Spotlight Reporting alternative: ReportPilot vs Spotlight
ReportPilot vs Spotlight Reporting: prices and features. Spotlight leads on forecasting, consolidation and white label; ReportPilot on a weekly email.
Spotlight Reporting details checked on 24 October 2026 from Spotlight Reporting's own website
Short answer: Spotlight Reporting is built for advisory work: management reporting, forecasting and dashboards in every plan, consolidation of up to 50 entities, franchise benchmarking (Spotlight Multi), ESG reporting and white labelling. Its Business plan starts at NZD 65 a month for one organisation and its advisor plans at NZD 329 a month for up to 10. ReportPilot does a smaller job: it emails each owner a short plain-English summary of their Xero figures every Monday, with a 24-month dashboard and scheduled report packs, from USD 19 a month. Choose Spotlight if you sell forecasts and advisory meetings. Choose ReportPilot if clients mainly need to know each week how they are doing.
ReportPilot vs Spotlight Reporting at a glance
| Spotlight Reporting | ReportPilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Advisors and accountants; business owners and CFOs; franchises and not-for-profits | Business owners on Xero, and the bookkeepers who look after them |
| Starting price | NZD 65 a month excl. GST (Business, 1 organisation) | USD 19 a month (Owner, 1 organisation) |
| How it is priced | Business NZD 65 for 1 organisation + NZD 50 each extra; advisor plans NZD 329 a month for up to 10 organisations (Basic), NZD 495 for 25, NZD 995 for 75; also priced in AUD, GBP, USD, CAD and ZAR | Per account: Owner 1 organisation USD 19, Bookkeeper up to 15 USD 49, Practice up to 50 USD 129, monthly |
| Free trial | 14 days (whether a card is needed is not stated) | 14 days, no card |
| Accounting systems | Xero and QuickBooks (others not checked) | Xero only |
| Plain-English email of the numbers | Not its focus: AI executive summaries inside reports | Yes, the core of the product: every Monday (or monthly) cash, sales, profit, who owes you, bills due and one thing to do |
| Dashboard | Yes: dashboards are included in every plan | Yes: 24 months of history, with a read-only link for each email recipient |
| Scheduled report emails | Not stated on the pages we read | Yes: Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, aged receivables and payables and more as PDF, Excel or CSV, weekly, monthly or quarterly, with optional approve-before-send |
| Consolidating several companies | Yes: up to 50 entities, with intercompany eliminations | No |
| Forecasts and budgets | Yes: forecasting is included in every plan | No |
| Custom reports and KPIs | Yes: reporting with industry templates, franchise benchmarking (Spotlight Multi), ESG reporting (Spotlight Sustain) | No: a fixed set of Xero reports and plain-English insights |
| Under your practice name | Yes: white labelling | Bookkeeper and Practice plans: "Prepared by" your practice, replies go to you |
Spotlight Reporting column: from the pages listed under Sources, as they read on 24 October 2026. Prices change; check Spotlight Reporting's own pricing page before you decide.
Where Spotlight Reporting is the better choice
- Forecasting in every plan, for the advisory conversation about what happens next.
- Consolidation of up to 50 entities with intercompany eliminations.
- Franchise and group benchmarking (Spotlight Multi) and ESG reporting (Spotlight Sustain).
- White labelling, industry templates, and training and customer-success help for practices.
- QuickBooks as well as Xero.
Where ReportPilot is the better choice
- A plain-English email every Monday that the owner reads in a minute: cash and how long it lasts, sales and profit, who owes money, bills due and one thing to do.
- Price: USD 19 a month for one organisation, USD 49 for up to 15 and USD 129 for up to 50.
- Nothing to set up: the email and the 24-month dashboard work as soon as the Xero history loads.
- Scheduled report packs (PDF, Excel or CSV) with approve-before-send.
ReportPilot does not consolidate companies, build forecasts or budgets, or let you design custom reports and KPIs. It connects to Xero only.
What it costs
For one organisation: Spotlight's Business plan is NZD 65 a month excl. GST; ReportPilot Owner is USD 19 a month. For a practice with 10 clients: Spotlight's Basic advisor plan is NZD 329 a month; ReportPilot Bookkeeper covers up to 15 for USD 49. Spotlight's prices include forecasting, consolidation and white labelling; ReportPilot's do not, because it does not do them.
Who each is best for
Spotlight Reporting: practices that sell forecasting and advisory, groups and franchises, and anyone who needs white-label reports or QuickBooks.
ReportPilot: owners on Xero who want a weekly read of the business, and bookkeepers who want every client to get it under their name.
Trying ReportPilot next to Spotlight Reporting
You do not have to switch to compare. Xero lets one organisation connect to several apps at once, and ReportPilot only reads from Xero, so it cannot change anything another app relies on.
- Connect Xero with Connect Xero: pick the organisation on Xero's own screen. ReportPilot gets read-only access; no card is needed for the 14-day trial.
- Read the first email. ReportPilot loads 24 months of history, usually within a few minutes, and sends the first insight email. Put it next to the report you get from Spotlight Reporting today and ask which one the owner would actually read.
- Set up one report pack (bookkeepers): the Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet and aged receivables as PDF or Excel, monthly, with approve-before-send so nothing reaches a client before you have looked at it.
- Run both for a full month end. Only then decide whether some or all clients move. Keep Spotlight Reporting for the work ReportPilot does not do: consolidation, forecasts and custom reports.
Common questions
How much does Spotlight Reporting cost?
On 24 October 2026 Spotlight's pricing page, in NZD excl. GST, listed the Business plan at NZD 65 a month for one organisation (plus NZD 50 for each extra), and advisor plans at NZD 329 a month for up to 10 organisations, NZD 495 for 25 and NZD 995 for 75. It also prices in AUD, GBP, USD, CAD and ZAR. Check spotlightreporting.com for current prices.
Is ReportPilot a replacement for Spotlight Reporting?
Not for forecasting, consolidation, benchmarking or white-label advisory reports: ReportPilot does none of those. It can replace the regular "here are your numbers" report to clients, with a plain-English weekly email and scheduled packs.
Can I run both?
Yes. Xero lets one organisation connect to several apps, and ReportPilot only reads from Xero, so it cannot affect Spotlight.
Does ReportPilot forecast cash flow?
No. It shows how long cash lasts at the recent pace (an average of the last three months), not a forecast you build. Spotlight, Fathom and Xero's own short-term cash flow forecast do that.
Does ReportPilot support QuickBooks?
No, Xero only.
Sources
- Spotlight Reporting pricing (spotlightreporting.com/pricing) (read 24 October 2026)
- Spotlight Reporting home page (read 24 October 2026)
Spotlight Reporting is a trademark of its owner and is named here only to compare products. ReportPilot is not affiliated with or endorsed by Spotlight Reporting's maker. Xero is a trademark of Xero Limited. Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.