Top Project Management Software With a Client Portal in 2024

Lucija Bakić

September 18, 2024

A screenshot of a project management software with client portal showing a task titled "Motion graphics" with comments, attachments, and task status details. The task is assigned to Carmen Williamson, with a due date of May 5, 2024, and a high priority. The interface includes options for adding subtasks, dependencies, and Figma links, with a comment section showing user discussions about adding animations to a website.

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:

List of 9 Project Management Software With Client Portal

  • Productive — best for all-in-one client project management
  • ClickUp — best for flexible workflows
  • Copilot — best for basic client collaboration
  • Fusebase — best for knowledge management
  • Monday.com — best for general work management
  • Basecamp — best for small teams
  • MeisterTask — best for task management
  • Wrike — best for resource planning
  • Jira —best for software development

Productive — Best for All-in-One Client Project Management

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:

  • Project management with a client portal feature for collaboration
  • Resource planning and budgeting for improved project delivery
  • Flexible reporting and forecasting for informed decision-making

Here are some of its key features:

Client Portal

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.

We also love the ability to invite our clients into the projects. It takes the middle man out of the equation, no need to go back and forth via e-mail, we can get all of the feedback within Productive.


Alex Streltsov,
GENERAL MANAGER AT PROLEX MEDIA

Learn how you can support seamless team collaboration with Productive.

Project and Task Management

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.

A screenshot of a project management software with client portal displaying a timeline for blog post tasks under "Plan and estimate." The timeline shows tasks such as "Visual direction," "Explore concepts," "Create moodboards," and "Branding assets" scheduled over the course of two weeks. Each task is color-coded and connected with dependency lines, illustrating their sequence and duration.


Manage your project timelines with Productive’s Gantt Chart

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.

Budgeting and Billing

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.

Resource Planning

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.


Get full visibility of your resource allocation

Reporting

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.

A screenshot of a project management software with client portal displaying a "New budgets insights" chart grouped by company. The bar graph compares revenue and margin for ABC Company, Cupcake Project, and Website Redesign, with a dropdown menu allowing further grouping options and a checkbox to show only totals.


Productive is a single source of truth for your agency’s data

Integrations

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.

Pricing

  • Plans start with the Essential plan at $9 per user per month, which includes essential features such as budgeting, project & task management, docs, time tracking, expense management, reporting, and time off management.
  • The Professional plan includes custom fields, recurring budgets, advanced reports, billable time approvals, and many more for $24 per user per month.
  • The Ultimate plan has everything that the Essential plan and Professional plan offer, along with the HubSpot integration, advanced forecasting, advanced custom fields, overhead calculations, and more for $32 per user per month.

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

Get Seamless Collaboration With Productive

Share your project progress and communicate with clients in an all-in-one agency management platform.

Book a demo

2. ClickUp — Best for Flexible Workflows

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

Key features:

  • Customizable dashboards
  • Time management
  • Workload view for basic capacity management
  • Sprint management
  • Documentation and whiteboards
A screenshot of a project management software with client portal displaying a "Release Project" task list view. The tasks are grouped under "Issues Found" and "Review," showing details like task names, assignees, due dates, stages (e.g., initiation, planning, execution), and priority. Tasks include "Update contractor agreement," "Budget assessment," and "Resource allocation," with corresponding assignees and tracked statuses.


SOurce: clickup

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.

3. Copilot — Best for Basic Client Collaboration

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:

  • Messaging app
  • Invoicing and payments tracking
  • File-sharing
  • Contract management
  • Customizable forms
A screenshot of a project management software with client portal showing a client list for Acme Corp. The list includes client names, emails, companies, and addresses for major brands like McDonald’s, Apple, Starbucks, Chase, Amazon, and Target. The left-hand sidebar provides navigation options such as Messages, Files, Billing, and Helpdesk.


Source: copilot

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.

4. Fusebase — Best for Knowledge Management

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:

  • White-label client portal
  • Client data management
  • Knowledge management
  • Essential project management
  • Optional CRM module
A screenshot of a project management software with client portal displaying a "Project Plan" for a marketing analysis project. The plan outlines objectives such as evaluating current marketing strategies, analyzing market trends, and identifying the target audience. Each objective is assigned to a team member, with their responsibilities and priority ratings listed in a table format. The interface includes options to "Add to portal" and "Ask AI" at the top.


source: fusebase

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.

5. Monday.com — Best for General Work Management

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:

  • Customizable workflows
  • No-code automations
  • Flexible dashboards
  • Essential resource management
A screenshot of a project management software with client portal showing a task list for "This month." The tasks include "Finalize kickoff materials," "Refine objectives," "Resources," and "Test plan," each assigned to an owner. The status of tasks is indicated by color-coded labels such as "Done," "Working on it," and "Stuck."


source: monday.com

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.

Scheduling was a real pain with Monday and Productive made things so much easier, especially since Gantt charts were released. Being able to allocate time per task was a big deal for me since I could finally see how much time each person is spending on a project and how much capacity we have.

Alex Streltsov,
General Manager at Prolex Media

6. Basecamp — Best for Small Teams

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:

  • One-page dashboard
  • Task assignments
  • File-sharing
  • Various project views
  • Third-party integrations
A screenshot of a project management software with client portal showing three pinned projects: "Marketing: Swag," "Enormicom HQ," and "What Works." Each project card displays a brief description and avatars of team members, with options to make a new project or invite people at the top.


source: basecamp

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.

When we knew we were going to move off of Basecamp, we were looking for a platform that would give us the most of what we were hoping for. For us, the biggest selling point was that we were able to use Productive for the sales funnel along with project management and invoicing—and time tracking, too.

Michelle Pittell,
Co-President at Brand Labs

7. MeisterTask — Best for Task Management

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

Key features:

  • Task boards
  • Gantt chart view
  • Documentation and document sharing
  • Time tracking
  • Workflow automations
A screenshot of a project management software with client portal showing a "Tasks per Section" report. The bar chart displays tasks grouped by project, such as Marketing Requests and Social Media Campaigns, across 12 weeks. Each bar is color-coded to represent different projects, with a task list below showing project names, creation dates, assignees, and due dates. The left sidebar includes navigation options like Dashboard, Agenda, and Reports.


source: meistertask

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.

8. Wrike — Best for Resource Planning

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:

  • Project templates
  • Time tracking
  • Workload charts
  • Project budgeting
  • Customizable reports
A screenshot of a project management software with client portal displaying a Gantt chart for the Creative Team. The chart tracks tasks like "Design eBook," "Brainstorm," "Create template," and "Write a TV Ad Script," with start and due dates from February to April. Color-coded bars and arrows represent task durations and dependencies, showing a clear project timeline.


source: wrike

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.

9. Jira — Best for Software Development

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:

  • Kanban and Scrum boards
  • Sprints and backlog management
  • Velocity and burndown charts
  • Native GitHub and Figma integration
A screenshot of a project management software with client portal showing two task columns: "To Do" with 12 tasks and "In Progress" with 4 tasks. Tasks include "Implement feedback collector," "Bump version for new API for billing," and "Tech spike on new Stripe integration with PayPal." Each task displays task IDs, assignees, and relevant progress indicators.


source: jira

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).

What Is a Client Portal?

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.

Why You Need Project Management Software With Client Portals

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.

Choosing the Top Client Portal Software

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

  • What kind of security measures does the tool have (SOC2)?
  • Is the client portal access free or paid for additionally?
  • Is there a system in place to manage user permissions?
  • Can the client portal be customized with the agency’s branding?

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.

So, Which Project Planning Software Should You Choose?

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.

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Lucija Bakić

Content Specialist

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