Accelo vs Upland PSA

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Our analysts compared Accelo vs Upland PSA based on data from our 400+ point analysis of PSA Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Accelo Software Tool
Upland PSA Software Tool

Product Basics

What’s a workspace without organization? Chaos. Just like an event coordinator needs a detailed planner, your business needs PSA software like Accelo.

Its cloud-based platform is ideal for getting your tasks checked off and ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. How? By automating processes and letting you manage client and service operations in one place.

The system assists small professional service businesses with sales, client billing, project management and time tracking. It offers complete visibility into projects, clients, and finances from any device, with features for reporting and team collaboration.

Designed for sectors like accounting, engineering, consulting, and design, it integrates various systems to provide real-time insights into your company’s health. It also supports maintaining client relationships, staying competitive and enhancing profitability.

According to our Express App data, Accelo earns a 95 in customer relationship management (CRM), 91 in project management and a perfect 100 in resource management.

It’s one of our top five PSA products for CRM, integration and extensibility, and ranks in the top ten for project and resource management.

Users praise its support team for being responsive, helpful and effective. Users also note the platform is great for centralizing work and company information, including emails, tickets, and invoices. Customization options for workflows, invoicing and time tracking are also appreciated.

In contrast, some users report challenges with confusion during onboarding, limited automation capabilities and a time-consuming approval process.

What are some stand-out features off the bat?

  • Live Profitability Reporting
  • Skills-Based Scheduling
  • 360° Client View
  • Custom Retainers
  • Automatic Recurring Tasks

Let’s take a closer look at what Accelo brings to the table.


Price $50 Per User, Monthly
Deployment Method Cloud
Business Size Small
Customer Service Availability Accelo’s global support team is available 24/6. You can submit issues via email or the Get Help menu.
Popular Integrations Google Workspace, Microsoft 365

Quick Comparison

See how Accelo stacks up against top competitors below.

Product Starting Price Free Trial User Score Ideal for Deployment
Accelo $50 per user, monthly No N/A Small Businesses Cloud
Asana $10.99 per user, monthly Yes 88% S, M, L Cloud
Scoro $26 Monthly Yes 92% S, M, L Cloud
Workday PSA $99 per user, monthly Yes 81% Large Businesses Cloud
Certinia PSA $175 per user, monthly Yes 84% M, L Cloud, On-Premise
Dynamics 365 Project Operations $95 per user, monthly Yes 78% M, L Cloud, On-Premise
read more...
Upland PSA is a professional service automation tool that helps businesses use remote management tools that improve the profitability and growth of service businesses. It helps users manage capacity utilization and planning strategies for profitability and workload management. Users can change how projects are delivered with expense and timesheet capture with workforce and project management, project financials and billing.

