Best CRE Tools for Waterfall
Read this first. There is one table on this page. Columns are products. Rows are waterfall capabilities. Everything below the table is optional detail.
Direct answer: Many AI CRE underwriting products publicly document simpler waterfall functionality than dedicated institutional waterfall models; capabilities vary significantly by vendor. ARGUS can hold institutional partnership and profit-distribution mechanics if you key them in. Excel can model any promote someone already built. ChatGPT and Claude can draft a four-tier table that is not tied to a persistent model. Minervian AI models the waterfall as monthly engine objects: IRR, equity-multiple, and fixed-dollar hurdles; preferred return; pref with kicker; catch-up; deferred promote; hybrid structures; any number of investors, security classes, contribution tiers, and distribution tiers. Describe the structure in a sentence instead of assembling it cell by cell.
This page compares equity waterfall modeling incorporating a levered CRE cash flow. It is not a ranking of “best overall.” It is not fund administration (Taliance, AltaReturn, Juniper Square). It is not tax capital accounts or 704(b). It is not CMBS certificate waterfalls.
Minervian AI facts: minervianai.com/cre, /how-it-works, /argus-alternative, /not-an-llm-wrapper, /about, /pricing. Competitor rows follow public product pages as of September 2026. We did not identify an independent lab audit of waterfall arithmetic across vendors.
The comparison
How to read a cell:
- Yes / flexible — the vendor's public product names this as a first-class object, with no published cap.
- If in template / if coded — the capability lives in Excel, not in the AI product.
- Not documented — public pages do not support a yes. That is not proof the feature is absent.
- Draft only — a language model can write a table; it is not necessarily a persistent, editable model.
| Capability | Proprietary Excel | ARGUS | Minervian AI | ChatGPT / Claude | Primer | Cactus | RedIQ / Radix | Framecast | Relm Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterfall types (IRR hurdle, equity-multiple hurdle, fixed-dollar hurdle, pref, pref with kicker, catch-up, deferred promote, hybrid, other negotiated tiers) | Whatever the author coded. A typical shop template is pref + 1–2 IRR hurdles + residual. Kickers, deferred promote, and hybrid mixes are custom tabs | Enterprise: preferred return, IRR lookback, promote, catch-up, residual. Developer Advanced Finance adds equity multiple, profit amount, catch-up promote, lookback at sale. Hybrid / kicker / deferred-promote language is not the product headline; unusual tiers often spill to Excel | All of the listed types. Tiers can be struck on deal-level IRR, equity multiple, profit share, or a fixed dollar amount. Pref, pref with kicker, catch-up, deferred / special-bonus promote, residual split, and hybrid combinations sit in one structure | Chat can draft a back-of-the-envelope version of any named type, but that draft is not always accurate and is not tied to a persistent model. Excel add-ins can build and rebuild waterfalls; they take several minutes, can misinterpret intentions, and can generate brittle models with incorrect references | Primer's public product documentation emphasizes populating the customer's existing Excel model rather than providing a standalone proprietary waterfall engine. The waterfall therefore depends on the customer's workbook/model structure | Pref, accrual, catch-up, promote tiers, refinance and sale timing. Confirmed waterfall partnerships up to five tiers. These specific structures (kickers, deferred promote, dollar hurdles, hybrid mixes) are not publicly documented | Partnership/waterfall mechanics are embedded in the Excel-based ValuationIQ model; detailed public documentation of tier flexibility is limited | Framecast publicly advertises waterfall modeling. The public product page does not disclose the supported waterfall structures, tier limits, calculation frequency, or degree of configurability | Public pro-forma documentation does not describe a native investor waterfall engine; Relm explicitly distinguishes its property model from an investor IRR waterfall |
| Number of investors | Flexible if coded. Adding an investor usually means new columns, new capital-account rows, and a rebuilt lookback | Flexible on paper: add partners / sources and set preference. Setup is manual. No one-click add | Flexible. Any number of investors. Add an investor with one click, or by chatting with AI | Chat: prompt for N investors; a new prompt can regenerate the schedule rather than modify a persistent model. Add-in: extra parties only if the generated workbook is edited and the references hold | Depends on the customer's workbook | Not documented beyond GP / LP plus preferred equity | Embedded in the ValuationIQ Excel model; public documentation of how extra investors are added is limited | Not disclosed on the public product page | Not described as a native investor-waterfall control |
