Pulse Review: Overview, Features, Pricing & Alternatives in 2025

Worried about unpredictable cash flow every month?

If you’re like most small business owners, you need a better way to stay on top of your finances, not juggle spreadsheets that barely keep up.

Because let’s be honest, not knowing your runway means stressful guessing about whether you can pay upcoming bills—and that headache hits you daily.

Pulse takes a much simpler approach to cash flow management, letting you project, scenario-plan, and view your numbers in real time so you can finally make decisions with confidence. Their focus on clarity, automation, and direct QuickBooks Online integration sets them apart from clunky, overstuffed tools you may have tried before.

In this review, I’ll show you how Pulse actually helps you stay in control and avoid those end-of-month surprises.

Here in this Pulse review, you’ll see exactly how Pulse’s key features work, how the pricing stacks up, and which alternatives might fit your workflow better, so you can make a smart choice.

You’ll walk away knowing the features you need to take control of your small business finances—without the confusion.

Let’s dive into the analysis.

Pulse Overview

Pulse was created by the digital agency Simple Focus to solve its own cash flow headaches. Their core mission is helping small businesses gain clarity and make smarter financial decisions every day.

What sets them apart is their singular focus on small businesses like creative agencies, contractors, and service providers. This isn’t a bloated accounting suite; you’ll find they are laser-focused on giving you a clear, forward-looking view of your cash.

I’ve noticed they steadily refine core features rather than chase unrelated trends. As we’ll explore through this Pulse review, their QuickBooks Online integration has become a key strength for syncing your actuals.

Unlike competitors like Jirav that can feel complex, Pulse prioritizes simplicity over feature overload. You get the feeling it was built by fellow business owners who understand the daily pressure of managing money.

They work with a lot of freelancers, consultants, and small agencies—essentially anyone overwhelmed by spreadsheets who just needs to see their real-time cash position and future outlook without administrative fuss.

I find their strategy centers on empowering you to play with financial scenarios to make quick, proactive decisions. This is far more practical for running your business than only analyzing historical reports.

Now let’s examine their core capabilities.

Pulse Features

Struggling to visualize your business’s financial future?

Pulse features are designed to simplify cash flow management and forecasting for small businesses. These are the five core Pulse features that transform how you manage your money.

1. Cash Flow Projections

Tired of guesswork when it comes to cash flow?

Without clear projections, you might be blindsided by upcoming expenses or miss opportunities for growth. This often leads to stress and uncertainty.

Pulse helps you manage income and expense projections, allowing you to visualize your financial future. I found the ability to input large expenses, like a trade show, and instantly see its impact on cash position incredibly useful. This feature helps you plan proactively.

This means you can make smarter spending decisions and avoid unexpected cash shortages.

2. Automated Recurring Entries

Manually entering recurring bills is a nightmare, isn’t it?

Repetitive data entry can consume valuable time and is prone to errors. This means less time for strategic financial planning.

Pulse automates recurring income and expense entries, cutting down on tedious manual input. What I appreciate is how it allows you to dial in growth and expense curves for automatic adjustments, which simplifies long-term planning.

This helps you maintain accurate, up-to-date projections with minimal effort, saving you hours of spreadsheet work.

3. Scenario Planning

Wish you could test financial “what-if” scenarios instantly?

Not being able to quickly model different outcomes can lead to hesitant or delayed business decisions. This limits your ability to respond to market changes.

This is where Pulse truly shines, letting you toggle income and expenses on/off to see immediate financial impacts. From my testing, the ease of experimenting with different “what-if” scenarios empowers you to test impacts like a big deal falling through.

This means you can quickly evaluate different strategies and make confident, informed decisions.

4. Detailed Transaction Views

Can’t quite pinpoint where all your money is going?

Lack of granular insight into transactions makes it hard to identify profitable areas or wasteful spending. This can hinder your overall financial health.

Pulse offers detailed views of income and expenses, from daily to yearly, allowing you to organize by category, customer, or project. I found the ability to group by customer or project especially insightful for assessing profitability. This feature gives you a comprehensive financial picture.

This helps you understand cash flow drivers and make data-driven decisions about specific clients or ventures.

5. QuickBooks Online Integration

Manually syncing accounting data with your forecasts is a pain, right?

Disconnected financial tools mean double-entry and a higher risk of errors. This often leads to inaccurate projections and wasted time.

Pulse directly connects with QuickBooks Online, automatically syncing your accounting data for accurate projections. What I love is how this integration streamlines comparing actual cash flow against forecasts, saving significant manual effort. This feature ensures your data is always up-to-date.

