Best Creative Agency Management Software in 2025 (Top Tools Compared)

Since both surviving and staying ahead in the rapidly changing marketing world involve handling vast workloads, numerous clients, and strict timelines, creative agencies cannot do without effective agency management software for:

• Planning 🗓️
• Collaboration 🤝
• Productivity 🚀
• Team tracking 📍

Moreover, due to the complex combination of pipelines and the absolute necessity of providing client-facing results, the creative agencies simply need to have the advanced time-tracking capabilities at their disposal to be able to:

• Shape the prospective workflows
• Control the realization of the project and time consumption
• Measure the productivity of individuals and creative teams
• Properly charge the clients for the services
• Make a profit on the projects they engage in.

⌛At a creative agency, the time and specialized talent of every individual is the core product 'sold' to customers, and accounting of time is the most central aspect of efficient project management, directly affecting profitability, resource balancing, as well as precise billing to customers.

Key Features to Consider

The implementation of project management is not a point of creative agencies, but almost a lifeblood of their work.

Since creative work is highly dynamic, dealing with a variety of client requests and always under pressure to produce new, innovative results within budget and on schedule, the development of strong project management software is unavoidable.

The following are essential characteristics that such software ought to have:

Expense Management: Not only should expense management in creative agency software keep a running tally of expenditures, it must also give you an up-to-the-minute view of all costs associated with each of the projects, including those on stock imagery licenses, freelance contractor rates, travel, and software subscriptions.

💸It must be easily classified, under which receipts can be attached and compared with project budget figures, ensuring that agencies can correctly allocate all direct and indirect costs and avoid any financial shocks.

Marking expenses as being able to charge the clients or not also plays a very important role when the invoicing is being done openly.

Realization of projects with time tracking: This is golden in terms of profitability to creative agencies.

The software should support the flexibility and simplified time tracking, be it by manual input, timers, and even calendar integration ( such as the ability to have specific time charged to selected tasks and projects), which will enable each creative mind ( the designers, copywriters, strategists, developers, and so forth) and account managers to record their time as accurately as possible.

Such detailed information is essential to proper client billing, project cost awareness, inefficiencies, and, above all, making clients realize value in their projects, resulting into the projects not only being completed but in profit.

The Task Division and the Working Load of Each Team Member: Creative agencies are based on collaboration, but also effective individual work.

The software must give a good at-a-glance view of how much workload each member of the team is bearing at any one time, enabling the project managers to fairly allocate the work, review the status, and adjust the pressure to avoid burnouts or backups.

Specifications such as managing tasks via drag-and-drop, workflow flexibility definitions, and warnings of the task closure or delay are necessary to provide efficient delivery of the tasks between various experts (e.g., the account manager briefing and the designer ideation, followed by the copywriter execution).

Estimation, Task Assignment, Spending Control, and Precision Project Staging Planning Features: It is essential to conduct planning in a solid manner.

The software should have efficient tools for developing elaborate project plans, which shall include:

• Estimating the time and cost of projects using past information to come up with future suggestions in a more accurate manner.
• Smooth distribution of the tasks with concrete deadlines and dependencies.
• Tools to define a budget ceiling for the various phases or categories of the project; alerts when spending is about to fall within or more than them.
• The ability to divide larger projects into manageable projects (e.g., discovery, concept, design, development, review, launch) and include project-wide milestones and deliverables.

Budget control: Budget control does not end with the planning; it is a constant requirement. It must show real-time data between actual and estimated expenditure and indicate a possible overrun of the predicted budget.

This involves the time tracking of the billed vs. the non-billed time and third-party costs.

Invoicing the Client: The project management tool ought to enable agencies to create professional and correct invoices based on time, costs, and negotiated project fees.

Reports: Decision intelligence is based on the information. The program should contain a set of flexible reports about all segments of the agency's work.

This will entail the profits of projects, use of the team, time taken on each client or project, conformity to the budget, and past performance.

Such reports can enable the heads of the agencies to understand the trends, come up with ways of ensuring that every process in the agencies is streamlined, as well as making predictions of the future needs of the agencies, and also exercise accountability to the clients.

Top Creative Agency Management Software in 2025

And down is a list to discover the most innovative and efficient creative agency management software in 2025, the one which:

• streamlines the work processes
• facilitates collaborations
• introduces unprecedented creativity in any agency of any size.

