Best Creative Project Management Software with Invoicing (2024)

Creative project management software with built-in, automatic invoicing brings several benefits:

• The system can track various project expenses and aggregate all billable items for invoices. (You should be able to choose from various billing methods — fixed fee, media, time and materials, or retainer — and change your billing preference per project.)
  
  
• The system can build invoices for you, then you can customize or change invoices quickly before sending them out. You can completely streamline the invoicing process and feel confident invoices include all accurate details.
  
  
• The system saves all invoices so you can keep a clear, organized history, confirm payments, and report on project profitability.

Many project management tools have started offering an invoicing module; however, not all project management software is designed for the creative workflow, and invoicing features don’t all work in exactly the same way.

So, we’ve compiled this list of popular creative project management software with invoicing features that allow you to enjoy the conveniences mentioned above. Our list begins with our solution, Workamajig, and includes five additional options to review.

1. Workamajig

Comprehensive Project & Agency Management Software for Creatives & Marketers

Workamajig is an all-in-one solution with tools to manage all steps and elements of the creative workflow. Our feature set is split into two modules — project management and agency management — and includes:

• Project request forms & templates
• Project planning tools, like features to build accurate estimates
• Real-time project monitoring with budget tracking
• Resource management
• Vendor management
• Collaboration tools (for project teams & clients)
• Client Portals
• An accounting system (that can replace tools like QuickBooks, Netsuite, Sage, Xero, etc.)
• Billing & invoicing
• Financial reporting
• Agency Insights

We offer guided, personalized onboarding to configure our solution to your requirements and show you the ins and outs of the platform — how to kick off projects, manage staff, monitor invoices, track revenue, and measure profitability.

Our team has over 30 years of experience working with agencies and in-house creatives to improve workflows and support operational efficiencies. We offer tailored solutions for different team needs and sizes, and cost isn’t a barrier for even the smallest organizations.

We’ll show you how our system works below, specifically reviewing our accounting system, invoicing feature, and project management suite.

But if you’d like a more in-depth walkthrough of Workamajig, please request a free demo.

Workamajig Accounting System: Billing, Invoicing & Financial Reporting

One of the big reasons teams love Workamajig is that it allows them to centralize all creative efforts and consolidate their agency's tech stack. Instead of buying and working separately in a project management tool, accounting software, CRM, time tracking app, and cloud storage drive, etc., Workamajig provides all these tools for you.

When it comes to invoicing, Workamajig is especially convenient because it’s not just an “automatic invoice builder” — it’s a full accounting system that can support the entire billing, invoicing, and payment process.

Our accounting system also links to bank and credit card accounts, media buying tools, tax compliance solutions, and other systems to consolidate all project costs for invoicing and reporting. Then, you can specify which project charges are related, so our system can build invoices accurately.

Some of our integration partners include:

• Plaid
• Payflow Pro
• Authorize.net
• AMEX vPayment
• CSI vCard
• Avalara
• You can read the complete list here.

Our system supports multiple billing methods and can automatically build invoices with all line items and billable hours, which your accounting team can review and send to clients.

Note: You can also customize Workamajig’s billing workflow to route billing worksheets for review before building invoices. Worksheets project transactions, prior billings, and other details for a project manager to approve; then, our system uses that information to prepare the final invoice. You can read more about billing worksheets here.

It also lets you:

• Customize the invoice layout and appearance. You can add brand elements like logos and custom colors or fonts.

• Edit invoices or write-off charges.

• Check client invoice status. The system sends notifications when invoices are prepared and ready for review so you can take action promptly. However, you can also filter the billing dashboard to see the status and spot outstanding invoices; then, you can easily select and re-send those invoices.

• Receive client payments and monitor incoming revenue.

• Manage invoices you receive from vendors or other partners. Store all invoices in one place, cross-check invoices and amounts with work requests, and send payments.

• Track real-time cash flow. Our system has tools to manage chargebacks and automatically defer advanced payments, so you can always see current, accurate numbers.

