Meridary vs ProjectionLab

The core trade-off

ProjectionLab is deep and highly configurable — an open-ended plot builder with a lot of dials, and it's genuinely good if you enjoy building the model yourself. Since April 2026 it's sold as a subscription (a free Basic tier, then paid annual plans); the one-time lifetime license it sold for five years is gone.

Meridary makes the opposite bet on both axes. It curates the interactions that actually move the answer — federal tax plus a flat state rate, account types, RMDs, Social Security, and Roth conversions — at a depth chosen to stay legible, and it sells a one-time lifetime license with everyone grandfathered. Fewer dials, a clearer answer, owned once.

The lifetime slot ProjectionLab left open

For five years ProjectionLab's one-time lifetime license was a signature of the product. It retired in April 2026, and the cohort who valued “own it forever” no longer has that option there.

Meridary is designed around that promise on purpose: buy once, keep it, and every founding buyer is grandfathered against later price increases. If a subscription is what put you off, that's the difference that matters most.

Pick ProjectionLab if…

You want maximum configurability and enjoy assembling the model — an open plot builder, many scenarios, every knob — and an annual subscription is fine for that.

Pick Meridary if…

You want a legible, correct answer to “will my money last” without a subscription or a steep learning curve, and you'd rather own the tool once than rent it every year.

Where they agree

Both run the projection and Monte Carlo in your browser, so changes respond instantly and your plan data stays with your account. Both model Roth conversions, RMDs, and Social Security. The difference is how much they ask of you — and whether you rent or own.