13 Best Apps for Consultants

You know how difficult it can be if you own a consulting business. Struggling to meet clients’ needs, managing multiple projects, tasks piling up, maintaining the right resources, keeping up with expectations, meeting tight deadlines, and always making sure you’re one step ahead of the competition. That can be a lot.

Managing your time and resources in consulting projects is one of the biggest challenges. But with the right apps, you can run a successful consulting business. Here’s your short guide to the best tools that can help you better manage projects in your consulting work!

Who Are Consultants and What Do They Do?

Let’s start with the basics so you can understand the intricacies of consulting and choose the right software.

Consultants play a crucial role across various industries. They offer their expertise, deep knowledge, and insights to other people, businesses, and organizations.

You can work solo as an independent consultant, small business owner, or a contractor. However, many people decide to join professional consulting businesses that operate on a large scale. This type of consulting usually involves working with prospective clients and offers professional services on many levels (and requires the use of dedicated software).

In general, consultants help clients navigate complex challenges, achieve goals, spot bottlenecks, and find opportunities where others don’t see them. They help other businesses grow and achieve success.

Why Use Software Solutions for Consulting?

In today’s fast-paced business environment, consultants face increasing demands for efficiency.

Different apps and software solutions are important because they increase productivity, streamline workflows, and improve communication both internally and with clients.

Other than that, such apps have many features that automate work and help to eliminate repetitive activities. Some of the most important ones include automatic time tracking, expense management, payroll processing, task and project management, resource management, client management, or advanced analytics and reporting.

These tools not only save time but also ensure that consultants can focus on delivering high-quality work. As a result, consulting businesses can improve client relationships and achieve work-life harmony.

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What to Look for in Consulting Software?

You can choose from thousands of tools created specifically for the consulting industry. However, it’s difficult to find one platform that combines all the features. You can try to opt for one app that could work as your company’s hub, or you can integrate different tools.

However, the best option is always to choose an app that best suits your business plan and needs. Personal preferences are also an important factor (using a tool you’re not a fan of but still sticking with it just because everyone else does or it’s trendy isn’t a smart move. It can end up causing you more trouble than good).

Take a look at the features you may find helpful:

Free plan

The free plan is important for two main reasons. First, it lets you try out all the features. You can test the software and see if it’s the right fit for your consulting services. Second, it’s a good solution for individuals or small businesses that don’t have enough money to invest in the software.

Reporting and analytics

Reporting and analytics allow you to get valuable insights. It’s necessary for making the right data-driven decisions.

That, in turn, can help clients understand and measure their business performance (for example, with the KPIs), identify trends, and uncover opportunities for growth. But it’s also good for you as it lets you see which clients and projects are most profitable.

Collaboration

Henry Ford said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is a success.”

Because communication is a fundamental part of successful work, it is important that you can easily collaborate on work with clients and other team members. This also ensures a smooth information flow and heading in the right direction.

Client management

Every consulting business needs to take care of its clients, from communication and regular updates to project progress tracking, feedback management, and follow-ups.

The right tool will give you all that and provide you with a client base, allowing you to build strong client relationships and grow your business.

Customization

Choosing how you want to use the app can make a big difference. It’s nice if you can select the features you need and like the most. That way, you’ll get the most out of your software. Otherwise, you’ll find it frustrating, complicated, and difficult to use.

What’s more, a user-friendly, intuitive interface is important so you can easily navigate the tool on every level.

Integrations

It’s good if your consulting software can be connected with other tools. That gives you access to more features, information, and provides granular data for reporting.

Also, the availability of diverse platforms and devices can benefit you because you may need to access your data from different locations and places. Especially if you work with field services, off-site workers, and companies.

1. Time tracking and invoicing – TimeCamp

TimeCamp is a free automatic time tracking software. It’s a great software for both individual consultants and consulting teams, no matter the size of your business.

It helps to track work hours, track project progress, track and manage business expenses. It’s also a good resource management tool—TimeCamp gives you an overview of workload and workforce so you can evenly distribute work.

TimeCamp has all the features you need to run your consulting business; from project management to simple accounting and reporting. Additionally, all your data is safe and sound thanks to the highest security standards and ISO-compliance.

Here are the main features:

• Automatic time tracker that tracks all your activities for different projects.
• Daily timesheets and weekly graphical timesheets.
• Timesheets approvals.
• Different dashboards with rich analytics and reports (reports for time, people, budgeting, real-time reports, location, and customizable reports). You can export reports to Google Spreadsheets, CSV, XLSX, PDF to share them with others.
• Tracking billable time. You can set different rates for people and projects and estimate project costs.
• Attendance module to track different types of days (e.g., sick leave, holidays, remote work).
• Expense tracking.
• GPS location tracking if you work in different locations or on the field.
• Time Clock Kiosk for on-site teams.