TMetric – Best for Time Tracking and Profitability

⭐4.5/5 on Capterra

It’s beneficial for agencies because TMetric lets them track billable hours, generate reports, and automate project management with an intuitive interface.

User Satisfaction: Product usage is primarily positive among professional creatives and firms.
Reliability: Accuracy and consistency in tracking hours are appreciated by many.
Ease of Use: People find the software’s interface very easy to use, but some mobile versions occasionally show poor performance.
Customer Support: Regularly updated and proactive team that provides effective customer service.

TMetric Pros ✅

• Time tracking that is accurate
• Automatic time entry that can be edited when needed
• The ability to track time even when the internet is down
• It’s important to group hours by whether they can be billed to a client.
• All-inclusive Project Management
• Skilfully controlling the budget and schedule of a project
• In addition, there are tools for managing task and project scope.
• There are billing rates designed for different kinds of jobs.
• A strong system for integrating applications. Can be used with popular tools for managing creative work such as Trello, Asana and JIRA.
• Integration between Google Workspace and Showpad
• Compatibility with other development tools shows up in Visual Studio
• Professional report-making and bill payment
• Reproducible reports by setting the date range, project, client or team member
• You can log in to view ongoing project activities in real time.
• Features for automatic billing and payroll processing

• Downloadable on PC, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android
• Interfaces that everyone can use through the web
• Apps for tracking time when you are away
• Cost-effective pricing: Solid time tracking functionality is available for free.

TMetric Cons ❌

• Difficulties with how a mobile app sometimes runs

💡Creative professionals particularly appreciate TMetric integration capabilities that allow them to boost project earnings with detailed reporting. Diverse reports help demonstrate value to clients and improve agency profitability.

Functionality for Creative Agencies

• Better tracking of time leads to better work productivity
• The system can automatically pick up when you begin and end your work activities
• Users have the option to input or change their time when necessary
• This tool helps you distinguish between the time you spend working and the time you spend idle, which is important for your billing.
• Calculating extra hours spent at work is done for you.

• Make and monitor budgets by using alerts when needed

• Make sure clients have visibility into what’s been achieved in their project.
• Put work into projects, split into tasks, and go further to subtasks
• It’s possible to divide and analyze every job with the Tag System
• Different billing rates can be set for different tasks or team members
• You can create professional invoices instantaneously from tracked time.
• Make payroll easier by using precise time information
• Learn which projects and clients make the company the most money
• Keep track of how your team is operating and how each project is going on Team Dashboard
• Employees take time off for many reasons, so you should be able to track each kind of day off

• Create and organize the schedules for your team
• You must control permission levels to ensure team members see the right things
• Extensive reports presented using various approaches
• Data can be sent as an Excel, CSV or other type of document
• You can arrange key metrics into your own dashboards
• Study the way time is spent and find chances to work smarter.

Pricing🪙

The provider will accommodate its customers not only with project management for creative teams but also with flexible pricing in 2025:

• Free - $0 for users who want to use time tracking, get basic reports, and connect with other tools.
• A 14-day trial is available on paid plans, which start at just $5 per user every month.

🎨Creative agencies choose TMetric because it highlights project finances, shares client details, and breaks down timesheets into detailed entries.

With this software, agencies are able to ask and answer, "Which projects give us the best return?" And "How long does it really take to complete each type of creative effort?"

Its low prices and packed list of features attract small and medium creative agencies because they get big brand functions for a small business budget.

ClickUp – Best All-in-One Solution

⭐4.6/5 on Capterra

It is one of the best creative project management software that offers versatile project views and allows users to enjoy built-in document collaboration.

Creative agencies seeking to combine their workflow tools may benefit from ClickUp 3.0, which offers a more organized design but still offers a wide range of features.

User Satisfaction: Customers are generally happy with the product, according to most reviews.
Widely recognized: Placed 3rd on the list of best project management systems for 2025
Creative Agency Feedback: Good ratings were given for customization and automation of workflows by the creative agency.

