Software for consultancy in 2026: the best tools for each job

Software for consultancy covers the tools a consulting firm runs on: a CRM such as HubSpot or Pipedrive to win work, Asana or a client portal to deliver it, Harvest or Toggl to bill for it, and a PSA suite such as Productive or Scoro once staffing people across projects gets hard.

Below, we sort the 15 best tools for consultants by job, with prices from each vendor’s own pricing page and an honest answer on when a PSA suite pays off.

Reviewed October 2026. Prices come from each vendor’s own pricing page and change often.

What is software for consultancy?

Software for consultancy is any tool that helps a consulting firm do one of four jobs:

• Win work. CRM software tracks clients, contacts, referrals and opportunities, and proposal software sends proposals and collects e-signatures.
• Deliver. Project management software tracks tasks and deadlines, and client portal software shows each client where their project stands.
• Get paid. Time tracking software records billable hours, and invoicing or accounting software bills clients and keeps the books.
• Run the firm. Resource management software shows who is free next month, and reporting shows which projects make money.

A CRM is built around the sale. A professional services automation (PSA) suite, often sold as consulting management software, is built around delivery: projects, budgets, time, resourcing and invoicing in one product, sometimes with a light CRM included.

Most small firms use neither at first. They run on a pipeline spreadsheet, a utilization sheet and a client list, plus a lot of email. That works until clients want status updates you have to assemble by hand, or until nobody can say who is free for the next engagement.

Consulting software compared: which tool does each job?

Firm sizes are a rough guide: small means under 10 people, mid-size means 10 to 100.

Job	Tool	Price to start	Good for firm size
Win work	HubSpot	Free for up to 2 users	Any size
Win work	Pipedrive	$14/seat/month, billed annually	Small to mid-size
Win work	PandaDoc (proposals)	Free for 5 documents a month; Business $49/seat/month, billed annually	Solo to mid-size
Deliver	Asana	Free for 2 users; Starter $10.99/user/month, billed annually	Solo to mid-size
Deliver	Notion	Free; Plus $10/member/month, billed yearly	Solo to small
Deliver	Softr	Free; Basic $19/month, billed yearly	Small to mid-size
Deliver	GoodTaco (our product)	Free plan; paid from $9/month	Solo to mid-size
Get paid	Harvest	Free for 1 seat; Teams $9/seat/month, billed annually	Solo to mid-size
Get paid	Toggl (formerly Toggl Track)	Free for up to 3 users; Starter $9/user/month, billed annually	Solo to mid-size
Get paid	Xero (accounting)	Early $27/month after a 3-month intro price	Solo to mid-size
Run the firm	Float (resourcing)	$7 per scheduled person/month, billed annually	Small to mid-size
Run the firm	Avaza	Free; Startup $9.96/month, billed annually	Solo to small
Run the firm	Productive	$10/user/month, billed yearly (3-seat minimum)	Small to mid-size
Run the firm	Scoro	$17/user/month, billed annually (5-user minimum)	Small to large
Run the firm	Kantata	Pricing on request	Mid-size and large

Win work: which CRM should consultants use?

For a consulting firm, a CRM is less about volume and more about relationships: who introduced you, which past clients might buy again, and which proposals are waiting on a decision. HubSpot gives you more room to grow; Pipedrive keeps you focused on the pipeline. To send the proposals themselves and collect e-signatures, proposal software such as PandaDoc is free for 5 documents a month, and its Business plan for sales proposals is $49 per seat per month billed annually.

1. HubSpot

HubSpot is a CRM platform with free tools plus paid hubs for sales, marketing and service.

• Best for: firms that want a free CRM now and the option to add marketing and service tools later.
• Pricing: the free tools cost $0 for up to 2 users. Sales Hub Starter is currently shown at $7 per seat per month billed annually or $10 monthly. Professional is $90 per seat per month billed annually, or $100 paid monthly on an annual commitment, plus a required one-time $1,500 onboarding fee (HubSpot pricing).
• Watch out for: forecasting and sequences sit on Professional, so the jump from Starter is steep.
• Verdict: the safe default if you want to start free and grow into one platform.

2. Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a sales CRM built around your deal pipeline, with lead, calendar and pipeline management on every plan.

