How ZBee compares
Last reviewed: July 2026
Most people planning retirement try more than one tool and cross-check — which is exactly the right instinct. So here's an honest read of where ZBee fits against the tools you're most likely weighing, including where they do more than ZBee. If precision and trusting the math matter to you, a comparison that only flattered itself wouldn't be worth much.
The one-line version: ZBee is the only one of these that keeps your data on your own Mac and connects to your real accounts, in a native app built around one question — the most you can safely spend. The cloud tools generally do more tax optimization; ZBee does more to keep your financial life off of anyone's servers.
| ZBee | Boldin | ProjectionLab | Pralana | A 1% advisor | A spreadsheet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where your data lives | On your Mac — by design, not policy | Their cloud | Your browser or their cloud (your choice) | Their cloud (or local Excel) | Their systems | Your computer |
| Platform | Native Mac app (+ free iPhone companion, coming soon) | Web | Web | Web (+ Excel) | People + web | Excel / Sheets |
| Uses your real accounts | Yes — read-only, direct to your Mac | Yes — linked to their cloud | No — you type them in | No — you type them in | Yes — they hold them | No — you type them in |
| Core question | Most you can safely spend | Will your money last? | Model any scenario | Tax-accurate projections | Whatever you ask | Whatever you build |
| Year-by-year tax detail (you can audit) |
Yes — federal, state, IRMAA, NIIT, RMDs, shown | Yes (no NIIT/AMT) | Yes | Deepest — full 1040-level | Varies by advisor | Only what you build |
| Roth-conversion optimizer | No — by design (see below) | Yes (explorer) | Rule-based | Yes | Yes (human) | DIY |
| Shows its methodology & what it won't model |
Yes — cited sources, published | Partial | Partial | Yes (dense) | No | You wrote it |
| Price / year | $99 | $144 | $129 | ~$89–119 | ~1% of assets (often $5,000+) |
Free |
Competitor prices and features as published July 2026; they change — check each vendor for the current details. ZBee isn't affiliated with any tool listed here.
Where the others do more
Being straight about this: Boldin's account linking covers more kinds of institutions — banks, mortgages, and many workplace 401(k) plans — where ZBee links brokerages (and takes anything else pasted in or by hand); Boldin also has a guided, hand-holding interface. Pralana and MaxiFi have genuine Roth-conversion and Social Security optimizers that search for an answer — ZBee deliberately doesn't (more below). ProjectionLab lets you model open-ended what-if scenarios and has beautiful charts. A good advisor gives you a human who knows your whole situation. If the thing you want most is an optimizer that tells you what to do, one of those may fit you better — and that's a fine reason to pick it.
Why ZBee draws the line where it does
ZBee measures what your current situation supports; it doesn't tell you to restructure it. It won't run a Roth-conversion optimizer or recommend moving money around, because those are tax-repositioning strategies that depend on things ZBee doesn't know (your estate goals, future tax law, your risk tolerance) and that a CPA or CFP is licensed to advise on. What ZBee does instead is show, transparently, the consequences of the decisions you control — when to retire, when to claim Social Security, how much to leave behind — on its Trade-offs screen, without telling you which to choose. If you want a measurement you can trust and audit, kept entirely on your own machine, that's the tool ZBee is.