TimeCamp is available on the web, as a desktop app (macOS, Linux, Windows), as a mobile app, and as a Chrome extension. Numerous integrations allow you to connect it with other tools.

Pricing

• Free – a free plan of TimeCamp for unlimited users includes all the essentials – accurate time tracking, unlimited projects, a time clock kiosk, desktop, and mobile apps, idle time detection, and many more,
• Starter – $2.99 per user per month, including unlimited tasks, excel reports export, attendance, time-off, overtime tracking (billed annually)
• Premium – $4.99 per user per month, including one integrations, billable time, budget & estimates, apps & websites tracking, project archiving, and more (billed annually),
• Ultimate – $7.99 per user per month, including unlimited integrations, billable rates, labor costs, invoicing, timesheet approvals, custom user roles, and more (billed annually)

Enterprise – custom pricing; contact sales team for more details

2. Task management and scheduling – TimeCamp Planner

TimeCamp Planner is a simple project management tool that has all the necessary features to manage and schedule tasks. It’s suitable for small and large teams. Its collaboration and communication features let you and your clients always stay on top of work.

Its user-friendly, intuitive interface has no steep learning curve, making it easy to move around the app.

Main features:

• You can create your own task structure in every space for different projects.
• Some more advanced features include tags, checklists, recurring tasks, due dates, assignees, estimates, custom task statuses, and priority levels.
• TimeCamp Planner offers simple solutions with rich visualization features—a digital planner with a calendar, Gantt chart with timeline, estimates, board view, Kanban boards, and to-do lists.
• Project chats and individual conversations, notifications with @mentions, file sharing, chatting directly in a task, or making a video call.
• The free plan offered by TimeCamp Planner also helps you collaborate with your clients daily. It allows you to invite up to five guests from outside your organization and give them access to particular spaces.

TimeCamp Planner offers a few vital integrations: with Trello, Google Hangouts, Calendar, Gmail, Zapier, Make, and TimeCamp for effortless time tracking. It’s available web, mobile (iOS only) and desktop (Windows, Linux, macOS).

Pricing: The free plan is available for up to 5 users; the pro plan is $2.99 per user per month, billed annually ($3.99 billed monthly).

3. Planning – Google Calendar

Google Calendar is one of the most popular calendars. It’s suitable for both independent consultants and bigger companies. It helps to schedule appointments and plan your workday.

It’s a good software for consultants because you can easily connect it with other apps and import/export important meeting data. Google Calendar is also a part of the Google Workspace and can be easily used with its other solutions.

Main features:

• Google Calendar brings all of your calendars (work, personal, team, and everything else) together in one place.
• You can create tasks or add them from Google Calendar, Gmail, or the Google Tasks app; set due dates and check them off.
• It automatically adds every email about an event to your schedule.
• Appointment schedules allow you to share your availability with others.
• Premium features include time insights, scheduling meetings by layering multiple calendars in a single view, working location, working hours, and RSVP options.

You can easily access Google Calendar from any place, any platform, any device.

Pricing: Google Calendar is free. Premium features are available in business and enterprise plans (best for larger companies).

4. Customer Relationship Management – 4Degrees

4Degrees is a relationship intelligence CRM platform. It’s good software that can help you build and maintain strong client relationships.

In opposition to its competition, 4Degrees focuses on automation and eliminates the need to manually enter data. It helps to gather information about potential clients and deals, limited partners (LPs), portfolio firms, and other relevant details using a tailored system designed for specific purposes.

Main features:

• Instant insights from sources like Crunchbase or Clearbit.
• Unified tracking with synced email and calendar for comprehensive interaction history.
• Track meetings and document exchanges in real time.
• You can monitor deal progress with Kanban boards and customizable reports.
• Automatic reminders and triggers for deal stages.
• Easily upload Excel spreadsheets for centralized data consolidation.
• Create and save filtered views by industry, location, and more with a single click.

4Degrees is available for web and mobile, and as a Chrome extension. It also integrates with hundreds of 3rd party tools to automate relationship-oriented tasks.

Pricing: not specified by the vendor.

You can also choose alternatives such as Hubspot (good for marketing campaigns), Pipedrive or Capsule (good for sales processes), or Zoho CRM.

5. Accounting software – Patriot

Patriot is an accounting and payroll software best for small businesses. It offers all the necessary features to manage the financials of your consulting business. This app is super intuitive and easy to use.