Some of its key features include knowledge management, proposal automation and customer surveys. It has a host of webinars, case studies, e-books and articles to help users navigate its various modules.
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$50/User, Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$20 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Windows
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Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
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On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Integrate Seamlessly: Connect with popular platforms like GSuite, QuickBooks, HubSpot, Stripe, PayPal, Airtable and Slack (just to name a few).
  • Manage From Anywhere: Use the mobile app to handle every aspect of your business wherever you are, anytime.
  • Create Quotes Easily: Generate and convert quotes for any project with a single click.
  • Collaborate on Projects: Work together on projects, sales leads, and support issues to meet deadlines and ensure project success.
  • Drive Business Processes: Get smart alerts if things go off track and forecast future needs to keep your processes running smoothly.
  • Achieve Success in Client Service: Streamline ticket tracking, time billing, invoicing, and recurring tasks while gaining insights into profit margins and resource use.
  • Set Automated Triggers: Use replicable templates and automated triggers to manage retainers and track ongoing services effortlessly.
  • Forecast Team Schedules: Predict your team’s billing needs and schedule tasks according to project workflows, with the flexibility to adjust as needed.
  • Make Billing Painless: Integrate with key business apps and modules for real-time access to client, financial, and project data.
  • Tailor Access Permissions: While it's handy to easily provide access to clients and your team, it's even more important to protect certain information from unauthorized access. Permissions help you easily grant access and also restrict it as needed. 
  • Enhance Business Intelligence: Take a look at key insights and reports in real time and track profitability to predict your revenue (including performance tracking and project tracking).
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  • Integrations: Facilitates data from and to existing systems like HCM, finance, CRM, payroll and ERP by connecting the entire enterprise ecosystem to Upland PSA using the integration platform.  
  • Capacity Planning: Facilitates efficient utilization strategies and capacity planning to increase profitability and manage workloads.  
  • Monitor Performance: Make data-driven and informed decisions to manage operations and ensure financial health with analytics and insights.  
  • Customer Centric: Makes businesses customer-centric and brings together service automation with customer sentiment, knowledge management and proposal automation.  
  • Lower Revenue Leakage: Accelerates invoicing and lowers revenue leakage with a centralized billing and time management system that tracks expenses and time. Configurable workflows accelerate approvals.  
  • Automate Engagement: Helps businesses align service and sales departments to deliver consistency in customer experience delivery, reducing the chances of misaligned goals, communication gaps and dissatisfied customers.  
  • Forecast Resources: Track services pipelines to ensure project delivery within budget and on time by allocating people suited to deliver.  
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  • Resource Allocation: This is Accelo's leading functionality (ranked at 100). Let's take a closer look at the features that earned this score.
    • Skills-Based Scheduling: Ensure tasks are assigned to the best-equipped team members, leading to better results and reducing burnout.
    • Live Profitability Reporting: Direct resources for better financial outcomes with real-time insights into project performance.
    • Automated Time Tracking: Capture every minute, from sending an email to closing a task. This helps expand on resource usage and make smarter task assignments and adjustments. Advanced time rounding rules also help enhance precision.
    • Activity Dashboard: Monitor project progress with a real-time overview of ongoing tasks and team activities.
    • Utilization Insights: Get detailed data on how resources are used to optimize workload distribution and improve efficiency.
  • Sales: Its built-in sales quoting feature makes it easy to build and maintain customer relationships. It updates automatically with each client interaction, keeping you in the loop on everything.
    • Automation and Processes: Guide your next steps by sending template emails, scheduling follow-ups and updating due dates all in one go.
    • Team Scheduling: Plan when to start new projects based on workload predictions.
    • Client Records: Make faster, more informed decisions with access to all customer-related data.
    • Team Inbox: Access all client-related information and email communication with a team inbox.
    • Tracking and Sync: Share client appointments, emails, notes, attachments and custom fields with their team members.
    • Cloud-Based ServOps: Oversee the primary functions of your business, from prospect to payment.
    • Expenses: Stop chasing down receipts. Manual expense tracking isn't just outdated; it's time-consuming and prone to inaccuracies. To combat this issue you can add expenses either on the web or mobile app.
  • Professional Services Automation: Accelo's all-in-one place design lets you run your service operations from the cloud. It covers project management, client management, time tracking and invoicing.
    • CRM and Client Database: Share client databases in real time and let users see client work in a synchronized way.
    • 360° Client View: Gain a comprehensive view of client interactions and history for personalized engagement.
    • Invoicing: Offer partial and bulk invoicing, customizable templates, and online payments.
    • Payments: Sync with QuickBooks or Xero to support two-way payments. Get automatic late payment reminders and set up recurring or automated payments to keep things running smoothly and save yourself from chasing down payments.
    • Email Tracking: Stay on top of emails with the help of its two-way sync with Office365, Google Apps and Exchange.
    • Timesheet Reports and Automated Timesheets: View completed work for individuals or on a team level to gauge workplace productivity. Populate weekly timesheets automatically with employee names and ongoing work.
    • Projects: Ease full project management with Gantt charts, collaboration tools and budget tracking.
    • Services: Track tickets with emails and automated timers.
    • Retainers: Manage ongoing service contracts and projects with automated notifications and auto billing.
  • Project Management: Accelo’s project management capabilities provide features for flexible invoicing and reporting. (This functionality ranks at 91).
    • Project Planning: Structure project planning with drag-and-drop Gantt charts.
    • Project Tracking: Users can manage their budget and deliverables with Accelo, ensuring that projects are profitable.
    • Time Tracking: See exactly how time is spent and don’t miss a minute with email timing, task-based time, a mobile timer and automated time-tracking sheets. Its time-tracking capabilities earn a decent score of 83.
    • Client Portal: Offer clients access to a portal that allows them to create, submit and track their tickets.
    • Automation and Processes: Get alerts when projects get held up or slow down before customers call them out.
    • Expenses: Submit expenses for client or internal reimbursement on a per-project basis.
    • Invoicing: Generate value or T&M-based invoicing that syncs automatically to QuickBooks and Xero.
  • Service: With its customer service management feature, users can provide smooth, profitable and consistent client support. It’s built for professional services and includes a support ticket system that highlights which issues need your attention.
    • Automation and Processes: Build workflows for various work types like “onsite visit” or “website is down.”
    • Automated Notifications: Automate messages to manage tickets and send reminder emails before closing tickets.
    • Activity Tracking: See your client and team communications in a single platform.
  • Retainer Management: Manage your ongoing services and contracts with flexible options and automated tools.
    • Usage Tracking: Track retainer tasks by hours or by budget.
    • Custom Retainers: Set up allowance rollover and types flexibly.
    • Communications Tracking: Track and monitor relevant notes, emails and other communications between users and clients.
    • Client Portal: Give clients a bird’s eye view of total contract usage and customize the portal to provide a tailored experience.
    • Automatic Recurring Tasks: Create and schedule recurring tasks such as payroll and SEO for ongoing projects.
    • Tickets and Project Connection: View time worked on projects and sort by projects, tasks or emails.
    • Automated Notifications: Notify clients and teams when contracts approach their limits to manage expectations.
    • Unlimited Templates and Types: Create and customize new client setups with flexible contract or retainer types, including renewal and notification rules.
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  • Modular Platform: Designed to grow along with users’ business by implementing in a modular fashion, enabling change management, increased internal adoption and services maturity.  
  • Advanced Workflows: Use flexible workflows and visual workflow editors to configure processes to match user requirements. 
  • Timesheets: Customizable timesheets at task and project level, create approval workflows and leave time for optimal operational efficiency.  
  • Customer Engagement: Brings best practice principles and high touch to all engagements.  
  • Mobile Engagement: Lets users engage with their audience by delivering messages via text, mobile wallets or apps, or use a combination of methods. Upland PSA grows with the business.  
  • Apps and Push: Helps design marketing campaigns and provides insight into customer preferences and behavior with rich audience segmentation, push notifications and location triggered messaging.  
  • Wallet Pass: Enables contactless payment using wallet apps like Google Pay and Apple Pay. Lets users store gift cards, coupons, tickets, offers, loyalty cards or memberships on mobile devices.  
  • Resource Management: Helps manage project workforces with control and visibility. Supports functions like scheduling, forecasting and managing remote or local workforces.
read more...

