LivePlan Review 2024

Is It the Best Business Plan Software?

LivePlan Review.

If you're an entrepreneur, one of the most important parts of starting a business is writing a business plan; however, you may need a step-by-step process to help lead your small business to success. That’s where LivePlan comes in.

Created by Palo Alto Software, LivePlan is a cloud-based business plan software that walks you through the entire planning process. With video tutorials and examples at each section, it helps you write a solid business plan in half the time.

Read our LivePlan review to discover the pricing and features that set the tool apart, compare customer reviews, and more. By the end, you’ll know if it is the best business planning software for you.

Recommended: Transform your idea into an investor-ready business plan—Try LivePlan today and save 40% on an annual subscription!

Pros & Cons of LivePlan

Pros of LivePlan

  • You don’t need prior experience with professional business planning because the LivePlan software is designed for startups and entrepreneurs who don’t have the time or budget for collegiate-style planning.
  • According to many positive online LivePlan reviews, customers are incredibly satisfied with the business plan software.
  • LivePlan’s user-friendly website makes it easy to focus and build presentation-ready plans. Also because it’s cloud-based, you can trust LivePlan to keep your data safe and 100% accessible.
  • LivePlan provides elegant and fully-customizable template themes you can brand so your business plan looks amazing in presentations with investors, potential partners, lending institutions, etc.
  • LivePlan allows you to easily import financial data from other platforms like QuickBooks and Xero…a big time-saver that gives you the peace of mind everything is importing correctly.
  • With an annual subscription to LivePlan, you get access to tons of legal forms, fantastic educational e-books, and even an employee handbook template. Their system is set up so the more LivePlan features you add, the less it costs, which is awesome.
  • LivePlan sports a great suite of collaboration tools for you and your small business team members. For example, LivePlan locks any section a team member is working on to prevent two users from editing the same section at the same time.

Cons of LivePlan

  • You have to be connected to the Internet to use LivePlan. Cloud-based computing does still have its downsides.
  • While you can develop more than one business plan using LivePlan, there is no way to copy an existing plan.

Should You Use LivePlan?

If it feels like LivePlan is the right choice, start to plan, pitch, and track your business with it today! And if you end up not liking LivePlan as much as we do, just ask for a refund within 35 days.

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LivePlan Pricing

It would be tough for LivePlan pricing to get any more straightforward, and you don't have to worry about any hidden fees. Here are the following LivePlan pricing packages that entrepreneurs and small businesses can choose from:

  • Standard Monthly Subscription: Pay as you go for $15/month for first 3 months, then $20/month after
  • Premium Monthly Subscription: Pay as you go for $30/month for first 3 months, then $40/month after
  • Purchase a Standard annual subscription for $12/month 
  • Purchase a Premium annual subscription for $24/month 

You can save 40% if you choose an annual plan. Go with whichever package you feel most comfortable with. Either way, you have 35 days to try the business planning software and explore everything it’s capable of.

With every pricing package, you'll gain access to a variety of LivePlan features, such as over 500 sample business plans, automatic financials, and more.

A Quick Look at LivePlan's Features

There are a multitude of helpful LivePlan features that guide entrepreneurs through structuring and writing a business plan. In addition to very good technical support, sample plans, and automatic financials, LivePlan offers the following features:

  • Online dashboard for tracking information and creating progress reports. Simply use your LivePlan login.
  • Step-by-step instructions and video tutorials
  • Advice and tips from business plan experts
  • Templates for financial information
  • Professional business plan themes
  • Tools for team collaboration
  • QuickBooks and Xero integration

Granted this is just a tip of the iceberg of LivePlan features, but our favorites for getting a clean and effective business plan built as quick as possible.

LivePlan Reviews

What LivePlan review would be complete without customer testimonials? Below is a sampling of the huge growing reservoir of feedback from happy users. We didn’t cherry-pick either, as you’ll see on Shopper Approved, a third-party customer review site where LivePlan scores a 4.8/5. As of 2023, LivePlan now has over 1,500 customer reviews on Shopper Approved.

