When managing your marketing agency’s operations, the right software can make all the difference. Consider this: you’ve sold a productized service, and the entire process should be smooth from onboarding to delivery.
Yet, your team is scrambling to get organized, using scattered email threads, Google Docs, and project management tools to try to serve your new client. The experience is anything but smooth for both your agency and the client. There’s a better way!
This guide discusses Accelo alternatives to help your agency run its operations better. Specifically, we’ll look at how these tools can help you efficiently create and grow your productized service.
One tool that can assist with your goal of optimizing your marketing agency operations is Orchestra’s grow your productized service. This solution helps agencies like yours systematize and automate the delivery of their productized services for better profitability and a smoother client experience.
What is Accelo?
Accelo is cloud-based software that combines essential tools for professional services so businesses can keep deals flowing, get projects going, and make staff and clients happy without being hampered by poor quality systems and manual processes that limit overall business growth.
Accelo was initially developed as an internal system for a fast-growing professional service to help manage sales, projects, service, and billing. Since then, it has expanded its capabilities to include CRM, project management, and client services, making it a multifaceted solution for businesses. Hence, they are more capable of providing professional services to staff and clients alike.
Sales
Systematize the entire sales process with automation and notifications to increase coordination. This approach makes it easy to convert accepted quotes into projects and seamlessly incorporate sales information into proposals.
Projects
Accelo enables users to successfully plan, manage, track, and deliver profitable client work on time and within budget through real-time project statuses. The module provides a central location for task management and informs the team of all client and project information.
Tickets
Accelo empowers your support team to manage reactive client support activities easily and consistently deliver stellar services. It enables the team to quickly self-assign, track time spent, and access key client information remotely to improve billing accuracy.
Retainers
Manage recurring client service delivery and track ongoing work. This feature helps sustain growth and increase profitability as users deliver recurring work on time without outrunning budgets.
Billing
The module automatically captures detailed client work information to generate accurate invoices. It logs all billable time spent on client emails, meetings, and work to capture the proper time and value of services delivered.
Report
Harness all client data through an integrated business intelligence platform to track performance and profitability. The reports provide deep contextual insights through reliable data and foster forecasting and preparation for the future.
Related Reading
• Marketing Agency Operations
• Agency Workflow
• Travel Agency Management Software
• Marketing Agency Workflow
• Digital Marketing Agency Operations
• Operations Management Techniques
• Advertising Agency Process
• Home Care Agency Management Software
• Creative Agency Workflow
• Ad Agency Process
• Advertising Agency Management
Accelo Price Plan
Pricing Overview: Get What You Pay For
Accelo CRM provides flexible pricing plans that scale with various professional services businesses. Smaller service teams can start with the Core plan, while larger organizations with more complex needs benefit from the Elite plan. Here’s a closer look at each of Accelo’s pricing tiers:
Core Plan: $20 Per User, Per Month
The Core plan is suitable for small teams and comes with essential CRM features, including:
-
Email and calendar sync
-
Client communication stream
-
Client task management
-
Client files and attachments
-
Address book sync
-
Customizable lists and reports *Minimum of three users required*
Professional Plan: $50 Per User, Per Month
The Professional plan includes everything in the Core plan and adds advanced CRM functions for client projects and sales. With this plan, you can:
-
Manage client projects
-
Manage client sales
-
Manage client quotes
-
Log time, use timers, and create timesheets
-
Create and manage client invoices and payments
-
Access financial insights dashboards *Minimum of five users required*
Business Plan: $70 Per User, Per Month
The Business plan expands on the Professional plan and adds features for managing client retainers and support. New capabilities include:
-
Client retainer management
-
Client ticket management
-
Shared request inbox
-
Expenses and materials management
-
Time approvals for billing
-
Unlimited client portal users *Minimum of five users required*
Advanced Plan: $90 Per User, Per Month
The Advanced plan includes all the features from the Business plan and adds advanced automation tools to enhance your workflows. With this plan, you get:
-
Advanced custom workflows
-
Advanced triggers and automation
-
Smart scheduling and utilization
-
Adaptive project scheduling
-
Client asset management
-
Three advanced reporting users *Minimum of ten users required*
Elite Plan: Contact Accelo for Pricing
The Elite plan is suitable for large organizations or those with complex needs. It includes all features from the Advanced plan and offers:
-
Role-based users starting at $39 per month
-
Divisions module
-
Unlimited collaborator users
-
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) enterprise single sign-on (SSO)
-
Premium support with service level agreements (SLAs)
-
Dedicated account manager *Minimum of 20 users required*
Why Choose Orchestra Over Other Growth Tools?
