Top Project Management Software With a Client Portal in 2024

Emails, Slack messages, meetings — project management software with client portal can significantly streamline all of this back-and-forth with clients.

Here’s our review of project management tools with client portals and what they’re best for:

Productive is a comprehensive, one-stop-shop solution for managing client projects and broader agency operations.

It includes features for helping you manage various aspects of professional services workflows, including:

Here are some of its key features:

With Productive’s Client Portal feature, you can invite clients into your project workspace free of charge.

You can manage what your clients see and do on the platform with the custom Permission Builder — basic permissions let them see, comment on, and open tasks, while advanced permissions give access to certain financial and time tracking information.

You can also set up custom dashboards and add widgets with various information that clients might find interesting, such as task statuses or billable time. With real-time updates, clients can check project progress whenever they need to.

Learn how you can support seamless team collaboration with Productive.

With Productive’s Project Management features, you can switch between multiple views to visualize your project tasks and track project progress. This includes Gantt, Workload, Kanban, List, Calendar, and more.

When it comes to task management, you have various ways to communicate and collaborate with internal teams and clients.

This includes various task hierarchies (to-dos, milestones, dependencies), a comment history, time estimates (and a timer that you can run from the task), custom task fields, notifications, and more.

You can also use no-code Automations to streamline various repetitive tasks, such as updating someone manually on task progress in Slack.

With Productive’s Budgeting, you can build and manage various types of project budgets, including fixed, time & materials, and retainer.

You can not only monitor your budget burn in real time, but also forecast it along with revenue and profitability based on your resource scheduling.

When the time comes, you can use the Billing feature to create invoices by pulling your budgeting information. Productive also includes a native Xero and QuickBooks integration.

Productive has a Resource Planning feature, which includes Time Off Management for enhanced availability insights and utilization forecasting.

You can use placeholders to account for hiring additional staff, or plan for unconfirmed engagements with tentative bookings.

For Reporting, you can access information from all of these features listed above: this includes time tracking, budgeting, expenses, scheduling, availability, tasks, and more.

Reports can be created by editing a template from the Reports Library, or you can create one from scratch. To share reports, you can export your reports as a .pdf file, or even better, schedule them to be sent automatically to Slack or email.

You can also build custom dashboards, add reports with widgets, and share them with relevant parties.

Additional features: Sales CRM, Revenue Recognition, Purchase Orders, Docs, AI

Productive offers various 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, and SAP for HRM; Jira and Memtime for time tracking; and more.

You can also try out a 14-day free trial.

ClickUp is a work management software best for businesses interested in essential clients project management, without the need for advanced financial oversight.

Key features:

Pros: ClickUp is a very solid project management software solution. It has a lot of functionalities for real-time collaboration and communication and it’s fairly flexible, according to customer reviews.

Cons: ClickUp doesn’t have features for financial management, which impacts the type of data clients can access through the client portal.

Additionally, there are some issues with user experience (bugs and performance). You can learn more here: ClickUp vs Asana vs Monday.

Copilot is best as an additional client communication tool used alongside a more advanced option, as it lacks time tracking, resource planning, and budgeting.

Copilot, previously known as Portal, is a tool dedicated to enabling client communication.

Key features:

Pros: Copilot includes several handy features from specialized platforms, so you can combine something like Slack + DocuSign + Google Forms.

Cons: Copilot doesn’t have project management features, so clients won’t be able to get insights into their progress or other project-related data.

This makes it best as tool that’s an addition to your current project management tool, such as Productive.

We also covered Copilot as one of the top Hello Bonsai alternatives.

Fusebase is best for knowledge management, including documentation and note making, but isn’t a comprehensive solution for client projects.

Fusebase, formerly known as Nimbus, is another tool specialized for seamless communication with clients.

Key features:

Pros: Fusebase is a great alternative option for knowledge management tools such as Obsidian or Notion. Many users on Capterra state that it’s their favorite note-taking tool.

Cons: While Fusebase does offer a customizable and secure client portal, it’s best used as an addition to a tool like Productive (or some of Productive’s alternatives) due to a lack of project-facing features.

Monday.com is best for generalized work management and sharing projects with clients, but doesn’t support billable hours or project budget management.

Key features:

Pros: Monday.com can be a versatile workspace for seamless collaboration across stakeholders. It also offers a free version which can be appealing to smaller teams.

Cons: If you use Monday.com, you’ll need to invest in a separate billable hours tracker and cost management software option, as these features are not available.

Basecamp is best for small teams due to its user-friendly interface, but it’s not great for complex projects or larger service businesses.

Key features:

Pros: Basecamp is a simple option that streamlines your client onboarding (you can also check out Trello or Asana if that’s what you’re looking for).

Cons: While Basecamp is a good option for enhanced collaboration, you’ll need to switch to a more centralized platform when your business grows.

MeisterTask is best for simple task management with its straightforward user interface, but lacks extensive features and advanced real-time insights.

Key features:

Pros: MeisterTask has an intuitive interface that offers a streamlined project management client experience.

Cons: Like Basecamp, MeisterTask lacks the wide range of features needed for comprehensive agency management.

Wrike is best for project management combined with resource planning and budgeting, though the latter is available only in the most expensive plan.

Key features:

Pros: Has a good range of features for managing various project types and making data-driven decisions.

Cons: While Wrike does offer advanced project management capabilities, there are no agency CRM features, and budgeting is exclusive to the most expensive plan.

Check out our Wrike vs Asana review to learn more.

Jira is best for software development teams and agile project management, though it can have a steep learning curve for creative agencies and similar project requirements.

Key features:

Pros: Jira is one of the most popular solutions for software development teams and agile project workflows.

Cons: Businesses with different types of projects won’t be able to get the most out of Jira, and creatives may find it unintuitive to use (check out creative agency tools to learn more).

A client portal is usually a solution within a project management tool that allows clients to access project information of various kinds. They also allow for direct collaboration and communication between clients and service providers.

The project management client portal usually includes features such as file sharing, project tracking (including task management), commenting, and information on budgeting and time entries.

While you can certainly make do without a client portal, it will make things more difficult for project managers.
Client portals enable real-time collaboration and seamless communication within a single project management solution, the one your project teams are used to.

This means that all relevant information will be centralized in a single location, so nothing will get lost in Slack, emails, and other tools.

Additionally, it makes it so that clients don’t have to spend time reaching out for progress reports, and project managers don’t have to invest as much time in putting them together — it’s all there in your project management software with client portals.

The main questions you need to ask when searching for client portal software are:

Other than these specific concerns, consider the type of tool your agency needs most.

Some options will offer advanced features such as budgeting, forecasting, and flexible reporting, while other tools are more suitable for simple collaboration and communication.

To find the best client portal project management solutions, you should carefully consider your business needs, including industry segments, size, and budgets.

A tool like Basecamp and MeisterTask can be optimal for smaller teams with less project experience, while options like Jira or Fusebase offer great specialized solutions.

Productive is the best option for agencies looking for a true all-in-one solution.

With resource planning, budgeting, and project management, Productive provides a single platform for managing all agency operations.

To learn more, book a demo with Productive today.