Top 10 Project Accounting Software (Paid & Free) in 2025

Productive is designed to support professional services firms in managing their accounting on individual projects. This helps managers and business owners see the bigger picture of their operations.

With Productive, you can:

Another thing that makes Productive so great for project management accounting is that it includes features for collaboration and task management, so you don’t have to get separate software for that.

Let’s go step-by-step through what Productive can do for your financial accounting.

Put your budgeting at the focus of your projects with Productive’s flexible, yet powerful Budgeting features.

Build and manage project budgets for different billing (hourly, fixed, mixed) or engagement models (recurring, one-time).

Long-term projects can also be split up into multiple phases for more precise financial tracking; for example, website building could be split into design, development, and maintenance budgets.

Make sure that you’re always making decisions based on the most recent data with automatic budget overrun warnings and financial forecasting capabilities.

Productive also provides job cost management with the Purchase Orders feature, so you can connect external expenses with your overall financial performance.

Another feature for internal expense tracking is overhead management, which spreads overhead across clients. This provides more accurate project costs and project profitability insights.

Learn more RevOps best practices and why it’s important to support revenue management with software.

Productive streamlines administrative tasks with the Billing feature, which can pull data directly from your project budget, whether it’s uninvoiced amounts or billable hours.

Invoices can be customized with your company’s logo and specific fields. There’s multi-currency support, and you can manage different subsidiaries and tax rates if you work with remote teams.

Some other features for an efficient accounting process include:

And, to top it all off, Productive also includes integrations with specialized software, such as QuickBooks and Xero, to combine both when preparing financial statements.

Productive’s integrated Time Tracking feature is designed to provide a hassle-free experience to employees and accurate data to project managers.

Employees can track entries in multiple ways, by duplicating previous entries, tracking hours directly from tasks while working on them, or entering them manually afterward.

To ensure data accuracy and encourage timely tracking, managers can decide when to lock entries for editing.

With Productive, you can streamline your processes with 50+ templates that can be customized (with custom formulas, grouping and filtering) according to your business preferences.

Some examples of project reports that you can view with Productive includes:

The robust Reporting feature also comes with custom fields, which you can use to add more information to your reports and go even more in-depth with key business analytics.

Learn how Brigada increased project profitability with Productive.

Create dashboards with your most relevant reports and share them with your team or other stakeholders, or get scheduled reports automatically via email. With Productive, you’ll always be able to stay on top of your project progress.

With Productive’s Resource Planning feature, you can balance your team’s workload, get insights into your resource utilization rate, and forecast your future availability, all the while saving valuable time that you would have otherwise spent managing multiple disparate workflows.

With the Scenario Builder, project managers can create different budgeting scenarios and make informed decisions for their project performance.

Use placeholders to account for future hiring and staffing. Productive’s capacity planning tools also take into account your employees’ sick and off days, so you can get the full picture of your actual resource availability. 

Productive’s Project Management feature streamlines team collaboration and communication. Organize your projects and get various visualizations of your progress, from list views, Kanban, calendar, and more.

You can also speed up your workflows with automation features. Create custom no-code sequences, such as task updates triggering a notification to Slack.

Improve your transparency with clients by inviting them onto your projects with full or limited access rights. Speed up the review and feedback process by conducting all of your task-related communication from the platform.

Additional features include: Sales, Docs, Productive AI.

Productive offers seamless integrations with HR, accounting, and collaboration tools.

Integrations include Slack, Google Calendar, and Outlook for scheduling and updates; Xero and QuickBooks for accounting; BambooHR, Breathe, Humaans.io for HRM; Memtime for time tracking; and more.

Productive offers a 14-day free trial, so you can see what it can do for your project’s financial health.

Paymo is an accounting project management software with a range of features that support the project life cycle. As the main benefit, customers comment that the cloud software is easy to use with a user-friendly interface.