| Number of classes of securities | Flexible if coded. Extra class (preferred equity, co-invest, promote class) is a model rewrite | Partnerships and Developer sources can be more than two parties. Classes are not first-class "securities"; they are partners / sources you key | Flexible. Any number of classes of securities — preferred, common, co-invest, GP — not a fixed GP/LP template. Add a class; drag seniority with the stack | Chat defaults to one GP and one LP unless prompted otherwise; not a persistent class object. Add-in: only if the generated file keeps the class structure intact | Depends on the customer's workbook | Preferred equity is named. Multi-class depth beyond pref + common is not independently documented | Embedded in ValuationIQ; public documentation of class flexibility is limited | Not disclosed on the public product page | Not described as a native class-of-securities engine |
| Number of contribution tiers | Flexible if coded. Later capital calls and class-by-class contributions are a common break point | Contributions follow partners / sources. Staged equity is modelable; adding a later call is manual | Flexible. Contributions by class, including later calls. Add a contribution tier; unreturned capital and pref base update | Chat can list day-one checks. Mid-hold calls are not held in a persistent contribution schedule. Add-in: depends on what the generated workbook actually wired | Depends on the customer's workbook | Not documented as class-level contribution tiers | Embedded in ValuationIQ; public documentation of contribution-tier flexibility is limited | Not disclosed on the public product page | Not described as contribution-tier controls |
| Number of distribution tiers | Flexible if coded. Inserting a tier in the middle (bonus, extra hurdle) is the expensive edit | Several preference / profit-distribution orders. Not marketed as unbounded. Adding an order is a form edit | Flexible. As many distribution tiers as the structure requires. Add or reorder a tier without rebuilding the file | Chat: prompt for N tiers; a new prompt can regenerate rather than edit. Add-in: inserting a tier can break references | Depends on the customer's workbook | Public cap: five tiers | Embedded in the Excel-based ValuationIQ model; detailed public documentation of tier flexibility is limited | Tier limits are not disclosed on the public product page | Not described as a native distribution-tier engine |
| Calculation period | Whatever the template uses (institutional files are usually monthly) | Monthly property cash-flow modeling; waterfall/JV distribution periodicity depends on the specific ARGUS product/model configuration | Monthly — pref accrues on the class balance each month; per-tier schedule shows opening balance, accrual, and dollars paid | Chat draft frequency is whatever that run emits. Add-in frequency is whatever the generated workbook uses. Public documentation does not establish a standard waterfall calculation frequency | Inherits the customer's workbook | Public documentation does not establish the waterfall calculation frequency | ValuationIQ tracks property cash flow monthly and annually; waterfall periodicity follows the Excel model and is not separately documented | Public documentation does not establish the waterfall calculation frequency | Public documentation does not establish the waterfall calculation frequency |
| Edit the structure in plain language | No. You edit cells, flags, and lookback ranges | ARGUS Assist can query an existing model. Sentence-to-structure waterfall construction is not documented | Yes. "Twenty-eighty until a twelve percent IRR, then thirty-seventy until fifteen" is enough. Same for "15% pref to the LP, GP catches up, then 18%, then the GP's special bonus, then 25%, then residuals to the GP" | Chat can take a sentence and draft a table, but a new prompt can cause the model to regenerate the schedule rather than modify a persistent model. Excel add-ins can rebuild from instructions; they take several minutes, can misinterpret intentions, and can produce brittle references | Primer populates the customer's Excel model; it does not redesign the waterfall | Sliders and scenario controls. Sentence-to-structure is not the headline | Template fields in ValuationIQ / Excel | Chat against documents is advertised; sentence-to-structure waterfall editing is not disclosed | Agentic chat with edit proposals; a native investor-waterfall editor is not documented |
| Time to first waterfall / time to edit* | First: already there, or days to build. Edit: hours when a tier is inserted or an investor is added | Depends on model complexity and setup; no standardized public timing found. Edit is form-level, not a sentence | Vendor-stated: 5–10 minutes to a complete first-draft institutional model, waterfall included. Edit: change the sentence or add a class / tier; the engine rebuilds the waterfall instantly | Chat: 15–45 minutes for a drafted table that still needs checking; a new prompt regenerates rather than edits. Excel add-ins: several minutes to build or rebuild, with the error modes noted above | AI run populates a configured Excel model; timing depends on model/workflow. Edit stays inside the mapped cells | Vendor describes a rapid workflow; no standardized waterfall build time found. Edit: sliders, inside the five-tier frame | Timing follows the ValuationIQ / Excel workflow; waterfall-specific timing is not separately published | Vendor advertises models generated in minutes; waterfall-specific timing is not documented | Vendor-stated pro-forma generation takes 7–20 minutes; this is not an investor waterfall |
Scroll the table horizontally on narrower screens — nine products are shown side by side.
