10 Best Project Management Software with Client Portal Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 30 tools reviewed.
Get free help from our project management software advisors to find your match.
When clients don’t have clear visibility into project progress, misunderstandings arise, deadlines get questioned, and unnecessary back-and-forth eats up valuable time. Now, you know that having project management software with client portals is the answer. However, with so many options on the market, it gets difficult to choose the right tool or figure out which one has this feature.
Therefore, I've leveraged my experience managing projects and testing PM software to create a curated list of options for you. My reviews highlight some of each tool's standout features and pricing information. Hopefully, it can help you find your next tool.
The Best Project Management Software With Client Portals Software Comparison Chart
Here is a table where you can compare all the tools we just covered in the overviews.
Tool | Best For | Trial Info | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Best for centralized project management | 7-day free trial | Pricing upon request | Website | |
2 | Powerful collaboration tool for teams of all sizes | Freemium version available | From $10/user/month (min of 2 seats) | Website | |
3 | Best affordable client portals with optimized mobile interface | 14-day free trial + free demo available | From $25/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
4 | Best for agency management and profitability tracking | 14-day free trial | From $9/month (billed annually) | Website | |
5 | Best for agency projects requiring task collaboration with clients | Free trial available | From $9/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
6 | Best project management software for creating custom-branded client portals | 10-day free trial + free plan available | From $4/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
7 | Best for collaborative project planning | Free plan available | From $49/user/month | Website | |
8 | For teams who want automation, communication, and project management software in one place | 30-day free trial | From $10.99/user/month (min 3 users, billed annually) | Website | |
9 | A simple client portal software that puts security and storage first | 14-day free trial | From $20/user/month | Website | |
10 | With a great minimalist design, EasyProjects keeps it simple with project tagging and tracking | Free trial available | From $24/user/month | Website |
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monday.com
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.6 -
Miro
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.8 -
Ravetree
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.1
Overviews Of The 10 Best Project Management Software With Client Portals
Here’s a brief description of each of the software with client portals on my list showing what it does best, plus screenshots to showcase some of the features.
Screendragon is a project management solution tailored for marketing, agency, and professional services teams. It centralizes operations, including projects, resources, processes, and budgets, into a single hub.
Screendragon's project management capabilities are designed to handle all operations in one place, including projects, resources, processes, and budgets. This centralization means you won't waste time jumping between disconnected modules or tools.
Additionally, Screendragon offers flexible and visual task management. You can use Gantt charts, Kanban boards, lists, and more to manage tasks the way you prefer. Assign tasks, adjust timelines, and prioritize what's important for your team—all from one screen. The client portal is designed to enhance collaboration by allowing you to share specific project details, updates, and files with your clients in a secure environment. This ensures that clients have real-time visibility into their projects without compromising sensitive information.
Integrations include MS Power BI, Slack, MS Teams, Zapier, Google Drive, Trello, Microsoft 365, Box, Jira, Microsoft OneDrive, and PeopleSoft.
Wrike is a project management software with client portals that’s trusted by over 2.3 million customers worldwide and suitable for any size team. Wrike’s features are available to external clients at no extra cost, ensuring stakeholders, clients, vendors and contractors all have access to the same information throughout the project management process. Wrike enables managers and clients to communicate directly without relying on constant back-and-forth emails with a single digital hub that features customizable dashboards, reports, and request forms to suit their needs.
Wrike offers highly functional client portals that will make communicating with clients more efficient. Instead of chasing clients for approvals, use Wrike’s customizable request forms to streamline project intake and ensure nothing gets lost in an overloaded inbox. Optimize project planning with one-click Gantt charts, and adjust your dashboard, task list, and workflow to suit your working style. Wrike also features integrations with customer management solutions and sales lead tools, employee capacity monitoring, and onboarding templates.
With a simple user interface, Wrike helps project managers engage with clients and improve communication — without the need for in-person training. Real-time commenting and instant @mentions mean stakeholders are kept in the loop at all times. While Wrike is very user-friendly, you can also avail of the dedicated help center with interactive training, videos, a ‘getting started’ guide, and a thriving community.
Wrike integrates with 400+ apps, including the most popular applications from Microsoft, Slack, Google, and Dropbox, along with sales and marketing software like Salesforce and Marketo. Check the app directory to see all the apps Wrike works with.
Start free with Wrike, no matter how big your team is. Or, try a free 14-day trial of Wrike’s more advanced features and customization.
Celoxis
Best affordable client portals with optimized mobile interface
Celoxis has a refreshing one-price-fits-all approach to project management software whereby their cloud-based or on-premise plan encompass all of their offerings without having to wade through a slew of confusing pricing packages. With this, you will have access to client portals at no additional cost, which helps with filtering, reporting, charting, and sharing your data.