• Best for: small firms where the partners sell and deliver, and need a clear pipeline with reminders.
• Pricing: Lite is $14 per seat per month billed annually or $24 billed monthly. Growth ($39 a seat, billed annually) adds email sync and automations, and Premium ($59 billed annually; $79 monthly) adds contracts and e-signatures. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial (Pipedrive pricing).
• Watch out for: there’s no free plan; project tracking is a paid Projects add-on (from $16.66), and time tracking and invoicing live elsewhere.
• Verdict: pick it over HubSpot if a focused pipeline matters more to you than a free plan.

If your pipeline lives in a spreadsheet and a full CRM feels like too much, you can build a CRM on the sheet you already use.

What should a CRM track for consulting engagements?

Whatever tool you choose, make sure each client record covers:

• The client company, the decision makers and who introduced you.
• The opportunity: stage, estimated value and expected start date.
• The proposal: when you sent it, the fee and where it stands.
• The engagement type: fixed fee, time and materials, or retainer.
• The next step and its date, so no conversation stalls quietly.
• Past engagements, so renewals and follow-on work are easy to spot.

Deliver: what is the best project management software for consultants?

Good consulting project management software connects tasks to hours and budgets. If you bill by time or against a budget, look at the PSA suites further down: Avaza and Productive both include project management. If you only need tasks, documents and a place to share progress, the four tools below are lighter, and each gives clients somewhere to check progress instead of emailing you, which is what a client portal is for.

3. Asana

Asana is a project management tool with list, board, calendar and timeline views.

• Best for: firms that want a real project tool clients can join.
• Pricing: free for 2 users; Starter is $10.99 per user per month billed annually, with unlimited free guests for clients; Advanced ($24.99 billed annually) adds time tracking, resource management and approvals (Asana pricing).
• Watch out for: timesheets, budgets and rate cards are a paid add-on.
• Verdict: project management without buying a PSA.

4. Notion

Notion is a workspace for docs, notes and databases.

• Best for: small firms that want project notes, task lists and client-facing pages in one place.
• Pricing: free plan; Plus is $10 per member per month and Business is $20, both billed yearly. Guests are free: 10 on the Free plan and unlimited on paid plans (Notion pricing).
• Watch out for: guests can only open the individual pages you invite them to, so a portal for 20 clients means managing sharing page by page, and clients work inside Notion.
• Verdict: an easy, low-cost way to share project pages with clients if your team already lives in Notion.

5. Softr

Softr builds client portals and internal tools on its own database or on data you connect, including Airtable, Google Sheets, HubSpot and Notion.

• Best for: firms that want a branded client portal with per-user permissions, built with AI or a no-code editor.
• Pricing: free plan; Basic is $19 a month billed yearly with 5 team and 5 client users. Pro is $99 a month billed yearly and adds Google sign-in for app users and granular permissions, with 10 team and 50 client users (Softr pricing).
• Watch out for: Softr counts app users by unique email. Clients count as client users, and so does anyone who signs in with a free email address such as Gmail, so cost grows with your client list.
• Verdict: a strong portal builder if you want hands-on control of every page and your client count fits the plan.

6. GoodTaco (our product)

GoodTaco is an AI app builder for business apps. You describe the tool you need in plain language, and it builds a working web app with screens, forms, search, dashboards and sign-in in minutes.

• Best for: consultancies that already run their pipeline, utilization or client list in Google Sheets or Airtable, and want a client portal, a utilization dashboard or a proposal tracker on top.
• Pricing: free plan with no credit card; paid plans start at $9 a month, and Pro is $49 a month. Pricing is per workspace, not per app user.
• How your data works: the app reads and writes the Google Sheet you already use, so the sheet stays the source of truth. It also works with an Airtable base, or with a built-in database when you start from scratch or upload an Excel or CSV file.
• Watch out for: GoodTaco doesn’t send invoices or take payments, and it isn’t a ready-made PSA. Keep a time tracker and your accounting software for billing.
• Verdict: the pick if your firm’s real system is a set of spreadsheets and you’d rather build the exact tool you need than pay for a suite you half use.

Our client portal template guide lists the columns to set up in your Google Sheet before you build.

Get paid: which time tracking software should consultants use?

Time tracking software improves profitability for consultants in three ways: it captures billable hours that would otherwise go unbilled, shows each person’s utilization (billable hours as a share of available hours), and warns you when a fixed-fee project is burning through its budget. A consultant billing $150 an hour who forgets to log two hours a week costs the firm $300 a week.

7. Harvest

Harvest is time tracking with invoicing and expense tracking built in.