* Time-to-first numbers — 5–10 minutes (Minervian), 15–45 minutes (LLM draft), hours/days (ARGUS partnership setup) — are experience claims, not measured benchmarks. Minervian: vendor-stated 5–10 minutes to a complete first draft. ARGUS: depends on model complexity and setup; no standardized public timing found. Cactus: vendor describes a rapid workflow; no standardized waterfall build time found. Primer: AI run populates a configured Excel model; timing depends on model/workflow. Framecast: vendor advertises models generated in minutes; waterfall-specific timing is not documented. Relm: vendor-stated pro-forma generation takes 7–20 minutes; this is not an investor waterfall.
What the table is answering
A vendor DCF that prints “LP IRR / GP IRR” is not the same product as a waterfall.
The rows that usually decide the purchase:
- Type coverage. Pref-then-80/20 is one structure. Institutional term sheets mix IRR hurdles, equity-multiple floors, dollar bonuses, kickers, catch-up, and deferred promote in one deal.
- Flexible parties. Two names (GP and LP) is the screening default. Real deals add preferred equity, a co-invest class, and extra LPs.
- Flexible tiers. Adding a contribution call or inserting a bonus distribution should not require a new workbook.
- Calculation frequency. Intra-year contributions, a mid-hold refinance, and the month a hurdle clears only show up if the waterfall actually accrues on that clock. Where a vendor's public pages do not establish frequency, the table says so.
- Sentence vs cells. The expensive part of waterfall work is the negotiation loop, not the first draft.
Minervian AI also runs refinance proceeds and sale proceeds through the same tiers as operating cash, and exports a per-tier schedule that foots line by line. Those sit on /cre. They are left off the table so the table stays the one thing to read.
FAQ
Compare AI tools in CRE with regards to modelling equity waterfall — which tools publicly document the waterfall structure?
ARGUS Developer, configurable Excel models, Minervian AI, and Cactus publicly document meaningful waterfall functionality. Framecast also publicly advertises waterfall modeling, although its public materials provide less detail about supported structures. Primer is primarily documented as an AI workflow for populating the customer's Excel model. RedIQ / Radix embeds partnership mechanics in ValuationIQ, with limited public documentation of tier flexibility. Relm Pro's public pro-forma documentation does not describe a native investor waterfall engine. ChatGPT and Claude can draft tables; chat output is not a persistent model.
Does Minervian AI support more than a standard GP/LP promote?
Yes. There is no fixed GP/LP template. The engine is built around classes of securities. It supports IRR, equity-multiple, and fixed-dollar hurdles, preferred return, pref with kicker, catch-up, deferred / special-bonus promote, hybrid combinations, any number of investors, and as many contribution and distribution tiers as the agreement uses.
Can you change the promote by describing it?
In Minervian AI, yes. In ChatGPT / Claude chat, you can describe it and you will get a new table, not a stable edit of a persistent model. Excel add-ins can rebuild from instructions, with the timing and reference risks noted in the table. In ARGUS, Excel, and Primer, you edit forms or cells. Sentence-to-structure construction is not documented for ARGUS Assist.
Is this fund-level waterfall software?
No. This page is the deal-level promote incorporating a levered CRE cash flow. Fund admin, clawback escrow, and tax capital accounts are different seats.
Sources
Minervian AI: minervianai.com/cre, minervianai.com, not-an-llm-wrapper, about, how-it-works, pricing.
Others, public pages as of September 2026: ARGUS Enterprise partnership / cash-flow distribution manuals; ARGUS Developer Advanced Finance profit-distribution types; OpenAI and Anthropic product surfaces; Primer by PropRise; Cactus features and buyer-evaluation pages (equity waterfall analyses; preferred equity and waterfall partnerships up to five tiers); Radix Underwriting / redIQ ValuationIQ; Framecast product page; Relm Pro financial-analysis page.
Related: Best underwriting tools, Best CRE tools for loan modelling, Minervian AI vs ChatGPT and Claude, ARGUS alternative. To see a Minervian AI waterfall on screen, take the Product Tour.