Accelo vs. BigTime Software

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Accelo
Score 3.0 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Accelo is a Professional Services Automation (PSA) platform designed to provide visibility into operational risks for service-based organizations. While traditional tools often focus on historical data, Accelo is intended to surface real-time risks such as Project Overruns, Resource Overloading, and Scope Creep. The platform integrates the full client lifecycle, including CRM, Quoting, Project Delivery, Support Ticketing, Time and Expense Tracking, Retainer Management, and…N/A
BigTime Software
Score 6.3 out of 10
N/A
BigTime IQ is time and expense tracking software from Chicago-based BigTime Software.
$20
User per Month
Pricing
AcceloBigTime Software
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Essentials
$20
User per Month
Advanced
$35
User per Month
Premier
$45
User per Month
Projector
$60
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AcceloBigTime Software
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AcceloBigTime Software
Considered Both Products
Accelo
Chose Accelo
Harvest and Asana combined don't even scratch the surface of what Accelo can do. Harvest is nothing more than rudimentary time tracking. It's about as easy to use as they come, but it stops there. There's no tie in to project management, invoicing, capacity planning, etc. and …
Chose Accelo
Accelo is much cleaner in its UI and consolidated data quicker than Zoho Analytics.
Chose Accelo
We switched from Teamwork to Accelo. Teamwork outperforms Accelo when it comes to tasks and email communications. However, Accelo does exceed Teamwork when it comes to impeccable time management. Being able not to overspend time on a client has had a significant benefit in ROI.
Chose Accelo
Accelo doesn't really exceed any competitors in any one area of their product, but in 2015 when we made the move this was the best option that included all the tools we wanted. However, user adoption was low in some areas due to the UI, so we scaled back Accelo and added other …
Chose Accelo
We used Workfront prior to using Accelo, mainly for project management and retainer management. There is no comparison between the two as Accelo blows it away.
BigTime Software
Chose BigTime Software
I think BigTime Software has better invoice tracking and payment options but Monday offers better project tracking
Chose BigTime Software
After all the research and demos I watched, I had narrowed it down to BQE CORE & BigTime Software. We actually started w/ BQE CORE, which is an incredibly robust software with a lot of great abilities. It ended up being way more robust than we needed or wanted. We switched …
Chose BigTime Software
Many of those other softwares did not provide the detailed reporting capabilities that Big Time does. It was harder to get the data we needed out of those systems, and some just did not have it all together...
Chose BigTime Software
I didn't use the reporting features much on ClickTime, so I can't compare that. The previous company where I was that used ClickTime may have had just a basic subscription for timekeeping.
Chose BigTime Software
I liked the client management, but it didn't do time tracking, billing or syncing with quickbooks. It was too robust for my needs. I tried it for the client management and thought I might use it along with bigtime, but it was too cumbersome and would involve too much double …
Chose BigTime Software
BigTime Software blows Zoho out of the water because it's all in one place and the customer service is 1000x better than Zoho. It's easy to get answers and understand where the problem is and how to fix it. Zoho was confusing, didn't communicate well between modules, and the …
Chose BigTime Software
We selected BigTime [Software] because it had the most features that we needed in our company. It is lacking some features but overall it is a good fit for us.
Chose BigTime Software
I have used several custom products at various consulting forms that were clunky and difficult to work with.
Chose BigTime Software
The main reason why we have decided to change services [...] is because we have carried out an internal analysis to determine which tool [is the best], with the [most] appropriate functionalities to fulfill our labor proposal. [We] came to the conclusion that BigTime [Software] …
Chose BigTime Software
Customer Support; Ease of Platform Use; Product can and will do what it promises it will do!
Chose BigTime Software
While they have similar capabilities, our main reason for switching to BigTime Software was that Harvest could not reconcile expenses and labor hours into one budget line item, which threw off entire project budgets. In this regard, BigTime Software is more accurate and a much …
Chose BigTime Software
Ajera is not as user friendly and seems to be designed for larger corporations Does not have integrations with other software like QB
Chose BigTime Software
We looked at several different options, but most of them charge a percentage of the profits to use their service. BigTime is a flat rate for access/use and that works better with our business.
