Vena vs. Cube: Comparing Features, Integrations, Reviews and More

Finance teams have more tools at their disposal than ever before. While these tools certainly make your life as a CFO or finance leader much easier, finding the right one for your business takes a bit of research. 

Modern corporate performance management (CPM) solutions offer a vast array of options to choose from. Some integrate with the spreadsheet environments you know and love while others are standalone software. Some focus on core FP&A activities like budgeting and forecasting, while others support broader operational planning too.

To simplify your research process, we’re comparing Vena to Cube, another popular FP&A solution. We're examining their key features, user experiences and overall capabilities to give you a clearer picture of how these two CPM solutions compare, helping you take the next step in choosing the right tool for your FP&A team.

Vena vs. Cube: At a Glance

Key Features and Use Cases

Vena

Vena delivers a comprehensive corporate performance management (CPM) solution designed with FP&A and accounting teams in mind. By leveraging the familiar Microsoft Excel interface, Vena combines the flexibility of Finance’s favorite spreadsheet tool with a robust centralized database, offering a unified source of truth for financial and operational data.

Vena has significant industry recognition. The platform was named a Top Leader in the Barc Planning Survey 24—a survey of 1,272 respondents who evaluated software on criteria from business benefits to customer satisfaction.

Vena's key features include:

1. Excel-centric approach: Vena stands out by fully integrating with Excel, allowing finance teams to work in an environment they're already proficient in while benefiting from advanced database querying capabilities.

2. Versatile budgeting tools: The platform supports various budget planning methodologies, from top-down to zero-based. Its intuitive design allows finance teams to easily collaborate with external budget contributors, streamlining the process.

3. Advanced forecasting capabilities: Vena simplifies creating integrated financial statements, continuous forecasts and scenario analyses. The system allows users to easily add new forecast dimensions per evolving business needs.

4. Enhanced reporting: With Vena, finance teams can generate ad-hoc reports with granular analysis options. The Vena Insights feature empowers non-finance users with self-service analytics, easing the FP&A team's workload.

5. Streamlined financial close: Vena optimizes crucial processes like consolidations and reconciliations, enhancing efficiency and transparency in the financial close cycle.

6. Powerful database: Vena employs specialized OLAP database technology, ensuring robust data handling and maintaining a dependable central data repository.

7. Multi-functional applications: Vena supports planning processes like workforce planning and sales forecasting, making it a versatile tool.

8. Close management: Supports financial close management and financial consolidation.

9. Extensive dimension support: Supports up to 20 dimensions for financial analysis with easy customizability.

Cube

Cube Software is an FP&A tool that offers a spreadsheet-based interface and seamless integration capabilities. Designed to streamline budgeting, forecasting and reporting processes, Cube offers a user-friendly experience paired with powerful FP&A features.

Key features of Cube include:

1. Spreadsheet-centric platform: Cube leverages the familiar spreadsheet environment, allowing finance professionals to work within Excel or Google Sheets while accessing advanced FP&A functionalities.

2. Automated financial reporting: Cube excels in automating recurring financial tasks. Users can create custom templates for various reports, streamlining the generation of financial statements, P&L analyses and budget comparisons.

3. Flexible budgeting and forecasting: Cube's scenario planning and analysis tools help users create multiple budget scenarios, adjust assumptions and perform sensitivity analyses to inform decision-making.

4. Intuitive user interface: With its user-friendly design and drag-and-drop functionality, Cube makes it easy for users to build and modify reports without extensive technical expertise.

5. Newer player in FP&A: As a relatively new player in the CPM space, some aspects of its functionality are still under development.

6. Multi-dimension planning support: Cube currently supports four predefined dimensions and four custom dimensions for financial planning purposes.

Integrations

Vena

Vena offers extensive integration options, enabling data consolidation and the creation of a single source of data truth for finance teams. This is made possible using APIs, native connectors, ETL and Microsoft PowerAutomate.

Integrations include:

1. Microsoft Suite:

   • Excel: Model scenarios and create budgets within Excel.

   • PowerPoint: Embed real-time data into presentations.

   • Power BI: Visualize data from a centralized source of truth.

