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#5

Accelo is ranked #5 in the Time And Expense Tracking Software product directory based on the latest available data collected by SelectHub. Compare the leaders with our In-Depth Report.

Accelo Pricing

Based on our most recent analysis, Accelo pricing starts at $50 (Per User, Monthly).

Price
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Starting From
$50
Pricing Model
Per User, Monthly
Free Trial
Yes, Request for Free

Training Resources

Accelo is supported with the following types of training:

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars

Support

The following support services are available for Accelo:

Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Help Desk
Knowledge Base
Tickets
Training
24/7 Live Support

Accelo Benefits and Insights

Why use Accelo?

Key differentiators & advantages of Accelo

  • Integrate Seamlessly: Connect with popular platforms like GSuite, QuickBooks, HubSpot, Stripe, PayPal, Airtable and Slack (just to name a few).
  • Manage From Anywhere: Use the mobile app to handle every aspect of your business wherever you are, anytime.
  • Create Quotes Easily: Generate and convert quotes for any project with a single click.
  • Collaborate on Projects: Work together on projects, sales leads, and support issues to meet deadlines and ensure project success.
  • Drive Business Processes: Get smart alerts if things go off track and forecast future needs to keep your processes running smoothly.
  • Achieve Success in Client Service: Streamline ticket tracking, time billing, invoicing, and recurring tasks while gaining insights into profit margins and resource use.
  • Set Automated Triggers: Use replicable templates and automated triggers to manage retainers and track ongoing services effortlessly.
  • Forecast Team Schedules: Predict your team’s billing needs and schedule tasks according to project workflows, with the flexibility to adjust as needed.
  • Make Billing Painless: Integrate with key business apps and modules for real-time access to client, financial, and project data.
  • Tailor Access Permissions: While it's handy to easily provide access to clients and your team, it's even more important to protect certain information from unauthorized access. Permissions help you easily grant access and also restrict it as needed. 
  • Enhance Business Intelligence: Take a look at key insights and reports in real time and track profitability to predict your revenue (including performance tracking and project tracking).

Industry Expertise

Launched in 2009, Accelo is a professional services automation (PSA) platform that simplifies project management, automates recurring contracts and workflows, and streamlines billing and invoicing.

It works in industries including but not limited to consulting, accounting, IT and software, architecture, and engineering.

Accelo Reviews

Average customer reviews & user sentiment summary for Accelo:

User satisfaction level icon: great

716 reviews

88%

of users would recommend this product

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Based on an aggregate of Accelo reviews taken from the sources above, the following pros & cons have been curated by a SelectHub Market Analyst.

Pros

  • 89% of users commend Accelo's customer support, noting it as helpful, quick and friendly.
  • 80% of users appreciate its ability to centralize work and company information, integrations and comprehensive features for managing tickets, tasks and projects.
  • 67% find invoicing straightforward, especially for setting up repeaters and managing client invoices, which is easier than using separate systems. They also enjoy the variety of invoicing options.
  • A little over half of Accelo users praise its time tracking, citing it’s easy to use and log time with options like manual entry or a timer.
  • Most users found the platform intuitive and liked the UI, frequent updates and the convenience of accessing information from any device.

Cons

  • Users have mixed feelings about Accelo's reporting. Some are frustrated by the inability to lock timesheets and find it difficult to search due to the system keeping activities open.
  • 20% of users find the interface complex and missing features, such as smart text options and dark mode.
  • The platform’s many features and ways to perform tasks can lead to different team members using it in various ways, causing confusion.
  • While there are a lot of options to tailor the system to different workflows, they also note that there are limited aspects of the system that can be changed, such as rates.
  • Some users have experienced challenges with adjusting project schedules and time entries.

Researcher's Summary:

Get ready to "accelo-rate" your understanding of this PSA and project management software.

Accelo commonly uses a dual-menu design, where you’ll find different menu options on the left and right sides of the screen. This setup can ease navigation by grouping related tasks. However, this can require more screen real estate, which could be a disadvantage on smaller monitors or devices, making the interface feel cluttered.

