On this page
Side by side
Why we compare spreadsheets on these topics
| Topic | Excel | Control.dev |
|---|---|---|
| 01 Consolidation in the file | Copy, paste and eliminations by hand Exports from each ledger are combined in tabs someone keeps up, eliminations and exchange rates included, and 94% of finance teams use Excel in their month-end close1. | Eliminations and CTA computed, pairs checked Connected entities consolidate with the eliminations in a column of their own and Currency CTA and Elimination CTA computed apart, and your AI client lists the intercompany pairs that do not match. |
| 02 Where the numbers come from | Exports pasted in by hand The numbers arrive as exports from each system, and 84% of organizations work from several data sources that need manual reconciliation2. | Synced from the ledgers, open to every entry Each connected ledger syncs at least daily and on demand, backdated entries sync again on their own, and every figure opens to the transactions behind it. |
| 03 Keep the models people know | The models people already know The team’s models, formulas and templates live in the workbook, and everyone already knows how to change them. | Your workbooks, fed from the group data On the Enterprise plan, tell us what your workbook needs: we set the Google Sheets or Excel outputs up with you, or your team does in Data Outputs. The Transactions Browser exports up to 100,000 rows to CSV or Excel. |
| 04 Planning: versions and scenarios without formula checks | Each version its own file 61% of finance professionals name spreadsheets as a primary budgeting and forecasting tool3, and each version or scenario is usually a copy of the file whose formulas someone checks by hand. | Locked versions, three statements, a reason on every value Budgets, forecasts and scenarios are versions with their history and a locked version refuses every write, the balance sheet and cash flow move with the P&L, and an AI client drafts values that each carry a reason. |
| 05 AI on the numbers | A pasted copy, not the ledger A sheet pasted into a chat gives the assistant a copy without the entries behind it, and 65% of CFOs say confident answers on the wrong data are their most common AI frustration4. | Claude, ChatGPT or Codex on the consolidated group They read the group over MCP from the statements down to the transactions behind each figure, so an answer starts from the ledgers, not from a pasted copy. |
| 06 Cost | Already paid for with the office suite Excel comes with the office suite most teams already pay for, so the cost is the hours the team spends keeping the file current. | EUR 249 to 999 a month, 30 days free Prices run from EUR 249 a month for one entity to EUR 999 for five integrations, excluding VAT, and the 30-day free trial covers up to three integrations with no credit card. |
Control.dev consolidates the ledgers a group already runs into one group view with eliminations.
Where Excel is the better choice
- One or two entities in one currency, reported quarterly, where the file still closes on time and the eliminations are small enough to check by hand.
- One-off models and analyses that nobody needs to repeat, where an open grid is worth more than a fixed structure.
- No budget for another tool this year: Excel comes with the office suite the team already pays for.
When teams look at Control.dev
From what finance teams have told us about the moment they started looking. We name no customers.
- Group consolidation lives in one large workbook, statutory and management, and every close means copy, paste and manual eliminations.
- Every month, the numbers are exported from the ledger, shaped in a workbook and pasted into slides for the board.
- Budgets and forecasts sit in spreadsheets, and the team wants them next to the actuals without giving up the models people know.
Which fits your finance team
Choose Excel if your group has one or two entities in one currency, reports quarterly and the file still closes on time.
Choose Control.dev if the group consolidation has outgrown the file, and you want the numbers synced from the ledgers while your team keeps the models it knows. Our team sets it up in hours for most companies, at a published monthly price.
30 minutes on your ledgers and your first question.
Working with Control.dev
- Live in hours or days, not months Our team sets Control.dev up with you. Most companies have live data in under two hours from the first call, a larger group takes days, the hardest a few weeks, and there is no setup fee at any size. The comparison hub shows how long each vendor says its own rollout takes.
- Prices on one page, nothing billed on the side EUR 249, 499 and 999 a month excluding VAT, on the pricing page, with no multi-year contract and a notice period from one month. Support, user changes and settings changes are in the price, and nothing is billed per ticket or per request.
- Close support from the people who build the product Your questions go to the team that builds Control.dev, most are answered within minutes and almost all the same day, and we work through accounting and group-structure questions with you, not only software questions.
