6 Best ClickUp Alternatives That Actually Work for Agency Workflows (2026)

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You're reading this because you’ ve hit a wall with ClickUp. You probably spend more time navigating their endless menus than doing your actual work; creating private folders for every single client, and looking for workarounds around invoices, followups, and a client portal. It keeps you busier than necessary, and you’d lean to a ClickUp alternative. 

In this article, I compare the best 6 ClickUp competitors to manage all phases of your agency operations. 

Why Some Users are Looking for a ClickUp Alternative 

ClickUp built a reputation as a powerful project management tool. It received over 46 million visits as of November 2025, so it’s insanely popular. But some users want creative agency project management alternatives because of these three reasons: 

1. Performance issues that affect your workflow 

You're on a call with a client, pulling up a project status or pitching a new service. Twenty seconds in, and ClickUp is still loading the Doc page, like this Redditor experienced. Another user added that both the browser and app versions are slow, even when they’ve hard reload, deleted browser cache, and re-installed the app. 

This may happen to someone on your team too. They’ve updated a task, but the sync delay means you or another manager can’t see it for 20 minutes, or worse, an hour, like this user, Soymae: 

These "performance issues" can lead to frustration, duplicate work, and that sinking feeling when a client emails "did you get my feedback?", even when there is no new information in your inbox. 

2. Overwhelming complexity and learning curve 

A Capterra reviewer writes that "The complexity of (ClickUp’s) interface is overwhelming due to the multitude of features and customization options, which can make it difficult for new users to navigate and fully utilize the platform without a steep learning curve." 

Charles, a Managing Director also adds that: “(ClickUp is) perhaps too powerful for its own good. The initial set up is ridiculously complicated and was taking our team weeks to set up to the point it wasn't worth it." 

For an everything app with a workshop and setup fee up to $700, (through ClickUp consultants), you’ll spend hours and $$ setting it up when you should be working: 

It shouldn’t be this hard. 

…

3. ClickUp isn’t designed for client-facing work

Unlike some ClickUp competitors in this list, ClickUp was only designed for internal team collaboration without much thought into the client side of the experience. It lacks: 

• White-label client portal because their client portal isn’t 100% customizable. To let clients view project status and chat directly in your workspace, you must create a private folder and add them (and their projects) manually. Once inside, they only see ClickUp’s branding, not yours. And you’ll repeat this process 15 times for 15 projects (even for the same client) if you like your workspace organized. 
• Built-in billing and invoicing: you'll need to integrate a QuickBooks or Xero to your ClickUp to write invoices and receive payments from one-off, hourly, and recurring clients. That’s a hassle, which may require newer subscriptions. You’d also have to manually chase clients for payments when you can automate it with a ClickUp alternative like ManyRequests. 
• Client-friendly interfaces: the complexity that overwhelms your team can confuse your clients even more. And I refer to navigational difficulties that may take some getting used to. 

📌 Read more: ClickUp vs ManyRequests vs Notion. 

All these is why you’ll need a ClickUp alternative, because, like a user wrote “If ClickUp worked properly, it would be a great choice. It doesn't, to the point that it became unusable for my team due to performance issues.” 

Other things we considered for the ClickUp alternatives in this list include: 

• A client portal: branded space where clients can submit requests, view progress, and access files without learning complex software. 
• Billing integration: automated invoicing, subscription management, and payment processing. 
• Intuitive interface: a software your clients and team can use without watching hours of “how to” videos or paying consultants. 
• Agency-specific workflows: request intake, creative reviews, custom forms, revision management, and delivery processes. 

• Time tracking tied to billing. 
• Resource capacity planning. 
• Profitability reporting. 
• Integration with design tools (Figma, Adobe XD). 
• Automated workflows and task routing. 

6 Best ClickUp Alternatives for Creative Agencies

1. ManyRequests: Built exclusively for creative agencies 

Best for: Agency owners that want to consolidate client portals, project management, billing, and time‑tracking into one platform. 

ManyRequests is a white-label client portal and project management tool that helps you work better. It replaces complex project management tools with a clean, branded portal where clients submit requests, review deliverables, and track progress, all under your agency’s domain and branding.

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Key features include: 

1. White‑label client portal and productized services: 

Your clients can access their chats, files, projects, and invoices through your custom domain (app.youragency.com) with your logo and brand colours. This means they can log in into your workspace, see all their information, and manage all projects without writing a single email or Slack message. 

