What business software costs a 5-person service team in 2026
For a 5-person agency or service firm, agency and PSA software costs about $50 to $285 a month at list prices billed annually (checked 25 September 2026; Productive and Teamwork.com on 24 October 2026). PLYNTUM costs $44 a month on Launch, or $120 on Core, which adds timesheet approval and project profitability. Per-seat tools at around $25 a user cost about the same as Core at this size. Time trackers cost less if hours and invoices are all you need.
The short answer
At five people the gap between pricing models is small. Five seats at $25 is $125 a month, and PLYNTUM Core, priced for up to 10 members, is $120 billed annually. PLYNTUM Launch at $44 is cheaper than any per-seat agency tool in the table below, but it has no timesheet approval, recurring invoices or profitability. Compare like with like: the plan that has the features you would actually use.
Cost for 5 people, tool by tool
List prices billed annually, shown per month, before tax (checked 25 September 2026), unless the row says otherwise; ClickUp, Teamwork.com, Asana, Productive, Harvest, Bonsai, Paymo and Clockify were checked again on 24 October 2026. Where a vendor has a seat minimum, the table bills the minimum. “Approval” means a manager approves timesheets on that plan, as the vendor’s pricing page states it. For side-by-side notes on single tools, see the comparisons with Productive, Teamwork.com and Paymo.
| Tool and plan | Price rule | 5 people, per month | Approval | Invoicing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLYNTUM Launch | Per workspace, up to 5 members | $44 | No | Yes (free-form lines) |
| PLYNTUM Core | Per workspace, up to 10 members | $120 | Yes | Yes, plus recurring and drafts from approved time |
| Productive Essential | $10 per user, minimum 3 | $50 | No (time approvals from Professional) | Yes |
| Productive Professional | $25 per user, minimum 3 | $125 | Yes, time entries; timesheet submission and locking on Ultimate | Yes |
| Teamwork.com Basics | $9.99 per user, minimum 3 | $49.95 | No (Optimize, priced on request) | No (basic invoices from Accelerate) |
| Teamwork.com Accelerate | $24.99 per user, minimum 5 | $124.95 | No (Optimize, priced on request) | Basic invoices; margin and tax on Optimize |
| Scoro | €15–€52 ($17–$57) per user, minimum 5; billing cycle not labeled | €75–€260 ($85–$285), plus onboarding | Time locking on End-to-end | In the combinations with Invoice |
| Function Point Standardize | $53 per user, plus onboarding fee | $265, plus onboarding | Not shown | Yes (batch) |
| Rocketlane Standard | $49 per team member, minimum 5; implementation charged separately | $245 | Yes | No (Premium, $69) |
| monday.com Pro | $19 per seat; seats sold from 3 | $95 for 5 seats | Not listed | Not listed |
| Asana Advanced + Timesheets & Budgets | $24.99 per user, plus the add-on (no published price) | $124.95 plus the add-on | Yes, through the add-on | No |
| ClickUp Business + Harvest Teams | $17 + $9 per user; Harvest usage fees extra | $130 | No (ClickUp: Enterprise; Harvest: Enterprise) | Yes (Harvest) |
| Bonsai Premium | $29 per user | $145 | Not shown | Yes |
| Paymo Pro | $16.90 per user (annual; $23.90 monthly) | $84.50 | Yes | Yes |
| Harvest Enterprise | $14 per seat; usage fees extra | $70 | Yes | Yes |
| Clockify Standard | $5.49 per user | $27.45 | Yes | Yes |
| Bitrix24 Basic | $49 per organization, up to 5 users | $49 | Not shown | No (from Standard) |
- Workamajig is not in the table because its published prices start at 10 users.
- monday.com: seats are sold from 3; monday.com’s seat picker sets the exact sizes, so confirm the seat count at checkout. The figure is for exactly 5 seats.
- Asana: Timesheets & Budgets is licensed per user on Starter, Advanced and Enterprise, and Asana publishes no price for it (checked 24 October 2026). The figure covers Advanced only, so ask Asana for the add-on price.
- Harvest bills some usage, such as additional invoices, projects, clients and tasks, by use. The amounts are not on Harvest’s pricing page, so the Harvest figures here exclude them.
The arithmetic
- Per seat: monthly cost = people × price per seat, using the vendor’s minimum if you have fewer people. Five people on Teamwork.com Accelerate: 5 × $24.99 = $124.95. Scoro’s minimum is 5, so five people is also its smallest bill.
- Per workspace: the price does not change between 1 and 5 members on Launch ($44), or between 1 and 10 on Core ($120).
- Per person on PLYNTUM: Launch is $8.80 a person at 5 members; Core is $24 a person at 5 and $12 at 10.
When a per-seat tool is cheaper at 5 people
- You only need hours and invoices. Clockify Standard ($27.45) and Harvest Enterprise ($70 before usage fees) include timesheet approval and invoicing for less than PLYNTUM Core.
- You are three people, not five. Productive Essential costs $30 at its 3-seat minimum and Teamwork.com Basics $29.97. PLYNTUM Launch stays at $44.
- You need client-facing proposal delivery and contracts. Bonsai has them; PLYNTUM’s Core internal proposal drafts do not replace delivery, contracts or e-signatures.
PLYNTUM Core earns its price at this size if you want timesheet approval, invoices, expenses, project profitability and a client portal in one place, and you expect to grow to 10 without the bill changing.
What changes at 6 people
The sixth member moves a PLYNTUM workspace from Launch to Core, from $44 to $120 a month billed annually. On per-seat tools the sixth person adds one seat: $24.99 on Teamwork.com Accelerate, $25 on Productive Professional. See the 10-person comparison for the next step.
Other team sizes
The same comparison for other team sizes:
- 10 people: the full study, with its methodology
- 15 people: where per-workspace pricing is weakest
- 25 people: where the pricing model decides most of the bill
To add up the tools you pay for today, use the stack calculator. PLYNTUM’s plans are on the pricing page.
Sources
Every price was checked on the vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown next to it. If something has changed, tell us at info@plyntum.com and we will correct it.
- Productive pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
- Teamwork.com pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
- Scoro pricing (checked 25 September 2026)
- Function Point pricing (checked 25 September 2026)
- Rocketlane pricing (checked 25 September 2026)
- monday.com pricing (checked 25 September 2026)
- Asana pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
- ClickUp pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
- Harvest pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
- Bonsai pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
- Paymo pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
- Clockify pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
- Bitrix24 pricing (checked 25 September 2026)
- Asana Timesheets & Budgets pricing (checked 24 October 2026)
- Workamajig pricing (checked 25 September 2026)
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