- Your AI client on a structure built for group accounting Claude, ChatGPT or Codex works on Control.dev over an MCP built and tested for group accounting. The client starts from the statements and the group structure, not a raw export of the general ledger: it finds what needs attention and traces it to the entries, within the access your role allows.
- Built with the finance teams that use it, at pace Our roadmap comes from our customers, demanding finance professionals, and a gap in a feature list is the best news we can get. A missing feature typically ships in days and a larger one in weeks. A ledger connector we would build anyway comes at no extra cost; today Control.dev connects Netvisor, Procountor, Easor (Talenom), Fortnox, Spiris (formerly Visma eEkonomi), Tripletex, e-conomic, Xero, QuickBooks, Zoho Books, Odoo, Xledger and NetSuite, plus Stripe.
- A younger product, and who it is for Control.dev is built by Finata Oy in Helsinki since 2024, by a team from finance roles and finance systems. It fits a team that already works with AI tools, or wants to, and would rather not keep data engineers or system consultants for its reporting. If AI is not something your company wants to work with, we are probably the wrong partner, and where another tool covers more than Control.dev, the page above says so.
What switching looks like
- 1 Run both side by side for a month-end or two. Control.dev reads your ledgers with read-only access by default, so the spreadsheet and your ledgers stay as they are while you compare the numbers. The 30-day free trial covers up to three integrations.
- 2 Send us screenshots of the three or four reports your board already knows, and we rebuild them in Control.dev first, so the first month looks familiar.
- 3 Excel has no notice period to wait for: keep the spreadsheet until the numbers match. Control.dev has no implementation fee and no multi-year contract, and the notice period starts from one month.
Questions
When is Excel enough?
Roughly when the group has one or two entities in one currency and reports quarterly. The mapping, eliminations and currency work are then small enough to check by hand, and the flexibility is worth more than the structure. Once entities, ledgers or currencies are added, the manual layer grows with every month-end.
What do setup and later changes cost?
Most companies go from first call to live data in under two hours: our team connects the ledgers, maps the local accounts to your group chart of accounts and validates the first load with you, with no setup fee. Later changes to a mapping or a layout are made by your team or its AI client, without rebuilding a file. Control.dev publishes its monthly prices, excluding VAT: EUR 249 for one entity and one integration, EUR 499 for consolidation with three integrations and EUR 999 with five, where a Stripe connection counts as one integration, with no implementation fee, no multi-year contract and a notice period from one month.
Can we keep working in Excel?
Yes. Your models, formulas and templates can stay: Inven’s finance team kept its Google Sheets models and replaced the exports and copy-paste that fed them with daily data from Control.dev, and the setup took hours. On the Enterprise plan, tell us what your workbook needs: we set the Google Sheets or Excel outputs up with you, or your team does in Data Outputs. When you need the rows behind a number, the Transactions Browser exports them to CSV or Excel, up to 100,000 rows.
How does AI fit in?
Your assistant should answer from the consolidated group, not from a pasted extract. Control.dev gives Claude, ChatGPT and Codex the consolidated group over MCP, every actual traces back to its transactions, and every budget value they write carries its reason. The client starts from the statements and the group structure, not a raw export of the general ledger. In a Datarails survey of 270 US CFOs and finance leaders, 65% say confident answers built on the wrong data are their most common AI frustration4.
How current are the numbers during the close?
Control.dev syncs each ledger at least daily and on demand, and re-syncs backdated entries, so the group view stays current while the books close. Across all tools, the median organization takes 6 calendar days from the first trial balance to its monthly consolidated statements5. Singa has its revenue data on day one instead of 5 to 7 days after month end.
Where is the data stored?
With Excel, the data lives wherever your files do. Control.dev’s data is hosted on Google Cloud in Hamina, Finland, encrypted in transit and at rest. Control.dev’s own AI features process data in the EU; an AI client you connect over MCP processes what it reads under your agreement with its provider.
What support do we get?
Close support on every plan. Your questions go to the team that builds Control.dev, most are answered within minutes and almost all the same day, and we work through accounting and group-structure questions with you, not only software questions. Support, user changes and settings changes are in the price, and Enterprise adds a dedicated Slack channel and priority support.
