CFO.ai Review
CFO.ai, formerly Runway, relaunched under its new name on 10 September 2026 (PR Newswire) as an AI CFO for founder-led startups: an agent named Ari builds and maintains a live financial model from QuickBooks, Xero, payroll and CRM data, from $375 a month billed annually.
Independently scored, one dimension at a time. Every dimension is sourced, and we say whether a claim is published, reported, or estimated.
A first-party hosted MCP at api.cfo.ai/mcp exposes read and write tools over Pages, Table Blocks, Scenarios, formulas, integrations and triggers, with browser OAuth (docs.cfo.ai MCP page). The endpoint answered with OAuth metadata on 30 September 2026, and the pricing page lists the MCP server on every tier. Ari's forecasting and alerting claims are vendor-claimed, and no separate REST API is documented.
cfo.ai/pricing publishes Startup at $500 a month ($375 billed annually) and Growth at $1,500 ($1,125 annually), with integration and row limits per tier (checked 30 September 2026). Enterprise is custom. AI usage is metered, top-up credit prices are not published, and the order terms let fees rise at renewal with notice.
Setup is self-serve: sign up, connect QuickBooks or Xero through OAuth, and Ari builds the model or rebuilds an uploaded Excel workbook as a native model (docs sync and import pages, 30 September 2026). A paid plan starts with a 14-day trial. NetSuite needs an admin-issued token for the Data Warehouse Integrator role, and Fivetran-backed first syncs can take hours.
Models use Variables, Dimensions and formulas with separate Actuals and Forecast ranges, Scenarios that inherit from Main and merge back, a Headcount page built from HRIS records, and a documented three-statement build skill (docs.cfo.ai, 30 September 2026). There is no Excel or Google Sheets front end, and no documented intercompany elimination or FX consolidation workflow.
QuickBooks Online, Xero and Rippling are standard native connectors; NetSuite SuiteAnalytics, Salesforce, HubSpot and databases run through Fivetran, and NetSuite and databases are premium (Enterprise) per the integrations directory. The catalog JSON lists 642 import sources, including Sage Intacct, Business Central and Snowflake (updated 15 September 2026). All ingestion is read-only with a nightly refresh.
Trial workspaces get a link to book a call with the Forward Deployed team, and Enterprise adds priority support, a dedicated Forward Deployed Finance Partner and a shared Slack channel (docs billing page and cfo.ai/pricing, 30 September 2026). No response-time SLA is published for Startup or Growth. Review-site ratings exist only under the old Runway name, so none are cited here.
The engine is multidimensional (Variables and Dimensions), and plans cap synced rows at 500k a month on Startup and 2M on Growth (cfo.ai/pricing). A workspace holds one QuickBooks Online company and one Xero organisation, so extra entities come in by CSV (integrations directory, 30 September 2026). Multiple workspaces are Enterprise only and data refreshes once a night.
Version history with undo, redo and restore, plus Snapshots, covers model changes (docs.cfo.ai Scenarios page, 30 September 2026). But every workspace member is an administrator with no lower role or groups, Snapshots are not read-only, and SSO/SAML is Enterprise only. No SOC 2 report or trust page is public on cfo.ai; the order terms say certifications are available on request.
An agent-first model for founders with published prices, but thin controls and a brand only weeks old
Written by the Audit Friendly research team. No vendor edits, no sponsored placement.
You are buying a live financial model that an agent builds and maintains for you. Ari connects to QuickBooks Online or Xero, payroll and CRM, rebuilds the model nightly, branches Scenarios and, the vendor says, drafts board material. The same workspace is open to Claude or Codex through a hosted MCP server on every paid tier. Pricing is published: $375 a month for Startup and $1,125 a month for Growth, billed annually (cfo.ai/pricing, checked 30 September 2026).
The catch is controls and maturity. The docs say every workspace member is an administrator, with no lower role and no user groups, and SSO arrives only on Enterprise. No SOC 2 report or trust page is public on cfo.ai; the order terms say certifications are available on request. A workspace holds one QuickBooks company and one Xero organisation, so a second entity comes in by CSV. NetSuite and data warehouses are premium connectors, Enterprise only. The company announced its new name and product on 10 September 2026, so most reviews and videos describe the older Runway product.
Before signing, get in writing: a current SOC 2 Type II report under the CFO.ai name; whether a read-only or viewer role is on the roadmap with a date; how much AI usage each tier includes and the price of top-up credits; the renewal cap, since the terms let fees rise on renewal with notice; and how to export the model, because the terms keep your data only 15 days after termination.
- A seed to Series B founder on QuickBooks Online or Xero with no finance hire who wants a working three-statement model and hiring scenarios this month.
