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There are seemingly countless professional services automation software available, so figuring out which is best for you is tough. You want to manage project delivery and streamline operations but need to figure out which tool is the best fit. I've got you! In this post I make things simple, leveraging my experience managing various businesses, and using dozens of different automation tools to bring you this shortlist of the best professional services automation software.

What Is Professional Services Automation Software?

Professional services automation (PSA) software is a tool used by service-based organizations to manage and automate various operational aspects. It integrates project management, resource allocation, time tracking, billing, and reporting functionalities into one system. This software caters to the specific needs of professional service providers, streamlining their project delivery and administrative tasks.

The benefits of PSA software include improved efficiency in managing projects and resources, accurate and timely billing, and enhanced team collaboration. It provides real-time insights into project performance and financial metrics, aiding in informed decision-making. By automating routine tasks, it reduces administrative overhead, allowing businesses to focus more on service delivery and client satisfaction.

Overviews Of The 10 Best Professional Services Automation Software Solutions

Here’s a brief description of each professional services automation solution to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.

Best for project delivery from quote to cash

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing available upon request
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Rating: 4.4/5

Accelo is a professional services automation platform that helps businesses manage their operations more effectively. It offers features that automate various aspects of client management, project management, resource management, and financial management.

Accelo's client management capabilities allow businesses to manage clients, leads, quotes, and interactions seamlessly. This feature is particularly beneficial as it centralizes all client-related information, to simplify visibility across teams for effective tracking and management of client relationships. Additionally, Accelo's project management tools streamline projects, time, expenses, tasks, and material tracking, ensuring that projects are completed on time and within budget.

Another significant advantage of Accelo is its financial management features, which optimize invoicing, billing, retainers, and payment processing. These features reduce administrative work and ensure accurate billing, which is crucial for maintaining healthy cash flow and profitability. The software also includes resource management tools that boost productivity through utilization insights and skills-based scheduling. 

Integrations include Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Exchange & Microsoft Outlook, Xero, QuickBooks Online, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Salesforce, Zapier, Stripe, PayPal, Jira, Continuum, Zendesk, Microsoft Power BI, Expensify, Gusto, HubSpot Partner Portal, Practice Ignition, Google Analytics, and others.

Best for resource management and financial tracking in one place

  • Free demo
  • Pricing upon request
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Rating: 4.7/5

Parallax is a service operations software that offers resource planning and management, sales pricing and forecasting, project financials, and business intelligence functions. It helps digital service companies consolidate their data and operations, reducing disconnects and app-switching.

The software's resource management platform enables billable capacity tracking, resource forecasting, project health tracking, and cross-team visibility. Real-time capacity insights and service offering templates help users forecast their sales and price their offers more consistently. Users can also use the platform for their project accounting needs, and reporting and analytics offer an overview of resource allocation, budgeting, and business performance.

Integrations like Asana, Harvest, Hubspot, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Oracle NetSuite, Salesforce, and Tempo help bring the platform into users' flow of work.

Pricing is available upon request, and a free demo is available via the website.

Best for all-in-one work management automation

  • 14-day free trial + free demo available
  • From $26/user/month (min 5 seats)
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Rating: 4.5/5

Scoro is a professional services automation software designed to assist businesses in managing their operations more effectively. It provides a suite of tools tailored for various roles within an organization and addresses every aspect of service delivery—from project planning and execution to customer relationship management and billing. This level of integration is essential for services firms that need to maintain alignment across various departments and projects. 

As a PSA software, Scoro excels in automating the critical yet time-consuming aspects of professional services, such as time tracking, invoicing, and reporting. Its automated billing features allow for the quick creation of detailed invoices based on the tracked time and expenses, reducing errors and saving valuable administrative time. The software's ability to generate in-depth, customizable reports also gives managers and stakeholders insights into business performance, client profitability, and operational efficiency. 

Another key aspect that sets Scoro apart is its CRM functionality integrated directly within the platform. This allows for a seamless flow of information from initial client contact to project delivery and follow-up. The tool helps manage client interactions, store critical data, and track communication history. Furthermore, the ability to link CRM data with project management and billing processes ensures that every client interaction is informed, contributing to better client satisfaction and retention. 

Integrations include Google Calendar, Microsoft Exchange, Xero, QuickBooks, Sage Intacct, Expensify, Stripe, Jira, Slack, Asana, Dropbox, PayPal, and more.

Best for powerful resource management and team collaboration

  • Pricing upon request
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Rating: 4.1/5

Mavenlink aims to be the industry cloud for professional services organizations. This is achieved through a resource-centric approach focused on better decision-making. Using Dynamic Resource Optimization, teams can be deployed quickly to respond to changing business conditions.

