IdeaBuddy vs LivePlan
IdeaBuddy
ideabuddy.com
LivePlan
liveplan.comSide by side
| Figure | IdeaBuddy | LivePlan |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $15/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 6 |
| Spec score · Startup Founder Tools | 7.9 (#8) | 8.5 (#3) |
| Spec score · Business Plan Software | 7.8 (#15) | 8.4 (#4) |
| Collaboration | Users can invite teammates and mentors to view or edit their work in IdeaBuddy. | Accounts support up to five contributors, guest access controls and simultaneous work with section-level editing locks. |
| Headquarters | Belgrade, Serbia | Eugene, Oregon, United States |
| Integrations | The opened maker pages do not state any named integrations. | The documented accounting integrations are QuickBooks Online and Xero. |
| Purpose | IdeaBuddy describes itself as AI-powered business planning software that guides users from developing an idea to executing it. | LivePlan is a web-based service for writing and managing business plans and tracking financial performance. |
| Security | IdeaBuddy says private data is protected by 24/7 encryption and business ideas remain confidential unless users choose to share them. | LivePlan says data is written to multiple disks immediately, backed up daily and stored in multiple locations. |
Plans
IdeaBuddy
- FreeFree
- DreamerPrice not published
- FounderPrice not published
- White LabelPriced on request
LivePlan
- Standard$15 a month
- Premium$30 a month
- LivePlan Expert$30 a month
- LivePlan Expert (add-on)$30 a month
- Standard$180 a year
- Premium$360 a year
In their own words
IdeaBuddy
IdeaBuddy is business-planning software that guides users from developing an idea toward execution. Its step-by-step Guide turns finished sections into business-plan pages, while the Financial Plan supports five revenue models and five-year profit-and-loss and cash-flow projections. AI assistance can suggest ideas, estimate revenue and expenses, revise writing, and support nine languages. Teammates and mentors can be invited to view or edit work. Users can export a Canvas, Financial Plan, or Business Plan to Word, PDF, or Excel, or share a link. The Free plan is free and includes one idea, one collaborator, and 10 AI requests. Paid access is listed from $5/mo (annual), and a 15-day trial is available. IdeaBuddy is listed for Android, iOS, and web; it works in recent versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge with cookies and JavaScript enabled. Its terms say AI features may use ChatGPT by OpenAI and that information provided to those features is shared with OpenAI. The maker says private data is protected by 24/7 encryption and ideas remain confidential unless users choose to share them.
LivePlan
LivePlan is a web-based service for creating business plans and monitoring financial performance. Its income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet forecasts are connected, so changing an assumption updates them together. The service includes AI-based idea validation and geography-specific market research that LivePlan says draws on more than 50 verified sources. Users can turn plans into presentations, edit them in LivePlan, and export them as PDF or PowerPoint files. QuickBooks Online and Xero connections bring accounting data into forecasts and dashboards, and the service includes more than 550 sample plans. Standard and Premium each list one active company, five contributors, and unlimited guests; only one company may be active at a time. LivePlan works on Android, iOS, macOS, web, and Windows, but requires an internet connection for all functions and has no mobile app. It lists chat and weekday email support. There is no free trial; LivePlan advertises a 35-day money-back guarantee. Standard is $20 a month and Premium is $40 a month, both billed monthly.