Finance teams have more than enough numbers to crunch. So, beginning the long process of determining the best corporate performance management (CPM) platform for their team may not be at the top of every FP&A leader’s to-do list.
But given the potential impact of choosing the right (or wrong) CPM platform, this decision is worth spending time on. There are many options out there, each with its own strengths, weaknesses and quirks that can make or break an FP&A team’s workflow. That’s why we want to simplify the process for you and offer a cheat sheet comparing two of the highest-rated FP&A platforms today: Vena vs. OneStream.
Read on to get our straightforward, honest review and assessment of how Vena and OneStream match up among some major categories such as key features, ease of use and pricing.
Vena vs. OneStream: At a Glance
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Key Features and Use Cases
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Native Excel interface and a centralized database.
Vena features automated workflows, templates, audit trails, and more to help streamline processes such as budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting and analysis, as well as workforce and revenue planning.
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Unified financial and planning platform, with dashboards and drag-and-drop reporting functions.
OneStream is designed as a comprehensive suite to simplify the entire FP&A process. That includes reporting, analytics, strategic and scenario planning, monitoring and more.
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Integrates with ERP, general ledger, CRM, HRIS systems, CSV and flat files. Vena is also natively integrated with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI and more.
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Integrates with ERP, HCM and CRM systems, as well as numerous cloud storage, RPA and third-party apps, including an Excel add-in.
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Built around a native Excel interface, using relational and online analytical processing (OLAP) database technology to enable multidimensional analysis of data.
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OneStream uses OLAP and relational database technology, along with “Dynamic Cubes” to integrate and harness data. It also uses SQL, which may require expertise to navigate and maintain.
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Vena enables you to continue working in Excel while benefiting from a centralized database, making it uniquely easy for finance professionals to use. It’s consistently rated high for ease of use on numerous review sites.
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Some reviewers note that OneStream may have a lengthy implementation process and steep learning curve, but once teams are up and moving with the platform, it’s rated fairly high for ease of use.
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Two solutions: Vena Copilot, which allows users to use simple chat prompts to create reports and analyze data, and Vena Insights, a self-serve reporting and analytics tool that features AI-powered insights and leverages machine learning technology to improve forecast accuracy.
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AI capabilities are baked into the platform, and assist with scenario modeling, predictive analytics, forecasting and more.
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Available upon request—90% of users rate Vena’s price to value as “excellent” or “good” in BARC’s most recent Planning Survey.
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Available upon request—although highly rated in the BARC Planning Survey, OneStream is ranked lower than Vena in price to value. OneStream’s pricing was noted as $4,000 and over per user in the BPM Partners 2024-2025 Vendor Landscape Matrix report.
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Two plan options, which include phone and online chat support (Monday-Friday 24 hours), access to the Support Portal with videos and user guides, and a dedicated Customer Success Manager.
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Twenty-four-seven support and options to access engineers and remote implementation consultants are available. There is also a Support Portal that includes guides and access to a knowledge base.
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Key Features and Use Cases
Vena
Vena is an industry-leading FP&A platform that was purpose-built for the flexibility of Excel. This allows finance teams to continue working in the spreadsheet environment they already know and love. Additionally, Vena is backed by a centralized multidimensional and relational database, eliminating data consolidation issues and giving teams one source of truth for planning and reporting.
Here’s a brief rundown of Vena's potential use cases and features.
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Budgeting and planning: Vena can help reduce budget cycle times, as well as create top-down, bottom-up, zero-based or driver-based budgets.
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Financial close process management: The platform can help manage the financial close process, shortening the close cycle and improving transparency into financial consolidations, reconciliations and tax provisions.
OneStream
The primary goal of OneStream’s platform is to simplify and streamline finance teams’ FP&A operations, and it does so mainly by bringing operations into a single, comprehensive suite. Here are some of its potential use cases and features.
Integrations
Vena
Vena integrates with many source systems via APIs, native connectors, ETL and Microsoft PowerAutomate. Some of those integrations include the following:
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General ledger and ERP: Vena users can integrate systems using Vena native connectors with NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics Business Central, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks and more, so they’re sure they’re working with the most recent data and figures.
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Microsoft 365 ecosystem: Vena’s Excel integration is native, allowing for quick adoption by finance teams. Users can give their data-driven storytelling abilities a shot in the arm by integrating live Vena data directly into PowerPoint presentations. Users can also create data visualizations and share dashboards with the Vena’s Microsoft Power BI integration.
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CSV and flat files: You can import CSV and flat files from local systems or numerous cloud storage applications, including Dropbox, OneDrive, SFTP and SharePoint.
