Kantata alternatives

Kantata sells its Professional Services Automation Platform through a Request Pricing form, with no published figure, verified 24 September 2026. Firms looking past it compare Productive.io (Essential $10 billed yearly), BigTime (from $20), Teamwork.com, Certinia and Accelo. PeopleMuster is the strongest alternative for a service team that wants HR and delivery in one database: $3 per person a month.

Why people leave

A price behind a form. Kantata's pricing page asks you to request pricing and shows no figure. A firm comparing tools has to book calls to put Kantata on the same sheet as vendors that print a number.
Project delivery, with people kept elsewhere. Kantata's pricing page presents a Professional Services Automation Platform and says nothing about leave or HR records. If your staff records and leave approvals run in a separate HR tool, every starter, leaver and day off goes in twice.
Platform scale for a mid-size firm. Consultancies of 30 or 60 people often want delivery tools priced per person, with setup included in the subscription.

The real options

Six products were compared on 24 September 2026 on what a services firm of 20 to 150 people can learn before a sales call: a published price or plan structure, the step between tiers, any seat minimum, and whether leave and the staff record share a system with project delivery. Evaluated from Kantata's own documentation and pricing, September 2026. Every other figure was read from that vendor's own pricing page. Vendors that only quote are listed by how they sell.

PeopleMuster

$3 per person a month, from the first person. Every module included, no setup fee, 14 days free with no card.

Who it suits: Consultancies, software houses and agencies that run people and client projects together.
Where it wins: Projects with health, setup and task scores, billable and fixed-price or hourly flags, and milestones. Timesheets, capacity and utilisation sit on the same record as leave, attendance and the directory.

Productive.io

Essential $10 and Professional $25 per user a month billed yearly ($12 and $29 monthly); Ultimate custom. 3-seat minimum, 14-day trial. Verified 24 September 2026.

Who it suits: Agencies and consultancies that want a published per-user price for agency operations.
Where it wins: Two published tiers and a trial, with time off and capacity beside projects.
Where it falls short: The employee record lives in BambooHR, Personio or Rippling by Productive's own account.

BigTime

Essentials starts at $20 per user a month; Advanced and Premier are demo-only. Verified 24 September 2026.

Who it suits: Professional-services firms that want a stated entry price.
Where it wins: One published starting figure on its own pricing page.
Where it falls short: Only Essentials carries a price; the two tiers above it need a demo.

Teamwork.com

Free for up to 5 users; Basics $9.99 and Accelerate $24.99 per user a month billed yearly; Optimize and Enterprise by quote. 14-day trial. Verified 24 September 2026.

Who it suits: Client-services teams that want project management with a free start.
Where it wins: A free plan for five and two published paid tiers.
Where it falls short: The two tiers above Accelerate are quote-only.

Certinia

No published price; the pricing page leads to Get a Demo. Verified 24 September 2026.

Who it suits: Larger services firms buying through an enterprise sales process.
Where it wins: Sold through a demo with its sales team.
Where it falls short: No figure on the page, so it can't be priced beside the others without a call.

Accelo

Tailored plans with no published figure; forecast.app now resolves to Accelo. Verified September 2026.

Who it suits: Service businesses that expect a quote built around them.
Where it wins: Plans shaped to each buyer.
Where it falls short: Every plan is tailored, so there's no list price to compare.

Questions people ask

How much does Kantata cost?

Kantata publishes no price. Its pricing page carries a Request Pricing form, verified 24 September 2026, so the figure comes from a sales conversation. PeopleMuster is $3 per person a month with every module included, or $30 per person a year billed annually.

What moves over when we switch from Kantata to PeopleMuster?

Your people, leave types and projects. We load them with you during setup at no setup fee, and the CSV importer takes all three from a spreadsheet export if you'd rather run it yourself. Clients, flags and milestones are set per project, and your team logs hours inside the 14 days free.

Why is Scoro not ranked here?

Scoro publishes per-user plans; prices are on scoro.com. This list keeps to vendors whose figure or sales model could be read on 24 September 2026. Scoro has its own alternatives page on this site.