5 Best Blackline Alternatives & Competitors in 2024
Are you on the lookout for the best alternatives and competitors to BlackLine? Well, you’ve landed in the right spot!
In this blog post, we’ll take a deep dive into some of the top alternatives to BlackLine that are currently available. As organizations seek ways to look for financial close automation software and account reconciliation software, these alternatives offer powerful solutions with robust features.
We’ll go over each alternative in detail and discuss their pros and cons. So, keep reading to figure out which solution suits your needs the best.
Comparison of Top Blackline Competitors
Name | Logo | Best for | Deployment | Free trial | Link |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Record to Report Automation by Redwood | automating 90% of your R2R processes, including accruals, provisions and more | Cloud, SaaS, web-based, and on-premises. | ✅ | Learn more | |
IBM | managing and automating the financial close process | Cloud, SaaS, web-based, and on-premises. | ✅ | Learn more | |
OneStream | accounting processes | Cloud, on-premise, web, Android, iPhone, iPad. | ❌ | Learn more | |
FloQast | managing and automating the financial close process | Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, iPhone/iPad, Linux, Android, Mac and Windows. | ❌ | Learn more | |
Wdesk by Workiva | financial reporting, ESG, audit, and risk management | Cloud based, Linux, Windows and iOS. | ✅ | Learn more |
Introduction To Blackline
Blackline is a cloud-based financial close management software that streamlines and automates the entire financial close process. It was founded in 2001 with the goal of simplifying complex accounting tasks and reducing errors from manual processes.
Features and Benefits of Blackline
Automating Manual Tasks
One of the key features of Blackline is its ability to automate manual tasks, such as reconciliations and journal entries. This not only saves time and reduces the risk of human errors, but also allows accountants to focus on more strategic and value-added activities.
Real-Time Visibility
Blackline provides real-time visibility into the financial close process with its dashboard and reporting capabilities. This allows finance teams to track progress and identify any bottlenecks or areas for improvement. It also provides a complete audit trail for compliance purposes.
Collaboration and Centralized Data
With Blackline, all financial close activities can be managed in one centralized platform, allowing for better collaboration between teams and departments. This eliminates the need for multiple spreadsheets and email chains, reducing the risk of data errors and version control issues.
Scalability and Flexibility
As a cloud-based software, Blackline offers scalability and flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of businesses. It can easily handle increased transaction volumes and can be tailored to fit specific processes and workflows.
Why we need Blackline alternatives?
While Blackline offers many benefits and features, there may be instances where businesses may need to consider other alternatives. Some reasons for this include:
- Cost: Blackline may not be the most cost-effective option for smaller businesses or those with limited budgets.
- Integration with existing systems: Some companies may already have existing financial software in place that may not integrate well with Blackline.
- Desired functionalities: Blackline may not have all the specific functionalities and features that a company requires for their financial close process.
- Learning curve: Implementing a new software can come with a learning curve, and some companies may feel more comfortable sticking to their current systems.
What are the alternatives to Blackline?
There are several alternatives to Blackline that businesses can consider for their financial close process. Some of the popular options include: Redwood, OneStream, Trintech, FloQast, Planful, Workiva, Oracle Cloud EPM, and Vena.
List of Best Blackline Competitors
#1. Record to Report Automation by Redwood
Best for automating 90% of your R2R processes, including accruals, provisions and more.
Record to Report Automation by Redwood offers both on-premises and cloud-based finance automation software to automate up to 90 of the R2R process and transform the typical mundane and error-prone manual tasks involved in the financial close into streamlined, efficient processes. The solution covers all elements of R2R, including the closing checklist, reconciliation, and certification, intercompany, journal entry and even accruals, provisions, and reclassifications. With Redwood, you can achieve a faster and more accurate financial close, empowering your finance teams to focus on strategic duties instead of manual tasks.
One of the great things about Redwood is that it not only eliminates manual processes but also orchestrates the entire record-to-report processes and works exceptionally well in large enterprises that have a large number of entities and have a high degree of complexity in their close processes. By centralizing the close activities, it provides comprehensive visibility into your financial status, driving informed decision-making. And not only does it enhance operational efficiency, but it also strengthens financial compliance and security, which is a top priority for modern businesses.