Let’s dive into the sales module first, where you can view and manage your book of business (your clients). On the left-hand side, contact info is clearly displayed for quick reference. There’s a visual to see the momentum of your work with each client, including activities vs. hours, revenue and how many times they’ve been in touch with you over the past week.

Personally, I liked the sales module and felt like the layout was easy to follow. There’s Recent Work that shows closed tasks like campaign planning, new product visuals and website maintenance.

As a multitasker prone to triple checking things, I liked that this helps you track progress and ensure everything’s wrapped up before moving on to the next task. It's great for accountability and communication by keeping details transparent, so everyone stays on the same page without sifting through emails or notes.

The page seems intuitive and reasonably simple to navigate. There are tabs at the top for contacts, attachments, assets, tasks and billing.

Under the Work tab at the top, you can manage sales opportunities, such as web maintenance. All the info you need is in one place to help reduce time spent clicking around.

Click on the opportunity, and from there, view important details. See the sale type to determine the right workflow and help reps understand which stage comes next (there’s also automation between steps). See the sale’s value, how likely closure is and when it’s due. Basically, it’s set up like the answer key in the back of a textbook that gives you all the clear details.

Teamwork makes the dream work, right? There’s a sales pipeline report, and you can track effort. It’s known for its resource management feature, helping reduce burnout with automated recurring tasks and skills-based scheduling to get the job done by the best person.

Integrate with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 to track communications between team and customer. Additionally, track time spent on emails directly in Accelo. A timer at the bottom of your emails tracks exactly how long you’ve spent on it.

Click Add quote and select a template for creating a quote, and configure it based on your branding. On the left-hand side of the sales opportunity (in this example it’s web maintenance) there are sales details, team, bookings, comments, quote and a visual for sales activity (also additional details, sales email alias and tags).

When ready to generate a quote, click the add icon on the right. The process is seamless, with just three steps: create an estimate, edit it and preview/publish.

Quotes/estimates hold a lot of info, like details on services, terms and conditions, specific price breakdowns, and your team mission statement. The cool thing about Accelo is you can toggle on or off certain details easily, so if this is a client you’ve worked with a lot and they don’t need a lengthier quote, you can easily simplify it.

Once you press publish, you have the chance to generate an email to the client. You can also include a link to the client portal and a PDF of the quote. On the client’s side, accept or decline are clearly displayed in the top right corner. Once they’ve accepted, you can convert the quote into a project.

Under the Work tab, there's a comprehensive view of all ongoing activities for a client, including requests, sales, projects and tickets. Important details are all in one place, like billable hours, assignees, contacts and due dates. For a specific task, the left side shows progress, important dates, bookings and schedules, giving you a clear picture of what’s planned and what’s active.

Some user reviews mention confusion during onboarding, specifically that having multiple ways to do the same action or task can be tricky. For example, viewing the schedule in different places might lead to mismatches if not handled carefully.

The range of options and layout might seem overwhelming at first. While there might be a learning curve, the design aims to provide a flexible and detailed view of everything.

Time tracking is color-coded to help you stay within your budget. If you log hours that are well within your limit, they’ll be displayed in green, approaching your limit in yellow and exceeding it in red.

Its Tickets module is straightforward for managing and tracking your support requests. When you click on a ticket’s name/title, it opens up and displays key information on the left side, including priority, type and class.

At the top of the page, you’ll see the workflow stages like tier one and tier two escalations, ticket resolved, and waiting to track where each ticket stands in the resolution process.

On the right side, you’ll see key stats like the ticket’s age, days since the last update and the due date. Below this, you’ll find a stream that captures all communication back and forth, providing a clear history of interactions.

The billing module takes a streamlined approach to managing invoicing, and it integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero so your finances stay consistent.

The platform includes an invoicing wizard that pulls together all customer work that’s ready for invoicing and guides you through each step. It also offers a handy Complete and email button, allowing you to finalize and send invoices with a single click.

You’ve got a solid selection of templates to choose from and customize. Plus, you can set up automatic invoicing for retainer work, so you won’t have to deal with recurring billing manually. Within the Billing tab, view all invoices you’ve created and sent and track which ones are still outstanding.