2. GL and ERP: Vena integrates with NetSuite, Certinia, Microsoft Dynamics (Business Central, GP, SL), Oracle, Sage Intacct and QuickBooks.

3. HRIS: Vena integrates with BambooHR, ADP, Paycom, Workday, Paylocity, Ceridian and Peoplesoft.

4. Custom file imports: Import Excel, CSV, and flat files from local systems or cloud storage platforms such as SFTP, Dropbox, SharePoint and OneDrive.

5. CRM: Integrates with HubSpot and Salesforce.

6. Custom and legacy systems: Vena facilitates data transfers from homegrown systems, SQL databases and data warehouses.

Cube

Cube offers a wide range of standard and custom integration options. Integrations include:

1. Spreadsheets: Cube integrates with both Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.

2. ERP and accounting: Cube connects to NetSuite, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, Microsoft Dynamics Suite, Xero, Acumatica, Deltek, JD Edwards, PeopleSoft and Yardi.

3. HRIS and ATS: Cube supports integration with major HR platforms such as ADP, Workday, BambooHR, Greenhouse, Gusto, Paycom, Paylocity, SuccessFactors (SAP), Rippling and Zenefits.

4. Billing and operations: Integrates with billing systems such as Chargebee, Coupa, Zuora, Ordway and Maxio (formerly SaaSOptics).

5. CRM: Cube connects to Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive.

6. BI: Cube integrates with BI tools and data warehouses such as Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, Snowflake, Microsoft Azure SQL, Oracle SQL, MongoDB, PowerBI, Tableau and Looker.

Cube uses a third-party tool, Boomi, to power these integrations. While this enables Cube to integrate with a long list of systems, it can lead to some maintenance headaches, as regular changes to your underlying data can potentially break connections. 

How the Technology Works

Vena

Vena simplifies financial planning and analysis processes through a centralized database. Its native Excel interface (which preserves the full functionality of Excel, in contrast to the Excel plug-in approach some vendors take) allows you to work in a familiar environment while reconciling your data back to a single source of truth, providing your business with the scalability it needs to plan effectively.

The system's foundation is built on online analytical processing (OLAP) database technology, facilitating multi-dimensional analysis of large data volumes. The platform, powered by Vena’s CubeFLEX™ technology makes it easy for you to add dimensions through which to slice your data. This supports agile planning as your business grows and your operations become more complex.

As a result, Vena suits organizations of all sizes and scales as they grow. While the platform does have a learning curve, Vena's support and powerful features make it an ideal addition to a mid-sized business' FP&A team.

Cube

Cube integrates natively with both Excel and Google Sheets, giving FP&A teams flexibility in choosing their spreadsheet platform. The platform's technology—also built in OLAP like Vena—is designed to support planning, analysis and collaboration with speed and confidence, catering to the needs of high-growth companies.

However, users report that the Excel integration can be temperamental, with some saying that the add-on needs installation every few weeks. Cube's relatively recent presence in the FP&A space also presents scalability issues.

For instance, users can only model scenarios across four predefined and four custom dimensions. While these limits will work well for smaller FP&A teams, larger teams with more complex needs might find the platform limiting.

Despite these shortfalls, Cube's platform is easy to navigate and the team's continuous support and updates make it a popular choice for many early stage companies.

Ease of Use

Vena

Vena's strong Excel integration gives it a familiar face to almost every finance professional. User reviews on G2 highlight Vena's "easy-to-use interface" and the many integrations that make the platform "more reliable and user-friendly."

On review platforms such as Capterra and G2, Vena's ease of use and user interface rank high among the pros of the platform.

User reviews routinely mention ad-hoc report creation and strong version control as particular strengths of the platform, aside from its flexibility.

Scores from 4.5/5 to 4.6/5 on G2 and Capterra respectively suggest a platform with an intuitive UI and the ability to simplify complex processes. In addition, Vena is featured in Capterra's shortlist rankings for top budgeting tools.

Cube

Cube's integration with Excel and Google Sheets often crops up in user reviews when mentioning its ease of use. Users consistently praise the platform's intuitive interface that ensures quick adoption with a minimal learning curve.