ClickUp Pros✅

• Custom fields, multiple ways to view data, and workflows that match any creative process
• Workspace includes several project views (Kanban, Gantt, Calendar, Timeline), making it suitable for every phase of creative work
• Dashboards that let you monitor how your campaigns and creative efforts are doing
• Planning and scheduling social media content
• Pre-made template briefs and setup for team approval
• Handling files and changes in versions for creative designs
• Client review tools and systems
• It allows users to make real-time comments
• It offers @mentions for instant feedback
• Provided chat and video call options that teams can use
• Giving clients and external partners access to the team site
• Having a screen recording available for design reviews
• Automating processes to free you from having to do many tasks manually
• Alerts and project status updates are sent automatically
• Setting up personal triggers to handle the approval process
• A big number of free features, even for unlimited users and projects
• Most plans have no preset limits on the number of projects.

ClickUp Cons❌

• A large number of features in software can confuse those just starting to use it
• Onboarding for a team can be hard if no proper training is provided
• May send too many notifications if it is not configured properly

Functionality for Creative Agencies

• Campaigns, content, and design projects already have pre-existing templates
• For creative processes, use Kanban boards, for planning campaigns use Gantt charts, and for planning when content will be posted, use Calendar view
• Stages in the project are customized (Concept, Design, Review, Revision, Approved, Published)
• Editing and labeling of creative files
• Monitor and follow changes made to creative files
• Areas meant for clients to communicate and exchange data
• Briefs are now created and must be approved following standard procedures
• Visual capacity planning for those who work as designers and creatives
• Collaborate with clients on their projects without allowing account login
• Having set procedures for reviews and approvals
• Representatives giving progress reports to clients
• Get the program to cover simple repetitive tasks, such as updating the status or sending reminders
• Log information about creative jobs (type of campaign, format used, and brand regulations).

💰 Pricing

• A Free Plan is available for $0—ideal for people in freelancing or with small creative companies (1-5 users)
• The Unlimited Plan can be subscribed to for $10 a month (monthly) and works best for small to middle-sized creative agencies (5 to 20 users).

🎨ClickUp is a single platform that allows creative agencies to replace several different tools. Workflows that normally need different apps are all brought together with ClickUp from project planning through resource management.

Monday.com – Best for Visual Project Management

⭐4.6/5 on Capterra

Monday.com provides perfect project management design agency functionality on its visually intuitive platform that allows users to collaborate with clients and streamline workflows.

Most agencies believe Monday.com’s platform excels in project management, and they use it for campaign planning and collaboration on creative tasks.

User Satisfaction: Monday.com has an easy-to-use interface, offers different project management options, and brings all work communications to one place.
Reliability: Monday.com is remarked for being reliable by creative agencies, mainly since it delivers good performance and quick updates, as well as fast reminders.
Ease of Use: The interface of Monday.com is simple and beautiful, which makes it easy for designers to start using and modify workflows, although some people feel it can be tricky to use the advanced parts of the platform.
Customer Support: Most users are happy with the responsiveness of support.

Monday.com Pros✅

• Its visual excelllence translates into the board-based layout
• It allows extensive customization of workflows and offers creatives flexibility
• The drag-and-drop functionality ensures quick access to key features
• This tool is particularly strong for creative agencies planning campaigns, with templates and workflows that are tailored to creative processes
• Because the software has many customization options, creative teams can build workflows that fit their particular methods and what clients require
• Strong collaboration features facilitate teamwork between designers, project managers, and clients

Monday.com Cons❌

• Users may find it challenging to purchase several seats even if they are the only user
• There are many restrictions on basic plans in regards to features.
  The essential functions and features that agencies may need such as advanced search and tools to connect with other systems, are missing in the basic package, and encourage individuals to buy more advanced packages
• Not easy to closely monitor how much time and money are spent on clients, which matters for their billing, and how successful projects are
• The software is easy to use, but using all its customization tools takes a lot of time.

Main Points for Creative Agencies

• Creative teams have Kanban-style boards with columns they can adjust to follow each stage of the project
• Create processes that track creative tasks, from the second you get a brief to when the design is finished and delivered
• Support for managing assets and the ability to let clients see and review designs
• Tools that make it easy for clients to talk to the team and share their opinions at every stage of development
• Both marketing campaigns and creative projects are handled by using ready-made templates
• Nearly 400 integrations to tools that software designers and creatives at agencies use daily
• Charts and timeline views for better visual representation of when different steps in a project should be taken
• There are dashboards that can be set up to give details of the work’s progress, how employees are performing, and how resources are being assigned.

