Resources / What business software costs a 5-person service team in 2026

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). 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. 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 planPrice rule5 people, per monthApprovalInvoicing
PLYNTUM LaunchPer workspace, up to 5 members$44NoYes (manual invoices)
PLYNTUM CorePer workspace, up to 10 members$120YesYes, plus recurring
Productive Essential$10 per user, minimum 3$50Yes (time approvals on all plans)Yes
Productive Professional$25 per user, minimum 3$125YesYes
Teamwork.com Basics$9.99 per user, minimum 3$49.95Plan not confirmed on the pricing pageBasic invoices
Teamwork.com Accelerate$24.99 per user, minimum 5$124.95Plan not confirmed on the pricing pageYes, with margin and tax
Scoro€15–€52 ($17–$57) per user, minimum 5; billing cycle not labeled€75–€260 ($85–$285), plus onboardingTime locking on End-to-endIn the combinations with Invoice
Function Point Standardize$53 per user, plus onboarding fee$265, plus onboardingNot shownYes (batch)
Rocketlane Standard$49 per team member, minimum 5; implementation charged separately$245YesNo (Premium, $69)
monday.com Pro$19 per seat; seats sold from 3$95 for 5 seatsNot listedNot listed
Asana Advanced + Timesheets & Budgets$24.99 + $5.99 per user$154.90Yes, through the add-onNo
ClickUp Business + Harvest Teams$12 + $9 per user; Harvest usage fees extra$105No (ClickUp: Enterprise; Harvest: Enterprise)Yes (Harvest)
Bonsai Premium$29 per user$145Not shownYes
Paymo Pro$16.90 per user (annual; $23.90 monthly)$84.50YesYes
Harvest Enterprise$14 per seat; usage fees extra$70YesYes
Clockify Standard$5.49 per user$27.45YesYes
Bitrix24 Basic$49 per organization, up to 5 users$49Not shownNo (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: its own pages disagree on which plans can buy Timesheets & Budgets. The add-on page lists Starter and above; the add-on card on the pricing page says Enterprise. The figure assumes the add-on can be bought with Advanced, so confirm with Asana.
  • 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 proposals and contracts. Bonsai has them; PLYNTUM does not yet.

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.

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