Twelve project management tools for agencies, and who each one suits. Pick ActiveCollab if you want time tracking, budgets and invoicing on one plan at $15 per user.
Prices checked on each vendor's pricing page ·
Last updated
· Reviewed by Mirjana Dobrijević, Account Executive
1 · Plan, track and bill on one plan
ActiveCollab
Invoices from tracked time, budgets and profitability on Pro + Get Paid at $15 per user, billed yearly. Clients: Free and unlimited on every plan. Runs in the cloud or on your own server.
Good at
Plus: $12.50 a month flat for up to 3 members
Free Client role on every plan
Self-hosted with a one-time license, with optional support package
Importer for CSV and Excel exports from other tools
Gantt charts and task dependencies on every plan
Time tracking with a stopwatch on every plan
No limits on active projects
Workload, availability and time off on Pro + Get Paid
Team chat built in, with desktop and mobile apps, on every plan
Weaker at
No free plan, 14-day trial
No scheduling by role or skill
No built-in CRM
Intake forms: Not offered
Single sign-on: Not offered
“But the greatest breakthrough was when we started using the invoicing section.”
In ActiveCollab: invoices from tracked time cost $15 per user, against $24.99 on Accelerate.
Bonsai
Good for: Freelancers and service businesses that want proposals, contracts, time and invoices in one tool
Pick Bonsai if
You want proposals, contracts, scheduling and invoices in the same tool as your projects.
You are a freelancer or a very small team and want a $9 entry plan with time tracking.
You want a client portal on a $19 plan.
Smallest paid planBasic · $9/user · billed yearly
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In ActiveCollab: invoices from tracked time cost $15 per user, against $19 on Essentials.
ClickUp
Good for: Agencies and teams that will set up one workspace for tasks, docs, time tracking and chat
Pick ClickUp if
You want a Free Forever plan with unlimited members and tasks, or a paid plan from $9 a user.
You want tasks, docs, chat and whiteboards in one workspace.
You want AI built into the workspace, with a monthly credit allowance on every plan.
Weaker at
Setup is on you: ClickUp's own comparison page says someone configures Spaces, Lists, statuses and templates, and reviewers keep naming the learning curve.
Smallest paid planCore · $9/user; Business $17/user · billed yearly
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In ActiveCollab: tracked time becomes a client invoice on Pro + Get Paid, with budgets and profitability reports. ClickUp's pricing page lists no invoicing.
Productive
Good for: Agencies and service businesses that want budgets, time and profitability in one tool
Pick Productive if
You want budgeting, resource planning and time tracking from the $10 entry plan.
You want to create and send client invoices from the same tool as your budgets.
In ActiveCollab: Gantt and task dependencies are on every plan. Trello's Timeline view starts on Premium at $10 a user, and it has no built-in task dependencies.
Synergist
Good for: Marketing, creative, PR and digital agencies that want one system for jobs, time, resources and billing
Pick Synergist if
You run an agency and want software built for agencies, with onboarding and a client success consultant on every plan.
You want pricing that charges less for the people who only log time.
You run an agency group and want several trading companies under one login.
Smallest paid planCore · Not listed in US dollars; priced in pounds on synergist.co.uk; minimum 5 full users; billed monthly on a 12-month term
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In ActiveCollab: there is no minimum team size, and on the monthly plan you can cancel at any time. Synergist starts at 5 full users on a 12-month contract that renews automatically.
Nifty
Good for: Small teams and agencies that want projects, docs and chat in one tool, with clients in the same workspace
Pick Nifty if
You prefer one flat price of $79 a month to paying per user; Nifty suggests flat Pro for teams of 7 to 10 people.
You want a free plan with unlimited members and 2 projects.
You want projects, docs and team chat in one tool.
Weaker at
Reporting and budgeting are limited, a complaint that comes up again and again in reviews.
Smallest paid planPro · $10/member, which Nifty suggests for teams under 7; $79 a month flat for up to 10 people · billed yearly
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In ActiveCollab: projects have no limit on any plan. Nifty caps active projects at 100 on Pro, $10 a user.