Key Features

  • Resource Allocation: This is Accelo's leading functionality (ranked at 100). Let's take a closer look at the features that earned this score.
    • Skills-Based Scheduling: Ensure tasks are assigned to the best-equipped team members, leading to better results and reducing burnout.
    • Live Profitability Reporting: Direct resources for better financial outcomes with real-time insights into project performance.
    • Automated Time Tracking: Capture every minute, from sending an email to closing a task. This helps expand on resource usage and make smarter task assignments and adjustments. Advanced time rounding rules also help enhance precision.
    • Activity Dashboard: Monitor project progress with a real-time overview of ongoing tasks and team activities.
    • Utilization Insights: Get detailed data on how resources are used to optimize workload distribution and improve efficiency.
  • Sales: Its built-in sales quoting feature makes it easy to build and maintain customer relationships. It updates automatically with each client interaction, keeping you in the loop on everything.
    • Automation and Processes: Guide your next steps by sending template emails, scheduling follow-ups and updating due dates all in one go.
    • Team Scheduling: Plan when to start new projects based on workload predictions.
    • Client Records: Make faster, more informed decisions with access to all customer-related data.
    • Team Inbox: Access all client-related information and email communication with a team inbox.
    • Tracking and Sync: Share client appointments, emails, notes, attachments and custom fields with their team members.
    • Cloud-Based ServOps: Oversee the primary functions of your business, from prospect to payment.
    • Expenses: Stop chasing down receipts. Manual expense tracking isn't just outdated; it's time-consuming and prone to inaccuracies. To combat this issue you can add expenses either on the web or mobile app.
  • Professional Services Automation: Accelo's all-in-one place design lets you run your service operations from the cloud. It covers project management, client management, time tracking and invoicing.
    • CRM and Client Database: Share client databases in real time and let users see client work in a synchronized way.
    • 360° Client View: Gain a comprehensive view of client interactions and history for personalized engagement.
    • Invoicing: Offer partial and bulk invoicing, customizable templates, and online payments.
    • Payments: Sync with QuickBooks or Xero to support two-way payments. Get automatic late payment reminders and set up recurring or automated payments to keep things running smoothly and save yourself from chasing down payments.
    • Email Tracking: Stay on top of emails with the help of its two-way sync with Office365, Google Apps and Exchange.
    • Timesheet Reports and Automated Timesheets: View completed work for individuals or on a team level to gauge workplace productivity. Populate weekly timesheets automatically with employee names and ongoing work.
    • Projects: Ease full project management with Gantt charts, collaboration tools and budget tracking.
    • Services: Track tickets with emails and automated timers.
    • Retainers: Manage ongoing service contracts and projects with automated notifications and auto billing.
  • Project Management: Accelo’s project management capabilities provide features for flexible invoicing and reporting. (This functionality ranks at 91).
    • Project Planning: Structure project planning with drag-and-drop Gantt charts.
    • Project Tracking: Users can manage their budget and deliverables with Accelo, ensuring that projects are profitable.
    • Time Tracking: See exactly how time is spent and don’t miss a minute with email timing, task-based time, a mobile timer and automated time-tracking sheets. Its time-tracking capabilities earn a decent score of 83.
    • Client Portal: Offer clients access to a portal that allows them to create, submit and track their tickets.
    • Automation and Processes: Get alerts when projects get held up or slow down before customers call them out.
    • Expenses: Submit expenses for client or internal reimbursement on a per-project basis.
    • Invoicing: Generate value or T&M-based invoicing that syncs automatically to QuickBooks and Xero.
  • Service: With its customer service management feature, users can provide smooth, profitable and consistent client support. It’s built for professional services and includes a support ticket system that highlights which issues need your attention.
    • Automation and Processes: Build workflows for various work types like “onsite visit” or “website is down.”
    • Automated Notifications: Automate messages to manage tickets and send reminder emails before closing tickets.
    • Activity Tracking: See your client and team communications in a single platform.
  • Retainer Management: Manage your ongoing services and contracts with flexible options and automated tools.
    • Usage Tracking: Track retainer tasks by hours or by budget.
    • Custom Retainers: Set up allowance rollover and types flexibly.
    • Communications Tracking: Track and monitor relevant notes, emails and other communications between users and clients.
    • Client Portal: Give clients a bird’s eye view of total contract usage and customize the portal to provide a tailored experience.
    • Automatic Recurring Tasks: Create and schedule recurring tasks such as payroll and SEO for ongoing projects.
    • Tickets and Project Connection: View time worked on projects and sort by projects, tasks or emails.
    • Automated Notifications: Notify clients and teams when contracts approach their limits to manage expectations.
    • Unlimited Templates and Types: Create and customize new client setups with flexible contract or retainer types, including renewal and notification rules.