You can easily give your clients access so that they can login to view reports shared with them, engage in online discussions, share files and even participate in business workflows like bug tracking, change requests, and item approvals. You can share reports and dashboards with clients that can include tabular, pie charts, bar charts and many other views of reports. To share it with a client, select the client in the 'visible to clients field' in the add/edit report form. If you pick the 'all' option, the report will be shared with all clients. Easy as that. You can also control which project tabs are visible to clients in a similar way.
Every client account can be configured to have the following privileges: 1) Allow client to view task information, excluding financial information. This determines whether clients can view task details. Financial fields (including custom fields) are never shown to the clients. 2) Allow client to view details of progress update on tasks. This determines whether clients can view updates and comments on the task. 3) Allow client to do progress update on tasks. This determines whether clients can add comments on a task.
One thing to note: If you share reports with your client, then the above privileges override the data shared in reports. For example, if you share a task list report to a client that does not have the 'allow client to view task information, excluding financial information' privilege, then that client will see an empty report.
Celoxis integrates with over 400 third-party apps like Google Drive, MS Excel, JIRA, QuickBooks Online, Salesforce, Evernote, Slack, Zendesk, G Suite, Trello, Harvest, MailChimp, and more through a paid account with Zapier.
Celoxis costs from $25/user/month with a 5 user minimum and offers a free 30-day trial.
Productive is an all-in-one agency management system that offers tools for resource planning, project management, financials, reporting, integrations, automations, and AI. It's best for agency management and profitability tracking, providing a scalable platform for consolidating data, running projects, and maintaining a single source of truth for financial data, leads, budgets, and team communication.
After comparing various tools, I determined that Productive stands out due to its extensive features, including resource planning, project management, financials, and reporting, which are crucial for efficiently managing client projects and maintaining profitability. It's considered best for agency management and profitability tracking because it consolidates all necessary data and tools into one platform, making it easier to manage operations and track financial performance effectively.
Productive offers top features such as resourcing, project management, financials, reporting, integrations, automations, and AI. It's designed to help various types of agencies efficiently deliver projects, collaborate, and centralize communication. The platform also provides customer success stories, resources, blogs, and webinars to help agencies transform and run a more successful business. Its most important and useful features include its ability to monitor budgets and profit margins in real time, streamline work and keep team members focused on priorities, generate invoices using tracked billable time, and provide a macro view of an agency's capacity for resource planning.
Productive also provides a range of integrations to enhance agency management. Key integrations include Jira, HubSpot, Xero, Google Calendar, Exact, Zapier, Slack, Outlook/Microsoft Calendar, QuickBooks, Fortnox, Visma e-conomic, CPP, Twinfield, Sage, Personio, BambooHR, Factorial, Justworks, HiBob, and Memtime.
Productive's Essential plan starts at $9/month when paid annually.
Best for agency projects requiring task collaboration with clients
Bonsai is a comprehensive tool that offers integrated business management solutions for agencies, consultancies, and professional services. It provides a wide range of features such as CRM, scheduling, proposals, contracts, time tracking, invoicing, and payments, making it ideal for teams looking to consolidate their entire business operations in one platform.
Bonsai's client portal allows you to share project access with an interface that is fully customizable to your brand. This space lets clients view important documents, like invoices and contracts, information like time tracking, and recent activity logs. You can also link to various folders, like Google Drive, to keep files organized. Clients can also share files directly within the portal for convenience. Overall, this feature allows for more centralized client communication.
On the project management side, Bonsai offers a range of features for your internal team to stay organized. These features include capacity planning, task scheduling, customizable proposal and contract templates, reports on profits and losses and utilization rates, and appointment scheduling.
The software integrates with various other tools, like HubSpot, Google Drive, Google Sheets, Slack, Gmail, Xero, Google Calendar, Zapier, QuickBooks Online, Calendly, Trello, ClickUp, and more.
Best project management software for creating custom-branded client portals
Zoho Projects is a web-based project management software that helps teams organize and track project progress, and collaborate and communicate effectively. Its robust platform offers various features to help teams manage complex projects and streamline workflows. Users can create tasks, assign them to team members, set deadlines, and track progress in real-time. Tasks can be organized into different categories, such as milestones or subtasks, to provide a clear picture of the project's progress. The platform also allows users to set task dependencies and prioritize them to ensure critical tasks are completed on time.
Users can create secure client portals that will enable clients to view project progress, timelines, and other relevant information. Clients can also communicate with the project team through the portal, which can help streamline communication and ensure everyone is on the same page. You can also customize your client portal to fit their branding and style, including their logos, colors, and preferred fonts, creating a more cohesive and professional experience for your clients. The platform offers collaboration tools that enable team members to communicate effectively. Users can share files, comment on tasks, and hold discussions in real-time.