The software features powerful resource allocation management, plus project management and team collaboration features. Business intelligence and actionable insights inform management decisions. Timelines, budgets, and clients can be managed to produce the best outcomes for the company and for clients.

Through the Mavenlink M-Bridge, the software integrates with business applications such as Oracle, Netsuite, SAP Concur, and Salesforce.

Mavenlink offers customized pricing on request.

Best PSA for managing large or growing project portfolios

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $6-29/month
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Rating: 4.3/5

Polaris PSA is a cutting-edge Professional Services Automation (PSA) software that empowers service-based businesses with advanced project management capabilities. The platform offers AI-driven resource allocation, real-time project monitoring, predictive analytics, and customizable reporting, enabling efficient resource utilization, proactive decision-making, and streamlined project portfolio management.

Polaris PSA takes a comprehensive and strategic approach to project portfolio management. It offers a centralized dashboard that provides real-time insights into an organization's projects, resources, and financials. The platform's AI-driven resource allocation and scheduling capabilities optimize resource utilization across multiple projects, preventing overallocation and ensuring efficient workload distribution. Furthermore, its predictive analytics identifies potential risks, forecasts project outcomes, and proposes mitigation strategies, enabling data-driven decision-making.

A pro tip for working with Polaris PSA is to leverage its customizable reporting and data visualization features to gain deeper insights into your projects and resources. Beyond the standard reports, explore the platform's capabilities to create tailored reports that align with your specific business needs and KPIs. Utilizing custom reports and visualizations can help you uncover valuable trends, identify areas for improvement, and make more informed decisions, ultimately maximizing the benefits of Polaris PSA for your organization's success.

Features are dependent on what plan you choose and may include time tracking, project tracking, expenses, PTO; and/or workforce management, labor compliance, attendance, time off; and/or professional service automation and project portfolio management. 

Integrations include SAP, ADP, Salesforce, Quickbooks, Atlassian, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, Servicenow, Zero, Zoom, Outlook Calendar, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Azure DevOps, Google Meet, Google Calendar, and other popular business software. 

For project time tracking, you're subscription fee will start at $12/month. To access the PSA components of the software, you'll need to subscribe to their PSA/PM plan at $29/month.

Best for MSP operational growth

  • Free trial available
  • From $59/user/month (billed annually)
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Rating: 4.6/5

SuperOps is an AI-powered PSA-RMM platform designed to support the operational growth of Managed Service Providers (MSPs) by providing a unified solution for client engagement, asset management, and project execution. The platform's emphasis on leveraging artificial intelligence makes it a strategic tool for MSPs aiming to enhance their operational capabilities and scale their services.

The software's employment of automation and AI helps take over repetitive tasks and using algorithms to predict and preemptively address issues. This not only boosts operational efficiency but also enhances the quality of service MSPs can provide, allowing them to allocate their resources to more strategic, value-adding activities.

Client management, quote management, and contract management are also key features of this platform, integrating tools for service desk operations, ticketing, invoicing, billing, and direct communication with clients. The customizable reporting feature further assists MSPs by providing deep insights into their operations, client health, and service metrics, which are critical for strategic planning and decision-making​. Overall, SuperOps' consolidation and automation of operational aspects into a single platform helps streamline administrative tasks, giving MSPs more time to focus on scaling their business.

Integrations include TeamViewer, QuickBooks, Stripe, SentinelOne, Webroot, Xero, HaloPSA, and more.

Best for integrated profitability tracking

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $9/user/month
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Rating: 4.7/5

Productive is a professional services automation software that's designed to help businesses streamline their operations. It's an all-in-one tool that covers everything from project management and time tracking to sales pipeline and profitability analysis. It's like having a personal assistant that keeps everything organized and running smoothly.

There are several standout features that make Productive a top choice for professional services automation software. The project management feature is particularly impressive. It allows you to plan your projects, assign tasks, track progress, and even forecast future work. The time tracking feature is also very useful. It's easy to log hours, and you can see exactly where your time is going. The sales pipeline feature gives you a clear overview of your sales process, and the profitability analysis feature helps you understand your financial performance.

Productive.io goes beyond standard project management tools by offering unique resource management and utilization insights. This feature allows businesses to gain a deep understanding of their team's workload and availability, enabling better resource allocation and preventing burnout. The platform provides detailed reports and visualizations, showcasing individual team members' workloads, capacity, and efficiency levels. This data-driven approach empowers project managers to make informed decisions on task assignments and redistribute workloads as needed, optimizing team performance and overall project efficiency.

Unlike many other project management tools, Productive.io stands out with its integrated profitability tracking feature. This niche capability allows businesses to monitor project profitability in real-time, providing a holistic view of revenue generation, costs, and profit margins for each project. By linking financial data directly to project tasks and time entries, businesses can quickly assess the financial health of projects and identify areas where costs can be optimized. This level of insight not only enhances decision-making but also helps businesses stay on top of their financial goals and identify high-value projects, fostering greater overall profitability and sustainable growth.