Insert image of client view of the client portal. 

This way, clients can view all active tasks, track progress, and pay invoices as soon as they’re due. They can also add extra services to their cart if needed. 

For example, a content marketing agency can offer AEO content optimization using the service catalog feature: 

Interested clients can subscribe and retain your agency for that variation of SEO with ease. 

2. Built‑in billing and invoicing: 

ManyRequests supports hourly billing, per-request pricing, and recurring subscriptions in one system. This means you can charge retainer clients monthly, bill video projects by the hour, and invoice one-off design work from the same platform, without integrating an accounting software. It automatically generates invoices from completed projects, notifies clients, and collects payment through Stripe. 

Insert image of dashboard where invoices, completed projects can be seen. 

Your team can also track time and automatically roll over unused hours for hourly plans. 

3. Design feedback and proofing: 

Clients can annotate designs, leave inline comments, and request precise changes with full version history and timestamped feedback. 

This eliminates vague requests on Slack by letting clients mark exact areas for improvement. 

Here’s what the version history looks like: 

They can do this on images, PDFs, and videos, and you can integrate Figma and Adobe XD with ManyRequests for seamless design collaboration. 

4. Project management features 

ManyRequests gives your team flexible views (Kanban, Queue, Calendar, or List) so they can work how they prefer. You can track time in real time and automatically convert it into invoices for hourly clients. 

The built-in time tracking also integrates with the reporting & analytics feature, so you can identify which projects drain profit and which generate revenue. 

You can also add custom fields to improve your workflow, automate task routing (so the right team member gets automatically assigned to a new task, and break complex work into subtasks. You can then schedule this task across team members, as seen below. 

Here’s a brief Loom video on how the workload management feature works. 

All these help you automate your workload, schedule tasks equitably, and move fast without syncing delays. 

5. Agency CRM: 

You can consolidate every client interaction (projects, billing details, relevant helpful documents, messages, notes) in searchable client profiles. 

For example, in the image below, the black arrow shows the project summary, the red arrow reveals organization details, and the blue arrow on the dollar sign displays all invoices. 

This helps your team stay aligned and get all key details that add context to active projects. 

Insert image of the client view of the client portal. 

Pricing: 

• Starter: $29/m per user. $20/m for extra users. 
• $59/m per user. $20/m for extra users. 
• $99/m per user. $30/m for extra users. 

2. Monday.com 

Best for: For agencies that love color coded features to organize their workflow. 

Monday.com excels at internal project work but wasn't built for client collaboration. If you already manage client communication, invoicing, and approvals elsewhere, Monday.com handles internal tasks effectively. 

Key features of Monday.com: 

1. Visual project boards:

‍You can quickly scan project progress with the customizable boards, and use the Kanban, Gantt, timeline, or calendar views so your team chooses their preferred format. 

You can also use color-coded status updates to emphasize specific data from another type and keep everyone aligned through visual updates. 

2. High-capacity automation:

Automate up to 25,000 tasks each month (on the pro plan). This helps you do things like setting up meetings when a project/ticket is marked as complete or trigger updates and notifications across email, Slack, Teams, and mobile to reduce manual check-ins and repetitive work. 

3. Mobile app access:

‍You can update tasks, change statuses, and communicate with your team from anywhere using the mobile app. It’s easier, fast, and efficient. 

4. Built-in time tracking:

Track how long tasks take and balance workloads more effectively. These features help you avoid burnout and keep resource allocation realistic. 

5. Prebuilt templates:‍

Start fast with templates for marketing campaigns, product launches, and content calendars. This helps you skip the setup phase and focus on executing the campaign.

Pricing: 

• Starts at $12/m per user (minimum 3 users). 
• Standard plan costs $14/m per user; 
• Pro plan is $24/m per user. 
• Custom enterprise pricing. 

Monday.com limitations for agencies owners: 

Monday.com lacks the core features agencies need to collaborate with clients, like the client portal. You can grant clients limited board access, but they can't view project timelines, deliverables, or invoices in one place.

The platform also doesn’t support built-in billing, invoicing, or subscription management. You’ll need to rely on external tools like Stripe, QuickBooks, or Harvest to handle payments and financial workflows. 

3. Asana 

Best for: Agencies managing client work in separate tools. 

Asana gives you a structured way to manage tasks, track deadlines, and streamline internal workflows. It’s not built for external collaboration. But if your client-facing tools are covered, Asana helps your team stay organized without clutter. 