Other useful features include the ability to log the time spent on tasks, which is then used to generate accurate project reports and invoices. This feature enables managers to monitor team productivity and identify areas for improvement. In addition, their comprehensive reporting system also provides insights into project performance. Users can generate reports on various aspects of the project, including task progress, time tracking, and team performance. These reports can be customized to fit your specific needs and exported to various formats such as Excel, PDF, or CSV.
Zoho Projects integrates with other Zoho apps, commonly used apps by Google (Google Calendar, Drive, Sheets, etc.), and Microsoft (Calendar, Excel, Office 365, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint), and other third-party apps such as Basecamp, Jira, Slack, Zendesk, and Zapier.
Zoho Projects costs from $5/user/month for tracking unlimited projects. A freemium plan with limited features, as well as a 10-day free trial, are also available.
Dock is a B2B sales and customer onboarding software that centralizes client interactions within branded workspaces. It supports revenue teams throughout the customer lifecycle with tools such as sales deal rooms, onboarding hubs, and client portals, aiming to improve the buyer experience and onboarding processes.
I like that Dock offers collaborative project plans, which lets you create shared action plans and onboarding checklists. This approach allows clients to engage actively without the necessity of having their own accounts, promoting a more inclusive project workflow. Additionally, Dock's task management capabilities enable the assignment of tasks with due dates and automated reminders, ensuring deadlines are adhered to and accountability is maintained.
Additionally, its customizable client portals allow you to tailor experiences to meet specific client needs, with features like collaborative project plans and task management supporting this personalized approach. Dock's capability to embed various tools also facilitates communication and feedback, making it a versatile choice if you work with complex client-facing projects.
Integrations include Airtable, Pandadoc, Typeform, HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, and Zoom.
For teams who want automation, communication, and project management software in one place
However, it does more than bundle all your client communication into one place. You can also automate responses to save your team time using templates and canned responses. If your team gets asked lots of common questions, you can use pre-populated responses to answer them quickly—and automatically.
Each question is also timestamped, so you can see when it landed in the portal and when a team member last answered it. If a question is resolved, its status flips to 'solved' so you can file it away.
Another cool feature of Teamwork’s client portal is its branding features. You can upload your entire stylesheet using the .css file upload feature, add your company favicon, and even use a custom URL.
Teamwork’s paid plans start at $10/user/month.
OneHub
A simple client portal software that puts security and storage first
The year 2000 called, and it wants its interface design back.
But what it lacks in a clean, modern interface, it more than makes up for in its security chops. The tool's 'data rooms' are set up with security measures like role-based permissions, session timeouts, audit trails, and two-factor authentication.
Long story short—you don't have to worry about prying eyes in your client files because it's a very secure portal.
When you add files to the portal, you can share them with a client and set permissions (like viewer, collaborator, or administrator), which is perfect for feedback, approval, and task management. The inbuilt watermark tool can automatically mark any documents and protect them with your logo, and you can change up the portal's colors and branding to suit your own.
Here’s the only sticking point about OneHub—its integration list is short. Very short. It only mentions that Microsoft Office and Gsuite tools are on the list, so keep that in mind when deciding if this is the right portal for you and your team.
OneHub’s Standard Plan starts at $15/user/month, but doesn’t include white-labelling or two-factor authentication.
With a great minimalist design, EasyProjects keeps it simple with project tagging and tracking
You can tag projects to make them instantly recognizable, label tasks for internal use only, and add timelines to everything your team is working on.
What’s cool about the EasyProject client portal is it doubles as a project management tool. You can add an estimated timeframe to see how long you are spending on each task and even set deadlines for deliverables. It even has a time tracking feature, so you can track everything in real-time.
This is particularly useful when you are charging clients per hour or have them on a retainer, as they can log into the portal and see how your team is using their time and makes it easier to justify billing when invoice time comes around.
You can also assign feedback and approval tasks to clients to make sure they sign off on anything before you move forward.
If you want feedback on a draft, just tag the client and ask them to add their thoughts. When they’re done, EasyProjects will automatically notify you so you can jump in and see what the client has added to the document. The whole process makes client projects more collaborative.
The plus side is that all of your client files are kept securely in one place. They can be accessed by everyone on your team instead of getting lost in an email thread.
EasyProjects also integrates with a bunch of tools, including Salesforce, Adobe, Office 365 Outlook, MS Project, Zendesk, JIRA, and InvoiceBerry. If you need more, EasyProjects has a RESTful API to hook up any other apps in your tech stack.
EasyProjects' Team plan starts at $24/user/month, but you must contact them directly to get Enterprise pricing.
Other Project Management Software with Client Portal Options
Here are a few more tools that didn’t make the top list.
