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Fathom and Spotlight alternatives for when the ledger is not enough

Fathom, Spotlight Reporting and Calxa are excellent, inexpensive reporting tools for Xero and MYOB. Here is when they are the right choice, and what to look at when your forecast depends on numbers the accounting ledger does not hold.

Checked 28 October 2026. Forebrite is one of the options on this page. If something is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.

Short answer. If you are a single company on Xero or MYOB and your forecast is a P&L, stay with Fathom, Spotlight or Calxa. If your forecast is driven by orders, sites, freight or hours, those numbers live in other systems. Calxa Enterprise and Phocas connect to larger ERPs, Power BI can connect almost anything if someone builds it, and Forebrite builds and runs that view for you.

When to stay with Fathom, Spotlight or Calxa

These tools are well liked and good value. Fathom is rated 4.95 out of 5 from 622 reviews on the Xero App Store in Australia. Spotlight Business is A$65 a month for one organisation, ex GST. Calxa Premier5 is A$341 a month inc GST. They are often run by your accountant, who uses them for the monthly board pack.

Your forecast is a P&L, balance sheet and cash flow forecast.
Your numbers are in Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks.
Your accountant prepares the reporting with you.

Signs you need more than the ledger

The forecast is built on drivers such as orders, covers, jobs, sites, freight or labour hours, and someone exports them into a spreadsheet each month.
You run several sites or brands and want to see which one is behind plan, not only the group P&L.
When a number moves, you want to trace it to the operational cause, not only see the variance.
Your stock, POS, job or freight system is where the answers are.

Fathom imports non-financial data from Excel or Google Sheets. On 28 October 2026 we could not find a direct connection to stock, POS, job or freight systems on the Fathom, Spotlight or Calxa pages.

The options

Option	Operational data	Who runs it	Price
Fathom	Imported from Excel or Google Sheets	You or your accountant	Published, priced for advisers in USD
Spotlight Reporting	Not mentioned on its pricing page	You or your accountant	From A$65 a month ex GST
Calxa Enterprise	Connects to NetSuite, Business Central, Sage Intacct and Acumatica	You or your accountant	A$1,980 per tenant a month plus A$3,300 implementation, inc GST
Phocas	54 named connectors, including MYOB, Xero, NetSuite and Unleashed	Your team, after Phocas connects the data	Not published
Power BI	Most systems, if someone builds the connections	Your team or a Microsoft partner	A$21.00 per user a month ex GST, plus the build
Forebrite	Accounting and operational systems together	Forebrite builds it and keeps it running	$5k, then $15k, then $1k p/m + infra, AUD

How Forebrite works

Forebrite builds a forecast against actuals dashboard on your own systems, your accounting and your operational data, and keeps it running for you. You need no data team and no one inside the business to learn a tool.

Your infrastructure, your data. It runs in your own AWS account, and you hold a licence to the code for your own business.
Build on it. Because it runs in your account, you can add your own tools and workflows on top, not only a dashboard.
Accounting and operations together. Orders, sites, freight and hours sit next to the P&L, so a variance can be traced to its cause.
30 days to live. Phase 1, days 1 to 14: your key metrics, your forecast mapped to its drivers, a data dictionary and a prototype dashboard on your own numbers, for $5k. Phase 2, days 15 to 29: the build, for $15k. Then $1k p/m + infra. Prices in AUD.
Built by the founder. Vlad Mehakovic builds and runs it with you.

Book call

When Forebrite is the wrong choice

A ledger tool already answers your questions. It costs a fraction of Forebrite.
You need to consolidate several companies into group reports. Spotlight Business 10 consolidates up to 50 entities.
You want to build and explore the reports yourself. Power BI or Phocas fit better.

Questions

Should we replace Fathom or Spotlight?

Usually not. If your accountant produces your board pack in Fathom or Spotlight, keep it. Forebrite adds the operational view that the ledger does not hold, such as orders, sites, freight and hours, tracked against your forecast.

Can Fathom track operational numbers like orders or sites?

Fathom brings in non-financial data through Excel or Google Sheets imports, per its pricing page. On 28 October 2026 we could not find a direct connection to stock, POS, job or freight systems on the Fathom, Spotlight or Calxa pages.

What does Forebrite cost?

In AUD: $5k for Phase 1, days 1 to 14, $15k for Phase 2, days 15 to 29, then $1k p/m + infra. That is many times the price of a ledger reporting tool, so it only makes sense when operational data and having it done for you matter.

Who owns the data?

Forebrite runs in your own AWS account, so the data and infrastructure are yours. You hold a licence to the code for your own business, so you can build your own tools on top. The licence does not allow reselling it.

Sources

Xero App Store, Fathom listing in Australia: apps.xero.com/au/app/fathom
Fathom, pricing and integrations: fathomhq.com/pricing
Spotlight Reporting, Australian business pricing: spotlightreporting.com
Calxa, pricing: calxa.com/pricing
Phocas, integrations: phocassoftware.com/integrations
Microsoft, Power BI pricing in Australia: microsoft.com/en-au

Related: Phocas alternatives and Phocas pricing.