Three honest ways to solve the same problem. Here's how they actually compare, with no spin.
| Platform20 | Build It Yourself | Monthly SaaS Tool | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | $19–$397 one-time | $0 (your time instead) | Usually $0–$49 to start |
| Ongoing cost | $0, ever | $0 | $29–$350+ / month, forever |
| Time to first use | Minutes | Hours to weeks, depending on complexity | Minutes, plus account setup |
| Formulas already built and tested | Yes | You build and debug them | Yes |
| Works in Excel or Google Sheets you already use | Yes | Yes | Usually a separate platform |
| You own the file, no account required | Yes | Yes | Data lives on their servers |
| Fully customizable to your exact numbers | Yes | Yes | Limited to what the platform allows |
| Risk of losing access if a company shuts down | None — it's your file | None | A real risk |
If your needs are genuinely simple, or you enjoy building spreadsheets and have the time, building your own is completely reasonable — you lose nothing but time, and you gain exactly what you built. Where it gets expensive is in the debugging: a formula that looks right but silently breaks when a new month is added, or a model that works until your business hits an edge case it wasn't built for.
If you need real-time bank sync, multi-user collaboration with permissions, or automated data pulls from other software, a dedicated SaaS platform genuinely does things a spreadsheet can't. That capability is worth paying for if you need it. The trade-off is the ongoing cost never stops, and your data lives on someone else's servers under someone else's terms.
Platform20 is built for the middle ground: you want the real financial logic a fractional CFO would use — not a simplified consumer template — but you don't need bank sync or a multi-user platform, and you don't want a recurring bill for something you'll use the same way every month. You pay once, own the file, and use it in the spreadsheet tool you already have.
20 paid templates and 2 free ones, from a free P&L tracker to a full SBA loan packet builder.
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