Project management that knows a project has a client and a margin.
A task tool tells you what is late. An agency also needs to know whether the job is still making money, who has room to take the next brief, and exactly which version the client approved. Ancor is project management software built for marketing, creative and digital agencies, with the parts Indian agencies need: rupee pricing per team, GST invoices and data hosted in Mumbai.
Last reviewed: 23 October 2026
What should agency project management software do?
It should run a client job from brief to invoice in one record: a plan with tasks, hours and a timeline, a team with enough capacity to deliver it, a client who approves each version, and a live view of budget and margin as hours are logged. Ancor drafts the plan from a brief using your agency's own past work, shows the Gantt timeline and the critical path, books people in hours against their availability, takes client sign-off by link with no login, and turns the logged hours into project margin and GST invoices.
From brief to invoice, on the same project.
Plan 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 team has delivered before. Templates and recurring tasks cover the repeat work.
Timeline and dependencies
A Gantt timeline per job with finish-to-start dependencies and the critical path marked, plus an all-jobs view across the agency. Drag a task and Ancor shows what else moves.
Capacity in hours
Booked hours against available hours per person, week by week, with leave and public holidays taken out and anyone over 100% flagged before you promise a date.
Time on the task
A timer on every task, reminders, weekly submit, and approve and lock for managers. Hours feed the budget and margin as they are logged.
Client sign-off by link
Clients review in a portal with no account, comment on the image itself, and approve a specific version. The record shows who approved what, and when.
Margin and GST invoices
Projected margin per job with a warning below target, retainer burn by deliverable, and GST invoices drafted from hours or milestones.
Where a general project tool stops, and an agency keeps going.
| Question | General project tool | Ancor |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns which task, and when is it due? | Yes, usually very well | Yes |
| Which tasks set the end date? | On some plans of some tools | Critical path marked on every job's timeline |
| Is this job still making money? | Not natively; usually a spreadsheet | Live projected margin from cost rates |
| Who has room next week? | Workload views on higher plans, often in task counts | Hours booked against hours available, per person |
| Which version did the client approve? | A comment, an email or a chat message | Approval pinned to the version, no client login |
| How many retainer deliverables are left? | Counted by hand | Burn-down by deliverable, with rollover and overage drafts |
| What goes on the GST invoice? | A separate invoicing tool | Drafted from the work, CGST and SGST or IGST by place of supply |
| How is it priced? | Usually per user, often in US dollars | Flat per team in rupees + GST |
General tools vary by vendor and plan. The alternatives page lists each vendor's published pricing model with its source.
The parts global tools leave to another system.
- Rupee pricing per team. ₹9,999 a month + GST for up to 10 people, ₹14,999 a month + GST for up to 20, ₹19,999 a month + GST for up to 30. Hiring the eleventh person moves you up a tier, not up a line per seat.
- GST invoices from the project. GSTIN, HSN or SAC codes, CGST and SGST or IGST by place of supply, credit notes and recurring invoices, a UPI QR on INR invoices, and export to TallyPrime. Ancor is not a ledger and does not file returns or generate IRN e-invoices.
- Zoho Books and Tally stay. Ancor can read open invoices and payments from Zoho Books, and exports to TallyPrime as XML or CSV, so your accountant keeps the books where they are.
- Data hosted in India. Workspace data is hosted in Mumbai.
- Overseas clients. Amounts can be shown in INR, USD, GBP, EUR, AUD or CAD for agencies billing abroad.
Honest limits, before you trial.
- Very small teams that only need a task list. A free plan from a general tool, or a shared sheet, costs less.
- Software teams running sprints. Jira fits issues, backlogs and releases better. See Ancor vs Jira.
- Agencies well above 100 people that need purchasing and multi-entity accounting in one suite.
- Teams that live in WhatsApp. Ancor does not read WhatsApp or email. It connects to Microsoft Teams and Slack, and clients use the portal link.
- iPhone-first teams. Ancor is web-first and there is no iOS app.
Choosing agency project management software. The questions worth asking first.
What is the best project management software for agencies in India?
The one that answers the questions that cost an agency money, not only who owns which task. For a marketing, creative or digital agency of 10 to 100 people, that means project margin while the work runs, capacity in hours, client approvals tied to a version, retainer burn and GST invoices. Ancor is built for that, priced in rupees per team. General tools such as Asana, ClickUp, monday.com and Zoho Projects are strong on tasks and can be cheaper for very small teams.
How is agency project management different from general project management?
An agency sells time to clients. So a project is not finished when the tasks are done: it has a budget, a margin, a client who has to approve each version, and often a retainer allowance that runs out. Agency project management software connects the plan, the hours, the approvals and the invoice; a general tool tracks the tasks and leaves the rest to spreadsheets.
Does Ancor have a Gantt chart?
Yes. Each job has a timeline with finish-to-start dependencies, the critical path marked, drag to move or resize on desktop, and a warning when a move pushes other tasks. There is also an all-jobs timeline across the agency.
How much does Ancor cost for an Indian agency?
Studio is ₹9,999 a month + GST for up to 10 people, Practice is ₹14,999 a month + GST for up to 20, and Atelier is ₹19,999 a month + GST for up to 30, with a Custom plan above 30. It is one price per team, not per seat, and the 14-day trial needs no card.
Does Ancor work with WhatsApp or Gmail?
No. Ancor connects to Microsoft Teams and Slack, and clients review and approve work through a link to the Ancor portal with no login. It does not read WhatsApp chats or your email inbox.
Can we move from Asana, monday.com or Excel?
Yes. Ancor imports CSV or Excel files and recognises exports from Asana, Jira and monday.com; any other sheet is mapped column by column before anything is created.