Ari
cfo.ai (formerly Runway Financial) · Ari by cfo.ai: AI CFO Agent for Forecasts, Scenarios and Board Reporting
Ari is cfo.ai's AI CFO agent that connects read-only to your accounting, payroll, banking, billing and CRM systems, builds and updates a live financial model, answers questions such as whether you can afford two more hires, and flags changes in metrics like churn. It suits startup founders and finance leads who need forecasts, scenarios and board materials without a full FP&A team.
Best for
Startup founders and lean finance teams at venture-backed or subscription businesses who want live forecasts, hiring scenarios and board reporting built from their actual systems without hiring a full FP&A team
Not ideal for
Very early companies that cannot justify $375+/month, teams that need an agent to post journal entries or move money, and finance departments that must self-host or need documented security certifications before connecting their ledger
Who it's for
Startup founders, CFOs and finance leads at venture-backed and subscription businesses
Capabilities
- Builds a financial model of the business from live actuals pulled from accounting, payroll, banking, billing and CRM systems
- Answers business questions in plain language, such as whether you can afford new hires, with scenarios, key metrics and payback periods
- Imports an existing Excel workbook, CSV or PDF model and rebuilds it as native formulas, Dimensions, Pages and Scenarios
- Scenarios let Ari or you test a plan without changing the Main model, then compare outcomes side by side
- Monitors metrics such as revenue, cash flow, churn and margins and flags unexpected changes without being asked
- Drafts board decks and reporting Pages with tables and charts built on the live model, shareable as read-only links with optional password protection
- Works in the cfo.ai web app and a Slack app, with alerts and answers delivered in Slack
- Saves repeatable workflows as Skills that Ari applies automatically, and runs scheduled Triggers that deliver results to your Slack DMs or email
- Pauses for approval before calling external services and presents a plan with assumptions before large jobs
- Remote MCP server at api.cfo.ai/mcp with browser-based sign-in, so Claude Code, Codex and other MCP clients can inspect and edit the workspace
- REAM calculation engine that lets the agent query multidimensional values directly rather than tracing formulas across spreadsheet tabs
Limitations
- No free plan. Paid plans start at $375/month billed annually ($500 month to month), with a 14-day free trial
- Startup and Growth plans allow only 5 and 8 standard integrations; NetSuite and data warehouse and database connections (Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and others) are premium integrations listed on the Enterprise plan
- cfo.ai describes its access to source systems as read-only, so Ari is built to model and report on your books, not to post entries or make payments
- Triggers can deliver only to your own Slack DMs or verified email, not to a shared Slack channel or another person, and cannot run steps that need approval
- Values-only exports and PDFs give Ari less to work from than formula-based spreadsheets, so inferred logic is marked as assumptions
- No self-hosted deployment, security certifications or underlying model details are documented on the pages reviewed
- Relaunched under the cfo.ai name in September 2026, so the agent-first product has a short track record
Use cases
- Asking in Slack whether the company can afford two more account executives and getting a scenario with payback period and cash impact
- Turning an existing Excel operating model into a live model that updates from QuickBooks, Rippling and Stripe
- Drafting a quarterly board deck from live actuals and a forecast, then sharing a read-only page with investors
- Getting a weekly variance report by email every Monday through a scheduled Trigger
- Comparing a hiring plan and a slower-growth case as Scenarios without touching the main forecast
Our take
Ari's advantage over pasting a spreadsheet into a general assistant is that the model lives on live actuals and a calculation engine the agent can query directly, so the same forecast feeds Slack answers, alerts and board pages. The import path matters too: a founder with an existing Excel model does not have to start over. The price puts it in FP&A software territory rather than the cost of a chat subscription, and the integration caps on lower plans mean you should list your source systems before choosing a tier. Because system access is read-only, the realistic job is planning and reporting, not bookkeeping or payments.
Who should use it
Founders and first finance hires at startups who need board-ready forecasts and hiring scenarios, finance leads replacing a fragile Excel operating model, and teams that want finance answers and alerts in Slack.
Who should skip it
Solo businesses with simple books, teams that need an agent to do bookkeeping, close the books or make payments, and organizations that require self-hosting or documented certifications before connecting financial systems.
Strengths
- Models are built from live actuals, so forecasts and board numbers stay current without manual exports
- Can rebuild an existing Excel model instead of forcing a restart from scratch
- Scenarios keep experiments separate from the Main model
- Read-only system access on every plan limits the risk of connecting the ledger
- Works from Slack and exposes the workspace to coding agents through an MCP server
Weaknesses
- Starts at $375/month billed annually, with no free plan beyond a 14-day trial
- Integration caps on Startup and Growth, and NetSuite and warehouse connections are premium
- Scheduled Trigger results cannot go to shared Slack channels or other people
- Security certifications and underlying models are not documented on the pages reviewed
Ari pricing
Startup
$375
Billed monthly
- Billed annually, or $500 month to month
- Standard AI usage
- Up to 5 integrations and 500k synced rows/month
- MCP server, Slack app, alerts and unlimited models
- 1 workspace
Growth
$1,125
Billed monthly
- Billed annually, or $1,500 month to month
- Everything in Startup
- 4 times the AI usage
- Up to 8 integrations and 2M synced rows/month
Enterprise
Custom
- Custom pricing and AI credits
- Premium integrations and multiple workspaces
- SSO/SAML and priority support
- Dedicated finance partner and shared Slack channel
Note: A 14-day free trial is available, and the homepage advertises a free first model as a launch-week offer. Extra AI credits can be bought as top-ups. Read-only system access is standard on every plan. Data warehouse, database and enterprise ERP integrations (including NetSuite) are premium and listed on the Enterprise plan.
