Project Budgeting Software: 8 Tools to Automate Your Process

Do your daily responsibilities include managing project costs, looking out for scope creep, and checking on the budgets for the entire portfolio? Looks like you need project budgeting software.

Similarly to other business solutions, such tools allow you to automate the most tedious parts of the process and get important insights much quicker. Picking the right option among many may seem daunting at first, but surely there is a tool out there for you!

Below I have summarized the most popular options and outlined their main features and strengths to make your job much easier.

Ready to dive in? Let’s go.

How do we evaluate the tools?

Our team aims to provide you with the most accurate information to make the right decision on the next software purchase. All of the information is taken from review sites such as Capterra and G2 and summarized to highlight the strong and weak points of the selected solutions.

Keep in mind, each situation is different and the list below should only be used as guidance in making your choice.

Comparison table for the best project budgeting software

	Teamhood	Wrike	Monday	Teamwork	ClickUp	Smartsheet	Scoro	Productive.io
Brand
Capterra	4.9⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.2⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.6⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.5⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.6⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.5⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.6⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.6⭐⭐⭐⭐
G2	4.6⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.2⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.7⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.4⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.7⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.4⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.5⭐⭐⭐⭐	4.7⭐⭐⭐⭐
Free Plan	Yes, 10 users Try for free	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Pricing	Paid from $9.50	Paid from $9.80	Paid from $9	Paid from $11.50	Paid from $7	Paid from $8.50	Paid from $19.50	Paid from $9
Project budgets	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Cost estimates	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Cost tracking	✅	✅		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Resource hourly rates	✅	✅		✅				✅
Time tracking	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅		✅	✅
Portfolio budget	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅		✅
Reporting	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Portfolio overview	✅			✅				✅
Billing	✅(integration)	✅(integration)	✅(integration)	✅			✅	✅(integration)

Key ingredients for project budget software

In most cases, project budgeting software is not a standalone tool, but part of a bigger management system. However, not all project management tools are fit to monitor budgets. So, it is important to check that your solution has the features required for effective cost monitoring.

Here is the shortlist of functionalities, you should keep in mind:

• Project and portfolio budget: Consider if you will be tracking a single or multiple project budget and pick a tool that can meet your needs.
• Cost estimates and tracking: Tracking the project budget will be a lot easier if you can estimate and track actual costs as the project goes on.
• Resource hourly rate setup: Having the option to enter custom hourly rates for each resource, will automate cost calculations for you.
• Time tracking: This is important for billing, forecasting future performance, and billing clients for the work that was performed.
• Reporting: A good reporting setup will save you quite a headache in understanding the current budget, progress, and what needs attention.
• Billing: For those who handle client billing, having such an option within a project management solution will be a great time saver.

Now, that you are familiar with the main ingredients, let’s look at some of the best budgeting software options on the market.

1. Teamhood

Capterra score: 4.9/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐, G2 score: 4.6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Teamhood is a project budget software that gives you various reporting and visualizes your process.

With Teamhood, you can track budgets either by entering the total project budget or by summarizing the budget for all the project tasks. After the initial estimations are set, you will be able to track actual costs with the help of time tracking and custom hourly rate features.

Using this information, Teamhood will show you the current project costs and how they compare to estimations. All of this can be found in multiple reports so that you can choose what is the most useful in each situation.

Teamhood allows you to write custom formulas and calculate any business metric using the data in your workspace. Add ROI, profit, loss, or other metrics to your project overview and ensure you are always on top of the game.

Alternatively, take advantage of the built-in Portfolio view that shows the most important metrics automatically.

Here is what Teamhood users have to say in their reviews:

Teamhood pricing: Includes a free plan for up to 10 users. Paid professional plans start at $9.50 per user/month.

2. Wrike

Capterra score: 4.3/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐, G2 score: 4.2/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wrike is a workflow management tool that offers cost tracking for projects and portfolios.

With this project budgeting software, you will be able to track the expenses on your creative projects with more ease. Enter resource hourly rates, track time, and get cost calculations right where the project is happening.

Besides that, Wrike is a robust task management solution that offers collaboration features your team and clients are sure to like. You will also be able to create and customize reports so that the project budget data is easily accessible for review.

Amongst other budgeting solutions, Wrike stands out with its request forms. They allow you to pull custom data right into the project management solution. Be that customer requests, feedback, or other important information.

Here is what Wrike users have to say in their reviews:

Wrike pricing: Includes a free plan. Paid professional plans start at $9.80 per user/month.

3. Monday

Capterra score: 4.6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐, G2 score: 4.7/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monday is a work OS, that aims to ease your project management and tracking.