Key features:

As the main downsides, customers report that some of Paymo’s financial-oriented features lag behind dedicated accounting software, as well as that the time tracking feature can be “awkward” to use (Source: G2). Some key insights, such as profit forecasting and utilization insights, are more emphasized in comparable all-in-one software.

Forecast is a tool for project-based businesses, with features that support project, resource, and financial management. Customers on Capterra praise Forecast for providing more transparency to their projects.

Key features:

As the main cons, some users comment that the platform is difficult to use on mobile devices and that the learning curve is quite steep at the beginning. Additionally, the app offers somewhat limited pricing tiers, which might make customizing it to your business needs more difficult than with comparable management solution on the market.

LiquidPlanner, now known as Tempo Portfolio Manager, is a comprehensive solution for resource management, with features designed to help teams plan, predict, and perform projects with confidence. Customers comment that LiquidPlanner offers a variety of features that help them stay “informed of how things are likely to run” (Source: G2).

Key features:

As the main drawback, users comment that even the most affordable pricing tier is slightly steep for smaller businesses. Some also reported that the initial complexity of learning the platform, in part due to the user interface and navigation, can be off-putting.

Overall, LiquidPlanner can be a good tool for businesses with sufficient time and money to invest in getting the most out of the software.

For more details, check out our review of the top LiquidPlanner alternatives.

Sage Intacct provides financial management services to businesses from all industries. Customers on G2 praise Sage Intacct for providing them with access to their financial data and streamlined expense tracking.

Key features:

As the main downside of Sage Intacct, reviewers noted that the tool is pricier than comparable tools on the market, making it inaccessible to smaller businesses on a limited budget. Additionally, as the business software does not provide pricing options online, any considerations to purchase it must include previous contact with the vendor, making the decision-making process lengthier than with transparent software.

Xero is an accounting software designed for smaller businesses, accountants, and other finance professionals. Customers praise the cloud software Xero for having a “relatively low learning curve” and being approachable to users without a strong financial background (Source: G2).

Key features:

Xero is a streamlined management software and a good choice for smaller businesses and individuals looking for essential features to support the accounting process. Even so, some customers expressed dissatisfaction with the ratio of value to money, stating that the product could provide more comprehensive features at its price point. Larger enterprises and businesses with a growth mindset looking to support their entire business operations might want to look at all-in-one software instead.

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Zoho is a platform that offers a suite of productivity and business management-oriented solutions. Zoho Books is their cloud-based solution for easy collaboration and finance management.

Key features:

Similarly to Xero, Zoho Books is a specialized solution that can provide support to your financial teams but is not entirely suitable for full-picture management. Customers enjoy it for managing their books, but for everything else, a robust accounting project management software solution will be more suitable.

NetSuite is an ERP accounting software from the provider Oracle. Netsuite promises to streamline manual processes, efficiently deliver real-time data, and provide stakeholders with financial reports.

Key features:

Similarly to Sage Intacct, users on Capterra underline that Netsuite is a comprehensive platform, but on the pricier end of the spectrum. Additionally, some have noted as a downside that Netsuite doesn’t provide a free trial.

Because of the aforementioned, customers usually recommend Netsuite for medium-sized businesses while some recommend looking into Netsuite alternatives.

QuickBooks Online is a dedicated cloud tool that helps project managers and accountants in smaller companies manage their project accounting. Customers praise QuickBooks for being easy to learn and simple to navigate.

Key features:

Some reviewers on G2 comment that forecasting and invoicing could be better developed. Additionally, some report that customer service response time can get lengthy. Overall, QuickBooks is a good cloud accounting solution for businesses looking solely for accounting features, but for more advanced support, an investment in a comprehensive tool might be a good idea.

We also covered QuickBooks in our list of Time Doctor alternatives, so check that article out to learn more.

Deltek is a lead provider of professional cloud solutions tailored to a variety of business needs, from ERP and professional services software to manufacturing, business management, human capital management, and project portfolio management.