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CRM: Vena can connect to CRM tools like HubSpot and Salesforce, which allows users to incorporate customer, prospect, pipeline and marketing data into their planning.
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HRIS: Users can bring in data from several HRIS and payroll systems, such as ADP, Ceridian, Workday, Peoplesoft, Paylocity, Paycomm and BambooHR.
OneStream
The OneStream platform offers connections to numerous different systems. Some of those include:
How the Technology Works
Vena
Vena offers organizations a single unified platform for many use cases from financial planning and analysis to financial close management, all built around a native Excel interface and integration with Microsoft 365 productivity tools.
Vena has a powerful in-memory and scalable database with relational and multidimensional (OLAP) technologies. Vena’s online analytical processing (OLAP) database technology enables multidimensional analysis of large volumes of business data. That means you have more dynamic, all-encompassing viewpoints of your data.
Vena is built to easily combine hundreds of data sources into a single mode leveraging pre-built connectors, bidirectional APIs and flat file automation. This is particularly useful in CPM because it lets you find the data you need from across your data sources to model various scenarios, create budgets and make forecasts. It also requires less manual maintenance, with no admin necessary to create an intersection of data before it becomes viewable.
As mentioned, Vena also natively integrates with Excel, and Microsoft 365 productivity tools such as PowerPoint which means that your established workflow doesn’t need to change much, if at all.
OneStream
OneStream’s blend of OLAP and Relational databases is dubbed “Relational Blending.” One thing to note: Users do need to set up databases to house their data, which may require IT administrators to maintain and manage. Its databases also use SQL querying, which can require additional expertise and management. In all, it may be a more high-maintenance platform.
At a high level, OneStream’s platform operates as a unified system. Its goal is to remove siloed operations and bring a finance team’s operations into a single place, which can streamline analysis and processes. The platform also layers in AI-powered analytics and machine learning to analyze, predict, and generate insights—again, to create more accurate reports, plans and forecasts faster.
Ease of Use
Vena
Given that Vena is built on native Excel, there’s generally a short learning curve for many finance and operations teams. There are numerous templates and reports that can be used out of the box, too, created with industry best practices in mind, to help users get started without much additional effort.
“I love the efficiency, opportunity and room for growth with this powerful solution. With Vena we can maintain and analyse all financial and accounts reports easily and work on them with more accessibility. Its easy-to-use interface like Excel gives a sweet and simple work experience,” writes one reviewer on Software Advice.
OneStream
OneStream, as discussed, brings a finance team’s entire data operation into one portal, with the aim of simplifying the entire workflow. Many users report that it’s a fairly easy platform to use once it’s implemented. Implementation time, however, is a pain point and may take significantly longer than competing platforms, and can have a fairly steep learning curve, too. Further, there may be a need for administrators or additional help for ongoing maintenance. Reviewers do note, though, that once everything is set up, the platform gets a bit easier to use.
“The thing that I like most about the software is that it is very easy to get data out of the system. You can use quickviews, cubeviews, dashboards, books, the options are endless. Once you have these items set up, it takes seconds to produce your monthly financials or inquire on data,” writes a reviewer on Software Advice.
AI Capabilities
Vena
Vena offers two AI tools: Vena Copilot, and Vena Insights.
Vena Copilot
Vena Copilot utilizes Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service advanced AI models, including GPT-4, and Vena’s central analytical data model, CubeFLEX™. It’s a complete planning AI assistant that allows you to use natural language to execute specific actions, such as analyzing trends and generating reports.
Vena Copilot was designed to be easy to get up and running in as little as 30 minutes and lets you create and train custom AI models that make it easy for anyone in your organization to track down and work with financial data. It also provides enterprise-ready security, compliance and privacy capabilities.
Vena Insights
Vena Insights, Vena’s other AI tool, is an intelligent reporting and analytics solution that incorporates AI and machine learning technology through embedded Power BI to empower finance teams with faster insights. It offers tools such as predictive analytics and anomaly detection that can find inefficiencies and isolate key business drivers.
OneStream
AI is a central component of OneStream’s platform, and it has several AI capabilities that facilitate most financial analyses and processes users may ask of it. For one, it uses machine learning algorithms to analyze data patterns and generate predictive insights and forecasts, and OneStream can actually auto-generate forecasts to optimize planning across an entire organization. It also has scenario modeling and predictive analytics capabilities, and numerous integration options.
In all, OneStream does make AI a key tenant of the platform, and users will lean heavily on it to crunch the numbers and generate reports and analyses.