Pricing

• A free plan is available for 3 boards
• Paid plans start at $9 per user/month.
• A full feature set with advanced security, support, and additional project management options for larger agencies is available on customized paid plans.

Important Considerations:

• Minimum seat requirements may increase costs for smaller teams
• Add-ons for automation, integrations, and advanced reporting impact the final pricing
• Free plan available, but with significant limitations for professional use

Monday.com is a good pick for mid-sized creative companies (10- 50+ employees) who place emphasis on visual project management and can afford its pro-tier plans.

Agencies with several client campaigns that search for strong collaboration will find Monday.com especially effective.

🎨Visual organization and ease of designing workflows are Mondays.com’s strengths, which are attractive features for creative agencies eager to work on complex projects and campaigns to satisfy their clients.

Visual project management is ideal on Monday.com for creative agencies, yet the project management features and pricing might be unsuitable for smaller teams.

Teamwork – Best for Client Services Agencies

⭐4.5/5 on Capterra

For client service agencies, Teamwork helps ensure there is good profitability tracking and control over resources.

User Satisfaction: Many users are pleased with Teamwork because its wide range of features makes creative project work easier and handles all aspects of their professional management tasks.
Reliability: A lot of people praising Teamwork for its stable operation and very little down time, ensuring that project information stays safe and can be accessed even when there are many users online.
Ease of Use: Because the interface is intuitive, joining a team and starting work doesn’t need much training or knowledge of technical features.
Customer Support: The support team helps users quickly and fully and can be contacted through many different channels.

Teamwork Pros✅

• Free collaborator seats for clients
• External company accounts for seamless client access
• Client invitation capabilities for direct project involvement
• Dedicated client collaboration features
• Built-in budgeting and expense tracking
• Real-time cost monitoring with budget limitations
• Profitability reports for agency financial health
• Billing and invoicing capabilities (higher-tier plans)
• Mobile apps for iOS and Android for on-the-go management
• Project and task templates for recurring workflows
• Custom forms creation for data collection
• Advanced team management features
• Granular task management capabilities
• Native mobile apps for project management and chat
• Desktop applications for time tracking
• Web-based platform accessibility

Teamwork Cons❌

• Higher-tier pricing can be expensive for smaller agencies
• Some advanced features locked behind premium plans
• Cost can escalate with larger team sizes
• Extensive feature set may overwhelm new users initially
• Complex setup process for full customization
• May be overkill for simple project needs
• Billing and invoicing not available on basic plans
• Advanced reporting restricted to higher tiers
• Some collaboration features require plan upgrades

Key Features for Creative Agencies

• Task creation, assignment, and tracking
• Project templates and workflows
• Gantt charts and timeline views
• File sharing and document management
• Team collaboration tools
• Creative project management framework covering outcomes, tasks, stakeholders, progress, and delivery
• Proofing and approval workflows
• Asset management and version control
• Creative brief templates
• Campaign tracking capabilities
• Client portals and external access
• Budget planning and expense tracking
• Profitability analysis and reporting
• Retainer management (Scale plan and above)
• Time-based billing integration
• Custom reporting and analytics
• API integrations with creative tools
• Advanced security features
• Data encryption and regular backups
• Multi-project dashboard views

Best suited for:

• Marketing and creative agencies
• Design studios with client work
• Teams requiring detailed financial tracking
• Organizations needing strong client collaboration

Consider alternatives if:

• You need simple task management only
• Budget is extremely tight
• You prefer minimalist interfaces
• Your team is very small (under 5 people).

Pricing

• Plans start at $10.99 per user/month
• Advanced plans are available for $19.99 per user/month.

🎨Teamwork is a project management tool that was made for creative agencies and business that are focused on their clients.

Made as the main project and resource management platform for marketing agencies, it enables everyone to track their clients’ projects, automate jobs and achieve maximum profits, and also help creative teams manage projects without delays or going over budget.

Wrike – Best for Cross-Department Collaboration

⭐4.4/5 on Capterra

Because of its powerful cross-team tools, Wrike is the right choice for agencies running complex campaigns and involving multiple teams, including account management and production teams.

