Honest comparison · September 2026
Tesserae vs ProjectionLab
These two agree on the big thing: you enter your own numbers, and nobody asks for your bank login. ProjectionLab is the better-known one, an indie-built planning tool the FIRE community adopted early, and it deserves its reputation. This is a comparison written by the other one, so read it with that in mind. We've tried to be fair.
What ProjectionLab is
ProjectionLab is a financial planning and projection tool. You model your accounts, income, spending, and milestones, and it projects the path with Monte Carlo simulations and historical backtesting, with detailed tax handling and what-if comparisons. It is manual entry only, which its users cite as a feature. There is a free Basic tier with forecasting, Monte Carlo, and backtesting; Premium is $129 a year and Pro is $549 a year. It does not do day-to-day budgeting or expense tracking; it is the plan, done deeply.
Side by side
| Feature | ProjectionLab | Tesserae |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free Basic · $129/yr Premium · $549/yr Pro | $2.99/mo or $29.99/yr, every feature |
| Trial | Free tier | 7 days, plus a demo with no signup |
| How data gets in | Manual entry |
|
| Retirement modeling |
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| Budgeting | None |
|
| Income | Modeled for the plan |
|
| Net worth | As plan inputs |
|
| Also inside |
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| Couples | Model a household |
|
| Platforms | Web | Web, iOS, Android (US only) |
ProjectionLab prices and features as published on its site in September 2026. Check theirs before deciding.
Where ProjectionLab wins
- Planning depth. It has been the FIRE community's planner for years, and the scenario tooling and tax detail reflect that. If the plan is the whole point, it is the deeper instrument.
- A real free tier. Monte Carlo and backtesting without paying. Tesserae's free part is the calculators, not the app.
- The community. Years of users, forums, and write-ups. Tesserae launched in 2026.
Where Tesserae wins
- One set of numbers. The budget you keep, the paychecks as they land, the balances you update, and the plan all read from the same data. In ProjectionLab the plan is its own model and your budget lives somewhere else.
- Native phone apps. iPhone and Android, with the same account as the web.
- Price. $29.99 a year with everything included, against $129.
- The check-in. Both are manual, but Tesserae is built around a ten-minute monthly ritual across the whole household, not a modeling session.
Where Tesserae loses
ProjectionLab has no budget because it doesn't need one; if you don't need one either, you'd be paying for surface you won't use, and the plan alone is deeper over there. Tesserae has no lifetime license, no free tier of the app, and it's US-only and dollars-only.
Who should pick what
- Your budget is handled and you want the deepest plan you can get: ProjectionLab.
- You want the plan and the rest of your money in one place, on your phone too: Tesserae.
- Undecided: ProjectionLab's free tier and Tesserae's no-signup demo cost nothing to try side by side.
Open the demo and go straight to Plan
A full sample household, no signup. The Plan screen shows the odds, the bridge, and the withdrawal order against real accounts, which is the fair thing to compare.