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Agency Software Comparison

awork vs. Productive

At a glance

At a glance

awork

Best for

Best for agencies and service teams that want strong project management, time tracking and resource planning with EU/German hosting, without built-in invoicing.

  • Freelancers
  • Small and mid-sized

Productive

Best for

Best for agencies and professional-services firms that want budgeting, resource planning, time tracking and invoicing in one platform.

  • Small and mid-sized
  • Enterprise

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion awork Productive
Starting price From €5 / user / month Billed annually. From $9 / user / month Essential plan, per user and month billed annually. Pricing starts at 10 users. Prices are in US dollars.
Free trial 14 days 14-day free trial, no credit card required
API Not stated Yes, API access from the Essential plan
Languages German, English Not stated
Hosting EU (Germany, Frankfurt), ISO/IEC 27001 certified, GDPR-compliant Cloud (SaaS)
Made in Germany (Hamburg) Not stated
Time tracking Yes, in the app and from calendar appointments Yes, manual, timer and automatic time tracking with billable-time approvals
Project costing Yes, time-based project budgets calculated from stored hourly rates, with retainer budgets and tracked-versus-planned comparison Yes, budgets, expense management, rate cards and revenue recognition
Invoicing No built-in invoicing or accounting, available through integrations Yes, create and send invoices with tax settings and credit notes
Resource planning Yes, resource and capacity planning Yes, bookings, availability and utilisation planning
Reporting and controlling Yes, dashboards, reporting and analytics Yes, 50+ report templates and dashboards, with revenue forecasting on Ultimate
Integrations and API Yes, API Yes, API access from the Essential plan; webhooks on Ultimate
AI features Yes Yes
MCP-ready No stated Yes
Deployment Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support more entries Email helpdesk, Chat, Phone Chat
Onboarding Guided onboarding more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials, Live online demos and webinars
Company size Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations Slack, Salesforce, Google Sheets, MOCO, sevdesk, Lexware Office, easybill, bexio, Xero, API more entries Jira, HubSpot, Slack, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, Fortnox, Visma e-conomic, Exact, Twinfield, NetSuite, BambooHR, Personio, HiBob, Rippling, Factorial, CharlieHR, Breathe, Humaans.io, Justworks, BugHerd, Memtime, Zapier

Compare more tools

Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

  • Starting price awork From €5 / user / month Productive From $9 / user / month
  • Free trial awork 14 days Productive 14-day free trial, no credit card required
  • Company size awork Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Productive Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
  • Hosting awork EU (Germany, Frankfurt), ISO/IEC 27001 certified, GDPR-compliant Productive Cloud (SaaS)
  • Support awork Email helpdesk, Chat, Phone Productive Chat

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

awork

Strengths

  • Purpose-built for agency workflows
  • Easy, enjoyable UI
  • German hosting, ISO 27001 and GDPR
  • Free external collaboration

Limitations

  • No built-in invoicing/accounting (needs integrations)
  • Less suited to enterprise-wide or complex long-term planning

Productive

Strengths

  • Covers budgeting, resourcing, time tracking and invoicing in one platform
  • API access included from the entry-level Essential plan
  • 14-day free trial with no credit card

Limitations

  • Pricing starts at a 10-user minimum
  • Invoicing integrations, rate cards and revenue forecasting sit on higher plans

Plans

Pricing

awork

  • Basic €5 Per user and month, billed annually. €8 billed monthly.
  • Standard €12 Per user and month, billed annually. €16 billed monthly.
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Productive

  • Essential $9 Per user and month, billed annually. Minimum 10 users. Budgeting, resource planning, project and task management, time tracking, expense management, reporting, API access and AI Assistant.
  • Professional $24 Per user and month, billed annually. Minimum 10 users. Adds HRIS and invoicing integrations, recurring budgets, rate cards, billable-time approvals and advanced reports.
  • Ultimate Custom Adds revenue forecasting, scenario builder, multiple subsidiaries, advanced time tracking, enforced SSO or 2FA and webhooks.
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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

awork

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Productive

Ease of use
Not rated yet
User interface
Not rated yet
Onboarding
Not rated yet
Support and service
Not rated yet
Value for money
Not rated yet
Features
Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Where this comes from

Where this comes from

awork https://www.awork.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-14

Productive https://productive.io · checked against the official source on 2026-08-20

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.