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BEST-OF · 2026

Best Software for Agencies That Need Sales, Tasks, and Time Tracking Separately

Agencies often outgrow the single-tool setup because sales, delivery and billable work need different habits. The CRM needs clean pipeline data, the delivery tool needs task ownership, and the time layer needs entries the team will actually record. We picked tools that can own one clear part of that operating system, then checked them against our fixed AgencySoftware index. This guide suits agencies that want separate systems rather than forcing every workflow into one all-in-one platform. The strongest separate stack for most teams is HubSpot for sales, ClickUp for delivery, and Toggl Track for time discipline. If invoicing from hours matters more than time analytics, Harvest is the better time-and-billing layer.

Reviewed by Marcus Taylor · how we score · Last updated 2026-06-30 · compare tools · affiliate disclosure

1
PICK
GoHighLevel logo GoHighLevel 91/100 · EXCEPTIONAL EDITOR'S CHOICE

GoHighLevel is the closest thing the agency world has to an operating system. It bundles a CRM, email and SMS marketing, landing pages and funnels, calendars, pipelines and a deep automation builder into one account — and then lets you slap your own logo on it and sell it to clients as software. For agencies whose business is running marketing for other businesses, that combination is hard to beat.

✓ PROS
  • Replaces a stack of separate tools with one login
  • True white-label — sell it as your own product
  • CRM, email, SMS, funnels and automations in one place
✕ CONS
  • Steep learning curve — expect a slow first month
  • Can feel overwhelming until you turn features off
Best for: Agencies that want to run client marketing and resell software under their own brand
AT A GLANCE
Ease of use7.8/10
PricingFrom $97/mo
Agency fitWhite-label / resell
from $97/mo
Start free trial ↗ Read full review →
2
PICK
HubSpot logo HubSpot 89/100 · EXCEPTIONAL BEST FOR SCALING

HubSpot started as a marketing tool and grew into a full CRM platform, and for agencies that lean inbound it is the safe, scalable choice. The free CRM is good enough to run a small pipeline on, and as clients grow you layer on the Marketing, Sales and Service hubs without moving systems. Everything ties back to a single contact record, which makes reporting genuinely useful.

✓ PROS
  • Genuinely good free CRM to start on
  • Marketing, sales and service in one record
  • Strong, well-rewarded agency partner program
✕ CONS
  • Professional tiers get expensive fast
  • Contact-tier pricing can surprise you
Best for: Agencies scaling inbound and managing their own plus clients pipelines
AT A GLANCE
Ease of use8.2/10
PricingFree CRM + paid hubs
Agency fitAgency partner program
Free, then $15/seat/mo
Get the free CRM ↗ Read full review →
3
PICK
Monday.com logo Monday.com 86/100 · EXCELLENT BEST WORK OS

Monday.com is a work OS rather than a single-purpose tool. You start with boards and shape them into whatever the agency needs: a project tracker, a content calendar, a client pipeline, a dashboard for retainers. That flexibility is its strength and its trap, because the same blank canvas that adapts to your process will sprawl into chaos if nobody owns the setup.

✓ PROS
  • Bends to almost any workflow
  • Colourful boards the whole team will actually use
  • Doubles as projects and a light CRM
✕ CONS
  • Per-seat pricing adds up across a team
  • Can sprawl without setup discipline
Best for: Agencies wanting a customisable hub for projects plus light CRM
AT A GLANCE
Ease of use8.6/10
PricingFrom $9/seat (3 min)
Agency fitProjects + light CRM
from $9/seat/mo
Try free ↗ Read full review →
4
PICK
ClickUp logo ClickUp 85/100 · EXCELLENT BEST VALUE PM

ClickUp tries to be the one app an agency runs its delivery on, and on value it largely succeeds. Tasks, docs, goals, whiteboards and native time tracking all live in one place, so the path from a brief to tracked, billable work never leaves the tool. For a price-conscious agency, that consolidation is the whole pitch.

✓ PROS
  • Packs projects, docs and time tracking into one app
  • Generous free plan that small teams can live on
  • From about $7/user/mo when you do pay
✕ CONS
  • Feature overload can overwhelm new users
  • Occasional performance lag on big workspaces
Best for: Agencies that want project management, docs and time tracking in one cheap tool
AT A GLANCE
Ease of use7.6/10
PricingGenerous free plan
Agency fitPM + docs + tracking
Free, then $7/user/mo
Try free ↗ Read full review →
5
PICK
ActiveCampaign logo ActiveCampaign 85/100 · EXCELLENT BEST EMAIL AUTOMATION

ActiveCampaign is where email gets serious. The automation builder is the best in this set — branching logic, conditional waits, behavioural triggers and segmentation deep enough to run genuinely sophisticated client campaigns. For an agency whose value is in clever lifecycle and nurture sequences, it gives you room the simpler tools do not.

✓ PROS
  • Best-in-class automation builder
  • CRM and email in one platform
  • Handles complex client campaigns well
✕ CONS
  • Automation builder has a learning curve
  • Pricing scales with contact count
Best for: Agencies running sophisticated email automation for client campaigns
AT A GLANCE
Ease of use7.4/10
PricingFrom $15/mo
Agency fitEmail + CRM automation
from $15/mo
Start free trial ↗ Read full review →
6
PICK
Asana logo Asana 84/100 · EXCELLENT

Asana is the project manager you pick when you want it to just work. The interface is clean and quick, the learning curve is gentle enough that a new account manager is productive on day one, and it has the maturity and reliability that come from years in market. For agencies whose priority is dependable delivery rather than maximum configurability, it is the comfortable default.