User Satisfaction: Product usage is primarily positive among professional creatives and firms.
Reliability: Accuracy and consistency in tracking hours are appreciated by many.
Ease of Use: People find the software’s interface very easy to use, but some mobile versions occasionally show poor performance.
Customer Support: Regularly updated and proactive team that provides effective customer service.

Wrike Pros✅

• Working within the same system, creative people, account managers, and even clients from each department can collaborate effectively
• Several team members can interact on a single project in real time
• Instant access to projects and team members from any device
• Ability to work with a range of file types, including markup and direct editing from the platform
• It allows Adobe Creative Cloud Integration: this means design teams can call up Wrike right from their tools
• Automated tracking of changes and comments helps to simplify getting feedback
• Digital Asset Management Integration lets you combine your present DAM systems for more organized asset workflows

Wrike Cons❌

• Extensive customization options can be overwhelming for new users
• Smaller agencies might find the extensive feature set unnecessary
• Can become expensive as team size grows, especially for smaller agencies
• Many essential creative features only available in higher-tier Business plan ($25/user/month).

Key Features for Creative Agencies

• Gantt charts, Kanban boards, table view, and calendar views fit well with the various ways people organize their work
• Adjust the way work gets done to follow the processes of your agency and what your clients need
• Ensure everything is in place and manage the work among your team properly
  Allow any number of projects or tasks to be created
• Clients have the ability to add input to projects with controlled rights set by the service
• Gain official approval from other groups for the project
• Create tasks automatically when new tasks are suggested by clients
• It features Work Intelligence® (uses AI to predict risks, highlight action items, and help manage tasks)
• Creative agencies can automate many manual tasks by using custom rules
• You can set up automatic project plans and campaign briefs
• Set a common procedure for starting projects and gathering requirements
• Directly tag and confirm creative assets inside the platform
• Spaces within the agency for teams to meet and discuss their work
• Step-by-step reviews that clarify which roles are involved.

Ideal For:

• Multi-discipline agencies managing campaigns across creative, digital, and traditional channels
• Agencies with complex approval workflows involving multiple stakeholders
• Teams requiring tight client collaboration and transparency
• Project-heavy environments with multiple concurrent campaigns
• Agencies seeking process standardization across different account teams

Pricing

It is available on free (basic project management for up to 5 users) and paid plans that start at $10 per user/month; Business plans cost $25 per user/month.

🎨Wrike allows creative agencies to collaborate well across departments, providing the structure and flexibility important for complex creative operations.

The use of AI in the platform and the many ways it can be personalized help to make it future-proof. Yet, agencies need to be ready for the learning curve and confirm their budget is compatible with the platform’s costs.

Asana – Best for Organized Porject Vision

⭐4.5/5 on Capterra

Why it's beneficial: Asana excels at helping creative agencies manage multiple projects simultaneously with its flexible task management and timeline views.

User Satisfaction: Users praise Asana for its simple project management tools and its extensive list of features that keep teams structured and on time.
Reliability: With Asana, service disruptions are very unlikely, allowing teams to access their work and collaborate smoothly at all times.
Ease of Use: Because Asana has a simple, user-friendly layout, new users can immediately start making projects, assigning duties and following the progress made by others.
Customer Support: With the help of detailed documentation, video tutorials and responsive support, Asana allows users to use the platform effectively.

Asana Pros ✅

• With its board, timeline, calendar, and list features, different creative roles are supported in Asana. Designers generally select the Kanban-style board, while those working on schedules, such as project managers, tend to favor timeline and calendar views.
• It does well at managing difficult creative tasks by including customizable fields for asset details, approval systems, and markup tools for proofs.
• Teams can work from a single creative brief, and there are smoother ways for reviewers to comment.
• Members of the creative team stay on the same page using real-time updates, @mentions and group project messages, which avoids excessive emails.
• Thanks to guest access, clients can monitor the project’s development without using the entire application, and the feedback tool lets them comment on assets in real time.
• From simple social media campaigns to complex rebranding projects, Asana adapts to project complexity without requiring platform changes.
• Templates can be created for recurring project types, speeding up project initiation.
• Creative professionals frequently work remotely or on-site with clients. Asana's mobile app maintains full functionality, allowing teams to update progress, approve work, and communicate effectively from anywhere.

