Accelo Acquires Forecast, Adding Depth to AI and Capacity Planning Capabilities
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Most comparisons between professional services platforms start with features. That’s a mistake.
The more helpful question is: what problem are you actually trying to solve?
Accelo and BigTime were built with very different answers in mind—and that difference shows up everywhere from daily workflows to long-term scalability.
If you’re researching Accelo vs BigTime or looking for a credible BigTime alternative, this article will help you think clearly about how the platforms differ, where each one shines, and which type of organization tends to succeed with each.
At a high level:
This distinction matters more than any individual feature.
BigTime works best when time and invoicing are the business. Accelo works best when time and invoicing are part of a much larger system of client work.
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BigTime has earned its reputation in financially-driven service environments, and it shows in a few key areas.
BigTime offers highly detailed time tracking, configurable approval workflows, mobile access, and strong expense management, including multi-currency support. For organizations that need audit-ready timesheets and strict approvals, this level of control is valuable.
Accelo includes time tracking as part of a broader client work system, while BigTime goes deeper into approvals, compliance, and financial reporting, specifically around billable hours.
BigTime supports different rate structures, prepayments, milestone billing, and detailed invoice breakdowns. Its QuickBooks integration is a standout feature, offering near real-time syncing that accounting teams often value. For organizations whose reputation depends on precise, audit-ready invoicing and tight alignment with accounting systems, BigTime can feel purpose-built.
It’s worth noting that some capabilities, such as custom invoice templates and the quotes module, are available only in higher pricing tiers or as add-ons.
BigTime’s reporting leans heavily into utilization, profitability, and revenue forecasting. With add-ons like BigTime’s resource management module, teams can model future revenue and optimize billable capacity, though the module incurs an additional cost beyond their base platform fee.
If forecasting billable revenue is your primary operational concern, BigTime is a strong contender. However, for organizations that need deeper capacity and resource planning beyond billing, Forecast PSA—Accelo’s sister product— far exceeds BigTimes’ capabilities without purchasing an additional module.
Accelo’s core strength is managing end-to-end client work in a single system. Rather than focusing only on time and billing, Accelo connects every stage of the client lifecycle, from first interaction to delivery, ongoing service, and billing, so work flows without friction.
Accelo’s professional services automation platform brings together:
Because these capabilities live on a single connected platform, teams don’t have to hand work off between disconnected tools or rely on spreadsheets to fill in the gaps. The result is better visibility, less manual effort, and more consistent client delivery.
Accelo’s automation engine is one of its defining strengths. Tasks move automatically based on rules, and status changes trigger notifications. Workflows enforce consistency without requiring constant oversight, reduce administrative overhead, and prevent process breakdowns as volume increases.
Accelo includes a client portal where customers can see project progress, invoices, and service tickets in real time. This transparency reduces email back-and-forth and helps set clearer expectations. In comparison, BigTime does not offer a comparable client-facing workspace, which often pushes teams back into inboxes and status meetings.
For organizations that deliver ongoing support, managed services, or retainers, Accelo’s ticketing and service management capabilities are a significant advantage. Work is tracked, prioritized, and billed without losing visibility.
BigTime is not designed for this type of recurring service work.
Accelo is built specifically for professional services teams, providing a broader set of integrations, especially with finance, communication, and productivity tools.
Beyond accounting software, Accelo integrates with email, calendars, collaboration tools, and productivity platforms to keep client communication, project updates, and financial activity in sync, including native integrations with Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, QuickBooks, Xero, and Stripe.
Because these integrations are tied directly into Accelo’s workflows, teams can automate handoffs, keep records up to date, and reduce the manual work required to stitch systems together. As a result, Accelo becomes the operational hub for client work.
BigTime is often a strong fit for companies that:
In these cases, BigTime’s depth in billing and financial controls outweighs its narrower scope.
Accelo tends to resonate with organizations that:
These organizations often outgrow tools that focus only on time and billing, and want a system that scales with how they actually work.
If your biggest challenge is billing accuracy, BigTime is hard to ignore. But when the bigger challenge is keeping client work running smoothly, from first conversation through delivery and ongoing service, Accelo is built for that reality.
With Accelo, sales activity flows directly into active projects. Projects naturally transition into ongoing services or retainers. Billing is driven by real work completed, not manual reconciliation across disconnected systems.
BigTime is largely focused on what happens once work is underway. Accelo is designed to support everything that happens before, during, and after, so teams maintain continuity rather than endure handoffs.
Many organizations start with tools like BigTime because time tracking and billing feel like the most immediate problems to solve. Over time, they discover the real constraints are visibility gaps, manual processes, fragmented systems, and client communication.
That’s where Accelo stands out as a BigTime alternative, not by replicating billing features, but by addressing the broader operational challenges that shape how client work actually gets delivered.
The best platform isn’t the one with the longest feature list; it’s the one that matches how your organization delivers value to clients.
Understanding that difference is what turns a comparison into a confident decision.
See how Accelo supports your full client lifecycle. Take a closer look at how Accelo connects sales, delivery, service, and billing, so your team can spend less time managing work and more time delivering it. Book a call with our team now.
Information contained in this post is based on publicly available documentation. This article was originally published on April 4, 2023, and was updated on January 23, 2026, for accuracy and relevancy.
