For consulting, engineering, and advisory firms under 100 people, BigTime wins on resource management depth and ecosystem breadth. It integrates with QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, and Deltek; has 200+ implementation partners; and delivers stronger capacity planning for firms running complex multi-project portfolios. Year-one costs run $10K–$26K for a 30-person firm. Productive is the stronger call for agencies, creative studios, and IT services firms where modern UX, a polished client portal, and faster time-to-value are the deciding factors. It costs 40–50% less at the 15–50-person range and goes live in 2–4 weeks. The tradeoff: Productive's resource management is more basic, and its accounting integration footprint is narrower than BigTime's.
At a Glance
Quick Comparison
| BigTime | Productive | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Focus | Enterprise PSA: time, billing, resource management | Agency-first PSA: project management, client portal, budgeting |
| Ideal Firm Type | Consulting, engineering, government contracting, advisory | Marketing agencies, creative studios, IT services firms |
| Ideal Firm Size | 20–300 employees | 10–100 employees |
| Starting Price | ~$20–$32/user/mo | ~$12–$18/user/mo |
| Implementation Time | 4–10 weeks | 2–4 weeks |
| Accounting Built In | QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, Dynamics, Deltek | QuickBooks, Xero (limited ERP support) |
| CRM Built In | No — integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot | No — limited CRM integrations |
| Client Portal | Functional, dated UI | Modern, polished, client-friendly |
| Time & Expense Depth | Deep — skills booking, utilization dashboards | Good — task-based time tracking, simpler expense management |
| Resource Management | Advanced — skills-based booking, capacity forecasting | Basic — team availability and task assignment |
| Scalability | Strong for PSA-first firms up to 300+ users | Strong for agencies up to ~100 users |
Year-One Cost by Firm Size
What You're Actually Spending
Productive consistently undercuts BigTime on licensing cost — particularly at the 15–50-person range. The gap narrows at larger firm sizes due to Productive's volume pricing and BigTime's enterprise discounting. Implementation costs favor Productive significantly: most firms go live in 2–4 weeks with minimal external consulting, versus 4–10 weeks for BigTime implementations.
| Firm Size | BigTime Year One | Productive Year One |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Employees | $6,000–$18,000 | $3,500–$9,000 |
| 30 Employees | $10,000–$26,000 | $6,000–$14,000 |
| 50 Employees | $17,000–$40,000 | $9,000–$20,000 |
| 75 Employees | $25,000–$60,000 | $13,000–$28,000 |
* BigTime estimates include PSA licensing plus accounting integration setup. Productive estimates include all-in-one PSA licensing with lower implementation overhead. Implementation costs vary by firm complexity. Both platforms offer annual subscription pricing that reduces per-user cost at higher headcounts.
Feature Breakdown
Head-to-Head: Seven Dimensions
Capability
BigTime
Productive
Time & Expense Management
✓ Deep time and expense tracking built for consulting and engineering workflows. Web, desktop, and mobile entry with multiple billing rates, expense categories, and project phase coding. Handles complex billing structures — T&M, fixed fee, retainer — with detailed timesheet approval workflows. Strong user adoption among consultants and project managers in technical verticals.
◐ Clean, task-based time tracking that integrates naturally with project budgets and task boards. Easier to adopt for non-technical teams. Expense management is more basic — sufficient for agencies but lacks the detailed policy enforcement and receipt workflows of BigTime. Better UX simplicity; less depth for complex billing structures.
Accounting Integration
✓ Integrates with QuickBooks, Sage, Xero, Dynamics GP, and Deltek. You keep your existing accounting software; BigTime handles time, billing, and projects. Broader ERP footprint — critical for firms using Deltek or Sage that Productive cannot connect to. Requires clean data flow configuration but supports the full accounting ecosystem.
◐ Integrates with QuickBooks and Xero. Solid for agencies already on these two platforms, but limited for firms using Sage, Deltek, NetSuite, or Dynamics. Productive's accounting integration is purpose-built for smaller agencies — adequate for its target market but a gap for firms with more complex GL requirements.
