A Reach Reporting alternative: the finished pack, not another builder
Key takeaways
- Reportly delivers the finished monthly pack from QuickBooks Online: your own file as the template, the numbers refilled every month, the commentary drafted and carried forward, out as PowerPoint or PDF.
- Reach Reporting is a spreadsheet-style report builder for accountants. Its own reviewers say you need to be fairly proficient in Excel and that onboarding is mostly self-serve.
- Reportly is built by the team behind Hundred MS, a CFO practice that produces monthly packs, budgets and a weekly cash forecast for its own clients. The set-up is done with you, by people who do this every month.
- One company: Reportly $99 a month ($79 on annual billing), Reach $149 ($129 on annual). Prices checked 12 October 2026.
- Choose Reach if you want to build in live spreadsheet formulas, or your clients are on QuickBooks Desktop, Xero or MYOB.
The short answer
Reportly is FP&A software on top of QuickBooks Online for the finance person who delivers a monthly pack: the in-house controller, or the outside accountant or fractional CFO with several client companies. Reach gives you a builder, and the skill to use it is yours. Reportly starts from the pack you already deliver and runs the routine: the same pack every month, in your format, with the explanation drafted, and the budget, the rolling forecast and the cash ahead next to the actuals.
If you enjoy building reports in a spreadsheet editor, Reach is a good tool, and we say where it is the better choice below. If your month ends with an export, a rebuild in Excel and a paste into PowerPoint, keep reading.
What you get with Reportly
Your first month
You connect QuickBooks Online read-only and review once how your accounts map to the standard chart; from then on a new or renamed account comes back to you as a question, never as a silent gap. You send us the pack you delivered last month, the Excel or PowerPoint file your owner or board already reads, and it becomes the template: your sections, your line order, your grouping of the P&L. On the first working days after month end the numbers are in it, the commentary is drafted by Reportly's AI from what moved, and you edit the sentences that need your judgement and send. Next month the same pack comes back with last month's commentary carried forward, so you write the delta, not the story from scratch.
For a portfolio: one account, every client company set up once, each client sees only its own company, and every pack refreshes on the same routine.
What stops going wrong
A client changes the chart of accounts. Reportly detects new, renamed and merged accounts on every refresh and shows a re-map list before the pack is produced. Nothing breaks silently, and nothing is maintained in a formula layer.
The board wants the P&L grouped its way. The grouping is set once per company and every monthly pack uses it. The ledger's account list stays as it is.
The budget is a year-end wish list nobody tracks. In Reportly the budget is the yardstick for the year, the rolling forecast moves when assumptions change, and every pack shows actual against budget against forecast.
Cash is a surprise. The 13-week cash forecast runs on the ledger: opening balance, receivables and payables by due date, recurring costs from history. The low point is known before the week it happens.
Who built it
Reportly is built by the team behind Hundred MS, a CFO practice that produces monthly packs, budgets and a weekly cash forecast for its own clients; the finance founders hold the CFA and FRM. The problems above are the ones that practice hits every month, and the product exists to remove them. Set-up is done with you by those people, not left to a video library.
Meet the team behind Reportly.
Where Reach stops
Reach launched in 2020 and built its product for accountants who are at home in a spreadsheet. Reports and dashboards are built in an editor with live formulas, connected to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, MYOB and Google Sheets, with budgeting, three-way forecasting and a client portal. Its pitch is honest: if you know Excel, you know Reach. Its price has not moved in two years, and its support people get named in reviews.
"Users really need to be fairly proficient with Excel."G2, verified accounting reviewer, 2026
"The onboarding is a struggle, you are left solo watching videos or paying for additional services."G2, July 2026
That is the difference in one line. Reach gives you the flexibility and the work: the report you design is yours to maintain, and what comes out lives inside Reach as a dashboard or a report page. Reportly gives you the finished pack in the file you already use, and the people who set it up with you.
Side by side
| Reportly | Reach Reporting | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Your own pack as the template, or a pack the way our practice sets it up | A blank report builder with templates |
| Output | The finished monthly pack as PowerPoint or PDF | Dashboards and reports inside Reach, PDF and web |
| Commentary | Drafted every month, carried forward | Insights on dashboards; report text written by you |
| Skills needed | None beyond knowing your own pack | Excel proficiency, by Reach's own reviewers |
| Set-up | Done with you by the practice behind the product | Self-serve videos; paid services on top |
| Chart of accounts changes | Detected on refresh; re-map list before the pack | Maintained by you in the builder |
| Budget and forecast | Budget as the yardstick, rolling forecast, actual against both in every pack | Budgets and three-way forecasts built in Reach |
| Cash ahead | 13-week cash forecast from the ledger | Cash flow forecast |
| Reports by class, location, department | Yes | Yes |
| Accounting systems | QuickBooks Online; NetSuite on the Enterprise plan | QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, MYOB, Google Sheets |
| Client portal | No. You send the pack | Yes |
| Live spreadsheet formulas | No | Yes |
| One company, per month | $99 ($79 on annual) | $149 ($129 on annual) |
| Trial | 14 days, no card | 30 days, no card |
Prices checked on 12 October 2026 on each vendor's pricing page.
Price
Reportly starts at $99 a month for one company, $79 a month billed yearly, and each added client company is $59 a month, the same price whatever the count. Reach lists one connection at $149 a month, $129 on annual billing, and each added connection on that plan at $149. Prices checked on 12 October 2026 on each vendor's pricing page; the Reportly plans and what each includes are on the pricing page.
We do not compare the larger bundles here. Reach prices by connection with volume tiers, Reportly per added company, and which is cheaper for a practice depends on the count. Ask us with your number.
Send us the pack you delivered last month. Next month it comes back finished.
When Reach is the better choice
- You want live spreadsheet formulas inside the report builder, and building is the part you like. Reportly is not a build-anything tool and will not become one.
- Your clients are on QuickBooks Desktop, Xero or MYOB. Reportly connects to QuickBooks Online, with NetSuite on the Enterprise plan.
- You need a portal your clients log into. Reportly delivers the pack as a file you send.
Frequently asked questions
Is Reportly an alternative to Reach Reporting for QuickBooks Online?
Reportly delivers the finished monthly pack from QuickBooks Online in your own format, with the commentary drafted, and keeps the budget, the rolling forecast and the cash forecast next to the actuals. Reach is a report builder for accountants who work in a spreadsheet editor. For the finance person who wants the pack rather than the builder, yes.
Can I use my own report template in Reportly?
Yes. Your Excel or PowerPoint pack becomes the template, set up once with us. The numbers refill from QuickBooks Online every month and the commentary is carried forward.
Do I need Excel skills to use Reportly?
No. There is no formula layer to build or maintain. Reach's own reviewers say Excel proficiency is needed there; in Reportly the set-up is done with you and the pack refreshes on its own.
Who builds Reportly?
Reportly is built by the team behind Hundred MS, a CFO practice that produces monthly packs, budgets and a weekly cash forecast for its own clients; the finance founders hold the CFA and FRM. The routine the practice runs for its clients is what the software runs.
How does Reportly's price compare with Reach Reporting?
Reportly starts at $99 a month for one company ($79 on annual billing); Reach starts at $149 ($129 on annual). Added companies are $59 at Reportly and $149 at Reach on the one-connection plan. Prices checked on 12 October 2026.
Does Reportly connect to QuickBooks Desktop?
No. Reportly connects to QuickBooks Online, with NetSuite on the Enterprise plan. Reach connects to QuickBooks Desktop, Xero and MYOB as well.
See how Reportly's QuickBooks reporting turns the monthly rebuild into a data connection, or compare plans on the pricing page.