Product Ranking

#5

among all
PSA Software

#32

among all
PSA Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

83
72
95
77
65
100
67
67
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Resource Management
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Project Management
Integration and Extensibility
Dashboard and Reporting
Project Collaboration
Time and Expense Management
Project Financials
Resource Management

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Accelo
Upland PSA
+ Add Product + Add Product
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Dashboard And Reporting Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Project Collaboration Project Financials Project Management Resource Management Time And Expense Management 95 65 67 73 80 71 91 100 83 77 100 67 75 90 86 65 85 88 0 25 50 75 100
91%
0%
9%
55%
0%
45%
50%
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50%
100%
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40%
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60%
40%
0%
60%
73%
0%
27%
73%
0%
27%
80%
0%
20%
80%
0%
20%
71%
0%
29%
86%
0%
14%
92%
0%
8%
67%
0%
33%
100%
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86%
0%
14%
78%
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22%
89%
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11%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

75%
0%
25%
30%
0%
70%

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 716 reviews
Good User Sentiment 193 reviews
88%
of users recommend this product

Accelo has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 716 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

79%
of users recommend this product

Upland PSA has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 79% when considering 193 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.4 (513)
3.9 (98)
4.5 (172)
4.0 (14)
n/a
4.3 (69)
4.1 (31)
2.3 (12)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