• Sync credit card accounts to analyze spending and add charges to projects, which you can then include in estimates and reports.

• Create expense reports (users can even submit those on the go) to review, approve, and manage reimbursements.

• Access profitability reports, analyze client or project P&Ls, and create custom reports. You can pinpoint profitable (or unprofitable) services and determine where to increase margins.
  
  

Read more: Best Creative Project Management Tools with Financial Tracking

Our system can replace tools like QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite, so you don’t need to link an outside accounting software to power any of the functionality or financial reports.

How Workamajig Supports the Full Creative Project Workflow

In the sections below, we’ll review our other project management tools and explain how our system tracks costs and billable hours for invoicing.

Managing Project Requests & New Opportunities

There are three primary ways to manage project intake.

First, our system offers project request forms. You design these with custom fields to gather details about project requests and then paste them on your site or in user portals. Others can submit work requests anytime, and managers can view all new requests in their dashboards.

Managers can approve or deny work, or request forms be resubmitted with more info, and start building estimates. Custom forms streamline the initial back-and-forth to quickly get projects off the ground.

Workamajig also includes a CRM with Kanban boards. New clients who contact you via web form or email appear here for your sales team to manage new opportunities through the pipeline.

Our system automatically converts approved requests and closed opportunities into active projects — saving all the details and attachments from these initial conversations so everyone on the project team understands the full scope.

The last option, and our personal favorite, to kickstart projects is templates, which can automate project planning for repeat services.

You can design templates for different project types and specify tasks, resources, hours, billing methods, budgets, and more — you plug in a few details to get started, and the right team members are notified of their tasks and due dates.

Planning New Projects

We have various tools to assist in building estimates and project planning. This way, you can ensure that you’re accounting for all project costs from the start.

For starters, we have task management so you can build out all the individual tasks to complete projects. You can add time allotments and due dates here so teammates know how long to spend on tasks to avoid pushing projects over budgets or timelines.

Workamajig includes resource and vendor management so you can assign staff and freelancers to projects.

• Resource management: View all staff members and their current workloads, including total bandwidth and how many hours are open. Our system even integrates with calendar systems so managers can see when staff are available. Then, managers can assign staff to tasks.
  
  

Scheduled and actual hours update in this dashboard as managers assign work and staff submit time. All staff hours are tied to their rates, so you can monitor costs as you assign work and projects progress.

• Vendor Management: Submit work requests, review bids, and assign freelancers to projects. You can create unlimited vendor portals in our system to manage freelancer relationships. Track work, receive invoices, send payments, and easily reference all communications.
  
  

Native vendor management is not only convenient but crucial if you frequently collaborate with outside partners; it lets you create a clear, comprehensive project plan, improve resource planning, and incorporate these costs into estimates so they don’t impact projected profitability.

Project Monitoring

Workamajig includes a project monitoring dashboard with customizable Gantt charts to visualize project progress after kick-off. Our dashboard is convenient because it provides real-time status updates as project team members complete tasks and add hours.

Our dashboard even warns when projects risk exceeding budgets or falling behind schedule. The Finance or Project Timeline columns highlight yellow when projects are at risk, then red when they exceed planned budgets or timelines.

For example, in the GIF above, we can see yellow warnings in the timeline columns for specific projects, and the SF website project is highlighted with red warnings.

This visually friendly view shows managers exactly which projects require attention — they can pitch in, reallocate resources, or communicate with clients about potential delays.

(Our system also sends notifications about at-risk projects and shows managers what to work on in their Today dashboard.)

Time Tracking

Workamajig includes native time tracking to power the real-time project monitoring discussed above and help you record and invoice for all billable hours.

Users can record time in a few ways:

• Add time to task cards manually.
  
  
• Use timers on task cards to track time as team members work. This gives managers a more accurate look at how long tasks take, and it makes the process more convenient for teammates. Users can also pause timers and toggle between tasks as they work. They mark tasks complete to submit time.
  