As part of their larger features package, this solution also offers project budget tracking. You can enter your project costs, or get automated calculations for the whole project based on the costs of each project task. Using formulas, you can then enter actual spent budget and track how much is left and if the team is not overspending.

Comparing to other solutions, Monday lacks an automated hourly rates feature. You can still track the costs by using formulas as a workaround, but it will be more challenging to set up and adjust if things change.

Compared to other project budgeting software, Monday stands out with an automation feature. For example, you can get automated notifications when a budget reaches a certain amount. Which may be useful when tracking multiple projects at once.

Here is what Monday users have to say in their reviews:

Monday pricing: Includes a free plan with 2 seats. Professional plan at $9.00 per user/month.

4. Teamwork

Capterra score: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐, G2 score: 4.4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Teamwork is a client-focused project management tool.

Use this solution to set up and track the expenses on a single project or the whole portfolio. Using reporting features, you will be able to see how much of your budget is left. You can also monitor the spending week by week. This gives you plenty of insight to ensure that cost management feels easy.

If you need to write invoices to clients, you will also enjoy the integrated billing solution. Allowing you to handle client payments from the same system where the actual work happens. This will be especially useful to service-type businesses.

It is important to note that some users report issues with budget tracking. You should review and consider if the solution is enough for your needs.

Here is what Teamwork users have to say in their reviews:

Teamwork pricing: Free plan for personal needs. Paid professional plans start at $11.50 per user/month.

5. ClickUp

Capterra score: 4.6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐, G2 score: 4.7/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

ClickUp is a productivity platform where you can track budgets and collaborate with the team.

by choosing this project budgeting software, you will be able to set up calculations and goals to track your spending. Use custom formulas to calculate the remaining money and visualize that in reports for easy review. You can do so within Excel-like sheets or visual dashboards to get a more easy-to-understand overview.

Amongst other solutions, ClickUp stands out with the number of available integrations. Having this on hand allows you to centralize the information in one place and replace any features that might be missing from it.

Keep in mind, that there is no option to add custom hourly rates for your team members. This will have to be done by hand and with formulas. If you are handling many different wage types, it can become a pain.

Here is what ClickUp users have to say in their reviews:

ClickUp pricing: Free plan for personal needs. Paid professional plans start at $7.00 per user/month.

6. Smartsheet

Capterra score: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐, G2 score: 4.4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Smartsheet is an enterprise-level solution with a spreadsheet-style interface.

This project budgeting software will be favored by those more used to Excel’s style of working. All the project information is kept and managed within spreadsheets by adding important details and calculations. You can set a project budget, assign expenses, and review the amount left at any point in the project.

Furthermore, you can categorize expenses and then review them in automated reports. Which makes quite a big difference if you need to have accurate information for billing clients.

Smarthseet is however somewhat limited in the automated cost tracking. Most of the calculations will have to be input as data or as formulas.

Here is what Smartsheet users have to say in their reviews:

Smartsheet pricing: No free plan available. Paid professional plans start at $8.50 per user/month.

7. Scoro

Capterra score: 4.6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐, G2 score: 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Scoro is a work management solution that offers budget tracking and reporting.

Use this project budgeting software to define your budget on a monthly basis, you can then add in allocation based on departments or team members. Once the team gets going, put in the actual expenditures and review if you are in a deficit or a surplus.

Scoro allows you to categorize all the information based on clients. Project budgets are no exception in this case allowing you to get accurate reports and billing for each of your prospects.

The sales teams will especially enjoy the CRM aspect of this project budgeting software. As it allows you to merge daily tasks with project management.

Here is what Scoro users have to say in their reviews:

Scoro pricing: No free plan available. Paid professional plans start at $19.50 per user/month.

8. Productive

Capterra score: 4.6/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐, G2 score: 4.7/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Productive is an agency-focused project management solution with budgeting features.

With this last project budgeting software, you will be able to add a bit more accuracy to the tracking. You can separate billable vs non-billable hours, and build various budget types, which makes the cost tracking a bit more advanced.

Such an approach will be helpful to those dealing with various client types and needing to represent them all in their tooling. Productive also takes your current data and analyzes it to provide forecasts on how your budget will perform in the future. Take them with a grain of salt, since any tool only relies on the data available.

Here is what Productive users have to say in their reviews:

Productive pricing: No free plan available. Paid professional plans start at $9.00 per user/month.

Project budgeting software overview

Picking the solution for your team is a lot easier when you know 2 things – what is out there and what you need. Hopefully, this review gave you ideas on both.

Still on the fence? Try out Teamhood.

It is free to use, visual, and has a wide variety of features for any agency.

Visual work management for high performing teams.

Set your budgets and tasks right.

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