Key features of Asana:

1. Structured task management:

Asana lets you break projects into tasks, subtasks, and sections with assigned owners and deadlines. You can add custom fields, such as content type, target audience, or content status, for deeper context into a task and better clarity across your team. 

2. Timeline and dependency tracking:

Asana’s visual timeline and task dependency features help you identify bottlenecks early. When a task date changes, dependent tasks automatically adjust to keep your schedule on track without manual updates. Assignees get notified when prior tasks are complete, so they know exactly when to begin. 

3. Portfolio management:

Asana lets you view all client projects in a single dashboard, track progress across your agency, and spot capacity issues before they affect deliveries.

4. Integrations with creative tools:

Asana integrates with Figma, Adobe Creative Cloud, Slack, and 200+ other tools, allowing you to centralize your software stack and streamline agency operations from a single platform. 

Pricing: 

• Starts at $13.49/m per user. 
• Advanced plan at $30.49/m per user. 
• Custom pricing for the enterprise plan. 

Limitations for creative agencies: 

Asana isn’t built for client-facing work. If you share a dashboard with them, they’ll log into Asana’s default interface, not a branded portal. It also lacks built-in invoicing, billing, and payment tools like ManyRequests, which forces you to rely on external software and complicates your tech stack. 

4. Notion 

Best for: Agencies wanting a flexible workspace for documentation and knowledge management. 

Notion has developed a cult following for its versatility as an all‑in‑one workspace. Its block‑based approach to building pages, databases, and wikis makes it incredibly flexible. You can build anything from scratch: a CRM, a client portal, even a creative agency project management tool. 

However, this flexibility comes with trade-offs. Without technical skills or weeks to invest in setup, Notion won't replace ClickUp as your primary project management tool. 

This is because it may take you 3-4 months to become really confident, and it could take you longer to feel like a power-user. And aside from this, it lacks end-to-end encryption (E2E), which makes it unsuitable to store sensitive client data or manage payments securely. 

📌 I wrote more about Notion in Notion vs ClickUp vs ManyRequests.

Notion’s standout features include: 

1. Extreme flexibility:

Build fully custom databases, project trackers, client directories, and resource hubs exactly how you want them. 

2. Knowledge management:

Create and store wikis, brand guides, process docs, and onboarding materials in one centralized, accessible space. 

3. Collaboration and sharing:

Collaborate in real time on docs and projects with your team members. You can also share these pages with clients, though white-label branding isn’t available.

Pricing: 

• Free plan available with basic features; 
• Plus plan costs $12/m per user; 
• Business plan costs $24/m per user; 
• Enterprise offers custom pricing for larger teams. 

5. Teamwork 

Best for: Agencies and professional services to manage multiple client projects at once. 

Teamwork stands out as a ClickUp alternative because it’s purpose-built for client work. It includes a client portal, billable time tracking, and profitability reporting; features agencies rely on to deliver efficiently and stay profitable. 

Key features includes: 

1. Client-focused project management:

Grant clients access to project views, tasks, and files without revealing internal workflows. Permissions are built with client visibility in mind. 

2. Time tracking and billing integration:

Track time within Teamwork and link it directly to budgets and profitability reports on every paid plan. 

3. Resource management and capacity planning:

See team workload across all projects, see who’s overworked (to prevent burnout), and use the data to make informed decisions about taking on new client work. 

4. Project profitability tracking:

Teamwork highlights which clients and services are profitable. ManyRequests offers a similar reporting feature with filters down to the service level. 

Pricing: 

• Free plan for basic features. 
• Paid plans start at $13.99/user/month; 
• $25.99/user/month (Grow plan), and 
• Custom pricing for enterprise (Scale plan). 

Where Teamwork Falls Short:

Teamwork handles client projects well but lacks full white-label functionality. You can customize the logo and colors, but Teamwork's branding remains visible; unlike ManyRequests, which removes all third-party branding on Pro plans. 

Some users also say it has a steep learning curve, which may be something to think about if you want to transition immediately. 

6. Accelo 

Best for: Established agencies that need full-service business management (not just project tracking). 

Accelo is a ClickUp alternative designed as a complete Professional Services Automation (PSA) platform. It manages everything from lead capture and sales to project delivery, time tracking, billing, and final invoicing. 

Key features includes: 

1. End-to-end client lifecycle management:

Accelo tracks each client from initial contact through project delivery, with the sales pipeline feeding directly into project workflows. 