Reviewers also highlight the Dimension Manager and calculated fields when highlighting its ease of use. The platform's flexibility in handling transactional and operational data in one place is frequently mentioned as a key benefit.

While Cube generally receives positive feedback for its usability, some users note that there can be a slight learning curve for certain features. The lack of a drill down feature is another drawback. Additionally, a few reviewers mention that the Google Sheets add-in can be slow with large queries.

Despite these concerns, the overall sentiment regarding Cube's ease of use remains overwhelmingly positive, with users rating it 4.5/5 in G2 and Capterra, with users rating its ease of use at 4.8/5 on Capterra.

AI Capabilities

Vena

Vena offers two AI-driven solutions: Vena Copilot and Vena Insights.

Vena Copilot for FP&A is a specialized GenAI tool built for FP&A teams. It leverages OpenAI's GPT-4 and Vena's CubeFLEX™ analytical data model and is pre-trained on hundreds of common FP&A questions to serve you with the most relevant results.

Using natural language processing, Copilot can perform several tasks such as data gathering, report generation, trend analysis and answering complex business questions. A key advantage of Copilot is its ease of setup, requiring no IT, data science or AI engineering expertise.

Vena Insights, on the other hand, is an intelligent reporting and analytics solution that incorporates embedded Power BI along with AI and machine learning technologies. This tool enables FP&A teams to apply predictive analytics and anomaly detection to their data, helping to identify inefficiencies, isolate key business drivers, spot trends and compare different scenarios.

By combining these AI capabilities, Vena provides a comprehensive, intelligent solution for FP&A teams at companies of all sizes.

Cube

Cube currently does not possess AI capabilities.

Pricing

Vena

Vena offers two pricing plans, though it doesn't publicly disclose exact costs, as pricing is customized to each company based on their needs.

1. Professional Plan: This plan is designed for businesses looking to start quickly and scale over time. It includes:

•    Full Microsoft Excel integration

•    Central database

•    Integrations

•    Platform APIs

•    Workflow and collaboration tools

•    Security and permissions

•    Modeling capabilities

•    Reporting and analytics

•    Customer portal

•    Dedicated customer success manager

•    Standard support

2. Complete Plan: This comprehensive package includes everything in the Professional plan, plus:

•    Vena Insights

•    Premium support

•    Sandbox environment

•    Vena expert managed services

In the 2024 BARC Planning Survey, respondents gave Vena a score of 9.5 for price to value, over 3 points higher than the average across all platforms evaluated of 6.3. 

Cube

Cube offers three pricing plans on its website:

1. Cube Go

• Designed for lean finance teams

• Priced at $1,500 per month

• Suitable for smaller organizations or those just starting to formalize their FP&A processes

2. Cube Pro

• Aimed at companies looking to scale their reporting and FP&A capabilities

• Priced at $2,800 per month

• Offers more advanced features to support growing organizations

3. Enterprise Plan

•    Custom pricing

•    Tailored for pre-IPO and public companies

•    Likely offers the most comprehensive set of features and support

Cube's Pro plan allows users to build custom dashboards, with custom integrations limited to its Enterprise plan. Also, the Go plan does not offer a dedicated customer success manager, with users having to rely on regular customer support.

Customer Support

Vena

Vena offers two support plans:

• The Standard Support Plan offers assistance during regular business hours. With worldwide 24-hour online chat and phone support available Monday through Friday, users can get help regardless of their time zone.

• The Premium Support Plan builds upon the Standard Plan, extending support hours and prioritizing response times. It provides 24/7 telephone support for critical issues, ensuring that urgent problems can be addressed at any time, day or night.

Both plans come with 24/7 application monitoring, unlimited case submissions and a dedicated customer success manager.

In addition, the Vena Support Portal serves as a valuable self-help resource, housing a library of online videos, FAQs and user guides for those who prefer to troubleshoot on their own.

Users give Vena 4.5/5 stars for customer service on Capterra and 9/10 for quality of support in G2.

"We created Board-level reporting templates that can be reused every year," a Capterra reviewer writes. "Great implementation team. We have saved time, improved processes, created one version of the data visible to all involved in the process and created efficiencies."