The best part is that Redwood seamlessly collaborates with your existing applications, making financial reporting a breeze through automation. You can simplify end-to-end processes across the enterprise, regardless of the technology or provider you use, whether it’s SAP, Oracle, or something else.
Redwood’s finance automation streamlines processes and saves valuable time by eliminating unnecessary manual effort. It handles manual control and production tasks, freeing up your finance team to dive deeper into analysis and provide essential insights. This, in turn, elevates decision-making and drives business performance to new heights.
Redwood is incredibly user-friendly. Your finance teams can easily connect dependent tasks without any specialized IT training. Redwood understands your finance systems and even your wider systems and applications, using the table structures in your ERP, your data, and metadata to quickly mirror your processes.
Features:
- Through the implementation of application-based automation, businesses can achieve enhanced reliability and control by establishing fully supported and maintained connections to their core applications and systems.
- Redwood’s comprehensive library of pre-automated tasks accelerates and streamlines process development, offering unparalleled convenience. The availability of ready-to-use components simplifies the entire process.
- With comprehensive orchestration capabilities, organizations can seamlessly manage and coordinate complex processes, effortlessly automating their interdependencies.
- Redwood’s team of experts is readily available to assist with evaluating and selecting the optimal processes for the development and maintenance of automation enhancements.
- Scaling automated processes to meet evolving requirements while effectively managing costs is easily achievable.
- Redwood’s meticulously crafted pre-automated tasks seamlessly integrate with ERP and other systems, ensuring compatibility with various business applications. This enables effortless process streamlining and delivers a significant efficiency boost.
- Empower and educate business users with integrated BPM capabilities and highly informative dashboards, providing control at critical junctures.
- Redwood offers a built-in audit and controls feature that meticulously logs and tracks each step of the process, eliminating the need for manual intervention. Rest assured, everything is handled automatically and with utmost care.
- With managed file transfers, organizations gain the ability to securely move, copy, and manage files, including sensitive documents like bank statements, even in the face of unsecured networks and external endpoints.
- When it comes to data sources, Redwood provides comprehensive coverage across the entire enterprise, from CRM to ETL, cloud-native databases, and even artificial intelligence/machine learning.
- Redwood’s platform boasts exceptional security measures, holding ISO 27001, SOC 2, and CSA STAR Level 1 certifications. Additionally, it has undergone third-party penetration testing to ensure unparalleled protection.
- At Redwood, their team of automation experts is dedicated to providing round-the-clock support, available 24/5. Rest assured, we are here to assist at all times! Furthermore, we offer 24/7 SEV-1 support to promptly address any issues that may arise.
- Record to Report Automation by Redwood offers an intuitive interface and a well-designed user experience, ensuring effortless usability. Extensive training is unnecessary as it is designed to be user-friendly, facilitating a seamless start. Moreover, its exceptional user-friendliness is highly valued by all users.
Pricing: Contact Redwood for a demo and pricing.
#2. IBM Planning Analytics
Best for managing and automating the financial close process.
IBM Planning Analytics is an awesome AI-infused integrated business planning solution that helps organizations streamline their financial close processes. It can be deployed both on-premises or on the cloud, including as a service on AWS.
With IBM Planning Analytics, you can easily access data from multiple sources using a super intuitive web interface or even good old Excel spreadsheets. Its powerful in-memory database lets you analyze big data in no time, giving you real-time insights.
With its stellar analytics, budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting capabilities, it helps organizations enhance their financial and operational planning processes. Built on the IBM Cognos Analytics platform, it’s designed to make planning a breeze and more efficient.
Features:
- Embedded AI: With built-in AI, you’ve got advanced forecasting capabilities and upcoming Gen AI enhancements that take accuracy and predictive insights to the next level.
- Intuitive web interface: It’s packed with powerful data visualization capabilities and has advanced planning and forecasting functionalities.
