Clockwork vs. Spotlight Reporting: one model instead of three tools
Spotlight Reporting is built for accountants and advisors and sells reporting, forecasting, and dashboards as separate products. Clockwork is an intelligent forecasting platform that builds a 5-year driver-based financial model and a 52-week cash flow forecast from the books automatically, with reporting, dashboards, and an AI analyst on the same model.
The 30-second comparison
| Clockwork | Spotlight Reporting | |
|---|---|---|
| Core product | Forecasting platform with reporting, dashboards, and an AI analyst on one model | Separate products for reporting, forecasting, and dashboards |
| Management reporting | ✓ Monthly, quarterly, and annual report packs built from the model, downloadable as a PDF | ✓ Management and narrative reports |
| Financial model | ✓ 5-year, driver-based, three-statement, built automatically | ✓ 3-way forecasts, budgets, and scenarios your team builds |
| Cash flow forecast | ✓ 52-week, transaction-level, built automatically | ✕ Weekly cash forecast not documented |
| AI financial analyst | ✓ Mira, built in | ✓ Opt-in AI in reporting |
| Setup | ✓ Connect QuickBooks or Xero, chart of accounts mapped automatically in minutes | ✓ Forecast built and maintained per client |
| Pricing | From $719/mo for businesses on annual billing; firm plans from $1,499/mo | Tiered accountant plans; advisory bundles on the higher tiers |
| Free trial | ✓ 14 days, no card | ✓ 14 days, no card |
Competitor details checked November 2026 against public pages. Verify directly with each vendor. Clockwork's current rates are on the pricing page.
What Spotlight does well
Spotlight was built for accountants, and it shows. Its reporting includes management and narrative reports, its forecasting covers 3-way forecasts with budgets and scenarios, and its dashboards are drag and drop. It also has a tool for networks and groups that want benchmarking across many businesses.
The trade-off is that the forecast is something your team builds and maintains for each client, and the pieces are sold as separate products.
Where Clockwork differs
The model builds itself
Connect QuickBooks or Xero and Clockwork builds a 5-year, driver-based, three-statement financial model and a 52-week cash flow forecast from the books in about five minutes, with the chart of accounts mapped automatically. Every open invoice, bill, loan payment, and payroll run lands in the week it will clear. Nothing to implement, and nothing to rebuild when the books change.
Weekly cash, not just monthly
Cash runs out on a specific Friday, and a month-end total can hide it. Clockwork forecasts cash a week at a time, 52 weeks out, so the tight week shows up before it arrives.
Reports, forecast, and an analyst on one model
Monthly, quarterly, and annual report packs, dashboards, scenarios, and Mira, our AI FP&A analyst, all read from the same live model, so the numbers always tie out. Clockwork is the real AI-native FP&A software, built by a CFO who ran an outsourced CFO firm.
Pricing
Spotlight sells tiered accountant plans, with the advisory bundles on the higher tiers. Clockwork firm plans start at $1,499 a month, priced on functionality and firm complexity rather than client count, and one new advisory client covers any of them in about a month.
Compare Clockwork to other FP&A tools
“Clockwork is BY FAR the easiest financial modeling software around. I have tried 10-15 FP&A pieces of software and NONE of them come close to Clockwork.ai. When I say that it’s easy, I mean VERY easy. It’s intuitive and user friendly!”
Brendan Aronsohn
Frequently asked questions
Does Spotlight Reporting forecast cash weekly?
Spotlight's public pages describe 3-way forecasts, budgets, and scenarios, but not a weekly cash forecast. Clockwork forecasts cash by the week, 52 weeks out, built automatically from QuickBooks or Xero.
What is the main difference between Clockwork and Spotlight?
Spotlight gives your team separate tools to build reports, forecasts, and dashboards for each client. Clockwork builds the model and forecast for you and puts reports, dashboards, and Mira on that same model.
Does Clockwork do management reporting like Spotlight?
Yes. Clockwork builds monthly, quarterly, and annual report packs with an executive summary, key metrics, the financial statements, and cash flow, ready to send as a PDF.
How is Clockwork priced for firms?
Firm plans start at $1,499 a month, priced on functionality and firm complexity rather than client count, with unlimited users.
See why teams are choosing Clockwork over Spotlight Reporting
A 15-minute demo walks you through the report pack, the 52-week cash forecast, and the 5-year model, all built from the same numbers.