Launch your productized service effortlessly with Orchestra's all-in-one growth toolkit. Designed for creatives ready to scale, Orchestra provides a branded, white-labeled client portal, task management, and real-time analytics, with no coding needed—just your Stripe account. Whether you’re a designer, developer, or copywriter, Orchestra streamlines your workflow, letting you collaborate with clients smoothly while maintaining a private workspace with your team.
Add integrations like Slack and webhooks to customize your setup and deliver a branded experience. Boost your service with a platform built to grow alongside you. Try Orchestra for free and develop your productized service today!
12 Best Accelo Alternatives for Project Management
1. Orchestra: A Tool to Scale Productized Services
Orchestra is a productized service toolkit that helps you launch, manage, and scale your offerings. The software includes a client portal, task management, and analytics to provide insights into your performance. When you start a productized service with Orchestra, you won’t have to worry about design or development. The tool comes fully branded and white-labeled out of the box. This means you can create a professional experience for your clients while you work to streamline your operations on the back end. Try Orchestra for free to grow your productized service today.
2. ClickUp: A Marketing Project Management Software to Help You Adapt and Get Organized
I tested ClickUp’s Free plan to explore its features and capabilities. This marketing project management software provides a centralized hub for handling sprints and adjusting to evolving project requirements. Whether it’s campaign tasks, resources, or deadlines, everything’s in one place for easy access. I liked the freedom to set weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly goals.
Tracking progress became significantly easier with different project views, including Kanban boards that enhance task visibility. I could schedule daily tasks and reminders to stay on top of project deadlines. Adding to that, custom widgets made it possible to measure ROI efficiently.
Pros
-
You can streamline affiliate sign-ups and requests from clients with ClickUp Forms.
-
Access to Docs, wikis, and more for seamless team collaboration.
-
Resource management capabilities to track resource workload for best optimization.
-
Assigned Comments help establish clear task responsibilities.
Cons
-
It does not offer agile reporting in the free plan.
-
Too many features on the dashboard can overwhelm users.
3. Asana: A Simple Yet Effective Marketing Project Management Tool
Asana can be a perfect solution for cross-functional teams that work with agile methodologies, such as website project development companies. However, agencies with more robust needs might find that certain features, especially regarding budgeting and financial performance, could be more developed.
Pros
-
It offers a free plan. Asana, as a project management software, is primarily concerned with helping small and medium-sized businesses. However, it is not limited to it. Thanks to its free plan, small teams on a tight budget can still have access to affordable project management software.
-
Several integrations. This feature more than makes up for Asana's lack of some features. Several third-party apps and software can be integrated with Asana, including Salesforce, Slack, Dropbox, Google Calendar, and more.
-
Time tracking. The Asana app also helps companies and teams see where their time is being spent. Jobs, tasks, and responsibilities are all sorted into different projects, ensuring you won't overlook anything.
Cons
-
We know new users have a hard time understanding the Asana interface. With new users in mind, we've created an online tutorial to help guide users through the software and ensure they aren't intimidated by the interface.
-
Asana is not ideal for small teams or single projects: It has overloading features and becomes overwhelming for a fundamental project. When you add new features, you have to balance the complexity of the application, and that’s where the problems start to happen.
4. Wrike: A Project Management Software With Custom Solutions for Agencies
Wrike is a powerful work management platform built for teams and organizations looking to collaborate, create, and exceed daily. Wrike's solution for agencies creates a central hub that allows teams to monitor all client projects and resources in one place, improve workflow, and track progress. Key features include real-time collaboration, time tracking, cross-tagging for full visibility, proofing and approvals, resource management, insights, and analytics. Wrike is where agencies unite to delight their clients by completing more projects in less time.
Pros
-
Unlimited projects in a free account.
-
Unlimited subtasks with unlimited levels of nesting.
-
Kanban, Calendar, and Table views.
-
Unique customization for marketing/creative teams and professional services.
-
20 free external collaborators.
Cons
-
The Gantt chart view is available only on paid plans.
-
An in-app timer for time tracking is only available on a Business plan or higher.
5. Productive: An All-in-One Agency Management Software
Productive is a well-rounded agency management software with powerful functionality that gives you the tools and data to keep an agency running smoothly. The tool was built by a team with a decade of experience in founding, managing, and scaling a software development shop, so it's especially well-suited to digital agencies.
The tool's features fully satisfy my criteria for agency management tools. You'll find client and prospect management in the Sales Pipeline (manage deal flow, get sales organized). The Resource Planning feature, time tracker, and task collaboration tools fit the resource and project management criteria I look for in an agency tool or platform.
Billing and invoicing can also be managed straight from the tool, along with valuable reports on profitability and costs to help with finance management. The reporting feature goes quite beyond that, with real-time reports on margins, utilization, and much more—including reports on individual employees' or contractors' history with the company, salary reports, etc. Productive's integrations include Zapier and Jira, Open API, QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Exact.