Chose BigTime Software
It’s a great alternative to other invoice software since it's easy for a quick Excel invoice or other timesheet for contracting work. It was easy to enter time and upload receipts as well. I uploaded a receipt for a software purchase when I had to add that to my billing as …
Chose BigTime Software
BigTime was recommended by enough people in our circle that we didn't even consider any other options. All other options were outside our price point as well.
Chose BigTime Software
We've been using BigTime exclusively since needing to incorporate a timesheet tracking for employees.
Chose BigTime Software
BigTime is much easier to use and available online and on mobile.
Chose BigTime Software
I have not used any other products like BigTime, but I know that our office was careful in selecting it and has been very pleased.
Chose BigTime Software
BigTime allows more detailed breakdowns by project than this software (though I used Kronos several years ago).
Best Alternatives
AcceloBigTime Software
Small Businesses
Teamwork.com
Teamwork.com
Score 8.4 out of 10
Teamwork.com
Teamwork.com
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork
Score 8.5 out of 10
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork
Score 8.5 out of 10
Planview AdaptiveWork
Planview AdaptiveWork
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
AcceloBigTime Software
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
6.3
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(0 ratings)
6.1
(0 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
AcceloBigTime Software
Likelihood to Recommend
The best services management, easy operations reporting, and data analytics features from Accelo are impressive and easy on data visualization and workflow management software. Accelo was very helpful in collaboration and easy to collect feedback from integrated platforms and the scheduling ability is very unique. The Automation tools are also cost-effective and the ability to manage time through Accelo is perfect.
Read full review
I believe it is well suited for our industry! We are professional services consulting firm and we need this! However if there is a smaller company who does not need to track these items, then they should not use this big of a platform
Read full review
Pros
  • Tracking customer interactions. Nice integration with G Suite, could be a lot better if they acknowledged that contacts may actually have more than one email address.
  • Support Ticket system is integrated, so we can view support history and other email correspondence easily. It's cheaper that Zendesk.
  • Support is reasonably good, usually prompt and responsive.
  • Constant development - lots of updates, just not often to areas that we use.
Read full review
  • Invoice Style and detail..Bigtime allows the user the ability to choose more of what you need to appear on your invoice with its window options.
  • Phase/Percentage Billing; ease of adding additional phases to a project mid-project; clearly identifying Retainers
  • Support Team- In particular Melissa D and Lina Z...Par Excellent on the Teams
  • WHIP/Reports/Review of Invoices just make the entire billing process a BREEZE has cut my time frame in half, a Incredible help in this Season of Remote Work Environment that we are adapting to.
Read full review
Cons
  • The client portal needs to be improved. It does not have the same user interface as we have within Accelo and we get a lot of client complaints about it.
  • It needs more executive-style reporting and the ability to create your own reports and filters.
  • It needs to be faster. With all of the things Accelo is doing to give you all the data, it is kind of slow compared to other systems in the browser.
Read full review
  • For some types of projects, we are unable to use BigTime's invoicing feature. It would be nice if we could further customize invoices to fit our needs. We still have to use Quickbooks to complete certain invoices.
  • Being able to create Purchase Orders in BigTime would be extremely useful to us. We currently use Quickbooks for this.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Looking forward to seeing more refinement of features provided and upcoming features promised :)
Read full review
Its been a huge help in saving time and making billing more efficient. Would like to see the product grow and be able to continue to use it.