  
• Add calendar events and specify which projects they are related to.
  
  

Read more: How to Track Creative Project Management Hours

Team Collaboration

Workamajig provides user-friendly tools for teams to work through and collaborate on projects in our system.

We provide a Today view (like the one mentioned above) for all users, so they know exactly what to work on, when, and for how long. This view lets users plan their days and weeks ahead.

Then, all collaboration happens on task cards. Users can:

• Open task cards to see what’s expected and the details to start working.
  
  
• Tag other users for more information or feedback as they go.
  
  
• Upload content and media for review. (Our system accepts various file types and lets teams organize content into folders to avoid cluttering task cards.)

Then, others — teammates, managers, and even clients — can jump into task cards, see progress and attachments, and leave feedback using internal proofing tools. Users can annotate files, and all comments are saved in the history for reference.

Our system also keeps a version history of files so you can see how content evolves through feedback and refer to old versions.

All details — comments, files, version history — are saved in task cards for easy reference.

Client Portals

Workamajig provides (unlimited) client portals so clients can securely log in to our system and:

• Track project progress so they don’t have to email your team for updates.
  
  
• Provide feedback and final approvals on projects.
  
  
• Make additional requests for projects — our system and invoicing tool can also manage change requests.
  
  
• Access deliverables. (No more slow, clunky file sharing!)
  
  
• View project budgets — they can see how much has been billed and how much remains based on progress.
  
  

Agency Insights

In addition to the financial reporting dashboard we discussed above, our system includes an Agency Insights dashboard that shows how teams spend their time.

This dashboard shows hourly reports by client, service, project, department, and more to see where you allocate the most resources. This view also shows what teams are currently working on and hours by project or task type.

These insights and data from project profitability reports can help you get a fuller view of your wins and losses.

You can see which clients or projects use the most resources and determine where to optimize processes to improve ROI. You can also use this to modify your offerings — perhaps a certain offering that requires a lot of resources doesn’t drive that much revenue; you could decide to cut it and offer something new instead.

You can also watch a brief demo of our system below:

Getting Started

This was just a quick glimpse at our features and how they work — for a personalized walkthrough of Workamajig, you can request a demo.

During the demo, we can discuss the challenges with your current toolset and show you how Workamajig supports your processes and team members. Then, during onboarding, we guide set-up and provide training to help you hit the ground running.

We offer solutions for in-house teams and agencies — you choose a package by team size.

• Teams of 10+ pay $41/user/month.
• Teams of 20+ pay $39/user/month.
• Teams of 50+ pay $37/user/month.

We also offer custom packages and pricing for enterprises.

Alternative Project Management Software with Invoicing (for Creatives & Marketers)

In addition to Workamajig, you might also see some of the names below in your research.

You can also compare the top project management tools for creatives in our guide here.

2. Advantage

Aside from Workamajig, Advantage is the only creative project management tool with a complete accounting system. Teams like Advantage because it includes native media buying via Simpli.fi (so if you need to add this to your toolset, you might consider Advantage).

Advantage has a strong accounting system with robust billing and invoicing functionality, and it often receives positive reviews for these features.

The platform supports multiple billing methods, lets you set automated billing rules, and offers customizable invoice formats. It also has tools to centralize vendor invoices and send payments. You can manage everything in Advantage’s Billing Command Center.

However, one gripe with Advantage is that the platform is a little clunky. Advantage offers a lot under one roof but splits features into different interfaces, and you have to toggle between interfaces to access other tools or data in the workflow. The point is to improve organization and limit user access, but this can make life difficult for admins or project managers because they’re constantly moving between views.

Another note about Advantage is that their solution is more expensive and typically works for enterprises, so smaller teams and agencies may find this option out of their budgets.