Pros
-
Customizable Dashboards: Enhanced customization allows users to tailor their workspace to their needs, providing a more personalized and efficient management experience.
-
Integrated Financial Management: This feature integrates financial tracking with project management, offering a seamless experience for budget and expense oversight.
-
Client Portal: Including a client portal sets Productive.io apart, enhancing client engagement and transparency.
Cons
-
Learning Curve: New users may find the platform slightly complex, requiring time to understand and fully utilize all its features.
-
Customization Constraints: While customizable, some users might find the extent of customization options insufficient for their specific needs.
6. Airtable: A Flexible Tool for Marketing Projects
Airtable is a cloud-based collaboration and project management tool that combines an easy-to-use spreadsheet with the power of a database and the flexibility of custom applications. With Airtable, small teams can create highly collaborative workspaces to work together on projects. The platform also integrates with other apps and services like Slack, Zapier, and Dropbox to provide a complete client management system for customer management.
Pros
-
Actions to goals linking functionality to streamline reporting.
-
Shareable forms to populate records into the Airtable base.
-
Timeline View to track events, resources, and projects.
-
Automation with Javascript functionality.
-
Form View for contact management.
Cons
-
Limited sorting and filtering options compared to other client management software tools.
-
Limited customization options for workspace appearance.
7. Jira: A Highly Customizable Project Management Tool
Jira is a flexible tool that fits well with marketing teams. It supports agile methods like Scrum and Kanban, which help manage marketing campaigns effectively. Its Sprints dashboard offered me a structured way to plan and execute marketing iterations for my company’s campaigns. I also used epics and stories to organize my marketing projects into manageable tasks. Customization is another benefit. Jira can be adapted to your marketing team’s needs with custom fields, workflows, and issue types. Whether you’re a small team or a large enterprise, it scales easily to meet your unique marketing project and campaign requirements.
Pros
-
A backlog feature keeps track of marketing tasks, ideas, and user stories.
-
Comments, notifications, and tags make communicating about tasks and projects easier.
-
Seamless integration with Trello, Confluence, and third-party apps from the Atlassian Marketplace.
-
Rich dashboard features to track and analyze your marketing project’s progress and performance.
Cons
-
Weak team chat functionality, such as struggling to connect with colleagues online via the platform.
-
It takes time to set up projects.
8. Brafton: A Content Marketing Platform With Built-In Project Management Tools
The Brafton Content Marketing Platform is a project management tool with one goal: to simplify content marketing for any organization or business. The Brafton Platform accomplishes this by streamlining any content team’s workflows, organizing marketing collateral in an easy-to-use system, and giving visibility into all past and current projects to all pertinent stakeholders.
Pros
-
They cover multiple industries and have writers who are experienced in producing content for each of them.
-
They are a one-stop shop for all of your marketing needs. They will create your marketing plan, make your content, and help you promote it.
-
Brafton ensures that the content they produce for you is 100% unique and checked for plagiarism.
-
Brafton guarantees that your content is formatted correctly and ready to publish immediately. You won’t have to worry about things like using the right font sizes, headings, and if the layout is correct.
Cons
-
The main downside of working with Brafton is that they charge much more than freelancer platforms and other marketing agencies. However, you have to weigh the extra cost against the quality of the content you will receive and the higher level of service you will receive.
-
You can’t build direct relationships with any of the writers who produce your content as you deal with a client manager. This makes it difficult to bring your marketing operations in-house at a later date if you wish.
9. Bonsai Agency Software: An Integrated Approach to Agency Management
Bonsai Agency Software is an all-in-one agency management tool that simplifies agencies' lives. It handles everything from project management to client collaboration so that you can focus more on the creative side and less on admin headaches. This integrated approach makes it easy to organize tasks, track progress, collaborate with both your team and clients, and give you a clear idea of how your agency is performing.
Bonsai also includes time tracking, client onboarding, resource management, and automated workflows to keep your operations running smoothly, ensuring projects stay on schedule and within budget. It offers various visual tools like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and list views to help you stay organized and see everything at a glance.
Real-time reporting gives insights into profitability, resource utilization, and your agency’s overall health. Additionally, Bonsai simplifies the process of managing agency finances. You can track expenses, send invoices, and handle budgeting in one place. Bonsai is a solid pick if you’re looking for a tool to streamline your agency’s operations and boost productivity.
Pros
-
User-friendly interface.
-
Client-centric focus.
-
Strong focus on small businesses.
-
Affordable pricing plans.
-
There is no need to switch between several tools as Bonsai offers an all-in-one approach.
Cons
-
Limited advanced project management features for larger enterprises.
-
Bonsai integrations are fewer than those of some competitors (although Zapier integration expands its possibilities).