Integrations include Quickbooks, Jira, Xero, Exact, Slack, Harvest Import, Fortnox, and Personio. More integrations are available by connecting a paid Zapier account.

Productive costs from $9/user/month (billed annually) and offers a 14-day free trial.

Best for service organizations with global resources and projects

  • Freemium plan
  • $13/user/month
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Rating: 4.6/5

VOGSY is a unified project and resource platform that helps organizations set up new countries, track international projects, and connect local finance packages. Its main design, its features and capabilities are geared towards technology companies, consulting firms, and creative agencies. Any business that offers some type of professional service to a diverse clientele will greatly benefit from this fully integrated solution.

Among VOGSY’s features and capabilities are project management, resource management, task management, automated invoicing, performance monitoring, and customer relationship management (CRM). All of which benefit from a global project and resource allocation feature set Apart from its seamless Google integrations, the software can also integrate with third-party business process solutions such as QuickBooks, Salesforce, and HubSpot.

As a professional services automation platform, VOGSY’s main feature is quote-to-cash. One of its primary objectives is to eliminate data silos and serve as a single source of truth for professional services providers, sales departments, and project teams. The software enables users to track their clients easily and every active deal/service yet delivered.

They can develop and solidify their by having the ability to instantly create quotes and generate statements of work (SOWs) on soft-booked deals and projects. The software also allows users to match revenue over their resource plans to ensure delivery. VOGSY’s robust work breakdown structure, through its project management feature, is useful for developing and sticking to a project roadmap based on key objectives and desired outcomes.

The task management feature enables project managers to allocate tasks with ease and efficiency, ensuring that every aspect of the project gets done by the appropriate team members on time and within budget. Resource management, automated invoicing, and performance monitoring make up the rest of VOGSY’s professional services automation software features and capabilities.

Features include resource and project management, unified resource view, intuitive new country set up for resource allocation and global projects, flexible revenue recognition, collaboration, reporting dashboards, budgeting, professional services automation, Gantt charts, notifications & alerts. 

Integrations include Google Workspace, Jira, Microsoft Excel, Xero, Intuit Quickbooks Online, Copper, Hubspot, Salesforce, and Zoho.

VOGSY is free for individual users, while its Lite package starts from $13/user/month. A free trial is also available for all premium plans.

Best PSA with time tracking and expense reporting features

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $20/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.5/5

BigTime’s professional services automation (PSA) software is designed to help companies and their teams design and develop better processes for different projects at scale, from start to finish. The PSA software scales with an organization's needs, from the individual time tracking process to the final invoicing on completed projects.

The PSA system allows users to track time and expenses smarter. Project managers and staff members can efficiently log their time and expenses with customized data entry options that apply to their team or department’s timesheets. The billing and invoicing process is also much faster and more user-friendly. Users can easily pull together detailed and professional-looking invoices that can be customized to meet the unique requirements of each project. They can send these invoices directly to their clients as quickly as possible.

BigTime facilitates the staff and resource allocation process to ensure project managers don’t over- or under-schedule the available resources. In addition, the platform provides comprehensive dashboards to deliver all the necessary information in one place, so users will always have an idea of their resource status and availability; i.e., they can determine in real-time who is working on what. This will not only help streamline workflows but optimize the resource management process as well.

BigTime’s integration capabilities will also help organizations seamlessly sync up all their current software solutions and other available tools in their technology stack.

Plans start at $10 per user/month. All plans are billed annually and require a minimum of five users.

Best for integrated project, client, and financial management

  • Free trial available
  • From $10/user/month
Visit Website
Rating: 4.4/5

Bonsai is a comprehensive business and project management platform that integrates task management, client relations, and financial oversight into one cohesive system. This unified approach makes it an ideal solution for professional service providers. With its intuitive interface and robust feature set, Bonsai simplifies the complexities of managing a business, allowing users to focus more on delivering quality services to their clients.

Bonsai stands out as a PSA software with its range of automation capabilities, particularly its automated invoicing feature. This functionality allows businesses to automatically generate and send invoices based on tracked time and completed tasks and collect secure payments. Additionally, businesses can set up recurring invoices for ongoing projects or retainers. The platform also allows users to set up automated triggers and actions for various tasks, such as sending a custom message every time a contract is signed.

Bonsai also offers customizable templates for contracts and proposals, integrated time tracking to monitor billable hours accurately, and a comprehensive client management system that includes CRM functionalities. Other notable features include expense tracking, project timeline features, and client portals for all client interactions.

