Time tracking and billing software for professional services firms billing by the hour.
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BigTime vs Productive
Comparing BigTime and Productive to help you pick the right Agency Time & Billing Software for your needs.
All-in-one agency management platform spanning sales, projects, time tracking, and billing.
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| Feature | BigTime | Productive |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web |
| Editorial rating | ★ 4.1 / 5 | ★ 4.2 / 5 |
| Starting price | $20/month per user | $9/month per user |
| Community votes | 10 | 13 |
BigTime Pros & Cons
- Strong project profitability and staff utilization reporting purpose-built for billable-hour businesses
- Real-time budget burn tracking surfaces project overruns early, while there's still time to adjust scope or staffing
- Purpose-built specifically for professional services workflows rather than adapted from general project management software
- Mobile apps let billable staff log time accurately from wherever they're actually working, improving billing accuracy
- Integrates with common accounting software (QuickBooks, and others) to sync billing data without duplicate entry
- No free tier, with even the entry Express plan requiring payment from day one beyond a trial
- Overkill for freelancers or very small teams with simple, single-client billing needs
- Deeper budgeting and profitability features are reserved for Pro and Premier tiers, not available on the cheaper Express plan
- Less suited to project-based creative agencies than firms with a more purely billable-hour, professional-services model
Productive Pros & Cons
- Covers the full agency workflow — sales pipeline, projects, time tracking, billing — in one connected tool rather than stitching together separate systems
- Profitability reporting ties tracked time directly to project budgets, surfacing margin erosion early rather than discovering it only at project close
- Tiered, published per-user pricing makes initial budgeting more straightforward than competitors requiring a sales conversation
- Resource planning views on higher tiers help agencies see team capacity alongside active project commitments
- Reasonably approachable for smaller agencies given its lower entry-tier pricing relative to enterprise-only competitors like Kantata
- No free tier, though a free trial is available before requiring payment
- Broad feature set spanning sales through billing can mean a longer setup process than single-purpose tools focused on just one workflow stage
- Sales pipeline features, while useful, are less full-featured than a dedicated CRM for agencies with complex sales processes
- Full value depends on actually using it across the whole client lifecycle — partial adoption (just time tracking, say) leaves much of its value unrealized
Verdict: BigTime vs Productive
BigTime and Productive both serve the Agency Time & Billing Software category well, but suit different priorities. Productive carries the stronger editorial rating (4.2 / 5), BigTime supports more platforms (3 vs 1). Based on community engagement, Productive is currently the more widely adopted choice (13 votes), but the better fit ultimately depends on your specific pricing, platform, and feature requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Which is cheaper, BigTime or Productive?
- BigTime and Productive use a similar pricing model (both paid), so the cheaper choice depends on which specific plan tier and feature set you need rather than the base pricing model.
- Is BigTime or Productive rated higher?
- Productive has the higher editorial rating at 4.2 out of 5, compared to BigTime's 4.1 out of 5. This is Kreemhunt's own staff rating, not a public user aggregate — review the pros and cons below for specifics that matter to your use case.
- Which platforms do BigTime and Productive support?
- BigTime is available on Web, iOS, Android. Productive is available on Web. BigTime covers more platforms overall, which matters if your team works across a wider range of devices and operating systems.
- Can I switch from BigTime to Productive (or vice versa)?
- Most agency time & billing software tools, including BigTime and Productive, support data export in standard formats, making migration possible though rarely fully automatic. Expect to manually verify that custom configurations, integrations, and historical data transfer correctly, and budget time for the team to adjust to workflow differences between the two products.
- Should I choose BigTime or Productive?
- BigTime and Productive both serve the Agency Time & Billing Software category well, but suit different priorities. Productive carries the stronger editorial rating (4.2 / 5), BigTime supports more platforms (3 vs 1). Based on community engagement, Productive is currently the more widely adopted choice (13 votes), but the better fit ultimately depends on your specific pricing, platform, and feature requirements.