions that have already happened for tax and compliance purposes. EvryThink is focused on planning the future. It’s a strategic tool for forecasting, budgeting, and scenario planning. The two are complementary; one looks backward, the other looks forward.
Does EvryThink support multiple currencies?
Yes, it offers both multi-currency and multilingual support, which makes it a great option for businesses with international clients, teams, or suppliers.
Conclusion
In the end, tools are just tools. But the right one can feel like a superpower. EvryThink manages to take one of the most intimidating aspects of running a business and make it accessible, manageable, and even a little bit… fun? Okay, maybe fun is a stretch, but it's certainly a massive improvement over spreadsheet hell. For the modern entrepreneur who needs to be a jack-of-all-trades, having a dedicated finance co-pilot is an advantage that's hard to ignore.
Reference and Sources
- EvryThink Official Website: https://www.evrythink.com/