CRM Integration
◐ No built-in CRM. Integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, and other CRMs via API. For firms already using a CRM, BigTime layers on top of it cleanly. The integration depth is solid for firms that need deal-to-project handoff visibility without managing two overlapping systems.
◐ No built-in CRM. More limited CRM integration options compared to BigTime — primarily through Zapier-style connections rather than native integrations. For agencies that don't rely heavily on CRM, this isn't a gap. For firms that need tight CRM-to-project handoff, BigTime is the stronger choice.
Client Portal
◐ Functional client portal for project status, invoice review, and document sharing. Gets the job done for consulting and engineering firms where the portal is a secondary deliverable. The UI is dated compared to Productive — serviceable but not a differentiator. Clients who compare it to Productive's portal will notice the gap.
✓ Modern, polished client portal that agencies cite as a competitive differentiator. Clients can track project progress, review budgets, approve deliverables, and communicate directly — all in a clean, consumer-grade interface. For creative, marketing, and IT service firms where client experience is part of the value proposition, Productive's portal is a genuine selling point.
Project Management & Scheduling
✓ PSA-focused project management — project dashboards, budget tracking, milestone management, and Gantt views. Strong for consulting and engineering firms managing multi-phase engagements with detailed billing structures. Resource-loaded scheduling that shows capacity constraints alongside project plans. Better for firms with complex, long-duration projects.
✓ Task-board and timeline-based project management that agencies find intuitive. Built-in budgeting tracks project spend in real time against client budgets. Workload management gives team leads visibility into task allocation. Better UX for creative and IT service firms running many parallel, shorter-duration projects — less suited for multi-phase engineering engagements.
Implementation & Support
◐ 4–10 weeks for most consulting and advisory firms. Well-defined onboarding process and a large partner ecosystem (200+ implementation partners) that supports internal teams during rollout. More complex to configure — deeper feature set means more setup time. Extensive documentation, user community, and structured training resources.
✓ 2–4 weeks for most agencies and studios. Direct-model focused — Productive's team handles onboarding without a complex partner network. Cleaner UX means less internal training required. Faster time-to-value is a genuine differentiator for smaller firms that can't sustain a 6–10 week implementation process. Smaller support ecosystem but faster resolution for common issues.
Scalability & Long-Term TCO
✓ Scales well for PSA-first firms — time, billing, resource management — up to 300+ users. Broader integration ecosystem means it can absorb more accounting and CRM complexity as firms grow. Higher initial TCO but more investment in resource management depth that pays off as headcount grows. Better for firms planning to scale past 100 employees.
◐ Scales well for agencies up to ~100 users. Lower TCO across the board — simpler pricing, faster implementation, less external consulting cost. Grows well within its agency-first positioning. Firms that outgrow Productive's resource management depth (typically at 75+ employees in high-complexity verticals) may eventually need to migrate to a deeper PSA platform.
Recommendations
Which Platform Fits Your Firm
Choose BigTime if…
- Your firm is a consulting, engineering, government contracting, or advisory firm
- You need deep resource management — skills-based booking, utilization forecasting, and capacity planning
- You use QuickBooks, Sage, Deltek, or Dynamics and need native accounting integration
- Your project portfolio is complex — multi-phase engagements, multiple billing types, long timelines
- You want a large partner ecosystem and established implementation path for internal support
- You're planning to scale past 75–100 employees and need a platform that grows with you
- You need government contracting compliance or DCAA-compatible timesheet workflows
Choose Productive if…
- Your firm is a marketing agency, creative studio, or IT services company under 100 people
- Modern UX and team adoption speed are higher priorities than feature depth
- Client portal experience is part of your competitive differentiation — clients see and use it
- You need fast implementation (under 4 weeks) without a large external consulting engagement
- Budget is a primary constraint — Productive is 40–50% less expensive at 15–50-person team sizes
- Your accounting system is QuickBooks or Xero and your billing structures are straightforward
- You're managing many parallel, shorter-duration projects rather than complex long-haul engagements
The Visibility Gap
What Neither Platform Reveals
Both platforms give you better project data — but neither tells you which of your current projects are destroying margin before you migrate.