WorkBook is Deltek’s solution for financial and project management needs.

Key features:

As a downside, users frequently point out that Deltek WorkBook is not as user-friendly or intuitive as it could be, which can make onboarding difficult.

Additionally, some have commented on the platform’s performance, highlighting that loading and response times can be a bit slow.

Deltek also has solutions designed for the AEC industry — learn more by heading over to our list of the top architect project management software.

Project accounting is a specialized form of accounting that tracks the financial performance of specific projects. Unlike general accounting, which focuses on overall organizational finances, project accounting monitors revenues, expenses, budgets, and profitability at a granular level.

It helps managers allocate resources efficiently, supports cost tracking, and ensures projects stay within budget and project timelines. This involves detailed tracking of actual cost and indirect costs (labor, materials, overheads).

Project accounting is commonly used in industries like construction, engineering, IT, and consulting, where projects are core to business operations. It supports better decision-making and enhances financial transparency throughout a project’s lifecycle.

Project accounting software is a specialized solution for tracking budgets, costs, and other financial aspects of your projects. These accounting tools with project tracking let you budget per project, monitor actual versus forecasted costs, bill clients against deliverables, and report on profitability in real time.

The best accounting tools for project tracking tie expenses, time entries, and revenue streams back to each project. As a result, you get the detailed visibility you need to keep every task on budget and maximize your margins.

Here’s a short overview of the options discussed so far:

To choose the best accounting software for tracking projects you should start with mapping your key requirements and features (e.g., per-project budgeting, real-time cost tracking, billing options, forecasting and integration with your existing tools). Then evaluate each candidate on the list against those must-have features.

To make it easier for you, here’s our step-by-step process of selecting the best accounting tools for project tracking:

List exactly what you need: project budgets, expense tracking, time entry integration, client invoicing, profitability reports, and any compliance or audit requirements.

Go beyond the basic use case here, you should assess how well the project tracking and accounting tool fits your specific reporting needs. Examples of these would be:

Look for solutions that integrate with your project and time management tools (e.g., QuickBooks with TSheets, Xero with Harvest) so data flows automatically and reduces manual entry. Remember that manual entry is one of the biggest cause of forecasting and estimation errors. It also takes away a lot of billable time.

Good accounting software should give you at-a-glance dashboards for project profitability, cash flow forecasts, and aging receivables. Again, the idea here is to you can spot issues early.

Your top-rated accounting software for project tracking needs to have a clean UX and hast to support your company’s growth.

Everyone is having a hard time with a clunky UX. A great and clean interface makes it easy for your team to use. Also, get confirmation that the vendor supports growth (e.g., adding new users or handling more complex project structures).

Compare total cost of ownership (including licenses, add-ons, and implementation fees) and make sure that the vendor offers responsive support and training resources. The best accounting tools have learning hubs, a variety of how-to content and detailed help docs.

Implementation support is absolutely one of the most important choosing factors.

All of the options discussed have free trials. Take your top 3 choices for a test run, and schedule short pilots with one or two live projects. Collect feedback from your finance team and project managers to confirm it meets your daily workflows before committing.

And that’s it, you’re done.

There isn’t a one-size fits all answer to this question. So far, we’ve covered some popular examples of project accounting solutions. It’s up to you to match your criteria with the accounting tools from the list.

You can also fast forward and book a demo with Productive – the all-in-one project management and accounting solution.

When choosing your best solution, make sure it’s comprehensive enough to cover not only your current needs but also the challenges you’ll be facing in the future. Investing in a comprehensive tool right from the start will save you the effort of migrating your data and re-learning a new tool in the future.

Secondly, make sure your tool will modernize your processes with automation for administrative tasks and time-saving features. Finally, always keep in mind how user-friendly the software is, as this will simplify initial onboarding and reduce later frustrations.

For an efficiency-focused tool tailored to professional services businesses of all shapes and sizes, book a demo with Productive.