All twelve at a glance
Picking a tool is hard enough without digging through twelve pricing pages. Here's what each one costs a team of 10. Prices per user per month, billed yearly.
Feature
ActiveCollab
Scoro
Teamwork
Bonsai
ClickUp
Productive
monday.com
Wrike
Asana
Trello
Synergist
Nifty
Invoices from tracked time
Pro + Get Paid · $15/user No minimum team size
Standard · $17/user with Track and Invoice, minimum 5
Accelerate · $24.99/user, minimum 5
Essentials · $19/user
Not listed on the pricing page
Every plan, from Essential · $10/user, minimum 3
Not listed for monday work management; monday CRM lists quotes and invoices
Not listed on the pricing page; Pinnacle budgets use billable hours and bill rates
Not listed on the pricing page
Not listed on the pricing page
Invoicing and billing plans from Core · Not listed in US dollars
Not listed on the pricing page
10 people on that plan, per month
$150
$170
$249.90
$190
No invoicing listed
$100
No invoicing listed
No invoicing listed
No invoicing listed
No invoicing listed
Price not listed
No invoicing listed
Client access
Free Client role on every plan No paid extra, no seat taken
Customer portal is a paid extra on any combination; its price is not listed
Free client users, up to 5 active projects each
Client portal from Essentials; client tasks and messaging from Premium
Free guests on Free; paid plans add a limited number of guest seats and unlimited read-only guests
Clients can see approved tracked time through budget access, on Professional and Ultimate
Free read-only viewers from Basic; guest access from Standard
External users take a paid seat; limited users can be free viewers
Unlimited free guests from Starter
Single-board guests on Standard; observers on Premium; multi-board guests on Enterprise
Not listed on the pricing page
Guests and clients included: 5 per paid seat on per-member Pro; unlimited on flat plans and per-member Business
Self-hosted
Yes · one-time license, with optional support package The only one you can host yourself
Cloud only
Cloud only
Cloud only
Cloud only
Cloud only
Cloud only
Cloud only
Cloud only
Cloud only
Cloud only
Cloud only
Free plan
No, 14-day trial
No free plan listed · 14-day trial
Up to 5 users
No free plan listed · 7-day trial
Free Forever plan · unlimited members, no credit card required
No free plan listed · 14-day trial
Free plan · up to 2 seats
Free plan · no credit card required; limits not stated on the pricing page
Personal plan · free forever, 2 users
Free plan · up to 10 collaborators, 10 boards
No free plan or trial listed · demo offered
Free plan · unlimited members, 2 projects
Smallest paid plan
Plus · $12.50/mo flat, up to 3 members One flat price for the first 3 people
Standard · $17/user with Track and Invoice, minimum 5
Basics · $9.99/user, minimum 3
Basic · $9/user
Core · $9/user; Business $17/user
Essential · $10/user, minimum 3
Basic · $9/seat, minimum 3
Team · $10/user, 2 to 15 users
Starter · $10.99/user
Standard · $5/user
Core · Not listed in US dollars; priced in pounds on synergist.co.uk; minimum 5 full users; billed monthly on a 12-month term
Pro · $10/member, which Nifty suggests for teams under 7; $79 a month flat for up to 10 people
Time tracking
Every plan, with stopwatch Time tracking is on every plan, Plus included
Track app: time tracker, timesheets, billable time
Every plan; billable reports from Basics
Every plan, from Basic
Included from Core; a trial on Free
Every plan, from Essential
From the Pro plan
From Business · $25/user, minimum 5; not on Free or Team
Native time tracking on Advanced; through integrations on every plan
Not listed on the pricing page
Timesheets and expenses, with a mobile app, from Core
From Pro: Time Tracking & Reporting
Gantt and task dependencies
Every plan
Gantt chart and task dependencies in the Deliver core app
Every plan
Gantt view and task dependencies from Essentials in the plan table; the plan cards list Gantt under Premium
Gantt from Core, limited uses on Free Forever; dependencies on every plan
Gantt layout and task dependencies from Professional
Timeline and Gantt views from Standard; dependencies from Pro