Read full review
Usability
No answers on this topic
Overall most areas of the software are easy to use. I tend to spend a lot of time in analytics and reports. Those are not as user friendly, in my opinion, and could use some improvements. I think it just takes time to get familiar with where items are stored in the program and what changes affect what.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
BigTime is available 99% of the time. At times there are bugs, but most are resolved quickly
Read full review
Performance
No answers on this topic
have not noticed a slow integration issue using QBO
Read full review
Support Rating
From the beginning the Accelo team has been very invested in ensuring our success and overall happiness with the platform. The initial implementation specialists and trainers did a fairly good job of learning our company and needs, and tried to tailor the trainings accordingly. However, once we made the formal switch to the platform, meaning we no longer were using our legacy systems, we found that we had a lot of questions....and a lot of ideas and recommendations. The support team is extremely responsive and seemingly happy to receive our continual feedback. And if we encounter an issue that seems to be a system issue, they work diligently to fix it (we've actually had an engineer join a call with us to learn of the issue - and subsequently fix it)
Read full review
The support is amazing! They are always available through the chat interface in the program. Each support person has fully answered my questions the first time. I have had a positive experience with each inquiry. It is very important to me that I am able to get instant access to help so that I can make the most of the software and all of its capabilities.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
I touched on this briefly, in another survey section, but my implementation manager, Kevin, was exceptional. The actual implementation process took 3 months, not 1 before I was comfortable rolling it out to staff. We also had to wait/schedule time and coordinate for our custom xml. invoice to be generated and in a place we felt comfortable sending it out to clients. In the end I was very satisfied, but during the first few months it was challenging.
Read full review
Alternatives Considered
Harvest and Asana combined don't even scratch the surface of what Accelo can do. Harvest is nothing more than rudimentary time tracking. It's about as easy to use as they come, but it stops there. There's no tie in to project management, invoicing, capacity planning, etc. and the reporting isn't great. Asana we found to be very difficult to use for complex projects with multiple deliverables, multiple deadlines, multiple teams - and it didn't tie back to budgets and hours worked. So the deficiencies of those two tools are what led us to Accelo. In terms of more comparable systems, I had previously used Workamajig. The sophistication of Workamajig was there, but it didn't seem to have quite as much flexibility and customization. ProWorkflow we evaluated just based on sales and marketing information available on the platform and felt it wasn't quite as good.
Read full review
The main reason why we have decided to change services [...] is because we have carried out an internal analysis to determine which tool [is the best], with the [most] appropriate functionalities to fulfill our labor proposal. [We] came to the conclusion that BigTime [Software] is much more complete in terms of functionalities and even [at a] lower price.
Read full review
Scalability
No answers on this topic
The product is useful for faster billing and efficient timesheet logs. I do like the report features however there are many options and can be overwhelming for the user. It is most helpful to set up reports speaking to an agent to ensure the right fields are set, etc.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • Save Money on Lost Time. You won't go over your client retainers in any given month if you use Accelo properly. This ultimately saves your company time and money.
  • Lost or Broken Communications. They need to get it together with their email system, aka "request inboxes" ... There are too many lost or broken emails for them to be trustworthy with this. My suggestion is to make sure you know everyone you communicate with (including outside sources like Google or other companies) and set them up in Accelo, then send test emails. Also, when in doubt, use your Outlook or other primary sourced email when you want to make sure an email goes through with all appropriate files.
Read full review
  • Before BigTime, we were using Excel to track everything, creating invoices, and run reports. Getting on BigTime has saved us tons of time and effort which equates to dollars saved on labor.
  • From a legal standpoint, BigTime has allowed us to be organized and prepared in the event we would need to present financial details to anyone.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Accelo Screenshots

Screenshot of project analytics. Accelo keeps projects on track with templates, task management, Gantt charts, AI-predicted completion dates, portfolio views, and built-in client approvals.Screenshot of the scheduling interface. Accelo matches work to the right person by skill, workload, and availability — with utilization reports, capacity forecasting, and dynamic allocations that keep delivery and pipeline aligned.Screenshot of the revenue dashboard. Revenue leakage hides in unbilled hours, missed scope, and late invoices. Accelo captures time automatically, tracks budget and margin live, automates invoicing end-to-end, and manages retainers and scope creep before the damage is done.Screenshot of an overview of capacity. Most firms make decisions on data that's already a month old. Accelo delivers real-time reporting across utilization, profitability, and project financials — with custom dashboards that give every role the signal they need to act.

BigTime Software Screenshots

Screenshot of BigTime Wallet provides clients with a personalized experience to pay on time from anywhere, in one click.Screenshot of A big-picture view into operational insights to make adjustments to how resources are managed.Screenshot of Real-time, actionable insights for professional services firms.Screenshot of The platform is designed to work within existing workflows and software stack, acting as a single source of truth for data.Screenshot of BigTime's invoicing engine supports dozens of industry-standard billing scenarios and enough options to satisfy exacting customer needs.