Comparison · Light vs cfo.ai
Light vs cfo.ai
cfo.ai, formerly Runway, is an AI financial planning platform: Ari, its AI CFO, reads your ledger, banking and payroll, builds the model and the scenarios, plans headcount and drafts the board pack, refreshing actuals overnight. It is not a general ledger: it never writes back to your books and does not close them. Light is the agentic ERP where budget, forecast and variance run on the posted ledger itself, so budgets are compared with the actual books, not with data copied out of them.
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Light and cfo.ai, compared
| Feature | Light | cfo.ai |
|---|---|---|
| General ledger and accounting system of record | Yes | No |
| Budget, forecast and budget-vs-actual reporting | Yes | Yes |
| Actuals come straight off the posted ledger, with no import step | Yes | No |
| Multi-entity consolidation | Yes | No |
| Accounts payable and accounts receivable ledgers | Yes | No |
| Corporate cards and spend management | Yes | No |
| Vendor payments on local rails in 80+ countries | Yes | No |
4 week implementation
KPMG global partnership
Remove 4+ tools
700+ apps
The world's most demanding finance teams run on Light.
Budget inside the ledger
cfo.ai models on actuals it reads overnight from the ledger you keep. Light runs budget, forecast and variance on the posted ledger's own structure, with no import step.
- 01
Keep daily finance together
Light runs bills, invoicing, cards and payments alongside the general ledger. Agents complete routine work within your controls, with a record of every action.
- 02
Check the planning requirements
cfo.ai covers driver-based scenarios, headcount planning and board decks built by an AI agent. If that modelling depth is the job, a planning layer fits. Light fits a finance team running a growing group.
When to choose Light
- 01
Current figures any day
Reporting reads the live ledger, so the group view never waits for period end.
- 02
The ledger is included
Light is the system of record: spend, AP, AR and the general ledger in one platform, so there is no separate ERP to choose.
- 03
Close every entity at once
Consolidation and eliminations update as transactions post.
Trusted by the world's
fastest growing companies
See how finance teams run lean and global on Light.
Read customer stories-
“We evaluated several vendors. Light won because it covers our full finance stack, revenue, AR, AP, expenses, and consolidation, without stitching together a patchwork of point solutions.”
Tanja, Director of FinanceOmnea -
“Even though we’re three entities, it’s like I’m running a finance department for one entity.”
Thobias, Finance ManagerAlva Labs -
“I really like that Light’s AI already gives me suggestions, GL accounts, cost centers, tax codes. I don’t have to start from scratch.”
Cédric, Finance ManagerOper Credits -
“Nine times out of ten the AI matches everything and posts it to the right account. One click and you’re done.”
Jeppe, CFOKeyShot
Built for the daily work
Bills through to payment
Capture invoices, route approvals and pay vendors from the same system.
Room to grow
One ledger built to handle billions of transactions across your business.
Trace every number
Open a report and drill straight into the transactions behind it.
Spending, under control
Expenses, vendors and cards connected to your ledger.
Expenses
Collect receipts, approve expenses and track spend as it happens.
Vendors
Keep supplier details, bills and approvals together. Apply your purchasing rules as work moves through.
Cards
Issue cards for employees and vendors. Pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay. Send receipts through Slack, Teams or email.
Frequently asked questions
Is cfo.ai a general ledger?
No. It reads your ledger, banking and payroll, never writes back, and does not close the books.
Is cfo.ai the same as Runway?
Same company. Runway Financial now operates as cfo.ai, with its planning built around Ari, an AI CFO.
When does cfo.ai fit?
When you want an AI agent to build scenarios, headcount plans and board decks on top of the accounting system you keep.
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