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BigTime alternatives: summary & key takeaways
What they do: Most BigTime alternatives are PSAs, or professional services automation platforms, which connect engagements, people and financials in one system.
Where margin sits: On BigTime's pricing page, project budgeting and custom cost and rate management sit on Premier, a tier priced on request.
The check to run: Our margin-tier check maps which tier holds budgets, cost rates and profitability, and whether it has a public price.
Who wrote this: We've put Teamwork.com first because it's our platform, and the other six tools get the same evaluation.
If you're comparing BigTime alternatives, start with one question: which tool shows margin per engagement on a plan you can actually price? This shortlist is built around that question, tracking where each tool keeps budgets, cost rates and profitability.
Hours alone never told me much as an Account Director, because a basic time tracker held them and spreadsheets held the forecasts and reports. With no PSA connecting the two, cost never sat beside the hours. That's the lesson for this shortlist: a timer measures effort, and margin needs budgets and cost rates in the same place.
Fixed fees raise the stakes, because a fixed fee is only safe when you price it from what comparable engagements actually cost. We've put Teamwork.com first because it's our platform. Each of the seven tools is matched to the consulting need it handles best: live margin, modular quote-to-cash, published pricing, client portals, mixed retainers, A&E accounting or time billing.
BigTime has more than 1,800 reviews on G2's BigTime page, and your consultants log time in it every day. Moving them off it is a big call, and it deserves care. Our PSA software guide covers category basics, and the seven tools below take it further, with every price taken from live pricing pages.
What is a BigTime alternative?
If hours alone aren't margin, the tool replacing BigTime has to carry the rest. A BigTime alternative is a PSA or time-and-billing tool that takes over BigTime's time, expense, billing and engagement financials. The stronger options connect hours to cost rates, budgets and invoices, so these four questions get answered without a spreadsheet:
What did this engagement cost to deliver?
Who's free to staff the next SOW?
Is this fixed fee still profitable at 60% complete?
What should you invoice this month?
How we selected these tools
Those four questions became the scoring criteria for these BigTime alternatives. We built this list from public product information, live pricing pages checked in October 2026, vendor documentation and G2 reviews, with no hands-on testing. Our checklist of PSA features and requirements goes wider, while these eight criteria are weighted to consulting margin.
Margin visibility per engagement: Budgets, cost and profitability update while delivery runs, before anyone raises an invoice.
Where margin features sit: We noted which tier carries budgets and cost rates, and whether that tier has a public price.
Cost and billable rates: Role-based and client-based rates matter when day rates differ by seniority and by SOW.
Resourcing and capacity: Capacity views should show who's free for the next engagement, measured against a baseline from our billable utilization calculator.
Quote-to-cash connection: A won quote should become a staffed engagement and then an invoice, with no rekeying between tools.
Adoption by consultants: If consultants won't log time in it, every margin number downstream is wrong.
Accounting integrations: QuickBooks, Xero or your ledger keeps invoicing records and revenue recognition, so the hand-off has to be clean.
Rollout realism: As a working estimate, a 50 to 500 person consultancy should plan an 8 to 12 week rollout, including rate cards and training.
Quick glance: 7 best BigTime alternatives
Seven BigTime alternatives made the shortlist, and five of the seven publish prices on their own pricing pages. Accelo and BQE CORE price on request, which matters when you're building a budget case.
Tool
Teamwork.com
Teamwork.com is the agentic PSA for consultancies and IT services firms that want margin per engagement in the same place consultants log time. Budgets, rates, resourcing and quotes run on one set of delivery data, so the profitability view reflects real hours.
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Best features:
Budgets and profitability per engagement: Budgeting & Profitability runs fixed fee, T&M and retainer budgets, with threshold alerts and custom profit margin targets.
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Rates by role, project or client: Set cost and billable rates for every team member, and change them retroactively when a rate card moves.
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Quotes that become tentative engagements: Build a quote with live costs and profit, then convert the accepted quote into a tentative or confirmed project.
Workload and capacity planning: Resource management shows live capacity in the Workload Planner and reserves consultants for likely engagements with soft-allocations.
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AI with a person approving: AI profitability forecasting and AI utilization summaries flag drift for review. The Flo AI Teammate tracks project health.
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The utilization side has a number behind it: Teamwork.com cites a 22% boost in billable utilization. For a consultancy, that means more of the same headcount's hours landing on engagements you've already priced.
"Time tracking, budgets, workload planning, and profitability are all part of the daily workflow instead of feeling like features that were bolted on later." — Omar S., Project Manager, G2 (incentivized review)
Limitations:
Budgets, rates and roles take deliberate setup before the margin numbers mean much.
Teamwork.com isn't an accounting ledger, so AP, AR and revenue recognition stay in your finance system.
Pricing:
Free: $0/user/month (max 5 users, up to 5 projects)
Basics: $9.99/user/month (billed yearly)
Accelerate: $24.99/user/month (billed yearly)
Optimize: Pricing available on request (billed yearly)
Enterprise: Pricing available on request
Scoro
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Scoro is a modular PSA made of eight apps, covering tasks, delivery, time tracking, resourcing, sales, estimates, spend and invoicing. It suits firms that want quote-to-cash in one system and can commit at least five users.
