Top Agency Software: Everything Your Agency Needs

The right agency software can do a lot for your professional services agency.

From making daily workflows more efficient and cutting time spent on repetitive tasks to delivering actionable insights that support your agency strategies. The right choice can do all of this and more, sometimes on the same platform.

In this article, we’ll explore the best software choices for agencies, from comprehensive to specialized tools and everything in between.

The top features that you need from your agency management software can depend on your specific industry or agency context. However, some software capabilities are helpful across the board. For example:

The benefits of replacing manual processes with automated tools have been well-recorded. For example, according to the 2023 Benchpress Reporting, using dedicated software instead of spreadsheets can help increase your agency’s profit and non-director billable utilization.

Another research on agency software, this time from Capterra, lists the following benefits for agencies:

In short, agency management software can provide a better experience for the entire team and significantly improve your project delivery, driving better agency-wide results.

When researching your top choice for agencies, make sure to find the answers to the following questions:

Agency management software refers to solutions that aim to support your agency operations from start to finish. Typically, they’ll provide project, resource, and financial capabilities integrated into a single platform, with some other supporting features.

Productive is an agency project management software solution for businesses of all shapes and sizes. It provides a range of solutions for agencies, including time and project management, budgeting and billing, sales management, resource planning, and more.

Read the full story: Joi Polloi’s Teammates Have More Autonomy Since Using Productive

Time tracking is rarely an employee’s favorite activity. That’s why Productive offers multiple Time Tracking features to streamline this process as much as possible:

For project managers, approving and viewing timesheets is simple. You can also bulk edit your entries to manage the time or move them to different services.

Some tools might sideline project financials in favor of collaboration tools, but Productive handles Budgeting as the essential agency process it is. With Productive, you can build project budgets of all kinds, simplify retainer management, manage your cost rates, track expenses across budgets, and handle your Billing and Purchase Orders.

Budgeting is also connected to your Resourcing so that you can forecast key agency metrics such as budget burn, revenue, and profit margins across your project timelines. This helps you make informed decisions for more successful project delivery.

Productive’s Resource Planning helps you get the most out of your agency’s resources. Build a responsive resource plan and reallocate your bookings simply by drag-and-dropping. You can create bookings in various ways, either by inputting specific hours or defining percentages and letting the tool do the rest.

Additional features to simplify the process include:

Productive’s Project Management gives teams everything they need to keep their projects on schedule. This includes multiple project overviews, like List, Kanban, Gantt, and more, as well as project templates for quicker project kickoff.

Task management is simplified with custom fields, easy hierarchies with milestones, subtasks, and to-dos, file-sharing options, comment history, and customizable notifications.

Clients can be invited to project boards free of charge. They can view, create, and comment on tasks, as well as view their budgets with specific permissions.

Use more than 50 agency-focused templates with custom fields for adding specific parameters. You can organize your data visualizations on dashboards and share them with relevant stakeholders or schedule them to be sent by email.

Additional features include: Sales, Docs, Automations.

Integrations include: Xero, QuickBooks, HubSpot, BambooHR, Zapier, Slack, Jira, Google Calendar, and more.

Productive offers a 14-day free trial, so you can see the tool for yourself before trying it out.

Project management tools are software options for agencies that work on streamlining all processes related to individual projects: task management, team and client collaboration, budget tracking, and resource scheduling. They are designed to help keep projects on track, improve communication between stakeholders, and improve the quality of project deliverables.

Related: Managing End to End Projects

Asana is a project management option for agencies with work management features.

Key features:

Asana is a great option for essential project planning and task management, especially for agencies using Agile or Scrum methodologies. However, Asana has limited budgeting features, and though you can integrate it with project accounting and billable hours tracking software, invoicing is not a built-in feature.

Trello is a user-friendly agency system for streamlined collaboration and management.

Key features:

Trello is frequently praised as a simple and intuitive tool for streamlining team collaboration. This can make it a good option for creative agencies or inexperienced teams. However, Trello lacks a lot of the more in-depth and advanced features a profitable agency may need, such as time tracking, resource planning, budgeting and invoicing.

For more information, read our guide to Trello vs Wrike vs Productive.

Monday.com is a work management platform for businesses in various industries.

