Honest comparison
PeakWorth vs spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are free and infinitely flexible. They're also a part-time job that breaks at the worst times.
The short version
Respect first: a hand-built spreadsheet is the original living financial model, and the person who builds one understands their money better than most app users ever will. Most of PeakWorth's first prototypes were spreadsheets. The problem was never the idea — it's the maintenance: the tax brackets that changed, the tab that broke, the partner who can't read it. PeakWorth is the spreadsheet you would have built, pre-wired, tax-aware, updated automatically, and readable by both of you.
spreadsheets is best for
Spreadsheet enthusiasts who genuinely enjoy building, debugging, and maintaining their own financial models — and who have the time and discipline to keep it current.
Free, plus your time.
PeakWorth is best for
Households who tried the spreadsheet approach, found it broke whenever life changed, and want a maintained tool with the same fidelity as a serious DIY model.
14-day free trial. Then $9.99/mo Navigator.
You already made the mental shift most people never make — you know a budget is supposed to be a model of your future, not a diary of your past. The only question left is whether you keep hand-maintaining that model or let software keep it alive: synced to your accounts, current with tax law, and legible to your household.
Question by questionWhat each one can answer
| The question | PeakWorth | spreadsheets |
|---|---|---|
Can I model anything I can imagine? | The decisions households actually face | |
Can I project decades ahead? | If you build it | |
How are my current spending habits changing my future? | Limited | |
Can expenses start, end, or recur annually without new formulas? | If you build it | |
Does it update itself from my accounts? | ||
Does it stay current when tax law changes? | You update it | |
Can my partner read and use it? | Painful | |
How long until my first answer? | ~5 minutes | 20–200 hours to build |
Does it break when life changes? | Remodeled in minutes | Formula archaeology |
What does it cost? | $9.99/mo Navigator | Free + your time |
The 200-hour spreadsheet you keep meaning to fix is the model PeakWorth keeps alive for you.
The real reasonsWhy people switch
- You stopped updating your spreadsheet six months ago.
- Tax brackets and contribution limits change yearly — your model didn't.
- Modeling a single decision (job offer, second baby, refinance) takes hours. PeakWorth does it in seconds.
- Your spouse can't read your spreadsheet. They can read PeakWorth.
The spreadsheet was right for then. Is it right for now?
Most household spreadsheets get built in a burst of motivation to answer one big question. Then life keeps generating new questions, and every one of them means another evening in the formulas.
The questions your spreadsheet was built for
- Can we afford this house?
- What's our savings rate, really?
- How fast does the debt disappear at $X/mo?
- What might retirement look like on paper?
The questions piling up since
- Did the new tax brackets change our answer?
- What does the job offer do to the plan — by Friday?
- Can my partner check the plan without me translating?
- Is the model even still right after the move / raise / baby?
Your financial life changes over time. Your budget should too. A spreadsheet answers the question it was built for; a living financial model keeps answering as the questions change — capture, model, project, improve, without the rebuild.
Imagine knowing this without opening the formulas
Every one of these is an evening of spreadsheet work — or a few clicks against a model that's already current:
“The new 401(k) contribution limits move our FI age up 5 months — already reflected, no formula edits.”
“The job offer with $12k more salary but a weaker match nets out to 14 months of earlier retirement.”
“Daycare ends August 2029 — the model already shows what redirecting it to the brokerage does.”
“Refinancing at 5.4% breaks even in 31 months — checked during the phone call, not after.”
Each answer comes from the Decision Hub with your synced numbers — modeled as separate scenarios, each against your baseline.
Should you switch?
Stay with spreadsheets if…
- You genuinely enjoy the building and maintenance — for some people the spreadsheet is the hobby, and that's legitimate.
- Your situation has a truly unusual structure that only a hand-built model can capture.
- You reliably update it — brackets, limits, balances — and your household can read it.
Add PeakWorth if…
- The spreadsheet has reached the “three tabs are broken and I'm afraid to touch it” stage.
- You want your partner to be able to open the plan and understand it without a walkthrough.
- You'd rather spend your evenings using the answers than maintaining the machine that produces them.
Context
We respect spreadsheets. Most of PeakWorth's first prototypes were spreadsheets. They're an excellent tool for thinking through a problem the first time. They're a poor tool for an evergreen, household-shared, decade-spanning plan.
If your spreadsheet has reached the “three tabs are broken and I'm afraid to touch the formulas” stage, you're in PeakWorth's target audience. The projection model is the same shape — we just maintain it for you.
Keep the model. Retire the maintenance.
Enter your numbers by hand or connect accounts — about ten minutes either way. You'll get the projection your spreadsheet was reaching for, kept current without you.
See your model, maintainedFrequently asked
Can I import my spreadsheet?
Not as a file import — every household's spreadsheet is shaped differently. But re-entering the inputs (income, savings, accounts, goals) typically takes 10–15 minutes.
Is PeakWorth as flexible as a spreadsheet?
No tool is. But for the 95% of decisions households actually make, PeakWorth has them pre-modeled and tax-aware. The flexibility you give up is rarely the flexibility you used.
Why pay when spreadsheets are free?
Spreadsheets aren't free — they cost the time you spend building, updating, and debugging them, plus the cost of decisions you got wrong because the model went stale. PeakWorth is roughly $0.66/day.
PeakWorth provides educational projections, not financial advice. We are not a registered investment advisor, broker-dealer, tax preparer, or attorney. Consult a licensed professional before making major financial decisions. Read full disclosures