According to many LivePlan reviews, there’s some serious value in the business plan software. Customers often mention how LivePlan helps entrepreneurs and small businesses better manage, prioritize, and present a successful business plan. In regard to the non-5 star reviews, the main issue people are having is the overall LivePlan pricing, which is understandable if you’re starting a business on a budget.

"This was a wonderful tool for creating my business plan. I was overwhelmed by all of the online templates that offered no real guidelines for completing my plan. Liveplan was simple to navigate and offered “real life” examples in each section of the plan builder. I completed my plan quickly and now have a professional document that I am thrilled with!

"LivePlan was a great tool to use for building a Business Plan. It helped me, as a first-time business plan writer – because it outlined all the sections of the plan and gave detailed instructions and examples for each part. The financials part was great because it automatically generated graphs and charts for the financial planning of my company.

"LivePlan was a life-saver for me. I work for a non-profit whose potential funders require a business plan. I had no idea what a business plan looked like or even where to start, when I found LivePlan, I knew I hit the jackpot. With the examples, samples, and easy plug-in information areas, we wrote a plan that not only looks professional but meets all of the needs of the organization and our funders. I couldn’t be more grateful for everything LivePlan did for me/us. I will use LivePlan again for any other business plans I write and will certainly recommend them. Thank you LivePlan!

"It’s by far one of the best business plan software products that I’ve come to find. It’s very self-explanatory and user friendly. I would recommend Liveplan to anyone looking for a comprehensive business plan maker which needs to impress and get the results you are looking to achieve.

LivePlan also features several verified customer reviews on its website. Here are a couple more examples:

"LivePlan has reinvented business planning. It's the only tool that helps entrepreneurs track their progress with a unique dashboard specifically designed for small business."

"I needed to write a business plan for my investors. I was going nuts trying to create charts and properly format them. Then a friend recommended LivePlan! The financials were so easy to use and I liked knowing the calculations were all correct."

"I didn't only get value for the money paid but also got the best customer service experience as well. And of course, I'm sticking to LivePlan forever."

Frequently Asked Questions

What is LivePlan?

LivePlan is business management software created by Palo Alto Software to help entrepreneurs and small business owners develop business plans, financial projections, and performance tracking.

How does LivePlan work?

LivePlan works through a step by step process, guiding users through customizable templates to create professional business plans. Users input their business's financial data, product plans, marketing strategies etc. and LivePlan uses the data to create a structured business plan document with projections, graphs, financial models and performance analytics.

What businesses does LivePlan work with?

LivePlan boasts over 500 sample plans, covering just about every business model imaginable. From mom-and-pops to larger corporations, from freelancers to nonprofit entities, LivePlan really does cover every possible base.

Does LivePlan have any hidden fees?

There are up-charges for premium features like the ability to simultaneously edit multiple business plans. But, LivePlan clearly communicates these from the get-go. Also, most people probably won’t need them because they’re working on one plan at a time.

How do I cancel my LivePlan subscription?

Within the first 35 days, if you decide you’d rather not use LivePlan after all contact them via their app, by email or by phone. They’ll cancel your account and refund your money, no questions asked.

How is LivePlan customer support?

LivePlan customer support is surprisingly responsive. Use the site’s live-chat option or give them a call on their toll-free line.

Is LivePlan secure?

LivePlan is about as secure as it gets. Your business plan — and all of the information within — is entirely confidential. All credit card transactions get bank-level encryption treatment. Also, your account and plan are both backed up to the cloud every few seconds, so there’s no chance you’ll ever lose any work.

How much does LivePlan cost?

Here are the LivePlan pricing plans:

  • Standard monthly: $15/month for first 3 months, then $20/month after
  • Premium monthly: $30/month for first 3 months, then $40/month after
  • Standard annual subscription for $12/month 
  • Premium annual subscription for $24/month 

Should You Use LivePlan?

We've chosen LivePlan as the best business plan software – it helped us get Startup Savant off the ground. Being able to take our core data and translate it into a beautiful presentation-ready business plan that’s refined and customizable was a lifesaver in so many ways.

If it feels like LivePlan is the right choice, start to plan, pitch and track your business growth with it today. And if you end up not liking LivePlan as much as we do, just ask for a refund within 35 days.

Showcase your startup with confidenceTry LivePlan and create an investor-ready business plan today.

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