Fathom HQ alternative for startup founders

A Fathom alternative should match the job you need done. Fathom HQ builds reports and forecasts from accounting records; Plainhub estimates runway from figures you enter yourself. Compare the data, upkeep and outputs below to decide which job you need covered, keeping your accountant involved in the books.

Every Fathom fact below was checked on fathomhq.com and Fathom's help centre on 27 September 2026.

What does Fathom do?

Fathom is financial reporting software that reads your accounting data (Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB and others) and turns it into management reports, KPIs, consolidations and three-way forecasts. It is built for small and medium businesses, accountants and bookkeepers, and franchises and groups. Everything it shows starts from the ledger.

Keep the accounting records current before relying on the reports and forecasts built from them.

Can Fathom use MYOB categories?

Yes, Fathom can use MYOB categories, in both of the ways the question usually means: it imports MYOB Business jobs and cost centres as divisions, and it maps each imported account to its own classifications, which you can review and reclassify in the company's settings.

If you mean splitting results by part of the business, Fathom imports MYOB Business jobs and cost centres as "divisions" for analysis, KPIs and reports. You can import up to 40 jobs and cost centres per company, it is a Fathom Pro feature rather than a Portfolio one, and anything not assigned to an imported job or cost centre shows as "Unclassified" because Fathom always imports the company totals (Fathom help centre, jobs and cost centres from MYOB Business).

If you mean account categories, Fathom maps each imported account to its own classifications (revenue, variable and fixed cost of sales, variable and fixed expenses, and so on), and you can review and reclassify accounts under Chart of Accounts in the company's settings (Fathom help centre, account classifications). Fathom says it "does its best" with the automatic mapping, so check it after the first import.

What it costs

Fathom Pro starts at A$59 a month for one company and is priced by the number of companies you connect, falling to A$13 for each extra company on the Platinum plan. The pricing page we loaded showed these prices in Australian dollars, excluding GST; your region may see another currency (Fathom pricing):

There is also Fathom Portfolio, a lighter plan for accounting firms that want an overview of their whole client base, from $62 a month for 100 companies.

Two examples of what that means. A founder with one company on Xero pays the Starter price, A$59 a month. An accountant reporting for 12 clients is on Silver: A$315 plus two extra companies at A$31, so A$377 a month, about A$31 per client. The pricing is built around serving many companies, which tells you who Fathom's core customer is.

Who should use Fathom?

Fathom is the better choice for a business whose books are current in a supported accounting system, that produces management or board reports from them every month or quarter, runs several entities or currencies, or needs reporting that ties back to the ledger. In more detail, Fathom is the better choice if:

• Your books are current in a supported accounting system and someone is responsible for keeping them that way.
• You produce management or board reports from those books every month or quarter, and want them branded and scheduled.
• You run several entities or currencies and need consolidated numbers, or you are an advisor comparing many clients.
• Your reporting has to tie back to the ledger because an accountant, lender or board will check it.

If most of that describes you, compare Fathom with other reporting tools that sync with your ledger. Plainhub is not one of them. Reporting that reads your books answers "are we profitable"; the cash view answers "how long do we have". Reporting that reads accrual books, and the cash-first view are two different answers, and a startup usually needs both.

What if you want runway, not management reports?

Many founders who look at Fathom want to know how many months of cash they have, and what happens to that date if they hire, lose a customer or raise prices. That answer depends on decisions that are not in the ledger yet. It also changes the day something happens, not when the books are closed at month end.

That is the job Plainhub does, as a runway-first finance platform for founders, and it does it differently from Fathom on purpose:

The trade-off runs both ways. Plainhub does not read your books, so it will not reconcile to them, and if your Xero file is clean that is a real loss. It is also not accounting software and does not produce a balance sheet. In exchange it works before your books are in order, and a draft hire shows the effect of adding its monthly cost at current rates. Committed costs count from their start date; the draft comparison is not a month-by-month hiring forecast. Plainhub also has an AI finance agent that answers questions from the numbers you have recorded.

How can you tell whether you need Fathom or a runway model?

To tell which you need, take the cash runway calculator and put in your cash and monthly burn. If you trust the numbers you typed and what you want is to see how decisions move that date, you need a runway model, and when will I run out of cash explains how to keep one current.

If you had to open your accounting system to find the numbers, and what you want is a monthly report built from it, start a Fathom trial. If you are weighing several cash forecasting tools, other cash forecasting tools, compared covers what each one needs from you.