Its strongest margin tool is the Estimate app, a quote and budget builder with cost and margin planning. The Invoice app adds a margin report, and Advanced Financials brings quoted vs actuals, a WIP report, and revenue forecasting and recognition. Integrations include QuickBooks, Xero, HubSpot, Salesforce and Jira, and there's a 14-day trial.
I'd price the exact plan your margin report needs before comparing headline figures. Quoted vs actuals is the report that shows whether a fixed fee held, so confirm which plan includes Advanced Financials.
Limitations:
Every plan requires a minimum of 5 users.
Quoted vs actuals and the WIP report sit in Advanced Financials, so confirm which plan includes it.
Your price depends on which of the four plans you choose, so like-for-like comparisons take work.
Pricing:
Time-billing: $17/user/month (minimum 5 users; billing not specified on page)
Projects & Resources: $29/user/month (minimum 5 users; billing not specified on page)
Quote to Cash: $29/user/month (minimum 5 users; billing not specified on page)
End-to-end: $57/user/month (minimum 5 users; billing not specified on page)
Productive
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Budgeting and resource planning start on Productive's entry plan, which makes it one of the simpler tools here to price for basic margin visibility. It suits growing consultancies that want PSA fundamentals on a published price.
Essential covers budgeting, resource planning, project and task management, time tracking, expense management, reporting and time off. Professional adds custom fields, recurring budgets, advanced reports and billable time approvals. Ultimate adds the HubSpot integration, advanced forecasting and overhead calculations.
That tiering matters for consulting margin. Recurring budgets suit ongoing advisory retainers, and overhead calculations matter when you want fully loaded cost per engagement rather than salary cost alone. Productive connects to Xero and QuickBooks and offers a 14-day trial.
If billable time approvals feed your realization reporting, budget for Professional from day one, because Essential doesn't include them. Essential's published price still makes a small pilot easy to model before you commit the whole firm.
Limitations:
Overhead calculations and advanced forecasting sit on Ultimate, which is priced on request.
The HubSpot integration is also limited to Ultimate.
Billable time approvals start on Professional.
Pricing:
Essential: $10/user/month (billed yearly; $12 billed monthly)
Professional: $25/user/month (billed yearly; $29 billed monthly)
Ultimate: Pricing available on request
Rocketlane
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For IT services teams whose engagements are client-facing implementations, Rocketlane's branded customer portal is the standout. The portal is included from Standard, the entry plan, alongside time tracking and timesheets.
Standard covers the portal, time tracking, timesheets and approvals, and CSAT. Premium is where margin work starts, adding resource planning, capacity, utilization tracking, project budgeting, rate cards, margins and profitability. The same tier adds revenue recognition, invoicing and Salesforce.
Enterprise brings soft allocations for tentative planning, a skills matrix and multi-currency. That matters if you staff implementations before contracts close or bill clients in several currencies.
For a consultancy, the deciding question is whether your clients would actually use a branded portal. If they would, the $49 entry price buys something clients see directly. If not, compare it with tools that have lower entry prices for time and approvals.
Limitations:
Every plan requires a minimum of 5 team members.
Financial management, including rate cards and margins, starts at Premium.
AI Fills is a separate add-on at $29/user/month.
Tentative planning and multi-currency need Enterprise, which is priced on request.
Pricing:
Standard: $49/user/month (billed annually; minimum 5 team members)
Premium: $69/user/month (billed annually; minimum 5 team members)
Enterprise: Pricing available on request
Accelo
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Accelo positions its platform around taking firms "pipeline to profit". It suits firms that run retainers and fixed-fee engagements side by side and want forecasting in the same platform.
Handling both contract types in one system matters for consultancies with ongoing advisory retainers alongside fixed-fee SOWs. Each type needs different budget tracking, and splitting them across tools makes portfolio margin hard to read.
The trade-off is visibility before you buy. Pricing is based on team size and growth goals, so you'll need to talk to sales before you can compare cost per seat. Ask whether Accelo's Forecast is included in the plan you're quoted, and how the 15-user minimum applies if only part of the firm logs time. That minimum also signals Accelo's fit with mid-sized firms over small practices.
Limitations:
Pricing depends on team size and growth goals, so you can't compare costs before speaking to sales.
The demo form notes a minimum of 15 users.
The pricing page lists no plans or prices, so confirm retainers, fixed fees and Forecast are all in your quote.
Pricing:
All plans: Pricing available on request
BQE CORE
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BQE CORE is built for architects and engineers, so it fits best where a consultancy has a large A&E practice. Its modular setup lets you add accounting to the same suite.
The Foundations module covers time and expense, billing and invoicing, and project management with phased billing. Reporting covers utilization, realization and profitability, the three numbers behind consulting margin. Accounting, CRM, HR and Payroll are available as add-on modules, and realization reporting is worth seeing on a sample engagement during the demo.
