How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Ratings come from G2, Capterra or Trustpilot, with the date we checked them.
Key takeaways
- Rocketlane is the closest modern replacement, with client portals and delivery built in from $49 per user a month.
- Scoro covers quote to invoice in one system for agencies, from $26 per user a month.
- Productive is the cheapest credible PSA here at $9 per user a month, strong on budgets and resourcing.
- BigTime suits firms whose centre of gravity is time capture and billing accuracy.
- Certinia is the enterprise route for services firms already running on Salesforce.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Rocketlane | Delivery and onboarding with a client portal | $49/user/month | No |
 Scoro | Agencies wanting quote to invoice in one tool | $26/user/month | No |
 Productive | Agency budgets, resourcing and profitability | $9/user/month | No |
 BigTime | Time tracking and billing for services firms | $20/user/month | No |
 Certinia | Salesforce native enterprise PSA | See website | No |
 Accelo | Small firms automating client work end to end | See website | No |
 Wrike | Project led teams with light PSA needs | $10/user/month | Yes |
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The best Kantata alternatives in 2026
#1Rocketlane
Best for: Delivery and onboarding with a client portal4.7/5 on
G2 (876 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit rocketlane.com
Starting price$49/user/month
Free planNo
Rocketlane is the alternative Kantata customers name most often in 2026 comparisons, because it attacks Kantata's weakest surface: the client experience. Projects run inside a branded portal where customers see the plan, their tasks and the documents, while the firm gets resourcing, time tracking and margin views behind it. For SaaS onboarding and implementation teams, that shape matters more than back office depth.
Check the pricing carefully, because older articles quote $19 per user for Rocketlane and those plans no longer exist. Current vendor page checks in October 2026 put the entry at $49 per user a month billed yearly, with invoicing in a higher tier. Even so, for mid sized delivery teams it usually lands well under a Kantata contract, with far less implementation weight.
What we like- Client portal is native, so customers see plans and tasks without email chains, combines projects, resourcing, time and financials in one platform, templates and automation suit repeatable onboarding work, AI features help flag risk and draft project updates
Watch out for- Entry plan starts at $49 per user a month with a five seat minimum, invoicing sits in a higher tier reported from $69 per user, no free plan, only trials and demos, younger platform than the enterprise incumbents
#2Scoro
Best for: Agencies wanting quote to invoice in one tool4.5/5 on
G2 (503 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit scoro.com
Starting price$26/user/month
Free planNo
Scoro is the all in one answer for agencies and consultancies of roughly 10 to 200 people. Where Kantata starts at resourcing, Scoro starts at the quote: pipeline, project plan, time, expenses and the invoice live in one record, so a partner can trace a job from first call to final bill without exports. Its reporting on utilisation and project margin is the reason firms pick it.
Pricing is published and starts at $26 per user a month for the Essential tier, though invoicing depth arrives in higher tiers, so model the tier you actually need. There is no free plan, only a trial. Firms that found Kantata heavy but still need real financial control usually find Scoro is the weight they wanted.
What we like- Full chain from quote and CRM through projects, time and invoicing, strong dashboards for margin and utilisation across the firm, published pricing from $26 per user a month, mature product with deep reporting for its size band
Watch out for- No free plan, and minimum seat counts apply, breadth means setup takes thought to configure well, advanced invoicing features sit above the entry tier, enterprise features like multi entity finance are thinner than Kantata
#3Productive
Best for: Agency budgets, resourcing and profitability4.6/5 on
G2 (76 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit productive.io
Starting price$9/user/month
Free planNo
Productive built its name with agencies that wanted to know, while a project is still running, whether it will make money. Budgets, costs, resourcing and forecast margin sit on one screen, and the price makes it the easiest yes on this list: $9 per user a month for the entry tier, rising to around $24 for the full feature set.
It gives ground on the client facing side and on billing complexity. There is no portal to rival Rocketlane's, and firms with complicated invoicing arrangements will feel the limits sooner than firms billing time and materials. For a 10 to 200 person agency leaving Kantata mainly over cost and complexity, Productive is usually the value pick of the category.
What we like- Cheapest credible entry here at $9 per user a month, budgeting and profitability views are the product's centre, resourcing and capacity planning included without enterprise setup, clean interface that teams adopt quickly
Watch out for- Client portal is not its strength, time and invoicing depth trails BigTime and Scoro, reporting is strong for agencies but lighter for complex services firms, no free plan, trial only
#4BigTime
Best for: Time tracking and billing for services firms4.6/5 on
Capterra (664 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit bigtime.net
Starting price$20/user/month
Free planNo
BigTime starts from the timesheet and builds outward. Its strength is the unglamorous core of a services firm: getting hours recorded accurately, turning them into invoices without a spreadsheet fight, and showing work in progress clearly. Accounting and consulting firms have used it for years for exactly that.
At $20 per user a month for the entry tier, it undercuts Kantata by a wide margin while covering time, expenses, billing and basic project tracking. What it does not match is forward looking resource planning across a large portfolio. Firms whose pain is billing accuracy rather than forecasting will not miss that. Firms whose pain is capacity planning should look at Rocketlane or stay put.
What we like- Time capture and expense flows are fast enough that staff actually use them, invoicing and WIP reporting are built for services billing, integrates with QuickBooks and other accounting staples, long track record with accounting, consulting and IT firms
Watch out for- Resource forecasting is lighter than Kantata or Rocketlane, interface feels workmanlike beside newer rivals, project management features are serviceable rather than deep, no free plan
#5Certinia
Best for: Salesforce native enterprise PSA4.3/5 on
G2 (674 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit certinia.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Certinia, formerly FinancialForce, is the alternative for the firm that found Kantata not integrated enough rather than too heavy. Because it lives inside Salesforce, the opportunity, the project, the resources and the revenue are one continuous record, and its financial depth, including revenue recognition, matches or passes Kantata's.