- A startup whose founder or fractional CFO already works in Claude Code or Codex and wants the agent to edit the plan directly over MCP.
- A small team that wants a published price, monthly billing and a 14-day trial instead of a quote cycle and an implementation project.
- A company that needs segregation of duties, viewer roles or cell-level security on budgets: every member is an administrator today.
- A multi-entity group that needs consolidation with eliminations across several QuickBooks or Xero files in one workspace.
- A finance team that wants its planning to stay inside Excel or Google Sheets: no add-in is documented, and Excel files are not accepted as a data source.
The jobs a finance team actually hires CFO.ai for
Jobs, mapped to how finance teams actually buy.
Test a hiring plan against cash
Connect Rippling or upload a roster and Ari builds a roster table and a monthly headcount and payroll table from the same records. A hire wave then goes into its own Scenario so Main stays intact. The table count comes from the Headcount docs, checked 30 September 2026.
Rebuild the founder's spreadsheet as a model
Attach the Excel workbook and ask Ari to rebuild its revenue, hiring, expense and statement logic as native Variables, Dimensions and Pages. The docs tell you to reconcile the rebuild against the source quarter by quarter, since inferred logic is flagged as an assumption.
Let Claude work the plan over MCP
Add api.cfo.ai/mcp to Claude Code or Codex, sign in through OAuth, and the agent can inspect tables, branch a Scenario and write formulas, with every write in the changelog. The docs list the tools as examples, so the full set may be larger.
Send the board one live link
A view-only external link can open a board summary, P&L and headcount Pages together in a chosen Scenario, with an optional password. Recipients do not sign in, and only the sharing panel can turn a link off.
Keep a signed-off baseline
Snapshots pin a budget or board baseline so later syncs and edits stay out. Version history lets you undo, redo or restore a Scenario. A Snapshot is still editable, so treat it as a convention, per the Scenarios docs.
Watch the same task in each tool
Forget the 40-row feature grid. Pick a finance workflow and see how this tool and its closest peers actually do it, with our verdict on who wins for whom.
Compare on what matters
What it actually costs
Here's what it really costs: published rates where a vendor lists them, aggregated quote data where they don't, plus a path to your own number.
A 14-day trial of a paid plan with nothing charged at start. The docs also describe a Free plan with CSV uploads only and a one-time AI credit allotment.
Standard AI usage, up to 5 standard integrations, up to 500k synced rows a month, MCP server and Slack app, alerts and triggers, unlimited models and scenarios, 1 workspace.
Everything in Startup plus 4x the AI usage, up to 8 standard integrations and up to 2M synced rows a month.
Custom price and AI credits. Premium integrations (NetSuite, databases, data warehouses), multiple workspaces, SSO/SAML, priority support, a Forward Deployed Finance Partner and shared Slack.
Extra AI usage bought in Settings with a spend limit and optional auto-reload; the terms say credits expire twelve months after purchase.
Help moving data to a successor after termination, billed on time and materials, deposit possible, requested within the 15-day retention period.
What it actually takes to go live
The team settings docs say every workspace member is an administrator and there is no lower workspace role or user group (docs.cfo.ai, checked 30 September 2026). Every member can change the plan, buy credits and edit spend limits. Outsiders get view-only Page links, which open without sign-in. On Audit Friendly's reading, a budget owner inside the workspace cannot be limited to one department's numbers.
A workspace holds one QuickBooks Online company and one Xero organisation at a time, and connecting a second reports that the limit is reached (integrations directory, 30 September 2026). The documented workaround is to export the second ledger as CSV and add an Entity Dimension. Uploaded files never refresh on their own.
NetSuite SuiteAnalytics and all database connections are classed as premium, and the billing docs place premium integrations, NetSuite and data warehouses on the custom-priced Enterprise plan (docs.cfo.ai, 30 September 2026). A NetSuite shop should expect a quote rather than the $375 or $1,125 list price.
The order terms auto-renew for a term equal to the initial one unless either side gives notice at least 10 days before it ends, and fees may rise at renewal upon notice. Data is kept 15 days after termination, and transition help is billed on time and materials (cfo.ai/terms, version dated 9 September 2026). The docs checked 30 September 2026 describe no export of the model to Excel.
Runway Financial relaunched as CFO.ai with the Ari agent on 10 September 2026 (PR Newswire), after runway.com changed hands in July 2026 (DomainInvesting, 22 July 2026). Most public reviews, case studies and videos describe the earlier Runway planning product. Ask for references who have run the Ari product through at least one close.