Asana Cons❌

• Using Asana’s advanced options like custom fields, automation rules, and complex dependencies takes time.
• A complete creative process relies on third-party integrations.
• Typical reporting measures accomplishments, but not details such as the number of revisions, how quickly creative feedback happens or the scores indicating client satisfaction.

Core Functionality for Creative Agencies

• Because every creative agency uses different techniques, the multiple view options include timeline (Gantt charts), board (Kanban), calendar and list views.
• Make entry forms for client meetings, monitor details of the creative work, ensure consistency across all projects using custom fields for expenses, directions, the brand’s rules, and client approval.
• Creatives can comment directly on designs and attach files. A defined approval system is there to make sure everything is approved correctly.
• The ability to search powerfully saves teams time when finding old creative materials, references, and anything related to clients across projects.
• Time tracking tools built in and linked to third-party options help agencies watch over project profits and how resources are distributed.
• With portfolio view, creative directors and account managers are able to manage multiple client projects and see when there are conflicts in resources or timing of deadlines.
• Naturally assign work based on the type of project, get approval for the next stage in a project, and continually update clients about important project actions.

Agency users find the Advanced plan most suitable since it includes useful proofing tools, portfolio management, and advanced tools for dealing with clients – all for a fair price when increasing teams.

Pricing: Starts at $10.99 per user/month, with advanced plans offering more automation and reporting.

🎨The flexibility of Asana allows it to work well for creative agencies which have changing needs. No matter if you’re working on campaigns, websites or more, Asana gives creative teams the organization and flexibility to maintain teamwork.

Workamajig – Best for Creative Campaign Management

⭐3.8/5 on Capterra

Workamajig integrates project management, accounting, and CRM into one platform.

User Satisfaction: Users praise the tool for its detailed financial reporting and the user-friendly nature of its interface, which the teams appreciate a lot. Taking into account Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons, some users do not find the billing interface very simple.
Reliability: It is a reliable and dependable solution that allows creative agencies to streamline projects.
Ease of Use: People like how Workamajig helps them monitor financials and billing.
Customer Support: High praise is given to the customer success team for being actively involved in every implementation.

Workamjig Pros ✅

• Workamajig, unlike ordinary PM tools, is designed for creative agencies specifically.
• Provides review tools, the writing of briefs and approval workflows
• Adopts terms and ideas that are common in the creative field
• Manages projects, keeps accounts, handles customers and tracks time all together
• Cuts down on the use of various independent programs
• There is only one place to see and maintain all project and business information.
• Immediate updates on how much money the project or client generates
• Sophisticated features for planning, assessing and tracking expenses
• Considerably detailed analysis and reporting of finances
• It serves well for studios and larger creative agencies
• Can be adapted to fit the structure and daily processes of each agency
• Special features that larger companies need.

Workamajig Cons❌

• Having the platform’s potential realized comes from giving teams proper training
• Not as affordable as the basic project management tools
• Not fully integrated with all popular software used for graphics creation
• Migrating from other systems is not always easy.

Core Functionality for Creative Agencies

• Created especially for creative work by offering approval options, proofing abilities, and brief management
• Special resource allocation and planning built for creative teams
• The ability to track projects in full by using Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and timeline views
• Tracking your finances, making budgets, and reviewing profitability are all handled within the software
• Automatic invoicing and billing systems
• Checking my budget and managing my expenses as they happen
• Specialized customer relationship management tools created for creative agencies
• Improved ways to approve creative assets
• Just one spot and a set of tools used for managing and sharing documents
• Messaging and collaboration tools are part of the platform.

Pricing

• Starts at $39 per user/month.

🎨Unique to the creative industry, Workamajig is a flexible project management tool made for agencies, marketing teams, and design studios.

The software is available to more than 3,000 creative teams, including those from major Fortune companies, and it provides a system to better manage complex processes each day.

Airtable – Best for Streamlined Creatice Projects

⭐4.7/5 on Capterra

Airtable offers a flexible database approach, making it ideal for managing creative assets, workflows, and client information.