Features

• Media Accounting
• Billing & invoicing
• Estimates
• Budget Monitoring
• Financial reporting
• Revenue forecasting
• Project management
• Resource management
• Collaborative tools like proofing & reviews
• Time tracking
• Media planning & buying — including broadcast buying, digital buying & media reporting
• Risk analysis & burn rate tracking
• Reporting dashboard (to analyze project performance, financials, staff hours, etc.)

Pricing

Advantage does not publicly share pricing; you must contact them for a custom quote.

Read more: Best Advantage Software Alternatives for Creative Teams

3. Rodeo Drive

Rodeo Drive is another project management software brand that advertises its solution for creative agencies, marketers, consulting firms, and video production studios.

In addition to essentials like task management and project monitoring, Rodeo Drive includes budget and time tracking, vendor management, tools to build customized estimates and invoices, and financial reporting. Their tool supports multiple billing methods, automatically builds invoices, and can even send invoices straight to vendors — so you don’t have to intervene in this process.

The only downside here is Rodeo Drive does not include the full accounting system, so you still need to connect QuickBooks or Xero to track payments, report on revenue, and feed financial reports.

It’s also worth mentioning that Rodeo Drive is a fairly new solution (at the time of writing). Reviewers give good feedback, but it is limited. Reviewers warn that some features, like resource planning, are challenging, and the platform lacks integrations with some accounting systems.

They say that the Rodeo Drive team is receptive to feedback and open to implementing changes since the product is still in development. However, these updates could take a while to come to fruition.

Features

• Invoicing
• Estimates
• Budgeting
• Project planning — including task & resource management
• Project monitoring
• Time tracking
• Reporting
• Contact & client management

Pricing

Rodeo Drive offers two packages:

• The Free plan — this plan includes invoicing, estimates, and project budgeting. It supports up to 10 users and 3 active projects.
  
  
• The Achieve plan — $14.99/user/month — is the most popular plan. It includes everything in the Free package and supports unlimited users and active projects.
  
  

4. Flowlu

Flowlu is another project management tool for creatives — but Flowlu also advertises its solution to contractors, legal firms, crypto and blockchain professionals, IT departments, manufacturing companies, educational institutions, and other professional services.

The brand offers packages and solutions for teams of all sizes but aims to appeal to smaller teams with a free plan, relatively low prices, and ease of use.

Flowlu provides online invoicing software as one of its main offerings. Teams can customize estimates and invoices, choose between billing methods, and receive payments through Flowlu. (Flowlu connects with several online payment gateways so clients can pay directly through the invoice.)

The notable downsides of Flowlu are a lack of integrations with accounting systems and occasional bugs. Users also note that setting project workflows can be wonky in the lower-tiered packages, as those plans don’t include all features (like proposals), which can create problems in “working around” those steps. (So you almost want to choose a more expensive plan to avoid these potential troubles.)

Features

• Online invoicing
• Financial management
• Project management
• Task management
• Agile & issue tracker
• Resource management
• Online CRM
• Collaborative tools
• Mind maps
• Document builder
• Client portals
• Knowledge base

Pricing

Flowlu offers five packages to support various team sizes:

• The Free plan — this includes invoicing and online payments, as well as expense tracking. It supports two users, 1 GB of storage, and unlimited projects, tasks, and contacts. However, it lacks critical features like time tracking.
  
  
• The Team plan — $39/month — includes everything in the Free plan, plus access to time tracking and advanced tools like task automation. This plan supports 8 users and 10GB of storage.
  
  
• The Business plan — $74/month — includes upgraded invoicing tools (like time billing), access to integrations, and advanced reporting. This plan supports 16 users and 50 GB of storage. This is Flowlu’s recommended and most popular plan.
  
  
• The Professional plan — $149/month — includes change history, additional transaction reports, and project cash flow forecasting, among other advanced tools. This plan supports 25 users and 100 GB of storage.
  
  
• The Enterprise plan — $249/month — includes unlimited users (internal teams and external users), a custom domain, an IP Whitelist, and 1000 GB of storage.
  