• Best for: firms that want logged hours to turn into invoices without a second tool.
• Pricing: free for 1 seat and 2 projects. Teams is $9 per seat per month billed annually or $11 monthly, and connects to Stripe, QuickBooks Online and Xero. Enterprise ($14 a seat, billed annually) adds profitability reporting and timesheet approvals (Harvest pricing).
• Watch out for: Harvest says that as your team grows, additional invoices, projects, clients and tasks are billed based on use, so model your volume before you commit.
• Verdict: the simplest path from logged hours to a sent invoice.

8. Toggl

Toggl is a time tracker with manual and real-time timers, calendar integrations and team reports.

• Best for: teams that want accurate timesheets and profit-per-project reports, and already send invoices from accounting software.
• Pricing: free for up to 3 users. Starter is $9 per user per month billed annually or $12 monthly and adds billable rates. Premium is $16 billed annually or $24 monthly and adds profitability reports, fixed-fee projects and timesheet approvals (Toggl pricing).
• Watch out for: Toggl isn’t an invoicing tool. You export billable time as CSV or PDF into the invoicing tool you already use.
• Verdict: the better pick if clean timesheets and profit per project matter more to you than built-in invoicing.

For invoices and the books, accounting software such as Xero costs $27 a month on its Early plan after a 3-month intro price, and Harvest connects to it.

If your team logs hours in a shared spreadsheet today, our timesheet template guide lists the columns to set up, and GoodTaco builds the app on that sheet, with approvals if you ask for them.

Run the firm: which PSA suite fits a consulting firm?

PSA suites, also called consulting management software or consulting firm software, connect the chain from proposal to cash. The proposal becomes a project budget, the project gets staffed, hours are logged against it, and the invoice uses those hours. Most PSA suites are priced per user, so cost grows with headcount. If resourcing is your only gap, resource management software such as Float schedules people across projects for $7 per scheduled person per month, billed annually.

9. Avaza

Avaza combines projects, timesheets, expenses, resource scheduling and invoicing in one app.

• Best for: solo consultants and small firms that want one inexpensive tool for time, projects and invoices.
• Pricing: free plan for 1 timesheet user, 5 active projects, 10 customers and 5 invoices a month. Startup is $9.96 a month billed annually ($11.95 monthly) for 2 timesheet users and 20 active projects, and extra users cost $5.83 a month billed annually (Avaza pricing).
• Watch out for: lower tiers cap active projects and monthly invoices, so check the limits against your client list.
• Verdict: a low-cost way to get time, projects and invoices in one place.

10. Productive

Productive is a PSA platform covering budgeting, resource planning, projects, time tracking, expenses, reporting and invoicing, with a sales CRM.

• Best for: growing firms that want budgets, resourcing and billing connected without an enterprise rollout.
• Pricing: Essential is $10 per user per month billed yearly ($12 monthly), with a 3-seat minimum. Professional is $25 billed yearly ($29 monthly), and Ultimate is quoted. There’s a 14-day free trial (Productive pricing).
• Watch out for: rate cards and billable time approvals sit on Professional, not Essential.
• Verdict: a strong middle ground between a light stack and an enterprise PSA.

11. Scoro

Scoro is a modular PSA made of eight apps, including Sell for CRM, Deliver for projects, Track for time, Resource for capacity and Invoice for billing.

• Best for: firms of 5 or more people that want to pay only for the parts they use.
• Pricing: combinations start at $17 per user per month billed annually ($20 monthly) for Time-billing (Track and Invoice). Projects & Resources is $29 and End-to-end, with all eight apps, is $57, billed annually. There’s a 5-user minimum and a 14-day free trial (Scoro pricing).
• Watch out for: add-ons, including the customer portal, are priced separately, and the free self-onboarding package only covers teams of up to 15 people.
• Verdict: a flexible choice if you want the full quote-to-cash chain without buying all of it on day one.

12. Kantata

Kantata is a PSA platform focused on resourcing, forecasting, delivery and financials for services firms.

• Best for: larger firms where matching people to projects by skills and availability is the main problem.
• Pricing: no public prices. Kantata tailors plans to your company size and goals after you fill in a form (Kantata pricing).
• Watch out for: you can’t compare cost until you’ve talked to one of its advisors.
• Verdict: worth a look once resourcing across dozens of consultants is your biggest headache.

Is PSA software worth it for a 50-person consulting firm?

Usually, yes, if three things are true: most of your revenue is billed by time or tracked against budgets, people split their weeks across several projects, and someone owns the rollout. At 50 people, “who is free for the new project?” gets hard to answer from a spreadsheet, and that’s the problem a PSA is built to solve.

