FunctionFox

Overview

FunctionFox is a cloud timesheet and project management tool from FunctionFox Systems in Victoria, British Columbia, built for advertising, design and marketing studios and for in-house creative departments. The centre of it is the timesheet with a stopwatch timer, and everything else reads off that: estimates and budgets update as hours and expenses land, alerts fire before a project approaches its allocation, and rates can differ not only by person but by client, project or type of work. Retainers are handled as a first-class case, set either by hours or by a monthly amount, ongoing or time-limited, with usage tracked against the agreement. Reporting runs to more than fifty customisable reports, among them client profitability, time allocation and retainer tracking. Functionality is tiered rather than modular: the Premier plan adds a to-do list, Gantt charts and schedules and the availability and traffic reports that carry workload planning, and In-House adds custom job intake forms, an advanced report builder and unlimited custom job fields for teams taking requests from the rest of the business. Invoicing is a separate add-on that turns estimates into quotes and logged time and expenses into invoices, and approved timesheets can instead be synced to QuickBooks Online for billing there. It is sold per user and month with a three-user minimum, on annual or monthly billing.

Best for small creative agencies and in-house marketing teams that need timesheets, budget-versus-actuals and retainer tracking without a full agency management platform.

FunctionFox suits a small creative team whose real problem is knowing where the hours went and whether the retainer is being eaten, and it is priced and scoped for exactly that: three seats gets you in, the entry plan already answers the profitability question, and nobody has to be trained on a delivery methodology first. The tiering is where it gets awkward, because scheduling and the workload view are the reason many agencies shop in this category and they sit a tier up, while sending the invoice is a purchase of its own. Judge it against a full agency management platform and it will look narrow; judge it against a general time tracker and the retainer handling and the rate structure are things a generic timer simply does not have. The jump from Premier to In-House is steep enough that it is worth being sure which side of it you are on before committing to an annual term.

Key Facts

Features

Time tracking

Yes, timesheets with a stopwatch timer on every plan

Project costing

Yes, estimates, budget-versus-actuals tracking with alerts and retainer tracking by hours or amount, with rates by person, client, project or type of work

Invoicing

Yes, through the Invoicing add-on, which creates quotes from estimates and invoices from logged time and expenses

Resource planning

Yes, availability and traffic reports with workload and capacity views, from the Premier plan

Reporting and controlling

Yes, over 50 customisable reports including client profitability, time allocation and retainer tracking; an advanced report builder on In-House

Integrations and API

QuickBooks Online integration transfers approved timesheets for invoicing, grouped by client, project or person and synced in batches

Integrations

• QuickBooks Online

Deployment and Support

Deployment

• Cloud (SaaS)
• Browser-based

Support

• Email helpdesk
• Phone

Onboarding

• Documentation and knowledge base

Company size

• Small and mid-sized

Suitability

The table combines the industries the vendor addresses with the company sizes the tool is aimed at. An empty cell means the combination is not stated, not that it is ruled out.

Pros and Cons

Pricing

• Classic

  $10.50

  Per user and month billed annually, $12.75 billed monthly. Minimum 3 users. Timesheet with stopwatch timer, unlimited clients and projects, estimate and budget tracking, retainer tracking and reports.

• Premier

  $16.00

  Per user and month billed annually, $19.25 billed monthly. Minimum 3 users. Adds an actionable to-do list, Gantt charts and schedules, availability and traffic reports and an internal blog.

• In-House

  $36.75

  Per user and month billed annually, $44.00 billed monthly. Minimum 3 users. Adds custom job intake forms, an advanced report builder, unlimited custom job fields and email alerts for new requests.

Best For

• Agencies
• Media & Creative

Alternatives and Comparisons

FAQ

How much does FunctionFox cost?

Classic is $10.50 per user and month billed annually, Premier $16.00 and In-House $36.75. Billed monthly the same plans are $12.75, $19.25 and $44.00. Every plan has a three-user minimum and prices are in US dollars.

Does FunctionFox do invoicing?

Through an add-on. FunctionFox Invoicing creates quotes from project estimates and generates invoices from the time and expenses entered in the account. Alternatively, approved timesheets can be synced to QuickBooks Online and invoiced there.

Can FunctionFox track retainers?

Yes. A retainer can be set by time, such as 60 hours a month, or by amount, such as $7,500 a month, either ongoing or time-limited, and the system tracks usage and alerts as it approaches the limit.

Which plan includes scheduling?

Premier. Gantt charts, schedules and the availability and traffic reports that show workload and capacity are added at the Premier plan, above the entry-level Classic.

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