✓ PROS
  • Clean, fast and genuinely pleasant to use
  • Low learning curve — teams adopt it quickly
  • Reliable, mature and well supported
✕ CONS
  • No native time tracking
  • Pricier than ClickUp at $10.99/user/mo
Best for: Agencies that want clean, reliable project tracking without the clutter
AT A GLANCE
Ease of use8.8/10
PricingFree for small teams
Agency fitClean cross-team PM
Free, then $10.99/user/mo
Try free ↗ Read full review →
7
PICK
Toggl Track logo Toggl Track 84/100 · EXCELLENT BEST TIME TRACKING

Toggl Track wins time tracking by getting out of the way. Starting a timer is one click, the apps are everywhere your team works, and the reports turn tracked hours into clean answers about where time actually goes. The reason it works is adoption: a timer nobody resents is a timer people actually use, and that is most of the battle for an agency trying to bill accurately.

✓ PROS
  • The simplest timer in the category — one click
  • Accurate reporting on billable hours
  • Generous free plan
✕ CONS
  • Not a full project-management tool
  • Invoicing needs an add-on or integration
Best for: Agencies that want accurate billable-hour tracking without the friction
AT A GLANCE
Ease of use9.2/10
PricingFree plan available
Agency fitUnlimited tracking
Free, then $9/user/mo
Try free ↗ Read full review →
8
PICK
Teamwork logo Teamwork 83/100 · EXCELLENT BEST FOR CLIENT WORK

Teamwork is the rare project tool designed around the agency model rather than adapted to it. Billable time, client-facing users, retainers and budget burn are first-class features, not bolt-ons, so the gap between "work done" and "work invoiced" is much smaller than in general-purpose tools. If your business is selling time to clients, that focus pays off quickly.

✓ PROS
  • Built for client work, not retrofitted for it
  • Billable time tracking against tasks and projects
  • Client users you can safely invite in
✕ CONS
  • Busier interface than Asana
  • Smaller integration ecosystem
Best for: Agencies that bill time to clients and need it tracked against projects
AT A GLANCE
Ease of use8.0/10
PricingFree tier + $10.99/user
Agency fitBillable time + clients
Free, then $10.99/user/mo
Try free ↗ Read full review →

At a glance

ToolIndexEaseFromFreeBest for
GoHighLevel 917.8from $97/mo—Agencies that want to run client marketing and resell software under their own brand
HubSpot 898.2Free, then $15/seat/mo✓Agencies scaling inbound and managing their own plus clients pipelines
Monday.com 868.6from $9/seat/mo✓Agencies wanting a customisable hub for projects plus light CRM
ClickUp 857.6Free, then $7/user/mo✓Agencies that want project management, docs and time tracking in one cheap tool
ActiveCampaign 857.4from $15/mo—Agencies running sophisticated email automation for client campaigns
Asana 848.8Free, then $10.99/user/mo✓Agencies that want clean, reliable project tracking without the clutter
Toggl Track 849.2Free, then $9/user/mo✓Agencies that want accurate billable-hour tracking without the friction
Teamwork 838.0Free, then $10.99/user/mo✓Agencies that bill time to clients and need it tracked against projects

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HOW TO CHOOSE

Choosing the right tool

Split the stack only when the work has different owners. If the same two people sell, deliver and bill every job, a lighter setup may be enough. Once sales needs pipeline reporting and delivery needs task detail, separate tools keep the data cleaner.

Use HubSpot as the sales system, not the whole agency back office. Its free tier is useful for getting pipeline discipline in place, and AgencySoftware records it as Free, then $15. The catch is that cost and complexity rise if you push project delivery and time tracking into the CRM.

Use ClickUp when task ownership is the messy part. It starts Free, then $7 in our data, and its Unlimited plan adds native time tracking. The downside is that ClickUp’s free plan has limits such as 60MB storage, and workspace-wide upgrades can change the bill quickly.

Choose Toggl Track when time data needs to be trusted. It is the better fit for billable versus non-billable time, utilisation, capacity and profitability work. The trade-off is that it is not the main invoicing and payment workflow in the way Harvest is.

Choose Harvest when approved hours need to become invoices. Harvest starts Free, then $11 in our data, and its paid plan supports team reporting, invoicing and payment integrations. The limitation is that it does not replace a proper task and project hub like ClickUp.

Do the fee maths before standardising. HubSpot payments, Harvest online payments and third-party processors can add card, ACH or platform fees. Those costs are fine when they remove admin, but they can surprise agencies that only compare monthly software prices.

FAQ

What is the best separate software stack for agency sales, tasks and time tracking?

For most agencies that want separate systems, HubSpot, ClickUp and Toggl Track make the cleanest stack: HubSpot owns the sales pipeline, ClickUp owns delivery, and Toggl Track owns time discipline. If invoicing from tracked hours is the priority, swap Toggl Track for Harvest.

Should an agency use ClickUp time tracking instead of Toggl Track or Harvest?

Use ClickUp’s native time tracking if you only need lightweight time entries attached to tasks. Use Toggl Track when utilisation, capacity and profitability reports matter. Use Harvest when the main job is turning approved hours into invoices and collecting payment.

Why not use GoHighLevel for everything?

GoHighLevel is still the highest-ranked tool in the AgencySoftware index and is a strong fit for agencies that want an all-in-one client marketing platform. This article is for the opposite case: agencies that prefer a dedicated CRM, a dedicated delivery tool and a dedicated time layer.

Can a small agency start with free plans?

Yes, but check the limits before the team standardises. HubSpot, ClickUp, Toggl Track and Harvest all have free entry points in our data, but storage, user limits, project limits, reporting and invoicing needs can push you onto paid plans.

Which tool is ranked first on this list?

GoHighLevel is ranked first here because it has the strongest overall fit for this use case in our current scoring model.