- Analytics: When you analyze large amounts of data, you’re able to spot trends and patterns that can help you make informed decisions.
- Budgeting and forecasting: Develop complex financial models and generate accurate projections to support informed decision-making and drive business success.
- Built-in Financial reporting: You can effortlessly generate, customize, and share insightful reports and visualizations. No need to export data to other tools – everything can be done within the platform.
- Collaboration and data sharing: Multiple users can easily access and collaborate on the same data and models.
- Familiar Excel interface: Get all the spreadsheet functionality you need, plus the added benefit of governance and control. Any adjustments you make can be applied in real-time to all views.
Pricing:
The pricing for IBM Planning Analytics depends on the number of users and the type of license you need. They offer different plans to choose from.
- Explorer: $70 per user per month
- User: $150 per user per month
- Modeler: $225 per user per month
#3. OneStream
OneStream is an AI-Powered finance solution that provides CFOs, controllers, and finance teams with an integrated platform for financial consolidation, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting.
The modern corporate performance management (CPM) Platform by OneStream empowers organizations to develop new solutions directly on the platform. It seamlessly integrates evolving business requirements with existing processes, eliminating the need for multiple software modules and reducing the complexity of maintenance.
OneStream’s unified platform is a game-changer for finance and operations teams. It brings everyone together, creating a single source of truth and a seamless user experience for all your planning, financial close & consolidation, reporting, and analytics needs. It’s like having the ultimate collaboration tool at your fingertips, making your day-to-day operations smoother than ever.
Features:
- Data Management & Quality: Integrate and validate data from various sources to make informed decisions based on precise financial and operating outcomes.
- Extensible, Unified Data Model: OneStream is great because it supports corporate standards while also meeting the specific planning and reporting needs of different business areas. It’s all in one unified application!
- AI Services: OneStream’s built-in AI Services make it easier for enterprises to embrace and benefit from Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
- Data integration, reporting, and transformation: The platform lets you integrate data from different sources and provides tools to transform your data, like mapping, validation, and cleansing.
- BI dashboarding: OneStream has got you covered with a range of dashboards that let you easily view and analyze financial data in real-time.
- Built-in Financial Intelligence: Speed up the time it takes to see results with OneStream’s built-in knowledge of accounts, currencies, ownership, and intercompany activity. It’s designed to streamline financial close and other processes for you.
- Budgeting, forecasting, and reconciliation: The platform is designed to support various scenarios and versions of budgets, forecasts, and financial statements. This feature can be really helpful for organizations to spot trends and make informed decisions.
- Long-term expansion capability: OneStream can be easily customized to meet your organization’s specific needs. Plus, you can add new functionality and integrations whenever you need them.
- Analytic Services: Teams can now utilize trusted financial intelligence to analyze vast amounts of operational data from different sources. This enables them to uncover trends and financial signals that drive informed decision-making at the speed of business.
- Solution Exchange: With the OneStream Solution Exchange, customers can take their platform investment to the next level. Explore over 75 pre-built business and productivity solutions from OneStream, their partners, and their wider ecosystem.
Pricing: Contact OneStream for demo and pricing.
#4. FloQast
Best for managing and automating the financial close process.
FloQast is an accounting workflow automation and close management software solution, thoughtfully designed by accountants for accountants. It streamlines mundane tasks, enhances audit processes, and grants you valuable time at the end of each month.
FloQast unifies your accounting operations on a single platform, facilitating efficient work completion, team progress monitoring, and seamless collaboration within both internal and external teams.
It simplifies the Close process, automates workflows, and tracks progress with comprehensive analytics.
Features:
- Integrated, Automated Workflows: Streamline your data collection, follow-up, flux analysis, and more with FloQast’s automated capabilities. It is specifically designed to ensure you meet all deadlines without fail. Benefit from a centralized month-end checklist, real-time notifications for critical tasks, and customizable role-based task management. Moreover, FloQast seamlessly integrates with Slack, Teams, Excel, and your ERP, expanding your capabilities effortlessly.
