Replicon Alternatives & Competitors: Top Picks for Agencies

You’ll find the best Replicon alternatives here.

Research on tools can be time-consuming.

This is why we’re here to explore the best alternatives to Replicon, a popular solution for agency time tracking software and human resources management.

You’ll find various useful solutions with their key features, benefits, and downsides explored.

Replicon is described as a knowledge workforce management platform with solutions for time management, attendance tracking, resource scheduling, and PSA.

It’s a suitable tool for businesses across all industries, including manufacturing, construction, nonprofits, as well as IT and professional services. 

Replicon has a 4.3-star rating on G2 and a 4.5 rating on Capterra. Some of the downsides of the tool include:

Regarding the benefits of Replicon, multiple reviews underline that customer service is very responsive and helpful. Additionally, users report that they enjoy the robust feature set and that performance is, for the most part, reliable, even when taking on complex actions.

Productive is an all-in-one agency management software solution. It’s designed to support the business performance and daily workflows of agencies of all shapes and sizes.

The biggest difference between Productive and Replicon is in their comprehensiveness. Though both tools have advanced features, Productive offers this all in a single platform, while Replicon approaches this with separate modules for time tracking, PSA, and more.

According to research, more than 50% of agencies don’t use integrated platforms that enable real-time or detailed business health insights (SoDa & Productive).

However, centralizing your workstreams in one place can bring many benefits, like standardization across your project portfolio, streamlined daily workflows, and potentially reduced tech stack costs.

Let’s explore some of Productive’s key features for a more in-depth comparison.

Productive’s Time Tracking feature aims to simplify billable and non-billable hours management for employees and project managers.

This includes:

Productive’s Resource Planning feature helps you get the most out of your agency’s resources. First, create a responsive resource plan. The way you create bookings is highly flexible, so you can choose to allocate hours across percentages or specific amounts.

You can account for external staff with placeholders. If you’re unsure of how to allocate resources best, or you have unconfirmed projects or tasks, use tentative bookings. Tentative bookings can also be used as filters in your KPI reports to check the impact certain changes have on your current project performance, such as profitability. When you’re happy with your allocation, you can easily convert them into confirmed bookings.

Productive also lets you visualize and forecast your utilization, one of the key metrics of successful capacity planning. Use these insights to guide your business decisions and balance workloads across your agency.

Productive’s Budgeting feature lets you build and manage your project budgets for various types of engagements. This includes fixed-price and hourly projects. For retainers, you can automate budget creation, while complex projects can be segmented into multiple budgets for easier money management.

Set up your cost rates, manage overhead costs, and get automated warnings to prevent budget overruns with Productive.

Other essential features include:

Productive’s Project Management provides full visibility into project progress. Utilize multiple project views, including Kanban and Gantt. Manage hierarchies easily through milestones, to-dos, subtasks, and dependencies. Project updates are streamlined with customizable notifications and custom fields for statuses.

Additionally, you can invite your clients to project boards free of charge to speed up the feedback process and drive transparency across stakeholders.

Read the full story: Meet ENKI, a Small Team Behind Mighty Projects

According to Capterra, one of the biggest issues of Replicon is that:

In Productive, Reporting pulls and combines information from all your platform activities, including time tracking, resource planning, budgeting, invoicing, sales, and much more. Use more than 50 agency-focused templates and add custom fields for agency-specific parameters.

You can create visualizations, arrange them on a dashboard, and share them with relevant team members, or have them scheduled to email.

Additional features include: Sales, Docs, Automations.

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

Productive offers a 14-day free trial, so you can try it out before committing to a paid plan.

Wrike is a work management software designed to support agency project management for professional services.

Key features:

Wrike can be a good Replicon alternative for professionals who are looking for a tool designed for agencies. It offers essential support with project views, resource planning, and basic budgeting and invoicing. However, if you’re looking for advanced financial management, remember that Wrike doesn’t offer it in its basic pricing plans — you can check comparisons with other competitors, such as Wrike vs Asana, to learn more.

Timesheets.com is a billable hours tracker software for freelancers, non-profits, and other organizations.

Key features:

Timesheets can be a handy alternative to Replicon, especially for non-profits, who can get it for a discounted price. Users enjoy it as a specialized tool for time tracking with additional payroll and HR management features. However, consider that you’ll need another tool for more robust project management and resource planning.

Planview AdaptiveWork, previously known as Clarizen, is a project portfolio management software.