Integrations include QuickBooks, Zapier, Google Calendar, Slack, Stripe, Trello, Asana, PayPal, Xero, HubSpot, Microsoft Teams, Dropbox, Google Drive, Mailchimp, and Zoom. 

The 10 Best Professional Services Automation Software Solutions Comparison Chart

Here is a chart where you can compare the tools we just covered in the overviews.

Tools Price
Accelo Pricing available upon request
Parallax Pricing upon request
Scoro From $26/user/month (min 5 seats)
Kantata Pricing upon request
Polaris PSA By Replicon From $6-29/month
SuperOps From $59/user/month (billed annually)
Productive From $9/user/month
VOGSY $13/user/month
BigTime From $20/user/month
Bonsai Agency Software From $10/user/month
Compare Software Specs Side by Side

Compare Software Specs Side by Side

Use our comparison chart to review and evaluate software specs side-by-side.

Compare Software

Other Professional Services Automation Software Options

Here are some tools that did not make the top list but are still worth your consideration.

How I Picked The Best Professional Services Automation Software

What do I look for when I select the best professional services automation platforms? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria: 

User Interface (UI)

I look for a tool that makes it easy to navigate to the information you need. Nowadays, this interface must be great in the desktop version of the software AND the mobile app (when available).

Usability

I expect everyone from clerical staff to senior partners to find the software easy to use and understand. Therefore, I look at all the learning modules, documentation, videos, and anything that can help you learn the tool.

Integrations

I look for pre-built integrations with other software used by professional services companies. These integrations can include pre-built integrations with other SaaS software and integrations that can be configured using a third-party app like Zapier. Finally, I give you information on available APIs and webhooks so you can build custom integrations.

Pricing

I’m seeking tools that make economic sense for both small and large firms. Therefore, I present the price as the monthly amount on a monthly basis (when available). I also look for ways to test the software like free trial periods or free versions of the tool.

What are the core features of Professional Services Automation (PSA)software?

These are the core features I look for in the best PSA tools:

  1. Project management: an approach to executing projects that’s a good fit with the firm’s operating methods
  2. Time & expense tracking: keeping careful track of costs, revenue, and billable hours
  3. Contract management: integrating with CRM systems to ensure that quotes and contracts are on point
  4. Resource management: effective systems for managing costs and making the best use of available resources
  5. Financial management: taking good care of budgeting and overall financial health
  6. Revenue management: streamlining the order-to-cash cycle and ensuring that income streams produce optimal revenue
  7. Delivery management: an easy-to-use workflow engine that keeps deliverables on track
  8. Analytics: customizable dashboards giving executives the insights they need to make better decisions
  9. Opportunity management: assigning the right resources to make the most of new leads and inquiries
  10. Security & compliance: rigorous procedures for ensuring the integrity of data and PSA systems

What is a PSA in project management?

A PSA in project management is a tool that will help marketing consultants, people in content marketing, creative services like graphic design, and others organize their projects. This includes task management, resource allocation, and resource management in general for all staff members involved in projects.

What is PSA in simple terms?

Professional Services Automation (PSA) is like a superhero's toolkit for businesses who provide services to customers. You know how Batman has his utility belt with tools for just about everything? That's like what PSA is.

PSA software is a set of tools that help professionals, like let's say engineers, lawyers, IT consultants, etc. to run their business smoothly. It includes different tools for different tasks such as time tracking, project management, invoicing, etc.

Let's say there's an IT consultant named Bob who helps businesses set up their computer systems. Bob has lots of tasks to manage like keeping track of how many hours he works, managing his schedule, sending invoices to clients, and making sure he's paid on time.

If he tries to do all of this manually, it would take up a lot of his time and he could make mistakes too. But with a PSA software, all of these tasks are easier and faster to do. So, it's like giving Bob his very own Batman belt for his business!

professional services automation software logos list

What's Next?

You might also like to check out our review of the 10 best professional service software or check out our thoughts on the future of professional services. And be sure to check back regularly…there’s always something interesting to read at the Digital Project Manager.

Let us know in the comments section below. Remember to sign up for our newsletter, too, so we can keep you up to date on the latest developments.  

Ben Aston
By Ben Aston

I’m Ben Aston, a digital project manager and founder of thedpm.com. I've been in the industry for more than 20 years working in the UK at London’s top digital agencies including Dare, Wunderman, Lowe and DDB. I’ve delivered everything from film to CMS', games to advertising and eCRM to eCommerce sites. I’ve been fortunate enough to work across a wide range of great clients; automotive brands including Land Rover, Volkswagen and Honda; Utility brands including BT, British Gas and Exxon, FMCG brands such as Unilever, and consumer electronics brands including Sony. I'm a Certified Scrum Master, PRINCE2 Practitioner and productivity nut!