That accounting option is the main reason to shortlist it. If you want delivery and the ledger in one vendor's suite, BQE CORE covers both. For a mixed consultancy, check whether phased billing maps to how your SOWs are structured, since phases suit milestone-based fixed fees. If QuickBooks or Xero already runs your books well, the Foundations module is the part to judge.
Limitations:
The A&E focus means general management consultancies may find the fit less natural.
Pricing is by quote, so you can't compare costs before a sales conversation.
Accounting, CRM, HR and Payroll are additional modules, so confirm which ones your quote includes.
Pricing:
All plans: Pricing available on request
Harvest
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Harvest is a time tracker with a free plan and low per-seat prices, and it's the right pick when BigTime does more than you need. It suits small teams that mainly need to capture and bill hours.
The free plan covers 1 seat and 2 projects, which is enough to test the workflow. Teams is the entry paid plan, and Enterprise adds profitability reporting, timesheet approvals, unlimited custom reports and SAML-based SSO. If time capture is your only gap, our guide to time tracking for consultants compares that narrower category.
Resource planning runs through the separate Harvest Forecast integration. On my accounts, the same people stayed late while others left on time, and timesheet totals never showed the imbalance. Before relying on Harvest Forecast, check whether it shows load per person rather than a team average.
Limitations:
Profitability reporting and timesheet approvals are limited to Enterprise.
Resource planning needs the separate Harvest Forecast integration.
The free plan's single seat makes it a trial of the workflow rather than a firm-wide option.
Pricing:
Free: $0 (1 seat, 2 projects)
Teams: $9/seat/month (billed annually; $11 billed monthly)
Enterprise: $14/seat/month (billed annually; $17.50 billed monthly)
Enterprise Plus: Pricing available on request
The margin-tier check: what you'll really pay to see margin
The entry price is the wrong number to compare. Every review above raises the same question: which tier holds budgets, cost rates and profitability, and what does that tier cost?
Tool
Here's an illustrative example using published prices only. Assume a 40-person consultancy where all 40 people log time, paying annually where offered, on the tier that carries margin reporting. Monthly list cost in US dollars, before add-ons, works out as follows:
That's $560, $2,280 and $2,760 a month, so compare what each tier actually reports before treating the lowest figure as the cheapest. The four quote-only rows (BigTime Premier, Teamwork.com Optimize, Accelo and BQE CORE) are the ones you can only price in a demo.
Pro tip: Ask each vendor to quote your seat count on the exact tier that includes cost rates and profitability reporting. Get that answer in writing before you compare totals.
Hand-built client reports, each one different, eat hours that never reach an invoice. So ask every vendor to open the profitability report live on a demo engagement. If it needs assembling, you'll pay for it in unbilled hours again.
Once you know the margin tier and its price, the choice usually comes down to fit:
Choose Teamwork.com when consultants must adopt it and you want budgets, rates, resourcing and quotes in one place.
Choose Scoro when you want CRM and quoting in one modular system and can accept the 5-user minimum.
Choose Rocketlane when your engagements are client-facing implementations that need a branded portal.
Choose BQE CORE when you run an A&E practice and want accounting in the same suite.
Choose Harvest when you only need time and invoices and BigTime is more than you need.
One limit applies: if your finance team needs the PSA to run the ledger, AP, AR and revenue recognition, look at accounting-first suites. Teamwork.com hands what to bill to QuickBooks or Xero. For options beyond BigTime replacements, our roundup of PSA software for consultancies covers the wider category.
Why Teamwork.com stands out for BigTime alternatives
Project tools can't manage the money, and teams resist traditional PSAs; Teamwork.com gives you PSA-grade financials in a platform your consultants actually want to use. It puts the margin tier inside one workflow, carrying each engagement through quoting, staffing, delivery and billing. You quote from comparable work, reserve consultants on a tentative engagement and staff it in the Workload Planner. Consultants log time against budgets with cost and billable rates, profitability stays live, and what to bill passes to QuickBooks or Xero.
Price the next fixed fee from the last one: A fixed fee priced from the rate card hides what similar engagements really cost to deliver. On Optimize, you build the quote from each consultant's role-based and client rates, and cost and profitability management shows cost and profit live. You walk into the SOW conversation knowing the margin before anyone signs.
Reserve consultants before the SOW is signed: Without a hold on people, a won deal starts with whoever happens to be free that week. An accepted quote converts into one of your tentative projects, and soft-allocations reserve the right roles in the Workload Planner. When the SOW is signed, the engagement is already staffed and the plan moves to confirmed.
See an engagement drift while there's budget left: A fixed fee usually goes wrong a few hours at a time, long before the final invoice. Budget thresholds and alerts fire as burn passes your limits, and AI profitability forecasting estimates where the engagement will land for a manager to review. You get time to re-scope or raise a change order while the budget still has room.
The reporting side has proof from an IT services firm. OIC Advisors replaced PowerPoint, Excel and Microsoft Project with Teamwork.com, consolidating budget reporting, portfolio dashboards and time tracking. The firm gained 360° visibility across projects and now spends far less time building reports by hand.
Delivery agents on repeatable work are coming, with agent cost included in the same margin reporting. Until then, the margin view your consultants feed every day is what makes the next fixed fee safe to price.
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