Run the numbers first. At list prices, 50 users on Productive Professional cost $1,250 a month billed yearly, and 50 users on Scoro End-to-end cost $2,850 a month billed annually, before add-ons. If a PSA helps each consultant bill one more hour a month at $150, that’s $7,500 a month across 50 people, which covers either one.

It’s not worth it if most of your work is fixed-fee retainers with stable teams. Then a CRM, a time tracker and a simple project tracker stay cheaper and easier. Rollout effort also grows with headcount: Scoro’s free self-onboarding covers teams of up to 15, and it tailors onboarding for teams of more than 50.

At 100 people, the question is usually which PSA, not whether, so test a modular suite such as Scoro against a resourcing-first platform such as Kantata on your real projects.

Firm size	A stack that usually works	Watch for
Solo	HubSpot free tools, Toggl or Harvest on a free plan, Notion	Hiring your first consultant
2 to 20 people	HubSpot or Pipedrive, Harvest or Toggl, Asana or a client portal on your spreadsheets	Staffing that takes hours every week
20 to 50 people	A CRM plus Avaza, Productive or Scoro	No clear view of margin by project
50 to 100+ people	Productive, Scoro or Kantata, connected to your CRM and accounting software	Rollout and onboarding effort

How to choose software for your consultancy

Work through these criteria in order:

1. Where your data lives. Decide whether to move your sheets into a vendor’s database or build on them, and check you can export your records.
2. Who signs in. Count staff and clients separately, because some tools charge for client logins, some include guests for free, and some sell the client portal as an add-on.
3. Cost per person. Multiply the per-seat price by your headcount, then add seat minimums and one-time onboarding fees.
4. Free plan limits. Check caps on users, projects and invoices against your real numbers, not your first month.
5. How you bill. Make sure the tool reports on the way you price work: time and materials, fixed fees or retainers.
6. Accounting. Hours and invoices should reach your accounting software without retyping.
7. Client access. Check how clients sign in and whether each one sees only their own records.

Where GoodTaco fits: a client portal on your own spreadsheets

Most small consultancies already run on spreadsheets: a pipeline sheet, a utilization sheet and a client list. Suites ask you to move that work into their database and pay per seat. GoodTaco builds on the sheets you already keep.

1. Add a client email column to your project tracker, so each project names the client contact who should see it.
2. Connect your Google Sheet or Airtable base, or upload an Excel or CSV file with no account and create a free account within 24 hours to keep it.
3. Describe the portal in plain language and ask GoodTaco to show each client only the projects that match their email.
4. Make the app private so clients sign in with Google or an email magic link; before inviting clients, sign in as a test client and check you see only their projects.

Keep Harvest or Toggl for time and your accounting software for invoices, since GoodTaco doesn’t do invoicing or payments. It also connects to Zoho CRM, Jira, Smartsheet and Zendesk if some of your work lives there. See how it works for professional services firms.

Turn the spreadsheets your firm already trusts into a client portal. Start free, no credit card needed.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best project management software for consultants?

If you bill by time or against budgets, choose a PSA suite that ties tasks to hours and budgets, such as Productive or Avaza. If you want a project tool clients can join without buying a PSA, Asana's Starter plan includes unlimited free guests, and Notion is enough for simple task lists and client updates.

How does time tracking software improve profitability for consultants?

It captures billable hours that would otherwise go unbilled, shows how much of each person's week is billable, and warns you when a fixed-fee project is running over budget. Those numbers show you where to raise rates or rescope work.

What are the most important CRM features for consulting firms?

A pipeline with stages that match how you sell, activity history on every contact and company, reminders for next steps, and a simple report of proposals won and lost. Email sequences and marketing automation matter less for firms that win work through relationships.

How much does consulting software cost?

At October 2026 list prices, HubSpot's free tools cost nothing for up to 2 users and Pipedrive starts at $14 per seat per month billed annually. Harvest and Toggl have free plans; paid plans start at $9 per seat per month, billed annually. PSA suites start at $9.96 a month for 2 users on Avaza, $10 per user per month on Productive and $17 per user per month on Scoro, all billed annually, while Kantata quotes on request.

Can a small consultancy build its own software from spreadsheets?

Yes. With an AI app builder such as GoodTaco, you describe the tool you need, like a client portal or a utilization dashboard, and it builds a working app on the Google Sheet or Airtable base you already use, or from an Excel or CSV file you upload. Keep a separate tool for invoicing and payments.