- Scoping risk is real on both platforms. Productive's faster implementation reduces it — but even a 2-week setup can introduce broken billing workflows if your project types are more complex than the platform assumes. BigTime's 4–10 week implementation gives you more time to catch misconfigurations, but a poorly scoped implementation in either platform creates more problems than the old system it replaced. Scope to your actual current needs, not every available feature.
- Both platforms depend on data quality you don't control yet. If your consultants or team members aren't logging time consistently today, neither BigTime nor Productive will magically fix that. Resource management depth (BigTime's strength) is fiction without disciplined time entry. Client portal clarity (Productive's strength) is misleading without accurate project budget data feeding it. The platform doesn't solve the discipline problem — it amplifies whatever inputs you give it.
- Neither platform diagnoses your current project portfolio before you sign. If your goal is understanding where you're making or losing money today — on the projects you're already running — a margin diagnostic can show you your actual project-level margins before you commit to any migration. Calculate your ROI with the free ROI Calculator → or see your actual project margins with the Margin Diagnostic →
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Free Diagnostic
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BigTime vs Productive — which is better for a 20–50 person consulting firm?
BigTime is the better fit for consulting and engineering firms that need broad accounting integrations (QuickBooks, Sage, Xero), deep resource management, and a structured implementation path with a large partner ecosystem. Productive is the better choice for agencies and creative studios that prioritize a modern UX, client-facing portals, and faster time-to-value. For a 30-person consulting or engineering firm, BigTime's project management depth and ecosystem typically wins. For a 30-person creative, marketing, or IT services agency, Productive's interface and client portal typically wins.
How much does BigTime vs Productive cost for a 30-person professional services firm?
BigTime pricing for a 30-person firm: $20–$32/user/month (~$7,200–$11,520/year) plus $3,000–$15,000 implementation. Year one total: ~$10,000–$26,000. Productive pricing for a 30-person firm: $12–$18/user/month (~$4,320–$6,480/year) plus $1,500–$8,000 implementation. Year one total: ~$6,000–$14,000. Productive is notably less expensive — approximately 40–50% lower total year-one cost. The gap narrows at larger firm sizes due to BigTime's volume discounting and Productive's per-user model.
Which platform is better for resource management and capacity planning?
BigTime has more mature resource management tools for engineering and consulting firms — including skills-based booking, utilization dashboards, and project portfolio views with capacity forecasting. Productive's resource management is more basic, focused on team availability and task assignment rather than advanced capacity planning. If deep resource management is a core requirement, BigTime is the stronger choice. If team task management and timeline visibility is the priority, Productive is simpler to use and faster to adopt — sufficient for agencies that don't need detailed skills-based allocation.
Which has a better client portal — BigTime or Productive?
Productive has a more modern, polished client portal that clients frequently cite as a differentiator. It's cleaner and easier to use for client-facing project tracking, approvals, and communication. BigTime's client portal is functional but older in design compared to Productive's. For firms where client experience and portal quality is a key competitive differentiator — particularly agencies and creative studios — Productive wins clearly here. For consulting or engineering firms where the portal is a secondary deliverable, BigTime's portal is sufficient.
BigTime vs Productive — which is easier to implement?
Productive is notably faster to implement — most teams go live in 2–4 weeks with minimal external consulting. BigTime typically takes 4–10 weeks for a first implementation due to more configuration options and deeper integrations. Productive's cleaner, more intuitive UX also means less internal training time required. If speed-to-value is a priority, Productive wins clearly on implementation timeline. BigTime's 4–10 week implementation reflects more complex setup — deeper resource management, accounting integrations, and reporting configuration — which pays off for firms that need that depth long-term.