Which has deeper US tax modeling?

Both offer US tax estimation, Roth-conversion modeling, ACA planning, and IRMAA-aware analysis. RetireGlide explicitly models Social Security taxation, RMDs, NIIT, and long-term-capital-gains bracket stacking in its deterministic engine. ProjectionLab also offers international tax presets, which RetireGlide does not.

Yes. Both have free tiers, so you can enter the same baseline assumptions and compare how each tool presents the modeled result before choosing a paid plan.

RetireGlide vs ProjectionLab: privacy-first planning, two philosophies

Last checked August 14, 2026 · Competitor details change — verify on their site.

ProjectionLab and RetireGlide both work without direct account linking. ProjectionLab centers on hands-on plan building, with optional third-party plugins that can sync balances from tools such as YNAB, Lunch Money, and Monarch Money. RetireGlide instead accepts manual entry or screenshots whose extracted facts you confirm before they enter the plan.

Power users who love the modeling process should try ProjectionLab. RetireGlide is aimed at people who want guided answers to questions such as whether they are on track, what they can spend, and when to claim Social Security.

Side by side

	ProjectionLab	RetireGlide
Pricing	Free tier; Premium $129/yr; Pro (advisors) $549/yr	Free tier; Premium $120/yr or $14/mo (14-day trial)
Getting your account data in	Manual entry or optional third-party plugins; no direct financial-account linking	Screenshot capture with human confirmation — no credentials; images deleted after confirmation or within 30 days; manual entry too
Projection engine	Monte Carlo + historical backtesting; tax analytics, Roth conversions, ACA subsidies; international support	Deterministic Monte Carlo engine (1,000 futures) with full US tax model — federal & state brackets, Social Security taxation, RMDs, LTCG stacking, NIIT, IRMAA
AI's role	No built-in AI assistant is listed on its current product or pricing pages; it is a hands-on modeling tool	AI gathers confirmed inputs, explains results, and proposes scenarios; figure grounding and claim checks verify its outputs, while CI keeps LLM/network code out of the math engine
Designed around AI?	No built-in AI assistant is listed on ProjectionLab's current official pages — it remains a hands-on modeling tool by design	Conversation is built into the plan from the start: a voice-or-text interview creates your plan as you confirm each fact; every AI-stated figure is cross-checked against the deterministic engine before it's shown; Guardian explains what changed between visits without telling you what to do; a CI test keeps LLM and network code out of the math engine; and every model upgrade must pass our accuracy and compliance checks before it reaches your plan
AI interview	Typed forms and manual plan building	Voice or text AI interview that fills in your plan only after you confirm each proposed fact
Time to first forecast	You build your plan: accounts, milestones, cash-flow priorities	Under 3 minutes from eight plain-language questions
Core audience	FIRE / early-retirement optimizers who enjoy modeling	Pre-retirees 50–65 (couples-first) who want answers, not homework

Choose ProjectionLab if…

You enjoy building and comparing detailed financial models — the craft is the point.
You're planning outside the US (ProjectionLab supports international scenarios; RetireGlide is US-only).
You want historical backtesting alongside Monte Carlo.

Choose RetireGlide if…

You want holdings from supported screenshots entered without typing each one — then you confirm every extracted fact.
You want couples-first Social Security optimization with survivor modeling as a headline feature.
You want a monthly safe-spending range presented as a headline output.
You'd rather the tool ask the next-best question than present every knob at once.

Common questions

Does ProjectionLab link to my accounts?: ProjectionLab does not directly link financial accounts. It supports manual entry and optional third-party plugins that can sync balances from tools such as YNAB, Lunch Money, and Monarch Money. RetireGlide instead offers manual entry or confirmed screenshot extraction.
Which has deeper US tax modeling?: Both offer US tax estimation, Roth-conversion modeling, ACA planning, and IRMAA-aware analysis. RetireGlide explicitly models Social Security taxation, RMDs, NIIT, and long-term-capital-gains bracket stacking in its deterministic engine. ProjectionLab also offers international tax presets, which RetireGlide does not.
Can I use both?: Yes. Both have free tiers, so you can enter the same baseline assumptions and compare how each tool presents the modeled result before choosing a paid plan.

A practical way to compare: run your own numbers

Both tools have free tiers. Ours takes about 3 minutes and never asks for a password.

Get your free forecast See how RetireGlide works

Sources & fairness

We build RetireGlide, so read this page accordingly. Competitor facts are drawn from their public pages as of the date above; if we got something wrong, tell us and we'll fix it.