Instead of Accelo
Stop renting Accelo. Own the system your services run on.
Enterprise DNA builds your agency or consultancy its own system around how you scope, deliver and bill client work, carries your Accelo history across, and keeps it running for you.
Accelo publishes no price. Its pricing page quotes each firm privately, based on team size and growth goals.
- check_circleYour data in a database you own
- check_circleOpen source, no lock-in
- check_circleBuilt and run by Enterprise DNA
What the quote buys
An Accelo quote is a price on your growth
Underneath the platform sit a few kinds of record: clients, jobs, hours, tickets and invoices. The quote is built around how many people you have and how fast you plan to add more.
No number until a sales call
The pricing page offers a custom quote, not a price list. You cannot compare it with anything before you have talked to their team.
Priced on your plans to grow
Accelo says the quote depends on team size and growth goals. Hiring well should not be the thing that moves your software bill.
Weeks of setup before it pays back
Accelo says most teams are running within weeks, with implementation and onboarding guidance included. That is time your senior people spend learning screens.
A whole platform when you need part of it
Sales, projects, retainers, tickets and billing come as one product. A firm that mostly needs hours and invoices carries the rest.
Forecasts in the shape they chose
Revenue forecasts and capacity views come in the shapes Accelo chose to build.
Exports that expire
A timesheet export arrives as an emailed link that lapses after six hours, with projects, tickets and sales exported separately.
What your firm gets
Client work your firm can question directly
Hours
Time recorded the way people talk
Someone types who the work was for, what it was and how long it took. It lands on the right job at the right rate.
- check Any way of writing a duration: 45 minutes, 2h
- check Client and job names found from part of the name, with a choice when two match
- check Who has not filled in a timesheet
- check New starters and contractors cost nothing extra to add
Invoicing
Know what to bill before month end
Ask what is billable and not yet invoiced and get hours and expenses together, biggest and oldest at the top.
- check Unbilled value per client, sorted by amount and age
- check Draft invoices grouped by task and rate from the logged entries
- check A covering note for each client saved as a draft you send yourself
- check Sent and paid tracked, so late payers show up without a report
Job profit
Which clients are worth keeping
Each entry holds a charge-out rate and a cost rate, so the return on every client and job is a plain question.
- check Spend against budget on every project, in hours and dollars
- check Effective hourly return per client, per job and per person
- check Fixed fee work set against the hours it actually took
- check A ranked list of clients by what they really earn you
Ownership
The firm's history stays with the firm
Clients, hours and invoices sit in a database you control. Your accountant or your next system reads it without a login or an expiring link.
- check A full export of everything in one step, whenever you like
- check New fields and rules added by describing them in plain English
- check Open source under the MIT licence, nothing to renew
Make it yours
Design your own Accelo replacement
Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from Accelo. Try it here, and we build the real one.
2. What it runs
3. Make it fit
4. Your colour
Answered from your own database
Good morning. Here is what needs you today.
We build it from the open-source base, bring your Accelo data across and run it for you.
Switching
How to switch from Accelo
A move like this involves exporting your records, mapping Accelo’s fields to the new database and checking the history you choose to bring across.
- 1
Export your Accelo records
Download a detailed Timesheet Report if you need the underlying time entries, or a summary if that is enough for your records. Accelo sends the report as an emailed link that expires after six hours. Export projects, tickets and sales from their own screens if you need them. Also export any other records your account allows, usually as CSV or Excel, and check with Accelo about what is available.
- 2
Map and load the records
The free version reads Harvest time exports, not Accelo files, so Accelo’s columns need to be mapped before loading. The database holds clients, projects, people, tasks, time entries, expenses and invoices. Decide which of those records you are bringing over, then have Claude Code map the fields or ask Enterprise DNA to do it. If your migration setup offers a test import, run it before loading the full set.
- 3
Check the imported records
Compare the loaded records with your Accelo exports before you rely on them. Check that clients, projects, people and time entries are present, and review expenses and invoices if you brought them across. Look at any rows or fields the import flags, resolve mismatches and confirm that the history you intended to bring over is there.
- 4
Run both systems briefly
Keep Accelo running while you use the new database for a short period. Compare the records and billing work in both systems so you can catch missing data or mapping problems before the new setup becomes your only source. If you also rely on Accelo for sales or support tickets, confirm how those records will be handled before you switch, since they are beyond the free version.
- 5
Switch off Accelo
Once you have checked the records and are comfortable using the new setup, stop entering new work in Accelo. Keep your exported files together for reference, then cancel Accelo when you no longer need access. Do not cancel before downloading the records you need, especially the emailed Timesheet Report link, which expires after six hours.
Where the real effort goes
The real work is usually mapping your own Accelo fields and rules, then deciding how much history to bring over. The free version does not read Accelo exports directly, so that mapping matters. If you have Enterprise DNA install and run it, they handle the migration work, including mapping your records.
Not ready for a call?
Get your Accelo switch plan by email
We will send you the step-by-step plan for moving your business off Accelo, what the move really involves, and how we would do it for you.
Sent. Check your inbox.
Your Accelo switch plan is on its way.
Rather talk it through? Book a call arrow_forwardTwo ways to start
Try the free version, or have Enterprise DNA build yours
Open source
Run it yourself
Free
- 1 Download the free version from GitHub
- 2 Load the demo data and open the folder in Claude Code
- 3 Ask which clients have unbilled work
- 4 Map your Accelo timesheet export into it when ready
Omni by Enterprise DNA
Have Enterprise DNA build it for you
One setup fee, then a monthly retainer
- check Your Accelo clients, projects, hours and invoices brought across and checked against your totals
- check Retainer periods, rate cards and approval steps set up the way your firm runs
- check A sales pipeline, a service ticket desk, a web front end or an accounting link added if you use them
- check Run for you inside Omni, our managed Command Center, beside the rest of the business
Questions
Instead of Accelo, answered
Accelo does sales, projects, tickets and billing. Does this? expand_more
The free version covers the time and billing core: clients, projects, hours, expenses, budgets and invoices. If your firm also runs its pipeline or a support desk through Accelo, Enterprise DNA builds those into your own version, against the same records.
We never got a published price from Accelo. How do we compare? expand_more
Start with your current invoice from Accelo and the number of people on it. On the call we set that against one setup fee and a monthly retainer for your own version, and tell you plainly if staying put makes more sense.
How do we get our records out of Accelo? expand_more
Accelo's Timesheet Report exports as a summary or a detail file, sent to you as an emailed link that expires after six hours. Projects, tickets and sales have exports of their own screens. Download each one and keep the files together before you cancel.
Will the free version read Accelo's files as they come? expand_more
Not on its own. The free version reads Harvest's time export out of the box, and Accelo's columns are different. Mapping them is part of what Enterprise DNA does when we build your version, or you can ask Claude Code to map them yourself.
What about timers, a phone app and our accounting system? expand_more
The free version records time in a sentence after the work, has no phone app and does not post invoices to your accounting system. When Enterprise DNA builds your version, a timer, a phone screen and a connection to Xero or your accounts can be added.
Run your client work without waiting on a quote
30 minutes with Sam. We go through what Accelo does for your firm today, how your team scopes, delivers and bills, and what your own version would look like. If it fits, we build it and bring your history across. If not, the free version is yours to keep.
Time Billing for Claude Code is free and open source, published by Enterprise DNA.
Done paying for Accelo?
Get your version built