Looking for a ProjectionLab alternative? Read this first.
ProjectionLab is one of the best FIRE planners ever built — this page starts there. It also has one structural gap, and depending on which side of that gap you live on, one of five alternatives below (ours included, bias disclosed) may fit you better.
What ProjectionLab genuinely does well
If you're going to leave a tool, be honest about what you're leaving. ProjectionLab earned its reputation on three things, and no alternative below beats it at all three.
The scenario sandbox
Milestone-driven life modeling with a genuinely pleasant UI. Cloning a plan into "what if I move states / retire at 52 / sell the house" variants is where PL feels best in class, and its chart polish is superb.
FIRE-native depth
It speaks the community's language — Coast, Barista, Lean, Fat — with Monte Carlo and historical analysis, tax-aware modeling, and years of iteration driven by an engaged user base.
A real privacy stance
PL doesn't demand a bank login either; plans run on numbers you type. If privacy is your reason for shopping around, know that PL is one of the good ones too.
The gap: your plan never meets your actual spending
ProjectionLab is a forward-only planner. You tell it "I spend $4,500 a month," and every projection stands on that number. But it never imports a transaction, so it never learns that June actually cost $4,910 — the plan drifts from real life starting the day you build it. In practice that means you run a second app (Monarch, YNAB, a spreadsheet) for day-to-day money and retype its conclusions into your planner every few months. That's the two-app problem, and it's the main reason people search for an alternative — the others are the price (Pro is ≈$120/yr, with a higher Premium tier), and simple curiosity about whether one tool can do both jobs.
Five alternatives, honestly compared
Prices checked July 2026. The last column is the one most roundups leave out — where the tool is genuinely worse than the others. Ours gets the same treatment.
| Tool | Price / yr | What it is | Where it wins | Where it falls short |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ProjectionLab (the baseline) | ≈$120 Pro (Premium higher) | Dedicated FIRE scenario planner | Scenario UX polish, maturity, community trust | No budget, no actuals — the plan never meets real life; you'll keep a second app |
| Foundera (that's us) | $0 free · $90 Plus · $180 Pro | Lifetime planner + transaction budget, one engine | Your real spending recalibrates the plan; statutory US tax engine (brackets, LTCG stacking, AMT, NIIT, IRMAA/ACA, per-state); free tier with no account, local-first | Newest tool here; US taxes only; CSV import today, Plaid sync coming soon; best on desktop |
| Boldin | ≈$120 | Retirement planner with coaching ecosystem | Education, guided decision flows, Roth/SS/Medicare depth for near-retirees | Skews 60-plus in tone and UX; no transaction budgeting; accumulation-phase FIRE modeling is not its center of gravity |
| cFIREsim / FICalc | Free | Web historical-cycle simulators | Zero cost, zero signup — the fastest sanity check on a withdrawal plan there is | Little to no tax modeling, single-scenario at a time, nothing persists — a calculator, not a plan |
| Empower | Free | Aggregation dashboard + retirement planner | Best-in-class account aggregation; net worth and fees visibility at no cost | Free because the dashboard feeds an advisory sales funnel — expect calls; planning is coarse (no per-year tax engine) |
| Your spreadsheet | Free | Total control, infinite flexibility | Models exactly what you tell it; no vendor can sunset it | Your tax math and Monte Carlo are DIY (and usually wrong somewhere); maintenance never ends |
Foundera Plus is $9/mo or $90/yr; Pro is $18/mo or $180/yr. ProjectionLab, Boldin, and Empower prices are their published figures as of July 2026 and may change.
Who should pick which
Stay with (or choose) ProjectionLab if…
- You love scenario-modeling as an activity and want the most polished sandbox for it.
- You already run a budgeting tool you're happy with and don't mind the two apps never talking.
- Community maturity matters — you want the tool with years of FIRE-forum trust behind it.
Try Foundera instead if…
- You want the plan and the budget in one engine — where June's actual spending quietly re-runs your projection to 90.
- You care about statutory tax math: real brackets, capital-gains stacking, AMT, NIIT, IRMAA/ACA ceilings, per-state tax — not an effective-rate slider.
- You want to start free, with no account, and own your data as a local file.
ProjectionLab alternative FAQ
Is there a free ProjectionLab alternative?
Yes, on two levels. cFIREsim and FICalc are free web simulators that run historical-cycle retirement math with no signup — though neither models taxes in any depth or saves a full plan. Foundera's Starter tier is free and includes the year-by-year planner with its US tax engine, working with no account; Monte Carlo and the budget-to-plan calibration loop are part of the paid tiers ($90/yr Plus, $180/yr Pro).
Does ProjectionLab track your actual spending?
No. ProjectionLab is a forward-looking planner: you enter assumptions and it projects from those. It doesn't import transactions or budget day-to-day money, so the spending number in the plan doesn't update from real life. That's the structural gap most alternatives here are trying to close.
What's the main difference between Foundera and ProjectionLab?
Both are lifetime FIRE planners with serious tax and Monte Carlo modeling. The difference: Foundera also includes a transaction-level budget, and the budget's actuals recalibrate the plan — the gap between assumed and real spending is surfaced and re-runs the projection. ProjectionLab has the more mature scenario UX and community; Foundera closes the plan-versus-reality loop and starts free. The full feature-by-feature table is on Foundera vs ProjectionLab.
Is ProjectionLab worth it?
If you want the most polished dedicated FIRE sandbox and you're happy keeping a separate budgeting tool — yes, genuinely. If you'd rather your plan and your actual spending live in one engine, or you want a free start with real tax math, try the alternatives first and see which philosophy fits.