Free retirement calculators
Plot My Money and cFIREsim compared
How Plot My Money and cFIREsim compare on method, spending models, income streams and price, from cFIREsim's own pages checked November 5, 2026.
cFIREsim and Plot My Money both test whether a portfolio can support your spending. cFIREsim focuses on replaying past market periods with a wide choice of spending models. Plot My Money builds a full household plan with taxes, Social Security and accounts. This page sets out what each one does.
Who each one is for
cFIREsim is for people planning an early or traditional retirement who want to test a portfolio against past markets. Its about page describes it as a tool for testing how a portfolio would have fared across past periods. A run counts as a failure when "going below $0 at any given point". The site calls itself "an educational application".
Plot My Money is for US households planning for retirement or already retired. It shows what's safe to spend each month, tests the plan across thousands of simulated markets, and plans taxes, Social Security and withdrawals year by year. It runs in a browser on phones and computers, and has an Advisor plan for planners who work with clients.
Features side by side
“Not published” means we didn't find the feature on cFIREsim's public pages. It doesn't mean the feature is missing.
| Feature | Plot My Money | cFIREsim | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works without an account | No | Yes | About |
| Monte Carlo simulation | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Dynamic spending strategies or guardrails | Yes | Yes | Simulator |
| Federal income tax, year by year | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Roth conversion planning | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Withdrawal order choices | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Social Security claiming comparison | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Side-by-side scenarios | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| PDF report | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| CSV or Excel export | Yes | Not published | Pages checked |
| Automatic account linking | No | Not published | Pages checked |
Notes on the table:
- Spending models. The simulator lists eight: inflation adjusted, not inflation adjusted, percent of portfolio, variable spending, VPW, Hebeler Autopilot, Guyton-Klinger and variable CAPE. You can set spending floors and ceilings.
- Income and spending changes. You can enter two Social Security streams and up to ten other adjustments for income, pensions or spending, each with start and end years.
- Portfolio. You can split money among stocks, bonds, gold and cash, set fees, rebalance yearly and follow a glide path.
- Saving a run. There's no login. The about page says each simulation gives a link on the output page so you can return to it.
- Plot My Money. Monte Carlo runs up to 1,000 simulated markets on the free plan and up to 10,000 on Plus. Balances are entered by hand or imported from files.
Pricing as published
Plot My Money has a free plan and two paid plans. Plus covers your household, at a yearly price of the amount shown before you subscribe. The Advisor plan covers a set number of client households, at a yearly price of the amount shown before you subscribe. Until paid plans go on sale, every feature is included for every household. See plans and billing.
cFIREsim (from its simulator page and about page, checked November 5, 2026):
- You can run simulations without an account.
- The pages we read don't state a price or a paid tier for cFIREsim itself.
Where cFIREsim is stronger
- No account needed. You can run a simulation straight away and keep a link to it.
- Many spending models in one place, including variable CAPE and Hebeler Autopilot, plus spending floors and ceilings.
- Gold as an asset class, alongside stocks, bonds and cash, with a glide path between allocations.
- Built for early retirement. The developer describes the site as FIRE-focused on the about page.
Who should pick which
- Pick cFIREsim if you want a quick, no-account test of a portfolio and spending model against past market periods.
- Pick cFIREsim if you want to try many withdrawal rules side by side before you build a full plan.
- Pick Plot My Money if you want taxes, Social Security claiming, Medicare and withdrawal order worked out for your household.
- Pick Plot My Money if you want a saved plan you update over time, with a monthly safe-to-spend figure and scenarios.
How to switch
Plot My Money doesn't import cFIREsim files, so you set up your plan again. Have your latest balances, pay, spending and Social Security estimates to hand.
- Start a plan and answer the setup questions about your household, income, spending and accounts.
- If you have a holdings file, import it as Excel or CSV on the Accounts screen.
- Add Social Security from your SSA statement, plus pensions and any other income.
- Compare the results with your old plan. Differences usually come from assumptions about returns, inflation, taxes and spending.
You can download your plan as a JSON file at any time. See getting started and importing and exporting.
Sources
Each page below was read on November 5, 2026.