- Ravetree
For project, client, and resource management in one place
- Service Provider Pro
Client portal software to manage orders, invoices & subscriptions
- Coordinate
For its client-centric workflows
- Client Portal For WordPress
Ideal for freelancers and contractors who need a portal to manage contracts and expectations
- Workflow Max by XERO
A portal that keeps detailed records of payments, notes, and client information
- ClickUp
Flexible workflow platform that allows clients to submit new task requests by email
- monday.com
Manage client relationships, showcase project plans, tag clients to get feedback easily
- Project.co
For teams who want their clients to upload files & collaborate with the project team.
- Scoro
For real-time project insights
- Freshdesk
For teams with large customer bases who deal with lots of support tickets
- Accelo
An easy-to-use self-service portal that also keeps your client’s billing history
- OneDesk
A client portal for simple troubleshoot ticketing and task prioritizing
- ProProfs Project
With Gantt and Kanban charts, this one is perfect for creative and IT agencies
- Moxtra
Suited for industries like finance, real estate, and law
- Archarina
A mid-market software with a client portal that’s best suited for professional service firms
- Nimbus Portal Solutions
Well suited to businesses who sign a lot of documents and want to start managing their paperwork in the cloud
- DataPlay
A tool built around data visualization, this one is geared towards Government organizations, market research firms, and NGOs
- Agiled
The hint is in the name: perfect for agile teams who want a portal they can use to be more collaborative, sign contracts, and handle billing
- Client Hub
For accounts who are searching for a platform that combines secure file sharing and storage
- FileInvite
A portal for mortgage and financial advisers to send and receive important documents securely
How I Picked The Best Client Portal Project Management Software
What do I look for when I select the best project management software with client portals? I’ve already covered the best project management software, but in this article, I’m looking specifically at the best project management software with client portals and how each tool stacks up. Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
User Interface (UI)
Does the tool provide a client-facing dashboard? The user interface will help clients navigate appropriately and get to your information quickly. Remember these portals can be used for approvals, feedback, proofing, file exchange, and other activities.
Usability
Is the tool easy to learn and master? Does it come with adequate training resources and learning materials?
Integrations
I look at pre-built integrations and other ways in which these tools can expand their reach and capabilities, such as through integration with client database software or automation software. Therefore, I talk about tools that they connect to, integrations through third-party providers like Zapier and Workato. Finally, I discuss the APIs available to build custom integrations with your tech stack.
Pricing
Is it affordable? Does the price tag match the features, capabilities, and use case? Is pricing clear and upfront? Are the plans flexible if your needs change?
How to Choose Project Management Software With Client Portals
It’s easy to get bogged down in long feature lists and complex pricing structures. To help you stay focused as you work through your unique software selection process, here’s a checklist of factors to keep in mind:
Factor | What to Consider |
---|---|
Scalability | Ensure the software can grow with your business. Look for features that support an increasing number of users and projects. |
Integrations | Check if the software integrates with tools your team already uses, like CRM systems or communication platforms, to streamline workflows. |
Customizability | Seek software that lets you tailor dashboards, reports, and workflows to fit your team's specific needs and preferences. |
Ease of Use | Choose a user-friendly interface that minimizes the learning curve, ensuring your team can adopt it quickly and efficiently. |
Budget | Assess the software's pricing structure. Look for transparent costs and ensure it fits within your budget constraints, considering long-term expenses. |
Security Safeguards | Verify the software offers robust security measures, such as data encryption and regular backups, to protect sensitive client information. |
What is project management software with client portals?
Project management software with client portals is software that combines project management functionalities with a dedicated portal for clients to log in and have access to relevant project information of your choosing. These portals can help with managing client expectations by providing visibility into your work.
Features often include task management, document sharing, communication tools, and reporting capabilities within the project management component, coupled with a separate client portal where clients can view project progress, deliverables, and communicate with the project team.
Client portal software allows agencies to close the communication gap with clients. Instead of holding project update meetings or having back-and-forth email chains, portals give agencies a direct line to share and request files with clients, send invoices, and ask for feedback.
Client Portal Project Management Key Features
Here are some of the key features you should be looking for when selecting a tool for client portal project management.
- Project visibility for clients - A clear dashboard where clients can provide approvals and feedback on tasks or files without seeing internal workflows.
- Customizable client experience- The ability to customize the client portal with branding (logos, colors, domain, etc.) that can provide a seamless and professional client experience.
- Secure messaging and collaboration - Built-in messaging or comment threads to streamline communication without relying on external tools. This centralized space can help share project documents, contracts, and assets securely.
- Role-based access and permissions - The ability to set different permission levels ensures that internal team discussions, financials, and confidential information remain private.

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