Accelo vs BigTime
Both are professional services automation platforms aimed at firms that bill their time. They diverge on which end of the process they were built around: Accelo starts at the client relationship, BigTime starts at the invoice.
Short answer
Accelo (from $24/user/month) is strongest when the whole client lifecycle lives in one system: CRM, projects, tickets, retainers and invoicing. BigTime (quote-based, published plans from around $20/user/month) is strongest on billing mechanics — rates, WIP, resource planning and utilisation reporting. Accelo suits agencies selling retainers; BigTime suits firms billing complex time and materials.
Accelo vs BigTime: side by side
| Feature | Accelo | BigTime | LemTask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price | From $24/user/month | Quote-based, around $20/user/month | $0 (free plan) |
| Free tier | None | None | Yes |
| Built-in CRM | Yes | Limited | No |
| Retainer tracking | Yes, with overage billing | Partial | No |
| Resource planning | Yes | Strong | Personal capacity meter |
| Invoicing and rates depth | Good | Strong | Billable time tracking only |
| Time to onboard | Two to four weeks | Weeks, with setup support | Minutes |
Pricing reflects each vendor's published plans at the time of writing. Check their site before buying — plans change.
Which should you pick?
Pick Accelo if
You sell retainers and want usage tracked against budget automatically, with the enquiry, the project and the invoice in one place.
From $24/user/month · None
Pick BigTime if
Your complexity is in rates, multi-level approvals, WIP and utilisation reporting, and you want resource planning to be the centre of the system.
Quote-based, published plans from around $20/user/month · None
Pick LemTask if
Your firm has the billing system it needs and the real problem is individual delivery. LemTask's 14-day free trial covers daily planning, time blocking, a focus timer with billable tracking and habits — alongside a PSA, not instead of one.
Free plan · no card
Which one for your situation
The right answer changes with team size, industry and which single feature you are actually buying. Find the line closest to your situation.
- A 30-person consulting firm
- At 30 people the finance workload is usually still one or two people, so the system that wins is the one that needs less admin. Accelo keeps enquiry, project, retainer and invoice in one place, which removes most of the double entry at this size. Pick BigTime instead if your rate card already has exceptions per client and per role.
- A 50 to 75-person firm
- Above roughly 50 people utilisation reporting and resource planning start to drive the decision, and that is BigTime's strongest ground. Accelo still wins if a large share of revenue is retainer-based and you want overage billing tracked automatically rather than reconciled by hand.
- A firm with a small finance team
- With a two or three-person finance team, favour the tool that closes the month with fewer manual steps. BigTime's WIP, approvals and rate depth were built for that close; Accelo reduces the upstream chasing instead. Decide which half of the month actually hurts.
- Management, risk and compliance consulting
- Engagement-heavy practices that bill time and materials against approved rates lean BigTime. Practices selling recurring advisory retainers lean Accelo, because retainer burn-down and overage are native rather than reported after the fact.
- Environmental and technical consulting
- Field and lab work means multi-level time approval, subcontractor cost and per-project expense tracking. BigTime handles that billing detail more deeply. Accelo is the better fit when client communication and scheduling are the bottleneck rather than the invoice.
- If time tracking is the only thing you need
- Neither platform is worth its price for time tracking alone — both are full PSA systems with weeks of onboarding. If the real gap is individual delivery and billable hours, LemTask's 14-day free trial tracks billable focus sessions and time blocks alongside whatever your firm already bills through.
Try the free option before you pay for either
LemTask covers daily planning, time blocking, habits and a focus timer in a 14-day free trial — so you can test the workflow before committing to a subscription.
- 14-day free trial of every feature, no card required
- Time blocking with Google Calendar sync
- Habits, streaks and XP for follow-through
- Import your existing lists in a couple of clicks
Frequently asked questions
- Is Accelo or BigTime better for a 75-person consulting firm?
- At that size the deciding factor is usually billing complexity. If revenue runs on retainers and you want CRM in the same system, Accelo fits. If rates, approvals, WIP and utilisation reporting are the hard part, BigTime fits.
- How much does Accelo cost compared with BigTime?
- Accelo publishes an entry point from $24 per user per month; BigTime is quote-based with published plans starting around $20. Both quote on modules and seat counts, so compare full quotes rather than headline prices.
- Does BigTime include a CRM?
- Its CRM capability is limited compared with Accelo's, which is one of the clearest functional differences between the two.
- Which is easier to implement?
- Neither is quick. Accelo typically needs two to four weeks before a team is productive, and BigTime implementations are usually run with vendor setup support.
- Accelo vs BigTime for time tracking specifically?
- BigTime treats time as the input to billing, so rates, approval chains, WIP and utilisation reporting are deeper. Accelo's time tracking is good and sits against retainers and tickets automatically. If time tracking is the entire requirement, both are heavier and more expensive than the job needs.
- Which is better for billing and invoicing?
- BigTime, in most firms. Its rate handling, approvals and WIP reporting were built around the invoice. Accelo's invoicing is solid and its advantage is that the work, the retainer and the bill live in the same record.