Client and project management software for service companies

People who search for “CRM and project management software” usually need one of two things. Which one you need decides the tool.

A sales CRM works before the deal. It holds leads, contacts, deal stages and the next follow-up, and it answers one question: who might buy, and when? Whoever sells is its main user.

Client management starts after the deal. It holds what was agreed, the projects and tasks that deliver it, the hours spent, the invoices sent and what is still unpaid. Its question is different: what did we promise this client, what has it cost us, and have they paid? Project leads, the team and finance use it every week.

CRM core is released, subject to plan, role and permissions. Proposal drafts, won-deal handoff and manual forecasts have plan limits; inbox and integrations require separate setup. AI and private capture remain in development. Review CRM access and limits.

In PLYNTUM a client is more than a line in a contact list. The client record is where the work and the money for that client meet. On one record you find:

• Agreements: what was agreed with the client, kept next to the work it covers.
• Projects and tasks: every job for the client, with owners and dates, in list, board, calendar and timeline views.
• Requests and approvals: what the client asked for, who owns it and what was signed off.
• Hours: time is logged by hand against tasks. Each hour belongs to a task, the task to a project and the project to the client. Every logged hour counts in project cost; from Core, a manager approves timesheets, which locks each week.
• Expenses: direct costs recorded on the project and counted in its profitability.
• Invoices, payments and receivables: basic invoices on every plan, recurring invoices from Core, and a clear view of what is still unpaid. The finance overview shows how they fit together.
• Files and team chat about the work, in the same workspace.

Because hours, expenses and invoices share one record, project profitability stops being a month-end spreadsheet. It is logged hours at each person’s loaded hourly cost, plus direct expenses, set against the project value. The salary figures behind those costs are visible to leadership only.

Say a design studio has a retainer client who pays $4,000 a month for up to 50 hours of design and copywriting. The studio is on Core, so a manager approves timesheets and the invoice recurs. Here is one month, from the agreement to what is left.

1. The scope becomes tasks

The agreement says 50 hours a month. The project lead turns this month’s agreed work into tasks (a landing page, six social posts and a newsletter) and assigns them to a designer and a copywriter.

2. Hours are logged and approved

Both log time against their tasks. At month end the manager reviews and approves the timesheets: 32 hours for the designer and 24 for the copywriter, 56 approved hours in all.

3. The invoice goes out on schedule

A recurring invoice for $4,000 goes out at the start of each month. Until the client pays, it sits in receivables on the same record.

4. The record shows what is left

The margin looks healthy, but the hours tell a second story. The client used 56 hours against 50 agreed: 6 hours over scope. At the retainer’s own rate of $80 an hour ($4,000 ÷ 50), that is $480 of work given away, and the effective rate fell to about $71.43 an hour ($4,000 ÷ 56). This is scope creep, and here you see it in the month it happens, not at renewal. You can raise it with the client now, with the approved hours as evidence, or change the fee when the retainer renews. The guide to client profitability shows how to read these figures across all your clients.

From the Core plan, each client can have a scoped client portal. Scoped means the client sees their own work and nothing else: not other clients, not your team’s internal notes, not your costs. Salary figures stay visible to your leadership only.

In practice the portal replaces the weekly status email. The client opens a private link and sees their projects with status and deadlines, their invoices and payments, and what is still outstanding. The portal is read-only; see the client portal for what it shows. When they ask for something new, add it as a task with an owner, so it does not get lost in someone’s inbox.

The portal is not part of Launch. If client access matters to you, compare plans on the pricing page: Core is $150 a month for 10 members, or $120 a month billed annually.

Some owners run more than one company: an agency and a production studio, say, or two legal entities in different countries. In PLYNTUM each company gets its own workspace, with its own clients, projects, members and permissions, and you move between them under one login. This is included in every plan.

What you gain is separation. A client of one company never appears in the other’s lists, invoices stay with the company that issues them, and a freelancer invited into one workspace sees nothing of the other.

Know the limits before you move your clients in.

• Inbox channels and emailing proposals to clients are not part of CRM core. CRM core covers contacts, organizations, opportunities and a pipeline for eligible users.
• No email marketing or telephony. You cannot send campaigns or make calls from PLYNTUM.
• Not accounting software. There is no ledger, no bank feeds, no tax filing and no payroll. Your accountant uses their own software for the books.
• No e-signature or document assembly. Contracts are drafted and signed elsewhere.
• No automatic desktop time capture. Hours are logged by hand.
• No ticketing or IT helpdesk. If you look after clients’ computers and networks, you need a different kind of tool.

If a sales pipeline is what you need most, choose a tool that has one today. Here are three that also cover delivery, with prices from the vendors’ own pages (annual billing unless stated, excluding tax):

PLYNTUM Core costs $120 a month billed annually for 10 members. So, plainly: Bitrix24 Standard costs less for 10 people, although manager approval of timesheets, project profitability from logged hours and a client portal were not stated on the Bitrix24 pages we read. Productive costs more but gives you the pipeline now. On language, PLYNTUM’s interface is in English and Georgian, while Productive’s is English only, per its help centre. As for Bitrix24: we could not find a Georgian interface in the information we read.

Another tool is also the better fit if most of your people sell rather than deliver, or if you need calls, email campaigns or an online store in the same system. And if you keep your current CRM and add PLYNTUM, you pay for both: add the two prices together before you compare.

1. Agree the trigger. The deal is marked won in the CRM and the client has accepted the scope and price.
2. Create the client in PLYNTUM, in the right workspace if you run more than one company, and record the agreement: scope, fee and billing terms.
3. Open the project. Break the agreed scope into tasks, assign people and set dates.
4. Set up billing. Issue a one-off invoice, or set up a recurring one for a retainer (Core and above).
5. Invite the client to the portal if you are on Core or above.
6. Cross-reference the records. Note the CRM deal ID in PLYNTUM and the PLYNTUM project name in the CRM, so anyone can trace one from the other.
7. Close the loop at renewal. Before the next deal with the same client, bring logged hours and profitability from PLYNTUM into the sales conversation.

Whoever won the deal and the project lead should do the first three steps together, ideally within a day. Scope disputes often start with a promise the delivery team never heard.

• Project management for architecture and engineering firms
• Construction project management software and cost tracking for small firms
• Client project management for software and web development companies
• Practice management software for accounting and bookkeeping firms
• Client management
• Work management