Each plan includes a monthly AI allotment; when it is spent, Ari explains the account state and pauses further requests until usage is restored (billing docs, 30 September 2026). Top-ups are bought as credits whose price is not published. Set a spend limit before a heavy model build.
Scored on what an outside agent can actually reach: the documented API, how it authenticates, and whether the vendor ships an MCP server.
Exists: Yes. cfo.ai runs its own MCP server at https://api.cfo.ai/mcp over Streamable HTTP, documented at docs.cfo.ai/integrations/mcp-server with setup commands for Claude Code and Codex. On 30 September 2026 an unauthenticated initialize returned 401 with a pointer to OAuth protected-resource metadata, so the endpoint is live.
Scope: Read and write over the cfo.ai workspace. The docs name tools including inspect_table_blocks, edit_table_blocks, inspect_pages, edit_pages, inspect_scenarios, edit_scenarios, edit_dimension_mappings, inspect_integrations, edit_integrations, edit_triggers, inspect_documentation and list_orgs. Writes apply to the live model, land in a changelog and can be undone. Nothing writes back to the ledger, bank or payroll, because ingestion is read-only.
Turnkey: Yes, once the user has an account. A user adds the URL to a remote-MCP client and signs in through browser OAuth, with no API key and no admin step. The pricing page lists the MCP server on every paid tier. cfo.ai's llms.txt and agents page say MCP needs an approved account and that new users may need to request access when availability is limited. On 30 September 2026, cfo.ai/start led straight to a self-serve sign-up page, and the MCP docs ask only for an account.
In-product AI: Ari builds the model from connected data, rebuilds uploaded spreadsheets, branches Scenarios, drafts board material and messages first when a metric moves. cfo.ai says every figure comes from its own deterministic calculation engine and never from a language model; that accuracy claim is the vendor's. AI usage is metered by plan, and requests pause when it runs out.
CFO.ai, kept current
The public catalog JSON, updated 15 September 2026, lists 642 sources that import into the model plus MCP and API tools for Ari.
cfo.ai (formerly Runway) launched Ari, an AI CFO that builds and maintains a live model and monitors metrics, built on its Reambase calculation engine.
The current Standard Terms for Orders, dated 9 September 2026, name Runway Financial, Inc. as operator of CFO.ai, let fees rise at renewal upon notice and keep data 15 days after termination.
A note dated 12 August 2026 in cfo.ai's llms.txt says its facts were checked against a live connection to api.cfo.ai/mcp, so the server was running by then.
DomainInvesting reported on 22 July 2026 that Runway AI, the unrelated AI video company, had acquired the runway.com domain. Internet Archive copies show runway.com redirecting to runway.cfo.ai on 17 July 2026.
CFO.ai FAQ
The list price is published. Startup is $375 a month billed annually, about $4,500 a year (Audit Friendly arithmetic), or $500 billed monthly. Growth is $1,125 a month annually, about $13,500 a year, or $1,500 monthly (cfo.ai/pricing, checked 30 September 2026).
The number moves with connectors and AI usage. Startup allows 5 standard integrations and Growth 8; NetSuite, databases and warehouses push you to a custom Enterprise quote. Extra AI usage is sold as credits whose price is not published.
Under the Standard Terms for Orders (version dated 9 September 2026), the agreement auto-renews for a term equal to the initial one unless either party gives notice at least 10 days before it ends. With no term on the order, the initial term is one month. Fees are non-refundable and may rise at renewal upon notice.
After termination, data is kept for 15 days, and transition services to move it are billed on time and materials. The docs checked 30 September 2026 describe no export of the model to Excel and no self-serve workspace deletion, so agree an export format and a longer retention window before signing.
It is self-serve. You connect QuickBooks Online or Xero by OAuth, and Ari builds the model, or you attach an existing workbook for Ari to rebuild. QuickBooks and Xero load actuals from 1 January of the prior year; Fivetran-backed sources such as NetSuite or Salesforce can take hours on the first sync.
cfo.ai publishes no timeline. Audit Friendly estimates days for a single-entity startup. Trial workspaces can book a call with the Forward Deployed team, and Enterprise includes a dedicated Forward Deployed Finance Partner.
Yes, and this is where it leads. cfo.ai runs a first-party MCP server at api.cfo.ai/mcp with browser OAuth. The docs give one-line setup for Claude Code and Codex, and the endpoint answered with OAuth metadata on 30 September 2026. Its tools read and write Pages, Table Blocks, Scenarios, formulas, integrations and triggers, and every write is logged and undoable.
Two limits. The agent acts with the full rights of the signed-in member, and every member is an administrator, so restrict write tools in the client if you want read-only. Nothing writes back to the ledger, bank or payroll systems.
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