Technical specs
Where Ari excels
Hiring decision
Ari pulls current payroll and revenue actuals and models the cost and payback of new hires as a Scenario, so the answer reflects this month's numbers rather than last quarter's spreadsheet.
Board reporting
Board Pages and decks are built on the model that syncs actuals, so updating them before a meeting is mostly a review rather than a rebuild.
Metric monitoring
Ari flags changes such as rising churn without being asked, and a Trigger can send a weekly variance summary by email or Slack DM.
Ari vs. competitors
Ari vs. Claude Cowork
Claude Cowork is a general task agent that can work across your files and tools, including spreadsheet reconciliation. Ari is specialised for finance, with a persistent model built on live actuals, Scenarios and scheduled metric monitoring.
Ari vs. Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft 365 Copilot helps with formulas and analysis inside Excel and other Microsoft 365 apps. Ari keeps a separate finance model connected to accounting, payroll, billing and CRM systems and updates it from live data.
Frequently asked questions
What is Ari by cfo.ai?
Ari is an AI CFO agent from cfo.ai. It connects to your accounting, payroll, banking, billing and CRM systems, builds a live financial model, answers questions such as hiring affordability with scenarios, flags metric changes, and drafts board reporting.
Is cfo.ai the same company as Runway Financial?
Yes. Runway Financial, founded in 2020, rebranded as cfo.ai in September 2026 and made Ari its flagship product.
How much does Ari cost?
cfo.ai's pricing page lists Startup at $375/month billed annually ($500 monthly) with up to 5 integrations and 500k synced rows a month, Growth at $1,125/month billed annually ($1,500 monthly) with 4 times the AI usage, up to 8 integrations and 2M synced rows, and custom Enterprise pricing. There is a 14-day free trial, and extra AI credits can be bought as top-ups.
Can Ari change data in QuickBooks or my bank?
cfo.ai lists read-only system access on every plan, so Ari is designed to read your source systems rather than change them. Its edits happen in your cfo.ai model, Pages and Scenarios, and it pauses for your approval before calling a connected external service.
Does Ari work in Slack?
Yes. Plans include a Slack app where you can ask Ari questions and receive alerts, and scheduled Triggers can deliver results to your own Slack DMs or email.
Can I use cfo.ai from Claude Code or Codex?
Yes. cfo.ai runs a remote MCP server at https://api.cfo.ai/mcp that you authorize by signing in through a browser window. It exposes tools to inspect and edit tables, pages, scenarios and other workspace objects, and the work shows up in your cfo.ai workspace.
Integrations & fit
Alternatives to consider
About Ari
cfo.ai is the new name of Runway Financial, founded in 2020, which relaunched on September 10, 2026 around Ari. You connect source systems (QuickBooks Online, Xero, Rillet or, as a premium integration, NetSuite for the ledger, Rippling or Gusto for payroll, Stripe, Ramp, Brex and Mercury for payments and banking, Salesforce or HubSpot for CRM, and Google Sheets), and Ari pulls actuals into a cfo.ai model; cfo.ai lists read-only system access on every plan. You can also import an existing Excel workbook, CSV or PDF, and Ari rebuilds it as native formulas, Dimensions, Pages and Scenarios rather than a cell-by-cell copy. From there you ask questions in the web app or Slack: build a 2027 forecast, model the payback on two new account executives, or explain why a number moved. Ari shows the plan and assumptions for larger jobs, pauses for approval before calling external tools, and can test changes in a Scenario so the Main model stays untouched. It also watches metrics such as revenue, cash, churn and margins and raises anomalies unprompted, drafts board decks and reporting Pages from the live model. Repeatable processes can be saved as Skills that Ari applies automatically, and Triggers run saved instructions on a schedule and deliver results to your own Slack DMs or verified email. Underneath is REAM, cfo.ai's multidimensional calculation engine, which lets the agent query values like revenue for a given month directly instead of tracing formulas across sheets. An MCP server exposes the workspace to Claude Code, Codex and other MCP clients. The tradeoffs: pricing starts at $375/month billed annually, the Startup plan caps you at 5 standard integrations, warehouse, database and enterprise ERP connections are premium integrations listed on the Enterprise plan, and scheduled results cannot be posted to shared Slack channels.
Updates from Ari
Runway Financial relaunched as cfo.ai with Ari, an agentic CFO that connects to finance and business systems, monitors metrics, and builds forecasts and analyses on request, including from Slack.
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