ProjectionLab review 2026

People planning to retire early

ProjectionLab suits people planning to retire early because its milestones can set your retirement date by a balance or an age instead of a fixed year, and its founder built it with the FIRE movement in mind. It also models 72(t) SEPP distributions and Roth conversion ladders, the two common ways to reach retirement money before age 59½. For your target, the 4% rule is the usual starting point.

Pre-retirees planning Roth conversions and health insurance costs

Pre-retirees planning Roth conversions get the most from Premium's Tax Strategies, which let you pick a tax bracket, an ACA subsidy limit, or an IRMAA threshold and convert up to it. ACA subsidies help pay for marketplace health insurance before Medicare, and IRMAA is the surcharge Medicare adds to premiums at higher incomes.

Planners who'd rather not link their accounts

Planners who'd rather not link their accounts can use ProjectionLab without connecting a bank or brokerage, and it doesn't ask for account numbers. The trade-off is upkeep, since you update your balances yourself.

ProjectionLab pros

• A free Basic plan with Monte Carlo simulations and historical backtesting
• Premium models Roth conversions, ACA subsidies, and estate taxes for $129 a year
• No account linking required and no account numbers asked for
• Reports export to PDF, CSV, or JSON, so your plan isn't locked in
• Tax presets for Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and other countries

ProjectionLab cons

• No direct account linking, so balances are updated by hand or through third-party plugins
• Premium is annual only, so you can't pay for a single month
• No Lifetime plan for new customers
• A long setup, with more inputs than a simple retirement calculator
• No human advisor, and ProjectionLab says its tools are educational, not financial advice

Building a plan with milestones

A ProjectionLab plan is a timeline of accounts, income, expenses, and milestones such as a home purchase or retirement, and a milestone can depend on conditions, such as reaching a balance. Flows, renamed from Priorities in April 2026, decide where each year's surplus goes: savings goals, debt payoff, or specific accounts.

Chance of success and past-market tests

ProjectionLab's Chance of Success runs your plan through Monte Carlo trials with random returns, or through real past market years, and reports the share of trials that don't run out of money. You set the growth and inflation assumptions yourself. That's why two people with the same balance can see different results.

Tax planning and Roth conversions

ProjectionLab's tax planning changed most in version 4.6.0, released April 20, 2026, which added Tax Strategies: you set a target such as a bracket, an IRMAA threshold, or an ACA subsidy limit, and the plan converts to Roth, shields withdrawals, and harvests gains up to it.³ The same release added ACA subsidy estimation, Social Security estimates from the figures on your SSA statement, and Medicare as a plan expense. Detailed tax analytics are a Premium feature.

What the free plan includes

ProjectionLab's free Basic plan includes Monte Carlo simulations and historical backtesting, and it needs no payment method. It's enough to build a full plan before you decide on Premium.

Premium and Pro

ProjectionLab Premium is the plan for pre-retirees and early retirees: Roth conversions, ACA subsidies, withdrawal strategies, Compare mode, and estate planning. At $129 a year, it works out to about $10.75 a month, paid up front. Pro is built for financial advisors and coaches managing clients.

What happened to Lifetime and monthly billing

ProjectionLab no longer sells a Lifetime plan to new customers, and Premium can no longer be paid month to month. The pricing page lists no Lifetime option, and the billing help page says only Pro can be paid monthly. If a review or video quotes a one-time price, check the pricing page before you plan around it.

Is Premium worth $129 a year?

ProjectionLab Premium is worth $129 a year if you'll use its tax modeling, because the free Basic plan already covers projections and Monte Carlo.

The five-year figures assume today's prices and, for Empower, a balance that stays at $100,000. Mezzi and Empower sell advice and ProjectionLab sells software, so the table compares what you'll pay, not what you'll get. Build your plan in Basic first, then start the 7-day Premium trial so the trial days go to the Premium features.

How accurate are ProjectionLab's projections?

ProjectionLab's projections are as accurate as the assumptions you give them, because the same balance projects differently at different return, inflation, and spending inputs. Before comparing ProjectionLab with a planner's software, match the return and inflation assumptions. The Tweed Retirement Calculator gives you a quick second estimate at the same inputs.

ProjectionLab vs Boldin

ProjectionLab vs Boldin is the comparison readers most often run, and the main difference is account linking. Boldin's paid PlannerPlus plan links your accounts through data aggregators, and ProjectionLab has you enter balances by hand.

ProjectionLab vs Empower

ProjectionLab vs Empower comes down to how each one earns: Empower links your accounts for free and earns from a percentage-fee advisory service, and ProjectionLab links nothing and charges a flat subscription. The Empower review covers its advisory tiers and fees.