Six tools agencies move to from Teamwork, and who each one suits. Pick ActiveCollab if you want time tracking, budgets and invoicing on one plan at $15 per user. Stay on Teamwork if its free plan for up to 5 people covers you.
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, against $24.99 on Teamwork Accelerate. 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 Teamwork CSV and Excel exports
Weaker at
No free plan, 14-day trial
No scheduling by role or skill
No built-in CRM
“But the greatest breakthrough was when we started using the invoicing section.”
In ActiveCollab: Gantt charts and task dependencies are on every plan, from $10 a user. Productive starts them on Professional at $25 a user.
Scoro
Good for: Agencies and service firms that want quoting, time, resources and billing in one system
Pick Scoro if
You want to build your own mix of apps, from quotes and resource planning to invoicing, and pay for the ones you use.
You want CRM, estimating and spend tracking in the same system as time and invoices.
Your team is 5 people or more and you want AI included in the platform.
Smallest paid planStandard · $17/user with Track and Invoice, minimum 5 · billed yearly
checked
In ActiveCollab: clients join free on every plan. Scoro's customer portal is a paid extra with no price listed.
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
checked
In ActiveCollab: tracked time becomes a client invoice on Pro + Get Paid, with budgets and profitability reports. ClickUp's pricing page lists no invoicing.
monday.com
Good for: Teams that build their own boards for projects, campaigns and delivery, with templates and automations
Pick monday.com if
You want a free plan for up to 2 seats, or a paid plan from $9 a seat.
You want ready-made templates, automations and AI agents on configurable boards.
You also need CRM, dev or service desk products from the same vendor.
In ActiveCollab: Plus is $12.50 a month flat for up to 3 members. monday.com's Basic is $9 a seat, with a 3-seat minimum.
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
checked
In ActiveCollab: invoices from tracked time cost $15 per user, against $19 on Essentials.
When to stay on Teamwork
You want a free plan for up to 5 users and 5 projects.
You run retainers and need time budgets per client on Accelerate.
You schedule people by role or skill. That is on Optimize, priced on request.
Your team already works in Teamwork and invoicing is not the pain.
All seven at a glance
Picking a tool is hard enough without digging through seven pricing pages. Here's what each one costs a team of 10. Prices per user per month, billed yearly.
Feature
ActiveCollab
Productive
Scoro
ClickUp
monday.com
Bonsai
Teamwork
Invoices from tracked time
Pro + Get Paid · $15/user No minimum team size
Every plan, from Essential · $10/user, minimum 3
Standard · $17/user with Track and Invoice, minimum 5
Not listed on the pricing page
Not listed for monday work management; monday CRM lists quotes and invoices
Essentials · $19/user
Accelerate · $24.99/user, minimum 5
10 people on that plan, per month
$150
$100
$170
No invoicing listed
No invoicing listed
$190
$249.90
Client access
Free Client role on every plan No paid extra, no seat taken
Clients can see approved tracked time through budget access, on Professional and Ultimate
Customer portal is a paid extra on any combination; its price is not listed
Free guests on Free; paid plans add a limited number of guest seats and unlimited read-only guests
Free read-only viewers from Basic; guest access from Standard
Client portal from Essentials; client tasks and messaging from Premium
Free client users, up to 5 active projects each
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
Free plan
No, 14-day trial
No free plan listed · 14-day trial
No free plan listed · 14-day trial
Free Forever plan · unlimited members, no credit card required
Free plan · up to 2 seats
No free plan listed · 7-day trial
Up to 5 users
Smallest paid plan
Plus · $12.50/mo flat, up to 3 members One flat price for the first 3 people
Essential · $10/user, minimum 3
Standard · $17/user with Track and Invoice, minimum 5
Core · $9/user; Business $17/user
Basic · $9/seat, minimum 3
Basic · $9/user
Basics · $9.99/user, minimum 3
Time tracking
Every plan, with stopwatch Time tracking is on every plan, Plus included
Every plan, from Essential
Track app: time tracker, timesheets, billable time
Included from Core; a trial on Free
From the Pro plan
Every plan, from Basic
Every plan; billable reports from Basics
Gantt and task dependencies
Every plan
Gantt layout and task dependencies from Professional
Gantt chart and task dependencies in the Deliver core app
Gantt from Core, limited uses on Free Forever; dependencies on every plan
Timeline and Gantt views from Standard; dependencies from Pro
Gantt view and task dependencies from Essentials in the plan table; the plan cards list Gantt under Premium
Every plan
Minimum seats and contract
No seat minimum · Plus is capped at 3 members · monthly or yearly billing, cancel any time
3 seats minimum on every plan · monthly or yearly billing
5 users minimum · monthly or yearly billing; no longer commitment unless agreed
No seat minimum listed · monthly or yearly billing
3 users minimum · monthly or yearly billing
Elite needs 3 users; other plans no minimum listed · monthly or yearly billing
Basics 3 users, Accelerate 5 · monthly or yearly 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 Teamwork alternative for an agency?
It depends on what Teamwork did badly for you. Invoices from tracked time at a lower price: ActiveCollab, with Pro + Get Paid at $15 per user against $24.99 on Accelerate. Budgets and resource planning: Productive. Quotes, CRM and billing in one suite: Scoro.
Which Teamwork alternative 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 six tools on this page are cloud only.
Which of these have a free plan?
Teamwork has a free plan for up to 5 users and 5 projects. ActiveCollab has a 14-day trial and no free plan. Productive: No free plan listed · 14-day free trial, no credit card required. Scoro: No free plan listed · 14-day free trial, no credit card required. ClickUp: Free Forever plan · unlimited members, no credit card required. monday.com: Free plan · up to 2 seats. Bonsai: No free plan listed · 7-day free trial.
We are leaving Teamwork. What moves over?
Your projects and tasks. Export task lists from Teamwork as CSV or Excel, 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 Teamwork export for history. Clients join free, so you can invite them on day one.
Does Teamwork have a minimum number of seats?
Yes. Teamwork Basics needs at least 3 paid users and Accelerate at least 5. ActiveCollab Plus is a flat $12.50 a month for up to 3 members, billed yearly, and Pro and Pro + Get Paid are priced per member, with no seat minimum on the pricing page.
Can I plan work for people who haven't joined yet?
Yes, in both. 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. Teamwork has placeholders in its resource schedule. Each one belongs to a single project and holds time allocations until you hand them to a team member.
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.