FinCanvas vs Excel

Excel cells weren’t built for project costing.

The spreadsheet got every project-based business this far. It probably won’t get you to the next 100 projects. Honest comparison below - including when Excel actually still wins.

The same project, costed two ways.

Drag the handle to compare. Same line items. Same margins. Different workflow.

Excel
FinCanvas

Where the day-to-day diverges.

Row-by-row, what costing on Excel looks like vs costing on FinCanvas.

Excel
Status quo
Tap to expand

Costing

  • Live margin per line
    Manual formula in column G
  • Cost section variants
    Save another copy of the file
  • Reusable cost library
  • Comments + collaboration
    Email the workbook around

Quoting

  • Quote PDF rendering
    Copy-paste into Word
  • Quote vs canvas
    Two separate files to sync
  • Won / lost tracking
  • Version history
    File-Save-As-v2.xlsx

Invoicing

  • Generate invoice from won quote
  • Sequential invoice numbering
    You remember the last one
  • Payment tracking + auto-roll to paid
  • VAT-aware invoice PDF
    Build it yourself

Operations

  • Team collaboration in real-time
    Excel online - kind of
  • Win/loss reporting across projects
  • Custom fields per project
    Add columns. Forever.
  • Backup + history
    OneDrive version
FinCanvas
From £20/month
Tap to expand

Costing

  • Live margin per line
    Calculated as you type
  • Cost section variants
    Variants live inside the section
  • Reusable cost library
  • Comments + collaboration
    Threaded comments on the section

Quoting

  • Quote PDF rendering
    Live PDF, your brand
  • Quote vs canvas
    Canvas IS the quote
  • Won / lost tracking
  • Version history
    Automatic + diffable

Invoicing

  • Generate invoice from won quote
  • Sequential invoice numbering
    Automatic per-org
  • Payment tracking + auto-roll to paid
  • VAT-aware invoice PDF
    Built in

Operations

  • Team collaboration in real-time
    Real-time presence + edits
  • Win/loss reporting across projects
  • Custom fields per project
    Schema per workspace
  • Backup + history
    Continuous WAL backups

When Excel actually wins.

Excel isn’t the wrong tool - it’s the wrong tool for project costing at scale. There are real cases where the spreadsheet still wins:

  • You quote one project a quarter. The friction of switching tools outweighs the friction of rebuilding a clean spreadsheet four times a year.
  • Your costing logic is one-off and bespoke per project. If every quote is a fundamentally different sheet of paper, the structure FinCanvas imposes (sections, variants, line items) gets in the way.
  • You need full programmatic control. Excel formulas + macros let you build anything. If you’ve already invested in a sophisticated VBA model, switching means rebuilding that logic.
  • You’re still figuring out your shape. If your business model is still mid-iteration, a flexible spreadsheet is a faster sketch surface than a structured tool.

If none of those describe your business - and you quote more than a few projects a month - the answer is probably FinCanvas.

More context on the switch: Excel vs SaaS for project costing - the long version.

Try it for 7 days. Decide for yourself.

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