Key features:

Monday.com can be a good advanced option for project management, as it offers more agency growth-oriented features in comparison to Trello. However, it still doesn’t fully match up to the capabilities of robust agency project management software. In particular, financial management and forecasting are the main features you’ll miss out on with Monday.com.

CRMs for Agencies helps agencies track interactions with current and potential clients. Some key features include contact management, sales pipeline tracking, and analytics. They are designed to support sales and customer service teams in enhancing key performance metrics such as conversion and retention, increasing efficiency, and improving client relationships overall.

Salesforce CRM Cloud is a robust CRM solution for sales teams in businesses of all sizes.

Key features:

Salesforce is an advanced option for agencies that want to get more control over their client acquisition process. While it is a robust option, some of the most frequently mentioned drawbacks are the complex interface and difficulties in choosing the right pricing tier for your agency’s needs. For larger agencies, it can be a great choice, but smaller teams can consider an integrated solution with CRM capabilities, such as Productive.

HubSpot Sales Hub is a CRM option from HubSpot. HubSpot also offers a Marketing Hub, a popular option for marketing teams in various industries.

Key features:

Similarly to Salesforce, HubSpot is a leading CRM option for agency owners. When comparing the two tools, HubSpot can be described as a less complex option to set up and maintain, though it might lack flexibility for larger agencies with complex needs. HubSpot also has more limited pricing tiers, which can be both a benefit and a downside, depending on your budget limits.

Zoho CRM can be a good option for small to mid-sized agencies, with more approachable pricing and essential features.

Key features:

Customers on Capterra state that: “The user interface is pretty easy to understand, there are good features, like web forms and workflow automations, and the price is not as high as other CRMs.” However, other reviews have mentioned that the costs can scale once your agency grows and needs more complex features.

Time tracking and billing software help businesses manage their billable hours and speed up the invoicing process for more stable cash flows. Its features often include online timesheets, expense management, client billing, and reporting.

Related: 13 Best Agency Time Tracking Software Solutions

Harvest is a time time tracking and billing software that helps agencies manage time for multiple projects.

Key features:

Harvest has overall high user ratings on Capterra, and users usually enjoy the essential professional services time tracking features it provides. Some users have mentioned limitations with reporting that can cause agencies to outgrow Harvest as a solution. For more extensive agency management, consider Harvest alternatives, but for basic time tracking, it can be a good option.

Time Doctor is a productivity tracking and time management tool to manage internal or remote teams.

Key features:

Time Doctor can be a good choice for project managers working with numerous freelancers or largely remote teams. However, it should be mentioned that many employees have commented that they find the tool intrusive and disruptive due to the frequency of idle alerts and screenshots. If you’re interested in a more user-friendly tool with time management and billing, consider some Time Doctor Alternatives.

FreshBooks is a project accounting tool for professional services, construction, IT, and legal professionals.

Key features:

FreshBooks is a good option for billing software. Capterra users mention that it’s a user-friendly tool that simplifies expense tracking, track expenses, manage invoices, and keep track of payments. Regarding the downsides, some reviews state that FreshBooks lacks in-depth reporting and that some advanced accounting capabilities aren’t available.

See more: Examples of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

Creative and design management tools streamline processes within design agencies and other creative businesses. Depending on the type of software, these tools can sometimes include project planning features or enable easier editing, version control, and feedback mechanisms. They aim to facilitate collaboration, enhance creativity, and ensure high-quality deliverables.

Related: 11 Top Project Management Software for Designers

The Adobe Creative Cloud offers popular programs such as Photosop and Illustrator for design, Premier Pro for video editing, and Acrobat Pro for documentation and file sharing.

Key features:

The apps offered as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud are a staple for most design and creative agencies. Users mention it as the backbone of their processes but often note that it can be complex to use, as well as pricey.

InVision is an affordable prototyping platform for creative teams and agencies.

Key features:

Users on Capterra review InVision as a user-friendly solution that streamlines team collaboration and the client feedback process. As some of the drawbacks, one user mentions that it might not be simple enough to be used by non-designers, while other mention that “the limited functionality in terms of design customization and editing capabilities was a minor drawback, especially for more complex design projects” (Source: Capterra).

Sketch is a native Mac app for design, prototyping, and collaboration.

Key features:

Sketch provides a great toolkit to streamline design for creative agencies. According to Capterra reviews, the tool’s design tools “encourage creativity and it has a set of templates that simplify the work to start a new project”. However, as it’s designed primarily for Mac, it might not be the best option for all agencies.