89% of users commend Accelo's customer support, noting it as helpful, quick and friendly.
80% of users appreciate its ability to centralize work and company information, integrations and comprehensive features for managing tickets, tasks and projects.
67% find invoicing straightforward, especially for setting up repeaters and managing client invoices, which is easier than using separate systems. They also enjoy the variety of invoicing options.
A little over half of Accelo users praise its time tracking, citing it’s easy to use and log time with options like manual entry or a timer.
Most users found the platform intuitive and liked the UI, frequent updates and the convenience of accessing information from any device.
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User Friendly: The system is easy to use and intuitive, as noted by approximately 86% of users who mention the system’s usability.
Functionality: Asana offers a robust suite of successful project management tools, as reported by 76% of the users who mention the product’s functionality.
Support: Support for the system is prompt, as reported by 88% of users who mention support.
Integrations: Available integrations help add value to the base product, as reported by 80% of reviewers who mention integrations.
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Users have mixed feelings about Accelo's reporting. Some are frustrated by the inability to lock timesheets and find it difficult to search due to the system keeping activities open.
20% of users find the interface complex and missing features, such as smart text options and dark mode.
The platform’s many features and ways to perform tasks can lead to different team members using it in various ways, causing confusion.
While there are a lot of options to tailor the system to different workflows, they also note that there are limited aspects of the system that can be changed, such as rates.
Some users have experienced challenges with adjusting project schedules and time entries.
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Integrations: Nearly 90% of reviewers found Upland PSA’s interface to be dated and not intuitive.
Learning Curve: Nearly 100% of users who mentioned its learning curve reported that Upland PSA has a steep learning curve.
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Get ready to "accelo-rate" your understanding of this PSA and project management software.Accelo commonly uses a dual-menu design, where you’ll find different menu options on the left and right sides of the screen. This setup can ease navigation by grouping related tasks. However, this can require more screen real estate, which could be a disadvantage on smaller monitors or devices, making the interface feel cluttered.Let’s dive into the sales module first, where you can view and manage your book of business (your clients). On the left-hand side, contact info is clearly displayed for quick reference. There’s a visual to see the momentum of your work with each client, including activities vs. hours, revenue and how many times they’ve been in touch with you over the past week.Personally, I liked the sales module and felt like the layout was easy to follow. There’s Recent Work that shows closed tasks like campaign planning, new product visuals and website maintenance.As a multitasker prone to triple checking things, I liked that this helps you track progress and ensure everything’s wrapped up before moving on to the next task. It's great for accountability and communication by keeping details transparent, so everyone stays on the same page without sifting through emails or notes.The page seems intuitive and reasonably simple to navigate. There are tabs at the top for contacts, attachments, assets, tasks and billing.Under the Work tab at the top, you can manage sales opportunities, such as web maintenance. All the info you need is in one place to help reduce time spent clicking around.Click on the opportunity, and from there, view important details. See the sale type to determine the right workflow and help reps understand which stage comes next (there’s also automation between steps). See the sale’s value, how likely closure is and when it’s due. Basically, it’s set up like the answer key in the back of a textbook that gives you all the clear details.Teamwork makes the dream work, right? There’s a sales pipeline report, and you can track effort. It’s known for its resource management feature, helping reduce burnout with automated recurring tasks and skills-based scheduling to get the job done by the best person.Integrate with Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 to track communications between team and customer. Additionally, track time spent on emails directly in Accelo. A timer at the bottom of your emails tracks exactly how long you’ve spent on it.Click Add quote and select a template for creating a quote, and configure it based on your branding. On the left-hand side of the sales opportunity (in this example it’s web maintenance) there are sales details, team, bookings, comments, quote and a visual for sales activity (also additional details, sales email alias and tags).When ready to generate a quote, click the add icon on the right. The process is seamless, with just three steps: create an estimate, edit it and preview/publish.Quotes/estimates hold a lot of info, like details on services, terms and conditions, specific price breakdowns, and your team mission statement. The cool thing about Accelo is you can toggle on or off certain details easily, so if this is a client you’ve worked with a lot and they don’t need a lengthier quote, you can easily simplify it.Once you press publish, you have the chance to generate an email to the client. You can also include a link to the client portal and a PDF of the quote. On the client’s side, accept or decline are clearly displayed in the top right corner. Once they’ve accepted, you can convert the quote into a project.Under the Work tab, there's a comprehensive view of all ongoing activities for a client, including requests, sales, projects and tickets. Important details are all in one place, like billable hours, assignees, contacts and due dates. For a specific task, the left side shows progress, important dates, bookings and schedules, giving you a clear picture of what’s planned and what’s active.Some user reviews mention confusion during onboarding, specifically that having multiple ways to do the same action or task can be tricky. For example, viewing the schedule in different places might lead to mismatches if not handled carefully.The range of options and layout might seem overwhelming at first. While there might be a learning curve, the design aims to provide a flexible and detailed view of everything.Time tracking is color-coded to help you stay within your budget. If you log hours that are well within your limit, they’ll be displayed in green, approaching your limit in yellow and exceeding it in red.Its Tickets module is straightforward for managing and tracking your support requests. When you click on a ticket’s name/title, it opens up and displays key information on the left side, including priority, type and class.At the top of the page, you’ll see the workflow stages like tier one and tier two escalations, ticket resolved, and waiting to track where each ticket stands in the resolution process.On the right side, you’ll see key stats like the ticket’s age, days since the last update and the due date. Below this, you’ll find a stream that captures all communication back and forth, providing a clear history of interactions.The billing module takes a streamlined approach to managing invoicing, and it integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero so your finances stay consistent.The platform includes an invoicing wizard that pulls together all customer work that’s ready for invoicing and guides you through each step. It also offers a handy Complete and email button, allowing you to finalize and send invoices with a single click.You’ve got a solid selection of templates to choose from and customize. Plus, you can set up automatic invoicing for retainer work, so you won’t have to deal with recurring billing manually. Within the Billing tab, view all invoices you’ve created and sent and track which ones are still outstanding.

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Upland PSA is a user-friendly PPM system, and users praise its time-sheet feature. Many users don’t have any complaints and say that Upland PSA has increased their efficiency. It ranks very high in usability and functionality. Its support team is helpful and quick to respond. Users find that Upland PSA helps organize tasks that their team members should work on. Its integration feature increases productivity. However, the interface is not intuitive and has a learning curve.

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Screenshots

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