2. Comprehensive client portal:

Clients can accept quotes, monitor projects with Gantt charts, sign off on deliverables, submit requests, access shared files, and view invoices in one place.

3. Billing and invoicing:

You can set team member and service-specific rates, convert billable time into invoices, automate recurring billing, and flag overdue payments. 

4. Accounting integration:

Accelo syncs with QuickBooks Online and Xero to streamline invoicing and financial reporting. 

5. Retainer management:

Monitor client retainers, automate billing, and send alerts when remaining hours are low. 

Pricing: 

Accelo doesn't publicly list pricing. You’ll need to contact sales for a quote. 

Considerations before choosing Accelo: 

Accelo's advanced features require a steep learning curve. Users report that financial reporting is difficult to configure, and billing issues occasionally surface.

For example, Michael S., a project manager, noted that Accelo occasionally logs hours into incorrect retainer periods when older periods remain open. When that happens, it requires manual intervention to generate accurate invoices, which may be a hassle if you have many hourly clients. It can also lead to delayed client invoicing, revenue recognition issues, and additional administrative overhead as you work to reconcile time tracking data. 

Feature Comparison: ClickUp vs. Top Alternatives

How to Choose the Right ClickUp Alternative for Your Agency

The right alternative depends on which features your agency can't live without. Use this decision framework to narrow your options: 

1. Do clients need direct project access? → Prioritize ManyRequests or Accelo (dedicated client portals). 

→ Skip Monday.com and Asana (built for internal teams only). 

2. Is billing and invoicing essential in your project tool? → Choose ManyRequests or Accelo (built-in billing and automated invoicing). 

→ Avoid Monday.com, Asana, or Teamwork (require external billing tools). 

3. Do you manage design feedback and approvals? → ManyRequests has the strongest native solution (file annotations, inline comments, version history). 

→ Others require plugins or external tools like Figma comments. 

4. How large is your team, and are you scaling? → 2-10 people: ManyRequests, Teamwork, or Asana work well. 

→ 10-25 people: ManyRequests, Monday.com, or Accelo handle growth better. They’re also reliable for enterprise agencies. 

5. What's your budget per user? → Budget-conscious ($12-15/user): Monday.com, Asana, Teamwork. 

→ Mid-range ($29-30/user): ManyRequests → Premium/Custom: Accelo (quote-based). 

6. How critical is white-label branding? → Essential: ManyRequests (full white-label on Pro plans, custom domain included). 

→ Nice-to-have: Teamwork (partial branding) 

→ Don't care: Any tool works

Bottomline: If you need client portals + billing + design feedback in one platform, ManyRequests is your only option. If you only need internal project management and already use separate tools for client work, Monday.com or Asana cost less. 

Try ManyRequests free for 14 days and experience project management built specifically for creative agencies. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. What’s the best free alternative to ClickUp for agencies? 

Most agency tools don't offer free plans because they include billing and client portals. Asana and Notion have free tiers for basic project management, but you'll need separate tools for billing, client communication, and feedback, which costs more time than an all-in-one solution like ManyRequests. 

Bottom line: Free tools cost you in time and tool-juggling. The $29/month/user investment in ManyRequests can save you 4-6 hours weekly. 

2. Why is ClickUp not good for creative agencies?

ClickUp has three main problems: (1) Overwhelming complexity requires hours of setup and frustrates teams and clients; (2) No client-facing features like white-label portals, built-in billing, or productized services; (3) Performance issues (slow load times and sync delays) disrupt workflows. ClickUp was designed for internal productivity, not agency-client collaboration.  

3. Does ManyRequests integrate with other tools? 

Yes. ManyRequests integrates with 1,000+ tools via Zapier and webhooks, including Slack, Airtable, Google Sheets, Figma, Adobe XD, Calendly, and more. 

4. Which ClickUp alternative has the best client portal? 

ManyRequests has the most comprehensive white‑label client portal specifically built for agencies. Clients can access everything through your custom domain: submit requests through custom forms, review designs with annotation tools, view project progress, and manage billing—all without seeing any third‑party branding on Pro plans. 

5. Can I track time and bill clients in these alternatives? 

Yes, but capabilities vary significantly. ManyRequests and Accelo allow comprehensive time tracking directly connected to billing and invoicing. You can track billable hours and automatically convert them to client invoices. Others don’t. 

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