-
Mobile apps could be further enhanced with additional features and functionality.
10. Insightly: A Simple, Effective CRM Alternative to Accelo
Insightly delivers a lot of bang for your CRM buck. It's one of the easiest to use among the tested systems, even if it's not quite as feature-rich as some. Importing data is a smooth process. Insightly's built-in reporting engine is AI-powered, providing one-button data export to Microsoft Power BI.
Pros
-
Smooth data input and sharing.
-
Slick interface that's consistent and easy to pick up.
-
Highly customizable.
-
Easy integration with Insightly's help desk and marketing apps.
Cons
-
Expensive high-end tiers.
-
Lacks advanced features like custom workflows.
11. Pipedrive: A Sales-Centric CRM Tool for Marketing Projects
Pipedrive is a CRM system designed to help sales teams increase productivity and close more deals. It offers various features that help streamline the sales process, including contact management, email tracking, call logging, lead scoring, sales forecasting, and automated workflows. With Pipedrive, a sales team can quickly organize their leads, contacts, and deals to stay focused on the tasks that matter. The client management app allows users to easily create custom pipelines and automated emails to help nurture leads and increase conversions.
Pros
-
Segment leads to create personalized, targeted communication.
-
Drag-and-drop interface to quickly update deal statuses.
-
Activity reminders and team collaboration.
-
Customizable web forms.
-
Revenue forecasting.
Cons
-
Limited customization for user permission settings compared to other free client management software.
-
Project scope and document management tools are paid add-ons.
12. Teamwork: A Project Management Software Built for Client Work
Teamwork is a project management platform built to help agencies manage the entire lifecycle of their client work in one place. Teamwork provides all of the features you’d expect, including integrated time tracking, financial management, robust reporting, and free access for clients to ensure your projects are delivered on time and within budget.
Forget crossed wires, unread Slacks, and endless emails. Collaborate in real-time with your team and clients to get your questions answered. Keep clients, teammates, and leadership on the same page. Centralize your work, communicate easily with your team, and reduce the complexity of collaboration so your team is free to focus on what they do best.
Pros
-
Free forever plan and low-cost paid plans starting at $5.99 per month.
-
Deep level of customization.
-
Easy-to-use automations.
-
Agency-oriented nomenclature and features.
-
Built-in time tracking.
Cons
-
A minimum of three users for the low-priced paid plan.
-
Slower run time once more work gets added.
-
Most features are only unlocked with the Deliver plan or above.
Pros and Cons of Accelo
Pros of Using Accelo
Accelo's user interface is intuitive. New users can jump right in without a steep learning curve. This ease of use helps marketing agencies get up and running quickly. Accelo also offers a range of valuable features that help agencies track and manage work. These include project templates, task dependencies, Gantt charts, and time tracking—all great for keeping projects organized and on schedule.
Agencies can customize project templates and reports to fit their unique needs for even better organization. Accelo also helps with billing and expenses so you can keep projects profitable. You can create invoices within the platform and even set up automated billing for retainer clients. Accelo also earns high marks for customer support. The vendor offers responsive support via email, chat, and phone. Users can also access a dedicated help center with helpful articles and videos.
Cons of Using Accelo
Accelo’s pricing is on the high end regarding alternatives to Accelo. The platform’s Core plan starts at $39 monthly, billed annually for each user. This plan offers basic functionality for tracking client work and projects, but it doesn’t include features for ticket management or retainers. The Professional plan, which consists of these features, starts at $79 per month when billed annually per user. Even at this level, the platform lacks some advanced features of dedicated ticketing systems. Additionally, while Accelo integrates with a few popular business applications, its selection is limited compared to some competitors.
Related Reading
• Productivity Tool for Agencies
• Accelo Alternatives
• Design Agency Project Management Software
• Insurance Agency Management Systems
• Basecamp Alternatives
• Marketing Agency Project Management Software
• Operations Management Skills
• SEO Agency Project Management Software
• Digital Agency Client Management
• Asana vs Basecamp
• Digital Agency Management Software
• Agency Project Management Tools
Try Orchestra for Free to Grow Your Productized Service Today
When it comes to productized services, the biggest hurdle is launching them. This requires a solid plan to streamline your workflow and organize your processes before you start selling. Orchestra helps you do just that. This all-in-one growth toolkit is designed for creative professionals ready to scale their businesses. With Orchestra, you can launch your productized service effortlessly with an organized system that enhances your operations.
Related Reading
• Clickup for Agencies
• Workamajig Alternatives
• Smartsheet Alternatives
• Wrike Alternatives
• Basecamp vs Clickup
• Monday Alternatives
• Wrike vs Basecamp
• Asana vs Basecamp
• Basecamp vs Monday