This means you get a reliable, real-time comparison of your projections versus actual performance, improving forecast accuracy.

You’ll appreciate how these Pulse features work together to create a complete cash flow management system that eliminates financial guesswork.

Pulse Pricing

Is Pulse pricing easy to understand?

Pulse pricing is refreshingly transparent with clear monthly rates and no long-term contracts, making it straightforward to budget for your cash flow management needs.

Plan	Price & Features
Pulse Basics	$29 per month • Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly cash flow • Recurring income & expense forecasting • Multi-currency support • Scenario planning by toggling entries
Small Business Plan (Recommended)	$59 per month • All “Pulse Basics” features • Manage multiple financial accounts • Invite team members or investors • QuickBooks Online integration • Track actual vs. projected cash flow
Premium Plan (Unlock Extra Features)	$89 per month • All Small Business features • Unlimited financial accounts • Convert to any currency for reporting • Attach invoices or contracts to entries

1. Value Assessment

Simple, predictable pricing.

From my cost analysis, what impressed me is how Pulse’s pricing scales with your needs without complex tiers or hidden fees. The monthly billing ensures budget flexibility for your business, allowing you to upgrade or downgrade easily. What I found regarding pricing is it focuses on delivering core cash flow value.

This means your monthly costs stay predictable, aligning directly with the features most valuable to your operations.

2. Trial/Demo Options

Try before you commit.

Pulse offers a 30-day free trial that gives you full access to test its cash flow management features before you’re charged. What stood out is how you provide a credit card upfront but aren’t billed until the trial ends, with reminders sent.

This lets you evaluate the software thoroughly, ensuring it fits your workflow before committing to the full Pulse pricing.

3. Plan Comparison

Choosing the right fit.

The Pulse Basics plan is ideal for individual freelancers, while the Small Business Plan offers a great balance of features for growing teams. Budget-wise, the Premium tier unlocks unlimited accounts and advanced auditing features for complex financial setups.

This tiered approach helps you match pricing to actual usage requirements, ensuring you get the most value for your investment.

My Take: Pulse’s pricing strategy is straightforward and transparent, making it an excellent fit for small businesses and freelancers who value predictability and ease of budgeting for cash flow management.

The overall Pulse pricing reflects straightforward value without long-term commitments.

Pulse Reviews

What do real customers actually think?

To help you understand real-world experiences, I’ve analyzed common themes and sentiments expressed in Pulse reviews, offering a balanced view of what actual users think about the software.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Users seem very satisfied with this tool.

From my review analysis, Pulse users consistently express high satisfaction, particularly for its ability to simplify cash flow management. What impressed me about user feedback is how many found it a significant improvement over traditional spreadsheets, indicating a high perceived value.

This suggests you can expect a much less stressful approach to managing your business finances.

2. Common Praise Points

Its simplicity is what users consistently love.

Users repeatedly praise Pulse for its ease of use and straightforward design, especially compared to complex accounting software. From customer feedback, it takes hours to do what Pulse does out of the box, highlighting its efficiency and automation benefits.

This means you’ll save significant time and effort compared to manual methods.

3. Frequent Complaints

No recurring complaints emerged in my analysis.

What I found in user feedback is a striking absence of frequent, specific complaints from actual users, with nearly all feedback being positive. Review-wise, the platform’s focused functionality appears to meet user needs without significant drawbacks, which is rare to see.

This suggests that for its specific purpose, users find Pulse highly effective without major frustrations.

Overall, Pulse reviews consistently reveal overwhelmingly positive user experiences focused on simplicity and effective cash flow management.

Best Pulse Alternatives

Considering other cash flow tools?

The best Pulse alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business situations and priorities in cash flow management.

1. Float

Prioritizing wider accounting software integrations?

Float excels if your business uses accounting software beyond QuickBooks Online, like Xero or FreeAgent, as it emphasizes broader integration and automated forecasting. From my competitive analysis, Float offers a wider range of accounting integrations, which Pulse does not support.

Choose Float when your existing accounting platform dictates a need for diverse integrations.

2. Jirav

Needing deeper financial planning capabilities?

Jirav works better if your business requires more extensive financial planning, budgeting, and sales forecasting, not just cash flow. What I found comparing options is that Jirav provides comprehensive financial modeling tools, going beyond Pulse’s focused cash flow projections.

Consider this alternative when you need a robust, all-in-one financial planning solution for your business.

3. Zoho Expense

Is expense tracking your primary need?