  

5. ProProfs Project

ProProfs is a large software provider that offers a variety of business applications — a chat tool, survey maker, knowledge management software, customer support solutions, and a project management platform. (You might like this system if you already use other ProProfs applications.)

ProProfs Project is advertised to creative agencies and marketers but also caters to IT professionals, consultants, and other service-based businesses. This solution typically appeals to smaller teams with budget-friendly packages and an intuitive, easy-to-use platform.

The invoicing feature in this platform offers several conveniences — you can create estimates and set budgets, monitor project hours and costs, and calculate billable hours efficiently. The system automatically builds invoices and routes them to clients, even sending notifications for clients to view invoices and send payments.

Overall, ProProfs receives good reviews, and they’re a well-known name in the software industry. However, the software is a little basic in functionality (and could use a more modern upgrade). Some reviewers note dissatisfaction with reporting, saying it misses important data and only offers surface-level metrics. Others say it lacks automation tools, so managers must stay on top of projects to keep them moving.

Features

• Billing & invoicing
• Budget monitoring
• Profitability reporting
• Time tracking (with timesheets)
• Project management
• Task management
• Resource management
• Customizable project monitoring dashboard
• Collaborative tools, reminders for tasks & task history
• Automation tools
• Mobile apps
• Customizable reporting dashboard

Pricing

ProProfs offers two packages. Both include all core features, so you can access the billing and invoicing features in either plan. You choose packages by choosing the number of seats you need.

• The Free plan supports up to 5 user seats.
  
  
• The Business plan — $49.97/month — supports unlimited users and includes dedicated onboarding and support.
  
  

6. Paymo

The last option on our list, Paymo, is another option for small businesses. This brand works with creatives and marketers in both in-house teams and agencies, but their solution also appeals to other professional services (software developers, architects, engineers).

This project management tool supports all aspects of the creative workflow with estimates, task management, team scheduling, project monitoring, time tracking, collaborative tools, invoicing, online payments, and reporting.

Paymo’s invoicing tool lets you generate invoices from timesheets or other CSV files and customize them to your liking. The editor is user-friendly, so you can add line items, drag and reorder items, insert brand elements like logos, and even include notes for clients. Then, you can export invoices to your accounting software to finish the payment process.

Note: They also have a recurring invoices feature, so you can design invoices for repeat projects and schedule them to send.

This tool lacks automation and accounting capabilities to offer all of the conveniences the above software solutions can. Still, you might like this option if you prefer to build out invoices or have complicated processes requiring a more hands-on invoicing approach. The system automates certain tasks but still gives you control over the final document and dispatching invoices.

Features

• Invoicing & online payments
• Financial management
• Profitability tracking
• Task management
• Time tracking (with Pomodoro timers for improved time management)
• Resource management
• File management
• Collaboration tools (e.g., internal proofing & versioning)
• Reporting dashboards
• Customization options
• Multilingual features
• Open API
• Mobile apps for iOS & Android

Pricing

Paymo offers four packages:

• The Free plan — includes unlimited invoices and core project management features. It supports up to 5 clients, 10 projects, and 1 GB of storage.
  
  
• The Starter plan — $9.90/user/month — supports extra billing methods (flat-rate projects and retainers) and includes more advanced PM tools. This plan supports unlimited clients and projects and up to 5GB of storage.
  
  
• The Small Office plan — $15.90/user/month — is the most popular plan and includes estimates, recurring invoices, expense management, and project profitability reports. This plan supports up to 50 GB of storage.
  
  
• The Business plan — $23.90/user/month — includes access to all Paymo features and supports 500GB storage.
  
  

Workamajig supports the entire creative workflow and lets you consolidate your tech stack with native resource planning, time tracking, CRM system, invoicing, and accounting software. Request a free demo with our team to learn more about how Workamajig can work for you.

Related reads:

• Best Marketing Project Management Software
• Best Marketing Resource Management Software for Agencies
• Marketing Agency Reporting