Free tool
How long does your cash last?
Enter your cash on hand and what goes out versus what comes in each month. See your runway in months and the date the balance hits zero if nothing changes.
Everything liquid: bank balances plus anything you can spend now.
Payroll, rent, suppliers, everything leaving the account each month.
Cash actually collected each month. Set 0 for gross burn.
Runway
—
Cash over time
| Net monthly burn | — |
| Estimated zero-cash date | — |
What runway actually measures
Runway is how many months your cash lasts if nothing changes. The formula is simple once you use the right burn number:
- Net burn = monthly cash out − monthly cash in. This is what actually drains the bank account.
- Runway (months) = cash on hand ÷ net burn.
The trap is using gross burn (just your expenses) when you have revenue, or the reverse. If you collect AED 94,000 a month and spend AED 132,000, your net burn is AED 38,000, not AED 132,000. Runway on the same cash is more than three times longer once you count the money coming in.
Worked example
Meridian Trading Co. holds AED 486,000 in cash. It spends AED 132,000 a month and collects AED 94,000, so net burn is AED 38,000. Runway = 486,000 ÷ 38,000 = 12.8 months. If Meridian cut spending to AED 120,000, net burn drops to AED 26,000 and runway stretches to 18.7 months, the same cash, six extra months, just from trimming burn.
Cash-flow positive means revenue covers expenses and net burn is zero or negative. At that point runway is unlimited at the current rate, and the calculator says so instead of a date.
Cash runway is not profit
A business can be profitable on paper and still run out of cash, if customers pay late while suppliers and payroll do not wait. Runway is about the bank balance and timing, not accrual profit. That is exactly why it needs to come off a live view of cash, not last quarter's accounts.
In Vinance your cash position, receivables aging, and a cash-flow forecast are built straight from the ledger, so the runway you plan against is the one you actually have. See banking & reconciliation and reports & dashboards. To pressure-test a loan against that runway, try the loan calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How is cash runway calculated?
Runway in months = cash on hand ÷ net monthly burn, where net burn is monthly cash out minus monthly cash in. If you spend 132,000 and collect 94,000, net burn is 38,000; 486,000 of cash lasts about 12.8 months.
What is the difference between gross burn and net burn?
Gross burn is your total monthly cash outflow. Net burn subtracts the cash you collect from revenue. If you have any revenue, net burn is the honest number for runway, and it is always the smaller of the two.
What if I am cash-flow positive?
If revenue covers or exceeds expenses, net burn is zero or negative and you are not depleting cash. The calculator reports that there is no zero-cash date and runway is unlimited at the current rate.
Why does the estimate assume nothing changes?
It is a straight-line projection from the numbers you enter now. Real runway shifts with seasonality, one-off costs, and revenue growth. Use it as the baseline, then model changes against it. A live version, built from your ledger, is in the Vinance reports.
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