What is the best project management software for a consulting firm in 2026?

Float isn't a full project management tool, and it doesn't pretend to be. It's a scheduling board: one row per consultant, one bar per engagement, with capacity, time off and overbooking alerts on the same screen. For a consulting firm, that's the view that decides whether next quarter is profitable.

Starter costs $7 per scheduled person per month and covers scheduling, capacity, time off and project scoping. Pro, at $12, adds time tracking, client rate cards in several currencies, project cost estimates and advanced reports. Managers who only look at the schedule can join as guests for free, so a firm of 3 managers and 12 consultants pays for 12 people: $144 a month on Pro.

Reviewers praise how clear the capacity view is and how simple the utilization reports are. They also mention small glitches when dragging bars, awkward filters across departments, and no task management at all. That last point matters: you'll pair Float with a delivery tool such as ClickUp, and with your accounting software for invoices.

ClickUp isn't consulting software. It's a very complete project management tool that also lets you run a timer on each task and flag it as billable. For a small firm, that's often enough: a list per engagement, a Gantt chart for deliverables, a workload view to see who's drowning in tasks.

Business, at $17 per user per month billed annually, is the plan that actually works for a firm. For 15 people, that's $255 a month. But ClickUp won't send your invoices, track utilization in days or show margin on a fixed-fee engagement. You export time to your billing tool and do the margin math in a spreadsheet.

Consultants who use it describe a powerful tool that takes a while to set up and can feel slow. Advanced time actions (editing timesheets, logging for a colleague, marking billable) have usage caps by plan. If your rates change by seniority, ClickUp hits its limits fast.

Productive ties together three things most tools keep apart: the engagement budget, the consultant schedule and the hours actually logged. Essential already includes time tracking, budgeting, resource planning and reporting. That's what you need to track budget burn: days used, days scheduled and what's left before the margin is gone.

Read the pricing carefully. The official page shows two amounts for each plan depending on where you look: $10 or $12 for Essential, $25 or $29 for Professional. Run the vendor's calculator with your exact headcount and get the final number in writing. Professional adds advanced reports with currency conversion, handy if you bill clients abroad.

Users credit it with exposing which clients and engagements don't pay off. They also describe a dense tool that isn't intuitive at first, with fewer integrations than some rivals. Invoicing runs through integrations rather than a full built-in module.

Teamwork.com grew up with agencies, but its Accelerate plan fits a firm that sells recurring advisory work. It handles time budgets and retainers, where the client buys a block of hours every month. It invoices from logged time and shows team capacity live.

Pricing is shown annually only, about 29% below monthly. Basics costs $9.99 per user per month with a 3-seat minimum and already tracks billable time. Accelerate, at $24.99 with a 5-seat minimum, adds invoicing and retainers: $374.85 a month for 15 people. Profitability insights and scheduling by role or skill wait for Optimize, on quote.

Reviews credit the billing and retainer features. They point to a big price jump toward Optimize, where timesheet approval also lives, and support that some find slow. Ask for the Optimize price before you sign Accelerate.

BigTime is a professional services platform built around time, expenses and billing. Essentials, from $20 per user per month, includes time and expense management, project portfolio management, billing and invoicing, automatic reconciliation and a QuickBooks integration. For 15 people, that's at least $300 a month.

The higher plans add what larger firms ask for. Advanced brings multi-currency expenses, custom reports and invoice templates. Premier adds project budgeting, custom cost and rate management and multi-level approvals. Neither shows a public price, and resource management is a separate module, so budget for a sales call if staffing is your main issue.

Users consistently praise the QuickBooks link and the support team. They also report a long initial setup, sync issues when invoice structures get complex, an interface some call clunky, and few integrations with task tools like Asana or Smartsheet.

Scoro is the most complete PSA in this list, but its pricing splits a consulting firm's needs in two. Projects & Resources, at $29 per user, gives you scheduling and utilization, with no invoicing. Quote to Cash, same price, gives you quotes, time and invoices, with no scheduling. To get both, you need End-to-end at $57 per user: $855 a month for 15 people.

There's also an entry plan, Time-billing, at $17: time, timesheets and invoicing, no scheduling. Every plan has a 5-user minimum, and annual billing takes 13 to 17% off. The client portal isn't in any plan: it's a paid extra.

Reviews rate its financial depth highly. They criticize a steep learning curve, near-mandatory training, rigid quotes and invoices, and a weak mobile app. Value for money is users' lowest score, which matches the jump from Projects & Resources to End-to-end.