Zoho Expense is your go-to if robust expense management, including automated reports and corporate card tracking, is your main concern. Alternative-wise, Zoho Expense specializes in detailed expense automation, while Pulse focuses on broader cash flow forecasting.

Choose Zoho Expense if managing and reporting on company spending is more critical than a full cash flow projection tool.

4. Spendesk

Controlling team spending is a major challenge?

Spendesk provides a “smart spending solution” focusing on spend management, company cards, and invoice processing for agile teams. From my analysis, Spendesk offers specialized spend control features that directly address distributed team spending, unlike Pulse’s broader cash flow focus.

You would choose Spendesk if your priority is centralized spending control and automated expense reconciliation across your organization.

The best Pulse alternatives depend on your specific business needs and existing tools, not just a feature checklist.

Pulse Setup

Concerned about complicated software setup and training?

Pulse implementation offers a remarkably straightforward deployment process. This Pulse review highlights what you can realistically expect, making your Pulse setup much clearer from the outset.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Getting started is surprisingly easy.

Pulse’s initial setup involves defining financial accounts, income/expense categories, and projects. What I found about deployment is that most small businesses can be up and running quickly, often within hours or a few days, due to its intuitive design.

You can focus on organizing your data rather than battling a complex installation process or extended project timelines.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Minimal technical hurdles to overcome.

Pulse is a web-based application, requiring no software installation or specialized hardware on your end. From my implementation analysis, this eliminates common IT roadblocks and reduces technical overhead, making it accessible from any device with an internet connection.

Your team only needs to ensure basic internet access, removing the need for significant IT resources or complex infrastructure changes.

3. Training & Change Management

User adoption is remarkably natural.

The platform’s intuitive design means a very low learning curve, often allowing users to grasp core functionalities quickly. From my analysis, the simplicity significantly reduces training time and user resistance, unlike more complex accounting software or spreadsheet management.

Expect your team to pick up Pulse with minimal formal training, relying more on its user-friendly interface and available documentation.

4. Support & Success Factors

Access to helpful resources simplifies your journey.

Pulse provides detailed documentation, tutorials, and a demo video, ensuring you have resources to guide your setup and ongoing use. What I found about deployment is that its user-friendly design inherently reduces the need for constant support once you’re familiar with the basics.

Leverage the comprehensive guides and the intuitive nature of Pulse to drive your success in managing cash flow effectively.

Overall, the Pulse setup prioritizes simplicity and rapid value realization, making it an excellent choice for businesses seeking straightforward cash flow management.

Bottom Line

Should you truly choose Pulse for your business?

This Pulse review aims to distill my comprehensive analysis into a clear recommendation, helping you confidently determine if this cash flow management software aligns with your specific business needs.

1. Who This Works Best For

Small businesses craving cash flow clarity.

Pulse is ideal for small business owners, freelancers, and service providers who need a clear, easy-to-use solution for managing and forecasting their cash flow. What I found about target users is that businesses struggling with manual spreadsheet management will find immediate relief and significantly improve their financial foresight.

You’ll succeed if your primary need is dedicated cash flow visibility and effective scenario planning without accounting software complexity.

2. Overall Strengths

Unmatched simplicity provides critical financial foresight.

The software succeeds by offering an intuitive interface and robust scenario planning, seamlessly integrating with QuickBooks Online for simplified cash flow management. From my comprehensive analysis, its user-friendly design significantly reduces setup time and makes complex forecasting accessible even for non-accountants, helping you quickly gain critical insights.

These strengths directly translate into improved decision-making and a clearer understanding of your future financial position, saving you hours weekly.

3. Key Limitations

Scope is narrow compared to full financial planning suites.

While excellent at its core function, Pulse focuses specifically on cash flow, lacking broader budgeting or advanced financial modeling capabilities. Based on this review, businesses needing extensive integrations beyond QuickBooks Online or complex multi-entity financial structures might find its scope somewhat restrictive for their unique requirements.

I’d say these limitations are manageable trade-offs for its specialized strength, rather than fundamental barriers, unless your needs are highly complex.

4. Final Recommendation

Pulse earns a solid recommendation for its niche.

You should choose Pulse if you are a small business seeking an intuitive, dedicated cash flow management tool to replace spreadsheets and gain clear financial foresight. From my analysis, this solution works best for straightforward cash flow projections and scenario modeling, not comprehensive accounting or budgeting.

My confidence level is high for small businesses prioritizing cash flow clarity, but less so for those needing broader financial management tools.

This Pulse review concludes by highlighting its strong value for simplified cash flow management, empowering you to make informed daily financial decisions with confidence.