That power has two prices: a Salesforce commitment and an enterprise quote. Trackers report figures around $175 per user a month, and implementations run to months. None of that is a criticism; it is the same weight class as Kantata itself. Choose Certinia when the strategic decision is really about building the firm on Salesforce, and the PSA choice follows from it.
What we like- Runs entirely on Salesforce, so pipeline and delivery share one record, enterprise grade revenue recognition and multi entity finance, strong fit for global services firms with complex billing, part of a wider Certinia finance suite on the same platform
Watch out for- Requires Salesforce, which rules it out for firms not on the platform, pricing is quote based and reported around $175 per user a month, implementation is an enterprise project in itself, far more platform than a small firm needs
#6Accelo
Best for: Small firms automating client work end to end4.3/5 on
G2 (685 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit accelo.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Accelo aims at the small services firm that runs everything through email and memory. It threads the whole client lifecycle together, prospects, projects, support tickets, retainers and invoices, and automates the chasing and status work that eats a small team's week. For agencies and consultancies under 50 people, that end to end shape is its selling point.
Pricing moved to quote based, and October 2026 trackers report roughly $50 per user a month, which puts it above Scoro and Productive for similar sized firms. The justification has to come from the automation actually landing in your workflows, so trial it against your real client work rather than the demo data before committing.
What we like- Connects sales, projects, tickets, retainers and billing in one flow, automation handles status updates, reminders and recurring work, email integration pulls client communication into the record, designed for small firms rather than scaled down from enterprise
Watch out for- Pricing is on request, with trackers reporting around $50 per user a month, breadth can overwhelm very small teams at setup, reporting depth trails Scoro and Kantata, mobile experience is weaker than the desktop product
#7Wrike
Best for: Project led teams with light PSA needs4.2/5 on
G2 (4,540 reviews, checked Oct 2026)
Visit wrike.com
Starting price$10/user/month
Free planYes
Wrike is the honest compromise entry. Some firms leave Kantata and discover they never used the PSA financials at all; they used projects, tasks and workload views. For them, a strong project platform at $10 per user a month, with time tracking and integrations to their accounting tool, covers the real work at a third of the fuss.
The risk is the opposite discovery, three months in, that invoicing from utilisation and project margin reporting were load bearing after all. Wrike can approximate them, but it is not a PSA, and bolting the pieces together costs admin time. If your finance team can name the Kantata reports they open weekly, stay in PSA territory. If nobody can, Wrike deserves the trial.
What we like- Strong project and workload management at $10 per user a month, free plan exists for small teams to start, custom workflows and dashboards adapt to many firm shapes, large integration library and enterprise security options
Watch out for- Billing and PSA financials are add ons or integrations, not the core, resourcing for billable utilisation is shallower than true PSA tools, costs climb as the useful add ons accumulate, reporting on margin needs careful setup to trust
How we chose
Kantata is professional services automation, so alternatives were judged as PSA first: resourcing, project delivery, time, billing and margin visibility in one system, with project only tools admitted where they honestly cover a lighter need and labelled as such. We weighed published pricing over tracker folklore, which matters in this category because older plans keep being quoted after they vanish; the Rocketlane and Scoro entries flag that where it applies. Vendor owned comparisons were used for pricing data only, never for rankings. Kantata itself is the reference product and is not listed, and MSP tools such as ConnectWise or Autotask were excluded because they serve IT helpdesks, a different job wearing the same acronym.
What to check before you leave Kantata
Count who actually logs time, then price every shortlist tool at that seat count and the tier that includes invoicing, because entry tiers in PSA often exclude the billing features that are the point of the system. Minimum seats, five at Rocketlane and Scoro, three at Productive, change the maths for small firms. Model a full year, not the headline month.
Then list the reports your firm truly runs. Utilisation, project margin and revenue forecasts are the three that decide whether a lighter tool will hold, and each alternative above handles them differently. Ask each vendor to build your ugliest real report in the trial, with your data shape, before signing. PSA migrations move years of project history, so agree what history comes across and what stays archived in Kantata exports.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kantata, and why do firms replace it?
Kantata is the PSA platform formed from Mavenlink and Kimble, covering resourcing, projects, time and billing for services firms. Firms replace it over quote based enterprise pricing, implementation weight, or a poor fit where they need a client portal or an all in one agency tool instead.
Which alternative is cheapest for a small agency?
Productive, at $9 per user a month for its entry tier, covers budgets, resourcing and profitability for agency sized teams. BigTime at $20 and Scoro at $26 per user are the next steps up when billing or full quote to invoice coverage matters.
Is there a free Kantata alternative?
Not a real PSA. Wrike has a free plan for project work, and most PSA vendors offer trials rather than free tiers. Firms needing genuine PSA financials should budget per user pricing and use trials to test fit.
What should a Salesforce based firm choose?
Certinia, because it runs natively on Salesforce and keeps opportunity, delivery and revenue in one record. Rocketlane is the other common shortlist entry for Salesforce firms that prioritise the client delivery experience.
How long does a PSA migration take?
For small firms moving to Scoro or Productive, weeks. For enterprise moves to Certinia or between Kantata class platforms, months, once history, integrations and finance configuration are included. The deciding factor is how much project history must be live in the new system rather than archived.
Sources we checked (0)
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has 5+ years in B2B and SaaS SEO. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.