Runway vs Adaptive Planning: Planning shouldn't be locked inside your ERP

Your tools should evolve with your business—not be a legacy platform frozen in time after an acquisition.

Trusted by fast-moving teams

The core difference

Both Runway and Adaptive Planning give you budgeting, forecasting, and scenario planning with enterprise-grade security. The differences are how fast the product evolves, need for consultants, and whether you'll ever fully leave the sheet behind.

Innovation pace

  • Runway ships new capabilities regularly on a modern tech stack built for speed of thought and flexible modeling.
  • Adaptive Planning has been inside Workday for 7 years. Users consistently report limited product innovation and the platform falling behind more modern competitors.

Model ownership

  • Runway lets your finance team build and evolve models with human-readable formulas. No consultants, no certification, no IT tickets.
  • Adaptive's proprietary formula syntax and cube-based architecture often require ongoing consultant support. Model changes become projects, not quick edits.

Spreadsheet independence

  • Runway is designed to be the tool where strategic thinking actually happens—so you don't need a spreadsheet on the side.
  • Adaptive built OfficeConnect, an Excel add-in, because many users still need to finish their work in spreadsheets to get the flexibility the core platform doesn't provide on its own.

Fast track to clarity

Start building a unified model you can trust as the source of truth for planning and forecasting.

Onboarding guided by finance experts

  1. Kickoff

    • Integrate all your sources
    • Connect data from our 750+ integrations, including your HRIS, ERP, CRM, and more.
    • 1-week average

  2. Model

    • Build your model
    • Create your P&L, cashflow, headcount model, and more. Build out your projections, scenarios, and plans.
    • 4-week average

  3. Strategize

    • Get continuous support
    • Stay aligned with our team through strategic check-ins and real-time support in a dedicated Slack channel.
    • Ongoing

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between Runway and Adaptive Planning?

Adaptive Planning is a legacy enterprise planning tool now owned by Workday. Runway is a modern FP&A platform built for speed and flexibility.

  • Runway ships new capabilities regularly. Adaptive's innovation pace has slowed significantly since the Workday acquisition.
  • Runway lets your team own the model with human-readable formulas. Adaptive's proprietary syntax often requires ongoing consultant support.
  • Runway is designed to replace your spreadsheet. Adaptive built an Excel add-in (OfficeConnect) because the core platform wasn't flexible enough.
  • Runway's implementation averages about 6 weeks. Adaptive implementations average 4.5+ months.