Causal

Causal is a collaborative modeling and forecasting tool that serves as a smarter alternative to traditional spreadsheets for planning, especially in finance and business strategy. It enables users to build models for things like financial projections, revenue forecasts, hiring plans, etc., using an intuitive interface that allows formulas to be written in plain language and variables to have units and distributions.

With Causal, you can define relationships between variables (e.g., Revenue = Price * Quantity) much like in a spreadsheet, but you can also create different scenarios (cases) and switch between them seamlessly to see best-case, worst-case, or custom scenarios. One of Causal’s standout features is its AI assistance: you can describe the model you want in words, and Causal will help set it up or suggest formulas – effectively “write this formula for me” or “explain why this number changed”.

It can also automatically generate charts and visualizations for your model outputs, which are presentation-ready. Causal integrates with data sources (such as Excel, Google Sheets, or databases) so you can pull in actuals and compare against your forecasts easily, keeping your models up-to-date. The interface encourages clarity by letting you label assumptions and see the impact of changes in real-time across all linked calculations.

You can invite colleagues to view or edit models with appropriate permissions, and even share interactive dashboards of your model (for example, a board could adjust a slider for “Growth Rate” and see how forecasts update). Causal’s pricing has a free tier for individuals/small models and paid plans for more complex needs and team collaboration. By blending a spreadsheet’s flexibility with a powerful engine for simulation and AI guidance, Causal helps business users perform sophisticated what-if analyses and communicate their projections without the usual tedium and risk of error of Excel.