Gantt chart and task dependencies from Team
Timeline, Gantt and task dependencies from Starter
Timeline view on Premium; no built-in task dependencies
Every plan
Task dependencies on every plan; Roadmap (Gantt) view, plan not stated
Minimum seats and contract
No seat minimum · Plus is capped at 3 members · monthly or yearly billing, cancel any time
5 users minimum · monthly or yearly billing; no longer commitment unless agreed
Basics 3 users, Accelerate 5 · monthly or yearly billing
Elite needs 3 users; other plans no minimum listed · monthly or yearly billing
No seat minimum listed · monthly or yearly billing
3 seats minimum on every plan · monthly or yearly billing
3 users minimum · monthly or yearly billing
Team 2 to 15 users, Business 5 to 200 · Business and above annual only
No seat minimum listed · monthly or yearly billing
No seat minimum listed · monthly or yearly billing
5 full users on Core, 8 on Advanced · 12-month contract, renews automatically
No seat minimum listed · monthly or annual billing
Price checked
Our own pricing
Spot something wrong or out of date? Write to support@activecollab.com and we will fix it. That goes for every vendor listed here too.
Half of the teams that track time log their first hours by day four.
Source: ActiveCollab account data, Nov 2025 – Oct 2026.
Questions buyers ask
What is the best project management software for an agency?
It depends on how the agency works. Time tracking, budgets and invoicing on one plan: ActiveCollab, Pro + Get Paid at $15 per user. Quotes, CRM and billing in one suite: Scoro. Budgets and resource planning: Productive. A freelancer or a very small team: Bonsai. A system built for agencies: Synergist.
What does time tracking plus invoicing cost for a 10-person agency?
Pro + Get Paid is $150 a month for 10 people, billed yearly, with invoices from tracked time, budgets and profitability. Teamwork Accelerate, its plan for invoices from tracked time, is $249.90 for the same 10 people. The table shows the smallest paid plan of every tool.
Which of these can I host on my own server?
Only ActiveCollab. Self-Hosted runs on your own server with a one-time license and an optional support package. The other eleven tools on this page are cloud only.
Which of these have a free plan?
ActiveCollab has a 14-day trial with every feature and no free plan. Scoro: No free plan listed · 14-day free trial, no credit card required. Teamwork: Free plan · 5 users, 5 projects. Bonsai: No free plan listed · 7-day free trial. ClickUp: Free Forever plan · unlimited members, no credit card required. Productive: No free plan listed · 14-day free trial, no credit card required. monday.com: Free plan · up to 2 seats. Wrike: Free plan · no credit card required; limits not stated on the pricing page. Asana: Personal plan · free forever, 2 users. Trello: Free plan · up to 10 collaborators, 10 boards. Synergist: No free plan or trial listed · demo offered. Nifty: Free plan · unlimited members, 2 projects.
We use another tool today. What moves over?
Your projects and tasks. Export your task lists as a CSV or Excel file, then bring them in with the ActiveCollab importer. It matches columns for you and keeps task lists, subtasks, assignees, dates, estimates and labels, plus project clients and budgets. Comments, attachments and time records stay behind, so keep the export for history. Clients join free, so you can invite them on day one.
Can I plan work for people who haven't joined yet?
Yes. ActiveCollab Pro and Pro + Get Paid have virtual users: placeholders you can add to any project and assign tasks to, without using a paid seat. On Pro + Get Paid they also show in workload planning. When the real person joins, they take over the virtual user's tasks, and the seat is charged from then on.
Does ActiveCollab have chat and developer integrations?
Yes. Team chat is built into every plan, in the web, mobile and desktop apps, and there is a standalone chat app for Windows and Mac. GitHub and GitLab connect on Pro and Pro + Get Paid: branches and pull requests show on the task, and the task completes when the pull request merges.
Médéric Beaunier, CEO @ aparticula