Three apps that never agree. Or one system that runs the agency.
Most agencies run on a project tool, a timesheet app and a spreadsheet. The founder learns a project lost money after the invoice, and learns someone was overbooked after a deadline slips. Agency management software puts the work, the hours and the money in one place, so those answers arrive while they can still change the outcome.
Last reviewed: October 2026
What is agency management software?
Agency management software is one system that runs an agency's projects, people and money together: planning, capacity, timesheets, client approvals, project margin and invoicing. Ancor is agency management software for marketing, creative and digital agencies of 5 to 30 people. It shows who is overbooked next week, which project is losing money and exactly what the client approved, while there is still time to act, for one flat monthly price per team rather than per seat.
Six jobs, one record. Anything less and you are back in the spreadsheet.
A project tool covers one of these jobs. Agency management software has to cover all six from the same data, because the answers depend on each other: the hours feed the margin, the margin depends on the plan, and the plan depends on who has room.
Planning from a brief
Paste a brief and the AI Planner drafts phases, tasks, hours, a suggested team and a margin estimate, based on what your own team has delivered before.
Capacity in hours
See each person's booked hours against their available hours, week by week, with anyone above 100% flagged before you promise a deadline.
Timesheets you can trust
A timer on every task, manual entry for the time you forgot, and a check on how late and how rounded the entries are.
Client approvals
Clients review and approve in a portal with no account to create. Every approval is pinned to the exact version they saw.
Live project margin
Budget burn and projected margin move as hours are logged, with a warning when a project is heading below your target.
Retainers and invoicing
Delivered work tracked against what the retainer or SOW sold, and invoices drafted from that delivered work.
A project tool tracks tasks. An agency also has to track the money.
| Question you need answered | General project tool | Ancor |
|---|---|---|
| Is this project still making money? | Not natively. Usually a spreadsheet after the fact. | Live projected margin per project, client and department |
| Who is over capacity next week? | Workload views on some plans, often in task counts | Hours booked against hours available, per person |
| Which version did the client approve? | A comment or an email | Approval pinned to the exact version, with a record |
| Are the logged hours believable? | Not checked | Logging lag and whole-hour rounding shown per person |
| What did this retainer actually deliver? | Manual reconciliation | Delivered work against what was sold |
| How is it priced? | Usually per seat | Flat, per team |
General tools vary by vendor and plan. The comparison pages cover specific tools in detail.
Built in Mumbai. GST, rupees and Indian hosting are not afterthoughts.
Ancor is built in Mumbai and sells to Indian agencies first, so the parts that most global tools leave to a separate system are in the product.
- GST invoices. Invoices carry your GSTIN, split tax into CGST and SGST or IGST, and carry HSN or SAC codes.
- Rupee pricing, per team. Studio is ₹9,999 a month for up to 10 people, Practice is ₹14,999 for up to 20, and Atelier is ₹19,999 for up to 30, with a Custom plan above 30. In US dollars that is $99, $149 and $199 a month. One price covers the whole team up to the tier limit.
- Data hosted in India. Workspace data is hosted in Mumbai. The AI runs on Google's enterprise Vertex platform, which does not train on your data.
- Overseas clients. Many Indian agencies bill clients abroad, so amounts can be shown in INR, USD, GBP, EUR, AUD or CAD.
- Indian working practice. The guides cover the parts specific to India, such as GST and TDS for agencies, retainer structures and building a rate card.
Five questions to ask any vendor. Including us.
- Can it tell me a project is losing money while it is still running? Ask to see projected margin on a live project, not a report run after the invoice.
- Does capacity show hours or just task counts? Ten small tasks and ten large ones look the same as counts.
- What does it cost at my real headcount, and at headcount plus five? Per-seat pricing grows with every hire. Some vendors also have seat minimums or onboarding fees.
- Can clients approve without an account, and is the approval tied to a version? This is what settles a disputed sign-off later.
- How long until the team actually uses it? A tool that takes a quarter to roll out often never gets fully adopted by a small team.
It is not for every agency. Here is who should look elsewhere.
- Agencies well above 30 people that need deep finance, purchasing and multi-entity accounting in the same suite. Heavier platforms such as Scoro, Workamajig or Function Point are built for that breadth.
- Software teams running sprints. If your work is issues, backlogs and releases, Jira fits better. See Ancor vs Jira.
- Anyone who wants Ancor to be their accounting ledger. Ancor drafts invoices and tracks what is owed, but your books stay in your accounting software.
- Teams that work mainly from phones. Ancor is web-first. An Android app is in review and there is no iOS app yet.
Buying agency software. The questions worth asking first.
What is agency management software?
Agency management software is one system that runs an agency's projects, people and money together: planning, capacity, timesheets, client approvals, project margin and invoicing. It differs from a general project tool because it connects the hours your team logs to the budget and margin of each project.
Is there agency management software built for Indian agencies?
Yes. Ancor is built in Mumbai and sold to Indian agencies first. It raises GST invoices with your GSTIN, a CGST and SGST or IGST split and HSN or SAC codes, prices in rupees per team, and hosts workspace data in India.
How much does Ancor cost?
Studio is ₹9,999 a month for up to 10 people, Practice is ₹14,999 for up to 20, and Atelier is ₹19,999 for up to 30, with a Custom plan above 30. In US dollars that is $99, $149 and $199 a month. Pricing is per team, not per seat, and the 14-day trial needs no card.
How is agency management software different from Asana or ClickUp?
Asana and ClickUp are general tools built for any team, so they track tasks well and leave margin, capacity in hours and client sign-off to add-ons or spreadsheets. Agency management software such as Ancor treats those as core, because an agency sells time and has to see whether that time is paying.
What size of agency is Ancor for?
Marketing, creative and digital agencies of 5 to 30 people. Teams above 30 can use the Custom plan, but very large agencies that need deep finance and accounting in one suite may be better served by a heavier platform.
Can we move our existing projects in?
Yes. Ancor imports from CSV and Slack, and onboarding is done live with you rather than left to a help centre.