Key features:

Planview AdaptiveWork can be a good Replicon alternative for agency professionals who want to invest more in resource management. However, it’s notable that Planview AdaptiveWork is a complex solution that can be difficult and expensive to implement. If you don’t have enough resources to get the most out of the platform, consider a simpler, more intuitive solution instead.

UKG Pro is a workforce management platform tailored to organizations that want employee management and payroll features.

Key features:

Agencies that are looking mainly to manage their talent and workforce productivity can consider UKG Pro as their solution. However, it should be noted that the tool has some negative reviews on Capterra, with the main downside being outdated UI/UX and insufficient documentation.

Journyx is a scheduling software for mid-sized to large organizations that need to manage in-house or remote teams.

Key features:

Journyx is another good pick for time tracking software with human resource management features. Regarding pricing, Journyx offers a custom price for every agency, which can complicate and prolong the decision-making process. As a benefit, users like the fact that Journyx can be easily customized.

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

Key features:

If you’re looking for a more integrated tool, Monday.com can be a good alternative to Replicon. It provides the essential features needed to manage employee productivity and get accurate insights into project performance. However, consider that some advanced features, such as financial management and forecasting, are limited.

BigTime is a professional services automation (PSA) software with a wide range of features for productivity tracking.

Key features:

Users usually enjoy BigTime as a software platform for professional services agencies. Although they find it easy to use for the most part, some most frequently mentioned downsides include issues with the billing and reporting capabilities.

You can also check out some of the top BigTime alternatives to learn more. BigTime is also an Accelo alternative, so you can also head over to that article.

Parallax is a capacity planning software solution that provides real-time insights into agency resources.

Key features:

Parallax can be a good choice for agencies who need to improve their capacity management and forecasting. Though users mainly enjoy Parallax, the most frequently mentioned downside is that the tool can be hard to get used to, especially for ground-level team members. This is worth considering, as usability can significantly impact adoption.

BQE CORE is an architecture project management software solution with in-depth features for cost tracking and client billing.

Key features:

BQE CORE can be a great Replicon alternative for businesses within the A&E sector. As a specialized tool, it’s a top choice for architecture firms. However, agencies from different industries might find that some features don’t align perfectly with their unique workflow requirements or needs.

Paychex Flex is an HR platform with tax compliance, automated payroll and other project based accounting capabilities.

Key features:

While users find the platform easy to use and navigate, a notable downside is the customer service. Multiple reviews mention that their representative is not easy to get a hold of and that resolving issues can be a lengthy process.

Toggl Track is a time tracking app known for its user-friendly and intuitive interface.

Key features:

You can’t go wrong using Toggl Track as your professional services time tracking software. For essential project budget and cost tracking features, Toggl Track can be a great Replicon alternative. However, for more robust project management and resource planning features, a more comprehensive tool might be better.

Projector PSA is a software solution from BigTime that provides detailed insights into agency operations.

Key features:

Projector PSA is well-reviewed overall and considered a good solution for professional services agencies. Some users mention that the UX has room to improve. The pricing is fully custom, which can prolong the decision-making process, as it requires contacting the sales team.

Smartsheet is a project management tool that helps cross-functional and individual teams manage their work.

Key features:

Although Smartsheet has some powerful features for agencies, it might not be the best solution for users looking for a modernized user experience. The app is designed specifically to appeal to users of spreadsheets, and some reviews have called it outdated compared to similar tools (learn more in our list to the top Adobe Workfont competitors).

We’ve explored a variety of potential options to use as a Replicon alternative, some that are more complex, some that specialize in a certain functionality, and others that are suited for specific industries.

There is often no single best choice for agencies, as your ideal tool depends significantly on your agency’s needs and circumstances. However, consider three additional criteria: user-friendliness, scalability, and comprehensiveness. An all-in-one tool with a modern interface can go a long way toward helping you achieve your agency’s full potential.

To find out more about the benefits of comprehensive agency management tools, book a demo with Productive.

Yes, Replicon is a cloud-based software solution, which means that it can be accessed online and implemented more conveniently than enterprise alternatives. Cloud-based tools are slightly less secure but offer more flexibility and ease of use.

Replicon is a knowledge workforce management platform that offers modules suitable for various industries. This includes time tracking and attendance management tools, human resources management, and PSA and project portfolio management (PPM) software. It’s a popular software choice for business performance management in manufacturing, construction, non-profit, IT, and professional services industries. It’s also a well-known Harvest alternative.