Based on 21 verified reviews published in the last 18 months
TrustRadius Community Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when relevant, HG Insights data.
Overview
Synthesised from 21 reviews | Last Published May 27, 2026
Planful is primarily used by organizations for comprehensive financial planning and analysis, with a strong focus on budgeting and forecasting processes, a use case cited by 90% of reviewers. In TrustRadius reviews, it serves as a critical tool for financial reporting and analysis, enabling detailed insights from management to executive levels. The platform is noted for its ability to automate and streamline processes, reducing manual effort and accelerating report generation, and acts as a single source of truth for financial data.
Reviewers also highlight improved collaboration within finance departments and across business units due to Planful's centralized data aggregation and reporting capabilities. However, some areas for improvement include enhancing the user interface and dashboard flexibility, addressing limitations in reporting sizes and dynamic report generation, and improving the usability of the Excel Spotlight add-in, which 24% of reviewers described as "clunky." Overall, reviewers report a strong positive impact on business objectives, primarily through significant efficiency gains and enhanced financial insights.
Pros
Robust financial reporting capabilities with dynamic and customizable reports
Structured budgeting and forecasting features for annual and rolling plans
Significant efficiency gains through automation and reduced manual effort
Improved collaboration across finance and business units via centralized data
Unified platform for various financial needs, enhancing data quality and accuracy
Cons
User interface and overall user experience can be unintuitive, especially for budgeting and input pages
Limited flexibility in dashboarding and handling of percentage values in table graphs
Reporting limitations, including report sizes, tab maximums, and dynamic reporting workarounds
Spotlight module (Excel integration) described as "clunky" and difficult to set up
Opportunities for more video content and comprehensive documentation for training
We used it for planning and reporting. Planful effectively addressed the Workforce planning, opex planning and management reporting at different levels for our forecast and budgeting cycles.
Pros
Reporting
Dashboard
Structured Planning
Cons
Merit calculation in WFP
Snapshot as hardcoded number for spotlight reports
Formatting flexibility of reporting
Likelihood to Recommend
The reporting and structure planning has been heavily improved our automation of forecast/budgeting cycle. I specifically enjoy using the spotlight reports which enables high capability of collaboration and automation. The WFP is good but could be better if there is more flexibility and calculation can be added.
VU
Verified User
Administrator in Finance and Accounting (1001-5000 employees)
Our business uses Planful for easily repeatable (push button) month end and quarter end reporting. We also use it to create bottoms up forecasts and budgets. Planful has given us the ability to make changes in a forecast and see the results very quickly in reports and to keep versions in check.
Pros
GL level forecasting/budgeting
Push Button month end reporting
Hierarchy control
Cons
Structure planning is very clunky and does not give give enough flexibility to make mass changes
Reporting struggles mixing variables together in the same report. If you want a combination between time and scenario there is no great way to make a joint scenario (We have had a support ticket out for a couple weeks to solve this with no great solution in place yet).
Getting to certain reports requires an understanding of MDX
Sandbox has been removed as a portion of the product and is now an upcharge meaning there is no room to test anymore without paying the absurd amount requested. Ours was removed mid contract.
Support can be slow for issues that seem like they should already have solutions for
Likelihood to Recommend
Planful is useful for quick to learn users (Dynamic planning should be a better option for most users but has a steeper learning curve) and who want to get month end reporting out of excel and into something more repeatable. It does a good job of bringing systems together to create a forecast (HRIS, database) as long as the data coming from these systems can sit in one place and can be easily tied into other dimensions from your GL. Its less versatile for (at least in structured planning) planning by vendor (or any dimension where you have a lot of individual lines). There is no sandbox environment without paying for it, so testing can be difficult on new asks. If you have very complicated revenue streams that require many pieces it can be difficult to build and maintain those within Planful (structured planning). There is no great tool to get your pieces currently in excel or other into Planful so setup time is mostly spent replicating instead of learning to features or improving your reports along the way.
VU
Verified User
Manager in Finance and Accounting (51-200 employees)
I work for the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures here at the university and I use this tool as the budget administrator of the department. I am currently using the tool for structured planning of transfers and amounts for our department's various restricted accounts. I also use the tool to report on my department's fund usage (using the reports tab quite often) to keep the Dean's Office up to date on our numbers. I use the tool at least 5-6 times a year for big due dates. Planful makes this planning much simpler by having planning and reporting all in one place, connected.
Pros
Keeps up-to-date with real time edits and amounts when it comes to reporting
Very detailed options in the structured planning tab
Detailed reports that really help me see the numbers
Makes it easy to find help/tutorials when I am confused
Cons
Sometimes, too many options can make things confusing
I like the detail, but sometimes mix things up, especially when using the reports tab
Structured planning tab is the most confusing part
Likelihood to Recommend
It is well-suited for budget and transfer reporting to my higher-ups and the university. It is also well-suited for planning transfers and structuring these accounts in general. It is not well-suited for new employees who have no experience with the tool and really just requires extensive training for someone to really understand the tool and how it works. There are so many different options in the tool, it can be confusing for someone who is unfamiliar.
We use Planful (formerly Host Analytics) within our FP&A and financial reporting teams. Planful (formerly Host Analytics) is used to input our budget scenarios, monthly forecasts (including workforce planning), and long-term models. We replaced SAP BPC system, which would take 3+ hours to pull new GL data. Now, using Planful (formerly Host Analytics), we have GL data refreshing every 30 minutes during close.
Pros
Customer support
Product updates
UI design/ease of use
User feedback
Cons
Wages--actuals vs forecast reporting
Workforce--reporting number of employees with the same role
Scenario management--folders/grouping
Likelihood to Recommend
Pros: The Planful (formerly Host Analytics) application is well suited for workforce planning. It's easy to manipulate the employee roster to make changes. Planful support is extremely responsive and typically able to resolve most basic issues within a few hours. Cons: We've been able to configure the system to load actual wages by employee, but it's a very clunky monthly load process. Reporting by employee position is difficult, as we aren't able to select a single role. If 20+ employees have the same role, we'll see that selection duplicated 20+ times.
VU
Verified User
Administrator in Finance and Accounting (1001-5000 employees)
Host Analytics Cloud EPM Suite is our budgeting and forecasting tool. It is used throughout the organization, in our Seattle headquarters and in countries around the world. The forecasting allows us to react to different sponsor questions/funding decisions pretty quickly.
Pros
The reporting ability is really terrific for any grant based organization. You can build reports for grants that have different parameters than the organization's fiscal year. There is the capacity to have financial information flow out to other software formats.
The template structure allows for flexibility at the entry level and can be designed with different date ranges for projects that don't follow the org fiscal year. For our organization, the templates allow the budget manager to see all expenses for a specific project (HQ versus Country) in one place.
The ability to be very specific in granting security rights. Our former software was an all or nothing proposition for security rights. Host Analytics provides the ability to be very granular.
Cons
Using the older version of Excel (xls). That version of Excel limits the number of lines that can be uploaded into the software.
The method of FTE allocations in the HR module. We knew this would be a pain point for the budget managers when we bought the software, and we have come up with some entry workarounds, but doing staffing allocations is still onerous. We would love to see something more streamlined and user friendly.
One of the software capabilities that influenced our decision to purchase Host Analytics Cloud EPM Suiteis the ability to work offline. This is really a valuable tool for the overseas offices. However, the functionality of the line item detail ability is negated when working offline. We would love to see that function work in the offline version - it would make the software a very powerful and useful tool.
Likelihood to Recommend
The flexibility in the design of an organization's system is a big plus, as is the ability to create templates and disparate date ranges in the templates and in reporting. It is a great software for a grant based organization.