Analytics and reporting tools are software solutions that offer actionable insights and facilitate informed decision-making through customizable dashboards, data visualizations, reliable data gathering, and comprehensive reporting.

Google Analytics is an essential tool for professional services, whether you’re working in digital marketing agencies, consultancies, design or software development companies.

Key features:

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is free to use, while the priced version is called Google Analytics 360. For enterprise companies and those needing advanced data, the 360 version will be their best pick. SMBs can utilize GA4 to cover essential needs for web-based data.

Tableau is a versatile business development and data analytics software solution from Salesforce. It offers advanced analytics, statistical tools, data visualizations, and predictive insights.

Tableau can take and analyze data from different data sources and offer a wide range of data analysis, visualizations, and customization options. Compared to Google Analytics, it’s the more exhaustive tool, though both have its use for professional services. Complexity is the most frequently mentioned downside, so be ready for this when investing in Tableau.

Databox is an analytics platform that provides reliable data for e-commerce, SaaS, agencies, and consultants. It provides customizable dashboards, employee performance management, report creation and sharing, and goal tracking.

Users of Databox enjoy its multiple integrations and customizable reporting options. As a downside, some reviews mention glitches, bugs, and performance issues when loading big datasets.

Marketing agency software is specifically tailored to streamline and enhance the various facets of marketing campaign management, client communication, and performance tracking. Digital marketing software often includes project management tools, client collaboration portals, campaign analytics, social media management, and email marketing integration.

Sprout Social is a social media platform offering cross-network strategy management, campaign performance tracking, integrated collaboration tools, and social data and analytics features.

Digital agencies report that they enjoy using Sprout Social for their social media marketing, underlining improved collaboration and results as the main positives. As for the negatives, the main one is the somewhat steep pricing that can make it inaccessible for SMBs.

Mailchimp is an industry-leading tool for marketing teams. It provides a range of features for marketing automation, including AI-supported content creation, audience targeting and segmentation, advanced analytics, and third-party integrations.

Users highlight that Mailchimp’s best features are the easy-to-use interface. Additionally, some believe that it drives overall sales growth with improved click-through rates.

As a downside, most users mention that the paid tiers can be expensive for businesses that don’t use email marketing as one of their main strategies. However, the benefits of the tool usually outweight the cost, especially for larger agencies.

Creative agency management software aims to support agency managers in supporting operations in creative agencies. Features usually include project tracking, asset management, client communication tools, and time tracking.

Notion is a cloud-based tool that offers a wide range of features for collaboration and productivity in creative agencies, including ready-made templates, documentation and file sharing, and a customizable user interface.

As a visual and intuitive software solution, Notion can be a good collaboration solution for creative agencies. However, consider a different alternative with robust features for more comprehensive agency business management, such as time tracking and financial capabilities.

Avaza is a work management software with project and task management, capacity planning, online timesheets, and client invoicing features.

Avaza users find the collaboration features useful and enjoy the simple drag-and-drop features for daily operations. However, some reviews believe certain features, including the user experience, could be improved.

Related: 14 Best Avaza Alternatives for Professional Services

Advertising agency software typically focuses on tools and features for managing ad campaigns, media buying, creative production, and client billing related to advertising services. Some helpful tools include:

The best agency software is a solution that can support your daily agency’s workflows and help you achieve your long-term goals. Some of your potential options can include comprehensive agency management tools, project management software, and specialized tools for business operations.

When evaluating the top management system tools, consider usability, comprehensiveness, and user-friendliness as your criteria. Despite your agency’s specific circumstances, these three considerations are key to efficient implementation and successful adoption.

If you’re looking for agency management software, book a demo with Productive, the all-in-one tool for agency operations.

Agency management software are tools with capabilities designed to streamline various aspects of agency management. This can include generalized agency operations such as project planning, resource management, time tracking, and billing, to processes such as sales, creative workflows, and marketing and social media platform management.

Yes, Better Agency is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool for insurance agencies, which includes features such as email syncing, built-in automation campaigns, and easy user management.

The cost of an agency management system can vary significantly depending on its comprehensiveness, the number of users, and various additional features, ranging from ten to hundreds or more dollars per month. Additional expenses may include setup, training, and integration.