Pricing
Vena
Vena has two pricing plans, and further pricing information is available on request. Here are the two plans:
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The Complete Package: Includes Vena Insights, as well as Premium Support, Expert Managed Services and access to a Sandbox Environment, on top of full access to the Vena Platform.
As noted, Vena received very high marks in the most recent BARC Planning Survey, scoring a 9.5 out of 10 for price to value, and with nine in ten surveyed users rating the platform’s price to value as “excellent” or “good.” You can also check out Vena’s Business Value Calculator to help you calculate the annual estimated benefits achieved by using Vena.
OneStream
Pricing for OneStream is available on request, but its model is usage-based, which means that pricing will vary from organization to organization. OneStream scored 7.2 out of 10 in the most recent BARC Planning Survey for price to value.
Customer Support
Vena
Vena offers customer support through three plans. Every customer receives a dedicated Customer Success Manager regardless of their plan choice and access to the Support Portal.
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The Standard Support Plan: Provides worldwide 24-hour online chat and phone support Monday through Friday, ensuring help is available across all time zones. This plan includes access to the Vena Support Portal with its library of videos, FAQs and user guides, along with 24/7 application monitoring and unlimited case submissions.
OneStream
OneStream has a plethora of support resources available to customers, including a 24/7 support team, and a Support Portal that allows access to a knowledgebase, platform documentation, release notes, and a message board. OneStream also uses a single-tier support model that gives customers access to a support engineer allowing for faster resolution, and the company also has remote implementation consultants that can offer help.
Vena Reviews
“Vena does a great job at organizing your data into a simple database format. Your data can be complex, but with Vena, it's easy to draw it down and organize it into ways that make sense. FP&A is now easier and our processes sped up.”
“After using the Vena Software now I can say it's the best accounting software where we can reconcile ending balances. Now we can easily identify discrepancies or time differences between the bank statement and financial records. With a centralized database, we can easily collect all the data from different departments and generate a collective report about company progress. That's why I totally recommended this software to all my corporate friends.”
“What I like best about Vena is that it is very seamless Excel integration, which allows me and my team to work in a familiar environment while leveraging Vena's powerful automation functions. We now also can automate manual processes like budgeting, consolidation of data and reporting, saving valuable time and also reducing the risk of errors. Additionally, Vena fosters collaborations across teams, helping multiple members to work together on financial planning in real-time enhancing overall efficiency.”
OneStream Reviews
“Instead of having to cobble together data from multiple systems with different dimensionality and have to reconcile - I can perform all my Finance functions under the OneStream solution. This saves me tons of time with data synchronization, reconciliation, and dual maintenance. It's a huge time saver.”
“OneStream is easy to use for Finance professionals. The implementation was easy and the use of the consolidation tool has improved our close process by reducing the hours spent, but also improving the level of confidence we have in our monthly results. Finance owns the product and any changes we need to make, we can implement without IT involvement[...]We still have work to make our forecasting process easier and smoother. Right now we still are leveraging Excel to do much of our forecasting, but are in the process of looking for a better option within OneStream.”
“This product requires minimal training for end users and the end user training can be embedded in the application, so they can watch a video of how to perform a task and then execute the task. Because workflow is built into the product, again, the end user simply goes through the workflow to complete their work. The Excel Add-in is again, easy to use. Because our users were familiar with Hyperion HPVAL formulas in Excel, the transition to OneStream's add-in was seamless.”
Overall Review: Which Is Best for Your Team?
Both Vena and OneStream have a primary objective: To make life easier for finance teams. They both do so, too—and the platform that ultimately works best for your FP&A team may depend on the specifics. As such, making the decision for your finance team will boil down to the underlying technology and integrations, among a few other key areas.
Vena, built with an Excel backbone, prides itself on being a “pick-up-and-go” platform, whereas OneStream may require more work to implement. While some users laud OneStream for its ease of use, there can be a steep learning curve, too, as there are proprietary formulas and coding languages to learn.
The size of your company may also be a key deciding factor. Vena is uniquely suited for firms of various sizes that value a flexible, comprehensive platform, and especially those that are already integrated with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. OneStream, too, may be a good potential fit for companies of various sizes, but larger companies may find it more suitable than small ones, given the resources required to implement, maintain, and ultimately, use it.
Vena or OneStream may be viable options for your company, and either way, your finance team is likely to be thrilled to adopt a comprehensive FP&A platform rather than trying to chase down disconnected spreadsheets. Whichever platform you choose, it’s important to consider the key differences and strengths of each choice, particularly given that the platform you choose will require time, patience, and resources to use to its fullest potential.