Cube

Reviewers generally highlight Cube's high-quality customer service. Like Vena, Cube offers an extensive library featuring videos and articles to educate users about its platform. It also hosts a Slack community of FP&A professionals, allowing you to ask questions of peers.

Cube offers its users plenty of resources to self-service thanks to a detailed troubleshooting section. Users give its customer service 4.8/5 on Capterra and 9.3/10 for quality of support in G2.

"Ease of use is excellent and second only to the customer support you receive," one Capterra reviewer writes. "Account managers have been extremely helpful."

Vena Reviews

"I love how easy it is to take any of my spreadsheets and integrate them into Vena. Was able to simplify a lot of spreadsheets but bringing the data in via the cloud rather than dropping it from our accounting system. [...] Largest problem we solved was our budget spreadsheet was getting too big so we broke it down and brought it into Vena and now with the audit trail we feel very confident with the integrity of it and monitoring the changes. The biggest benefits we realized was what else we could use it for. We use it for so much more than we initially intended to use it for."

– G2

"The best part about Vena is the versatility of the implementation of the solution. The software can be adapted to any type of company even to the ones with the most complex behaviours. The implementation is easy [...] but compared to other systems it has a very nice integration with your already existing excel models, so it is very user-friendly."

– G2

"The best part of Vena is that it can easily be integrated with MS Excel and even a user who doesn't have much information about Excel can work on it with huge data. The worst part is its interface which is a little different to learn initially and takes a little time."

– Capterra

Cube Reviews

“Our favorite feature is also our biggest frustration. The Google Sheet add-in is extremely slow and occasionally times out with large queries. If you make a duplicate of a file, you will need to reselect your range to pull a query. It is slow and frustrating, but we are happy to have the connectivity. [...] At this time, Cube is not an ideal product for larger teams. It works for a team of 3 but we occasionally run into issues when team members have to delay their loads while we wait for another to complete. I'm sure that this issue would only compound with added team members.”

– G2

“Cube is very flexible and is easy to layer onto existing workflows in excel and google sheets. It is a fairly lightweight solution that makes reporting and analysis a lot easier. As a growing product, Cube still has a little ways to go with functionality, specifically around headcount/staffing planning and data import functionality. That being said, as a lightweight tool I appreciate that they have not overloaded with unnecessary features - the core product works well.”

– Capterra

"Really happy with the overall flexibility of the system and the ability to have transactional and operational data all in one place! As it is based in Excel, it is easy to look at things in different ways and to quickly analyze data or change the drivers of your forecast. [...] Had to rebuild all forecast models in excel in a way that was compatible to load the data into Cube, which was more time consuming than anticipated. Additionally, formatting of reports does not save in Cube, so every time you go to fetch/build something from the system, you have to re-format or manually add new account to an existing report in excel. Gets tricky when business is constantly evolving/changing.”

– G2

Vena vs. Cube: Which Is Best for Your Team?

Both Vena and Cube are tailored solutions for your FP&A team, but each platform has its strengths that may make it more suitable for different types of organizations.

Vena's ample features make it ideal for small, mid-sized and mature businesses looking to scale their FP&A functions efficiently and build for the future. In contrast, Cube is better suited to lean finance teams taking their first steps in FP&A.

Vena shines with its native Excel integration, providing a familiar interface for finance teams. Vena's AI capabilities, including Vena Copilot and Vena Insights, provide advanced analytics and automation features that can streamline complex FP&A processes and create much needed scale for busy teams.

Vena's tiered pricing allows for scalability and the platform's comprehensive feature set, including workforce planning and financial close management, makes it well-suited for small, mid-size and mature companies looking for an all-inclusive FP&A solution that can grow with their needs.

Cube's Excel-based interface and Google Sheets integration provide flexibility for teams using different spreadsheet platforms. This could be particularly advantageous for organizations heavily invested in the Google ecosystem.

When it comes to customer support, Vena offers a more structured approach with Standard and Premium support plans, as well as the Vena Academy for ongoing learning. Cube's support structure is less clear, even if it is robust according to reviews.

Consider factors such as your team's size, the complexity of your financial processes, your preferred spreadsheet platform and your long-term FP&A goals when comparing Vena versus Cube.

Want to see Vena in action? Request a demo