User Satisfaction: Many creative agencies are impressed with Airtable for the way it makes project planning clear and for being able to support large creative tasks.
Reliability: Because Airtable is built like a bridge between spreadsheets and databases, it is a reliable and effective solution for creative agencies.
Ease of Use: Many users say the platform is very flexible for customization, but some mention that using its advanced features needs a bit of work to get started.
Customer Support: Easy to contact by email or hire a consultant for onboarding.

Airtable Pros ✅

• Airtable allows creative agencies to build custom databases tailored to their specific workflows, whether tracking campaign assets, client approvals, or production timelines.
• Multiple view options, including Kanban boards, calendar views, and gallery layouts, make it easy to visualize project status and creative assets at a glance.
• Real-time collaboration tools enable seamless teamwork between designers, copywriters, account managers, and clients with proper permission controls.
• Robust API and integrations with creative tools like Adobe Creative Suite, Slack, and popular project management platforms streamline existing workflows.
• Built-in file attachment capabilities allow teams to store and organize creative assets directly within project records, maintaining context and version control.
• Shareable views and forms enable client feedback collection and approval processes without giving full database access.
• Workflow automation can handle routine tasks like status updates, deadline reminders, and task assignments, reducing administrative overhead.

Airtable Cons❌

• Large databases with extensive media files can experience slower load times, which may impact productivity during peak work periods.
• Cost can escalate quickly for larger teams, especially when factoring in premium features and increased storage needs for creative assets.
• While templates exist, creative agencies often need significant customization, requiring substantial setup time for optimal configuration.

Core Functionality for Creative Agencies

• Create custom fields for project types, client information, budget tracking, creative briefs, and asset metadata with various field types including text, numbers, dates, attachments, and linked records.
• Switch between grid, calendar, kanban, gallery, and form views to suit different work styles and project phases.
• Complex filtering options help teams focus on specific projects, deadlines, or client requirements without information overload.
• Built-in automation rules trigger actions based on field changes, due dates, or custom conditions, streamlining repetitive processes.
• Granular sharing settings allow different access levels for team members, clients, and external collaborators.

Pricing

• Free plan is available with up to five editors.
• Paid plans start at $20 per user/month, with business plans at $45 per user/month.

🎨People who want a solution that is both customizable and visually organized find Airtable is the best choice for creative project management in agencies.

Because it combines databases and spreadsheets, it is adaptable for all kinds of creative teams and cannot get in the way of those who don’t want technical knowledge.

Productive – Best for Delivering Maximized Output

⭐4.6/5 on Capterra

It is a tool with strong profitability tracking and time management features.

User Satisfaction: Reviewers like that the dashboard is intuitive and simple, while maintaining helpful and strong tools for managing all aspects of agency work, which they describe as "really powerful".
Reliability: The product is always doing better versions of the service..
Ease of Use: Users like how easy it is to operate; however, some note that initially, it may have a learning curve
Customer Support: Many users say that Productive provides quick and active customer service.

The software is frequently highlighted in lists of top creative agency project management tools, indicating strong market recognition and adoption within the target industry.

Productive Pros ✅

• Includes functions for planning projects, handling resources, and handling the company’s finances
• Shows a detailed real-time picture of agency operations
• Merges many single-purpose tools and platforms into one system
• Different options for seeing project details, like board views, are available
• Moving tasks with a simple drag-and-drop method on customizable workflows
• The use of Gantt charts for preparing timelines and organizing projects
• Important information and insights can be seen right away in thorough reports
• Stressing the importance of controlling project budgets for the company’s benefit as well as for those who will work with them
• Tracking usage that allows agencies to improve and enhance their performance
  Incidentally, the software manages both payments and invoices
• Tools for reviewing budgets to find out how profitably a project is proceeding
• Overseeing all money-related tasks in the context of a project
• Made with creative agencies in mind, instead of being a standard project management solution
• Software that can expand as the agency needs increase

Productive Cons❌

• It is more expensive than using standard project management tools
• Limited ways to use third-party apps make it harder to adapt to various work processes
• Limited mobile functionality.