Patriot offers two main modules:

1. Accounting where you can create detailed invoices, track your money, automatically import bank transactions, pay your bills, and generate financial reports.
2. Payroll where you get accurate tax calculations, have free payroll setup, free direct deposit or print checks, get customizable payroll, have unlimited payrolls for employees, and can pay W-2 employees or 1099 contractors.

Optional built-in add-ons include simple time and attendance and HR software. Patriot is available for web and mobile.

Pricing: 30-day free trial is available. You can choose from different pricing plans. Pricing starts at

• Accounting: Accounting Basic at $20/month; Accounting Premium at $30/month.
• Payroll: Basic Payroll at $17/month + $4 per employee (or 1099 contractor); Full Service Payrol; at $37/month + $4 per employee (or 1099 contractor).
• Time & Attendance starting at $6/month + $2 per employee.
• HR Software starting at $6/month + $2 per employee.

Other alternatives to Patriot include Xero, Quickbooks, or Wave.

6. Advanced project management – Asana

Asana is a project management software with many advanced features. It offers a centralized platform for organizing tasks, deadlines, and resources across multiple projects to keep all your employees and clients on the same page.

Asana’s customizable task prioritization tools enable consultants to focus on critical activities and manage workload effectively.

Although Asana is one of the most popular project management software, many users find it difficult to use, so it may be a good idea to consider an alternative if you’re not willing to spend time learning how it works.

Main features:

• Organize tasks into lists or boards, set due dates, assign tasks to team members, and track progress.
• You can visualize project timelines and dependencies.
• Collaboration tools let you share updates, files, and feedback directly within tasks, and communicate with team members via comments and @mentions.
• You can use professional templates for common project types or create custom templates.
• Custom fields to tasks for additional tracking and categorization, tailored to specific project needs.
• Portfolio view with a high-level overview of multiple projects.
• Automation rules and automated actions to reduce manual work and improve efficiency.
• Reporting and analytics with all project details.

Asana is available for all platforms and integrates with most of the productivity tools.

Pricing: A free plan is available for personal use. For more advanced functionalities, pricing starts at €13.49 per month.

7. Meeting notes software – ZipDo

ZipDo is a software that integrates with your calendar, creating a shared note-taking platform for every meeting. This allows for collaborative agenda preparation, note-taking, and decision tracking, all conveniently centralized.

It’s perfect for consultants who spend a lot of time on meetings and need to keep track of important information. ZipDo is user-friendly and very easy to use.

Main features

• It auto-creates meeting notes for calendar events.
• Your meeting notes can be organized into channels so you get a dedicated space for each of the notes.
• Multiple users can contribute, edit, and revise meeting notes simultaneously.
• Invite others to ZipDo to easily access your notes or share documents via email.
• Ability to search notes for important information.
• Integrates with Google Meet and Calendar.

Pricing: Free version is available for personal use. Pricing starts at $59/month.

8. Workflow automation – Kissflow

Kissflow is one of the best automation tools for non-tech-savvy people. This tool helps to turn complex business processes into automated workflows. It’s a no-code platform (you don’t need any knowledge on software development) with simple-to-use features.

In general, with Kissflow, you can build, deploy, and manage high-quality business applications, all while speeding up the development process.

Main features:

• Build fully functional enterprise apps with the drag-and-drop application builder.
• Get full visibility into projects, tickets, and cases with flexible boards.
• Process Builder lets you create automated processes for forms, business workflows, tasks and tasks delegation, establish fixed or formula-based SLAs (service legal agreements) and notifications, set flexible permissions, and create rules that trigger different flows and tasks.
• Advanced reporting and analytics.
• Eternal portals to collaborate with your clients, stakeholders, other businesses.
• Collaboration with comments, group and individual chats, voice messages, spaces, and calls.
• Decision tables aid decision-making by offering a structured method to assess conditions and choose the best course of action.

You can integrate Kissflow with many different apps. Also, you can choose from different templates to enhance your work. It’s available for web and mobile apps.

Pricing: You can choose from two plans: 1) Basic – starts at $1,500/month, 2) Enterprise with custom pricing.

9. Marketing software for consultants – HubSpot

HubSpot is a marketing tool that can serve as a comprehensive solution for consultants looking to streamline their operations and attract new clients

And if marketing is part of your business, this tool can help you in developing marketing strategies, lead management, and email marketing campaigns. HubSpot also works like the CRM software to manage all your clients’ data.

Main features:

• You can organize client data, track interactions, and manage relationships efficiently.
• Automated email campaigns, social media scheduling, and performance tracking.
• HubSpot’s tools capture leads through forms and live chat, stimulating them with automated workflows.
• Content management module lets you easily create and manage website content, showcasing your expertise to attract clients.
• Analytics and reporting with insights into marketing and sales performance.
• Basic project management tools help to manage tasks, pipelines, and calendars within the platform.

