See Your Cash-Flow Runway in Minutes
Even strong businesses can run into cash-flow gaps when money goes out faster than it comes in. Estimate your working-capital shortfall and how many weeks or months of runway you have before cash runs tight — so you can act early, not react late.
Who it's for
Business owners and finance managers who want a quick view of cash-flow runway and working-capital gap based on current cash, incoming receipts and outgoing expenses.
What it calculates
Net monthly cash burn or surplus, your working-capital gap (extra funding needed for a safe buffer) and your runway in weeks or months before you hit your minimum cash line.
Why it matters
Seeing runway and funding gaps clearly lets you adjust costs, chase debtors, change terms or line up finance — before cash pressure starts dictating decisions.
Working Capital Gap & Runway Calculator
Current position
Only include limits you're genuinely comfortable using.
Monthly cash-flow pattern
Sales receipts, grants, other income.
Rent, wages, suppliers, tax, loan repayments — excl. owner drawings.
Seasonality (optional)
Common targets: 3, 6 or 12 months.
Runway snapshot
Working-capital gap to reach 6-month runway
Runway tight? Explore working-capital options.
If your runway looks tight — or you'd like more buffer than you currently have — it can help to combine cost changes, faster collections and the right working-capital facility.
How this Working Capital Gap / Cash-Flow Runway Calculator works
You enter your current cash and undrawn facilities, your minimum buffer, and your typical monthly inflows and outflows. The calculator estimates net monthly burn or surplus, then works out how long cash plus available facilities can support that burn before you hit your minimum buffer. You can set a target runway, and the tool shows how much extra working capital you'd need to reach it, assuming your inflows and outflows stay roughly as they are.
Headroom = Cash + Facilities − Minimum buffer
Runway = Headroom ÷ Monthly burn
Gap = max(Burn × Target months − Headroom, 0)
Apply seasonality to model "right now" vs "normal" inflows. The verdict banner colour-codes how comfortable you are versus your target runway and buffer.
How to interpret your results
- Runway comfortably above target. You have time to execute, handle some variability and stay above your buffer; focus on efficiency and growth rather than emergency changes.
- Runway near target or a bit short. Not in crisis, but tighten working-capital management, improve collections or line up a contingency facility so you're not forced into rushed decisions.
- Runway very short or below buffer. You're in or near a working-capital squeeze — act quickly on outflows, receipts and short-term finance or equity support.
- Averages mask lumpiness. Day-to-day cash flow is rarely smooth — be conservative with assumptions and pair this with a weekly forecast in tight periods.
How to find a repayment that fits your budget
- Treat the working-capital gap as a candidate facility size if you're considering finance to fill it.
- Run that amount with realistic rate and term assumptions through the Business Loan Stress-Test to see what monthly repayments would look like.
- Check repayments against your net monthly cash flow here — you want a structure where, after adding repayments, you still have enough runway and don't immediately eat your new buffer.
- If repayments look heavy, explore smaller facilities combined with cost reductions or short-term measures (invoice finance, temporary overdraft) rather than a single large term loan.
Calculator assumptions
This calculator uses monthly averages, treats undrawn facilities as available liquidity above your buffer, and assumes inflows and outflows continue at the level you enter (with optional seasonality applied to inflows only). It does not model timing of receipts vs payments within the month, repayment of the facility itself, GST cycles, or one-off receipts. Lenders use their own models for facility sizing. This is not financial, tax or credit advice. Reviewed by the LoanGorilla editorial team — last updated May 2026.