Runway

Picture this: You’re a Series  B CFO juggling three business units, each with its own messy spreadsheet. One wrong formula, and you're off by thousands. You need:

Speed (so late-night crunches don’t become routine)
Accuracy (so nothing slips through)
Team alignment (so decisions don’t rely on email chains and memory)

Pick the wrong platform, and you risk slowing down your entire team — or worse, making the wrong call.

Let’s compare Runway and Causal, so you can find the tool that fits how your team works, now and as you scale.

Overview

Runway is a modern FP&A platform for growing companies. It combines collaborative modeling, strong automation, and live data — all without sacrificing usability. Companies like Tixel swapped 23 of spreadsheets for one unified platform with Runway.
Causal feels like a turbocharged spreadsheet — no-code modeling, a slick sheet-like interface, and fast scenario testing. Great for rapid budgeting, though deeper modeling can require manual coordination and workarounds.

Forecasting & budgeting

Driver-based modeling: link assumptions like revenue growth, headcount, CAC to financial outcomes in real time.
Live, linked drivers: change your pipeline or hiring plan and see P&L, cash flow, and burn update instantly.
Human-readable formulas: no proprietary language — write formulas in plain English, so anyone can read them.
Actual sync: as real data flows in, forecasts adjust automatically.
Support for layered logic: finance teams can build forecasts that reflect both high-level strategy and detailed operational plans.

Perfect for teams where financial insight needs to keep pace with business change.

Causal

No-code, template-driven: create simple budgets and models quickly.
Formula-first yet accessible: spreadsheets without coding.
Manual refreshes: data often needs re-importing or updating manually. (Causal offers auto-refresh, but it’s not the default. Runway does this automatically.)

Best for users who need lightweight models fast, but may outgrow complexity.

Scenario planning

Runway

Auto-drafted scenarios: every model change auto-saves a version with audit trail.
Side-by-side comparisons: review base, upside, risk, and more at a glance.
Collaborative context: add notes to tables, surface rationales, and adjust assumptions — all in one place.
Scenario locking and merging: you can lock a scenario to prevent changes, or merge it into the main plan once finalized.
Proven impact: Superhuman saw 50×–100× efficiency gains using Runway.

Runway transforms planning into a live conversation.

Causal

Visual sliders and real-time outputs for fast experimentation.
Scenario snapshots and comments, but with tier-based storage limits.
No concept of plan timelines or scenario locking — scenarios remain editable without a formal “approved plan” concept.

Great for quick testing; less ideal for deep scenario libraries or audit-ready planning.

Reporting and dashboards

Runway

Dynamic dashboards: Live charts, KPIs, and editable databases, all in one place.
Auto-updating reports: Once set up, dashboards always stay current.
Accessible and understandable: Finance can empower other teams with curated, live data.
Drill-down with dimensional layers: You can drill from Revenue to Revenue by Customer, Region, Class, or Product Line — powered by database stacking.

With Runway, Finance teams can build a shared understanding of the business.

Causal

Clean dashboards and charts, exportable to slides or docs.
Quick build, quick share, but less depth for filtering or investor relations.
Transaction-level drilldown: Causal lets you drill into raw transaction data from your ERP.

Ideal for snackable visuals.

Integrations and data sync

Runway

750+ system integrations including NetSuite, Salesforce, Workday, QuickBooks, and data warehouses.
Automatic data syncs to keep your model and forecasts current.
Structured data mapping and validation: ensures clean, consistent model inputs.
Direct integration to Rippling: pull in HR and employee-level data with full structure and context.

Causal

CSV imports + API hooks into major platforms.
Uses Merge.dev like Runway, so many core systems have native integrations.
Auto-refresh is available, but not enabled by default.

Great for kicking off quickly, but may require more setup and manual oversight.

Collaboration and permissions

Runway

Role-based permissions: finance sees everything, department leaders see only relevant data.
Entire version history & audit trails: who changed what, and when.
Notes and edit control: eliminates email chains and replaces scattered P&L copies.
Shared modeling infrastructure: teams can build on top of the same assumptions, and trust them.

Causal

Multi-user editing and basic permissions.
Great for small teams — but editing collisions can happen without granular control or role-specific access.

Use cases and real-world examples

Runway handles heavy lifting:

Rootly cut investor reporting down from a week to 10 minutes with Runway’s automations.
818 Tequila found instant answers to critical questions with Runway.
Tixel replaced 23 spreadsheets with Runway.
Indie.io improved forecast accuracy by 85% with Runway.

Causal works best for quick model building and internal plans. As a TrustRadius reviewer says: "Causal's spreadsheet-like interface lets us spin up scenario models in minutes without coding." For teams that need fast what-if analysis, it just works.

Which tool makes sense for you?

It depends on how complex your business is, and how fast it’s evolving.

Company size: If you're scaling across functions, geographies, or product lines, Runway’s collaborative planning, dimensional modeling, permissions, and audit trails help you stay in control.
Integrations: If your systems don’t talk to each other, your team ends up doing manual cleanup. Runway automates the sync.
Modeling complexity: For quick what-ifs or lightweight forecasts, Causal works. But if you need a living model that reflects the whole business, Runway wins.
Cost of error: Planning is more than just math — it’s strategy. Runway helps you catch issues early, test assumptions rigorously, and make decisions with context.

If your team is small, your needs are simple, and speed is all that matters, Causal is a strong pick.

If your org is growing fast, your planning is cross-functional, and your forecasts drive real decisions, Runway’s built for that.

What sets Runway and Causal apart?

Runway: Forecasting power, scenario control, direct HR integrations (like Rippling), dimensional drill-down, version locking, merging, audit trails, and robust access control.
Causal: Fast setup, visual modeling, transaction-level drill-down, and spreadsheet-style comfort.

Causal helps you build fast. Runway helps you build confidence and alignment.

If finance is a spreadsheet behind the scenes, Causal is fine.

If finance is the nervous system of the company, powering strategic decisions, you’ll want Runway.

Book a demo to see what planning with Runway actually looks like.