HubSpot offers a comprehensive solution for consultants to streamline operations, attract clients, and deliver results. Tailoring its features to specific needs is key for maximizing its benefits.

Pricing: HubSpot is free for up to 5 users. Pricing plans vary but start at €20/month/seat.

10. Visualization software – Tableau

Tableau is an advanced business intelligence and analytics platform. It helps to explore and manage data so you can better communicate in your consulting engagements. It’s especially useful for consultants who work with lots of data, reporting, and analytics and need an intuitive software to present their results.

In Tableau, consultants can use visualizations, dashboards, and reports to present complex data and findings in a clear and compelling manner to clients, stakeholders, and team members.

Main features:

• Easily create interactive dashboards for dynamic data exploration.
• Connect to various data sources seamlessly for comprehensive analysis.
• Intuitive drag-and-drop interface enables quick visualization creation without coding.
• Built-in features like forecasting and trend analysis for deeper insights.
• Support for mapping and geospatial data analysis.
• You can share insights with colleagues via Tableau Server or Online.
• Robust features ensure data integrity and compliance.
• Mobile compatibility – you get access and interact with dashboards on the go.
• Customization lets you tailor visualizations to specific needs.
• Open APIs for integration and custom extensions.

These are just some of the key features that make Tableau a popular choice for data analysis and visualization across industries.

Pricing: You can choose from three plans (billed annually): Tableau Viewer at $15 user/month, Tableau Explorer at $42 user/month, and Tableau Creator at $75 user/month.

11. Note-taking app – Notion

Notion is a connected workspace for wiki, docs, and projects. You can use it individually for personal note-taking or with your team members and clients to share work and collaborate. Additionally, you can easily adapt it to any type of workflow which makes it a universal tool.

The app lets everyone involved in the project collaborate on docs, wikis, and all other content.

Notion comprises 4 modules:

1. Docs – these let you organize your information just the way you like and code snippets, collapsible sections, images and videos, table of contents, math equations, and 50+ content types.
2. Wikis – a place where you and your team (and clients) can easily find necessary information.
3. Projects – you can plan projects with timeline, tables, calendar, and customize them.
4. Calendar – has a built-in scheduling and works across different time zones.

Notion also has an integrated AI assistant that gives you answers to your questions, helps in writing, and auto-fills tables.

Pricing: Free for individuals. Pricing starts at $10 per user per month.

12. Consulting management and scheduling software – Trafft

Trafft is a tool that shows your services, timetable, and open slots clearly on your website. Since, as a consultant, you’ll need to stay in touch with your current and potential clients, it can help people easily reach out to you.

Trafft includes not only booking functionality but also helps to organize your business processes. Once you schedule an appointment, the app will help you create the entire process to close the deal or project.

Main features:

• Booking website and form builder.
• Admin and employee management.
• Contact management.
• Appointments management.
• Integrations with calendars and video conferencing, payments, and marketing tools.

Pricing: Free for up to 5 users. Paid plans start at $29 per month.

13. Legal and contract management software – Juro

Juro is a contract automation software powered by AI. It brings all of your contracting processes into one contract collaboration platform.

It lets you quickly create contracts and administer all actions related to managing your documents, from approvals and signing to tracking changes, reviewing, and storing. Juro makes it possible to replace all your paper and digital documents, including Word, PDFs, Google Docs, and others. It works as your repository for all contracts.

Main features:

• You can create contracts from scratch or use available templates.
• No-code workflows allow you to create auto-approvals – you can lock down a secure audit trail with Juro’s unique timeline.
• Tracking changes in real-time
• Juro’s advanced electronic signature (AdES) standard complies with eIDAS, E-SIGN and UETA acts so your electronic signature is always electronically binding.
• Automated reminders for key dates.

You can easily connect Juro to all your systems with numerous integrations to have all data under control.

Pricing: not specified by the vendor.

Finding Your Digital Toolbox: Wrapping Up the Best Apps for Consultants

Remember that when you’re choosing consulting apps, you’ll need to think about what you want to use the app for, how many people will use it, and if you want to integrate it with other tools.

All the above tools will let you easily adapt to changing industry trends and create better working habits. Choose your favorite(s) consultant apps and let us know which tools you find the most helpful. Happy consulting!

Kate Borucka Kate is a freelance translator, copywriter, and a content writer specializing in time tracking software, time management, and productivity. When not researching new software, she's reading books, or spending time outdoors.

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