Core Functionality for Creative Agencies

• Observing how a task is moving forward with specifics about its progress
• Showing project timelines using a Gantt chart
• The ability to sort tasks by placing them on the board with drag-and-drop
• Project types can be matched with custom workflows
• Planning teams and allocating resources
• Monitoring resource use
• Ensuring that everyone in a team is working on an equal number of tasks
• Overseeing the finances for every project
• The acts of sending invoices and handling payments
• Reviewing profitability and preparing financial statements
• Category-wise and monthly record of expenses
• Online dashboards that give a current snapshot of the business
• The ability to make custom reports
• Evaluating how much profit a project delivers
• Ways to measure how a team works together.

Productive is ideal for:

• Firms in the creative industries that require assistance with business administration
• Firms seeking to use just one platform for various functions
• Agencies giving greater attention to how much a project earns
• Businesses that have specific and unique ways of handling projects
• Teams that put importance on reporting and business analytics

Pricing

• It is available on paid plans that start at $9 per month per user

🎨Out of all solutions tested, Productive was the most suited for creative agencies and stood out as very reliable.

Although there is a learning and installation cost at the beginning, the platform’s extensive features for running an agency make it attractive to organizations hoping to streamline activities and see their project profits more clearly.

Function Point – Best for Small Creative Teams

⭐4.3/5 on Capterra

Function Point is specialized for creative agencies, and it integrates project management, task tracking, and financial analytics.

User Satisfaction: With this tool, marketing, digital, and advertising agencies can find all they need in one platform, thus labeling this software as an all-in-one agency management software.
Reliability: With this tool, which always shows good performance, creative service agencies can manage their businesses better.
Ease of Use: Because the components work with drag and drop, any creative can organize a visual representation of the business needs.
Customer Support: There are experts in Function Points available through live chat, email, and phone who will help you within 24 hours with your estimation concerns or methodology questions.

Function Point Pros ✅

• Complete project lifecycle management from initial estimates through final billing
• Strong integration capabilities, particularly with accounting software
• Most users consider Function Point to be user-friendly and intuitive. They appreciate the clean and straightforward interface, which makes it easy to navigate and manage projects
• Straightforward navigation for team members
• Seamless financial management integration
• Suitable for agencies of various sizes, from small to large
• Features that agencies can "grow into" as they expand
• Comprehensive reporting and analytics capabilities.

Function Point Cons❌

• Lack of visual interest (i.e. would be great to look for cards /boards at a glance to see all project status at once)
• Potential confusion with project numbering systems
• May require additional setup time for complex project structures

Core Functionality for Creative Agencies

• Project management and workflow tracking
• Budget planning and financial oversight
• Resource allocation and scheduling
• Client relationship management
• Invoicing and billing automation
• Comprehensive reporting and analytics
• Team collaboration tools
• Integrations for accounting and other third-party software connections
• API access for custom integrations
• Creative brief management
• Proof approval workflows
• Asset management
• Campaign tracking
• ROI measurement tools

Best For:

• Medium to large creative agencies
• Agencies requiring comprehensive financial integration
• Teams needing detailed project tracking and reporting
• Businesses looking for scalable, long-term solutions

Pricing

• It starts at $47 per user/month, with enterprise plans available.

🎨Function Point is designed for established creative agencies looking for advanced management of projects, finances, and clients.

Although this goes further than necessary for some small businesses, it becomes very beneficial when companies grow bigger.

How to Choose Creative Project Management Software

Because design, content, and teamwork are fluid and require many changes, innovative artistic tasks can be performed successfully with creative agency project management software that is adaptable.

It is important to analyze the work habits your team needs in the app:

• Do they need strong ways to compare designs on the app?
• Is managing multiple versions of creative assets possible without efficient version control?

Check if you would benefit from working with others on projects in real time, updating large formats of media, or connecting with creative tools like Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, and video editing platforms.

A good creative project management solution enables your team to be flexible during brainstorming and conceptualization, ensures the timeline stays on track, and makes it simple to follow what is due.

Look for options that use visual tools such as Kanban or charts, since these systems suit the way most creative teams organize information.

Pick software that can adapt to how your company handles creative projects, from the beginning to the end.

You should expect to use feedback forms, manage task approval with automatic reminders, track all the hours worked, and use a file system that can handle many creative assets.

💡Before choosing the right design software, try out different projects through free trials with your team and check if the software is scalable so it matches your company’s future size.

Creative project management software must:

• simplify paperwork
• ensure the group continues to produce excellent work together.

FAQ