Productive or : agency operations, compared.
Both put projects, budgets, time and resourcing in one place for agencies. Productive is a dedicated agency management tool priced per user. In , is one product priced per plan, next to briefs, reporting and client knowledge.
14 days with every product on. No card to start.
Both are good tools. They fit different agencies.
Productive fits if
- Accounting sync matters: Productive lists Xero and QuickBooks Online connections.
- You want docs written inside each project.
- You need an open API to build your own connections.
fits if
- The brief, the campaign report and the project margin should share one client record.
- You'd rather pay per plan with seats included than per user.
- You want a project agent that answers from the same formulas the screens use.
What each one does, from public pages.
Pricing model
- Productive
- Per user per month, three tiers; the top tier is quoted.
- One price per plan with seats included.
Budgets
- Productive
- Several budgets per project, spending warnings and budget forecasting.
- Typed service lines, change orders, vendors with markup, purchase orders, expenses and overhead per hour, with burn alerts.
Resourcing
- Productive
- Tentative bookings, a conflict resolver and availability that counts time off.
- Confirmed or tentative bookings, a capacity heatmap and offices with their own holidays; with , staffing ranked by skills and free hours.
Around the project
- Productive
- Docs, calendar sync, Slack and accounting connections.
- A deal can start from a brief, and a project shows its campaigns and pacing.
Where Productive is better.
- Accounting connections: Xero and QuickBooks Online are listed; sends its own invoices instead.
- An open API and docs inside projects.
- A team that only builds agency operations software.
List prices, as published.
Productive
Per user per month on Essential and Professional, Ultimate on request. Their page showed different figures for the same plan when we read it, so we don't quote one.
Source: productive.io/pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026.
Base is $99 a month for 5 seats with eight products, among them. Pro is $249 for 15 seats with all ten.
See every planHow to switch, step by step.
Start the 14-day trial: every product is on and no card is asked for.
Enter your clients, active projects and rate card. They are entered by hand today, so plan a few hours.
Bring tasks in from an Asana, monday.com or ClickUp CSV export, with a preview of every row.
Keep past timesheets in Productive for the record and log new hours in from the switch date.
After the 14-day trial (all ten products, every seat, 500 AI credits, no card), choose a plan or keep one product free, with 1 seat and 2 clients.
The products in this comparison
Sources
- productive.io/pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026
Competitor facts come from their own public pages on the date shown. Prices and plans change: check their page before you decide. Product names belong to their owners.
Other comparisons
Try it on your own clients before you decide.
Run beside Productive for one cycle, then keep the one that fits.
14 days with every product on. No card to start.