- Transparency Across Accounting Operations: Take full control of your compliance, FP&A, and reporting workflows with ease using the FloQast dashboard. Collaborate securely by inviting third parties to access and review the necessary data for approvals, maintaining constant compliance and audit-readiness. Rest assured, your processes will be streamlined and efficient, leaving you in command.
- Powerful Actionable Insights: Leverage FloQast’s intelligent platform to gain comprehensive visibility into your Close process. Identify and address workflow gaps and bottlenecks, and uncover opportunities for improvement. Whether you need a high-level overview or granular performance data, FloQast provides the insights you need.
- Scalability: Seamlessly modernize your accounting function without any disruptions using FloQast’s operational accounting platform. Built to grow with your business and accounting team, this platform and its cloud services are designed to support your expanding needs.
- Trust & Security: Rest easy knowing that the FloQast platform prioritizes enterprise-grade security at every layer. Operating on industry-leading infrastructure and following best practices throughout the software development lifecycle, FloQast ensures compliance with standards like GDPR and CCPA to protect your data.
- Integrations: Simplify your accounting workflows by integrating your ERP, whether on-premises or in the cloud, using FloQast Connect. Count on FloQast’s customer success team to set up and sync your system accurately, enabling you to manage end-to-end accounting seamlessly.
- Usability: Effortlessly manage accounting tasks and track progress, all from one intuitive platform. Log in and access your Close checklists, assigned items, and critical notifications with ease.
Pricing: Contact FloQast for demo and pricing.
#5. Wdesk by Workiva
Best for financial reporting, ESG, audit, and risk management.
Workiva is a cloud-based platform that’s got you covered for financial reporting, ESG, audit, and risk. It helps you manage data, collaborate with others, and stay compliant. And let me tell you about their flagship product, Wdesk. With Wdesk, you can effortlessly create, edit, and share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
But here’s the best part – it’s got these cool tools for integrating data, managing workflows, and generating compliance reports. So, it’s the go-to choice for finance, accounting, and healthcare folks who need top-notch financial reporting, regulatory compliance, and general business process management.
Features:
- Collaboration and document management: With this feature, multiple users can work together on the same document simultaneously, making it super easy to collaborate in real time.
- Data integration and linking: You can easily import, link, and update data from different sources, like Excel and web services, to keep your information up to date.
- Compliance and audit reporting: It’s designed to meet compliance and regulatory requirements, ensuring that you’re in line with financial reporting standards.
- Accounting & Finance: Say goodbye to manual financial reporting tasks! By connecting data sources, you can automate these tasks, reducing the risk of errors and saving you valuable time.
- Audit, Risk, & Compliance: Streamline your work, effectively manage risk, and automate repetitive tasks with our risk management solutions for audit teams.
- ESG & Sustainability: Collaborate in real time to enhance the sustainability reporting process. Ensure alignment with industry standards and scale your ESG program effectively.
Pricing: Contact Workiva for demo and pricing.
Conclusion
When looking for alternatives or competitors for Blackline software, we need to consider the factors of automating manual tasks, real-time visibility, collaboration and centralized data, scalability and flexibility.
Based on our research process of exploring alternatives to Blackline software, the five best Blackline competitors that stand out are Redwood Finance Automation Software, IBM Planning Analytics, OneStream, FloQast and Wdesk by Workiva.
These five alternatives provide powerful features with exceptional benefit potential including flexible cloud options for faster implementation.
If you’d like to learn more about these top 5 alternatives or competitors for Blackline software be sure to explore deeper into each option—contact their support teams for trial opportunities as well as detailed insights so you can find the perfect solution for your business needs.
Research Process – Alternatives To Blackline Software
- Total time we spent on evaluating these tools: 24
- Total tools evaluated: 18
- Total tools finalized: 7
We spent 24 hours evaluating and researching different Blackline Alternative Software. We looked at user reviews and compared products’ features to determine which tools help you in your financial close management.
Based on our research, we believe the above tools drive your project in a better direction. Here we are not giving any ranking to any tool. Every tool in the list above has decent features. The best thing out here is almost all the tools come with a free trial.
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