Limitations

At the time of this review, these are the limitations according to user feedback:

  • No GPS based time tracking.
  • No offline access.
  • Currently can’t lock timesheets.
  • Mobile capabilities score 67, and dashboard and reporting functionalities score 65, both ranking on the lower side according to our Express App.

Cost of Ownership

Q: What is the cost of the license or subscription?
A: For details on license or subscription costs, please refer to the pricing guide.

Q: How much does maintenance cost?
A: Maintenance costs are outlined in the pricing guide. Please consult the guide for specifics.

Q: What are the installation or implementation costs?
A: Installation or implementation costs can be found in the pricing guide. Check there for detailed information.

Q: How much does customization cost?
A: Customization costs are detailed in the pricing guide. Please review the guide for precise figures.

Q: What are the costs associated with data migration or change management?
A: Data migration, change management and upfront switching costs are included in the pricing guide. Refer to it for the relevant information.

Q: Are there any recurring or renewal costs?
A: Recurring or renewal costs are listed in the pricing guide. For details, please consult the guide.

Learning Resources

  • Request a Demo: Submit the form online and a sales rep will follow up with you to find out your specific needs and schedule a personalized demo.
  • Explore the Video Library: Webinars for various topics broken into categories, including live training recordings, educational series and best practices.
    • Under best practices, there are helpful topics like how to plan and schedule in Accelo, customize and configure the platform, and master resource utilization.
  • Visit the Help Center: On the website, there's a help center where you can learn more about Accelo's features, support services and platform updates. Here, you can also view help guides, request a demo and go to the knowledge base with articles by support engineers.
    • Submit Forms: On the help center page, you can submit a support form for further assistance, fill out a product form for info on upcoming products or provide feedback and a developer form to connect with other developers and API fans.

FAQs

Q: What is Accelo used for?
A: Accelo is a comprehensive business management platform for project management, client interactions and operational workflows. It helps businesses manage tasks, track time, handle billing and get a detailed look at productivity for better accountability and efficiency.

Q: What’s the difference between Accelo and Jira?
A: Accelo and Jira both offer project management solutions, but they cater to different needs.

Accelo focuses on client and project management with features for invoicing, time tracking and CRM. Jira, on the other hand, is primarily a tool for software development and issue tracking, providing advanced features for bug tracking, agile project management and technical workflows.

A Closer Look

Product Accelo Jira
Price Starting from $50 per user per month Starting from $10 per user per month
Free Trial No Yes
Overall Score 83 77
Top Module Resource Management Time Tracking and Management
Deployment Method Cloud Cloud, On-premise

Q: Is Accelo a CRM?
A: Accelo is a PSA. However, it includes CRM (customer relationship management) functionalities. It allows businesses to manage client interactions, track sales opportunities, and maintain client records, making it easier to build and maintain strong client relationships.

Q: Can you automate payments in Accelo?
A: Yes, Accelo supports automated payments.

You can set up recurring payments and manage billing processes efficiently through its invoicing features, which also include online payment acceptance.

Q: How do you add a ticket in Accelo?
A: There are five different ways to create a new ticket.

Generally, you can use the Create button from any page to start a new ticket.

Accelo also has an Add a Ticket Guide available on their website for a breakdown on each method.

Q: What’s Accelo’s SLA response time?
A: Typically 2-3 business days.

Q: How does Accelo integrate with other tools and platforms?
A: Accelo integrates with a range of tools and platforms, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Mailchimp, Jira, Stripe, PayPal and Expensify.

Q: Is Accelo available on mobile devices?
A: Yes, Accelo offers mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.
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