Best management software for architects: 2026 comparison

For an architecture firm in Portugal, the choice usually comes down to practice-finance tools (OOTI, Monograph, BQE Core), site tools (ArchiSnapper) and project management platforms like Vellum. This comparison uses the prices and features published on each vendor's official site in October 2026 — and says when Vellum, which is the product we make, isn't the right choice.

What should you compare before choosing?

Before looking at names, it's worth knowing which problem you want to solve. These criteria separate a good decision from frustration three months in:

• Project phases. A Portuguese firm's process — base programme, preliminary study, draft project, permitting, construction documents — has to fit the tool without being translated into generic "sprints".
• Files tied to phases. A shared folder stores files; it doesn't know which phase they belong to or who approved them. What matters is knowing, with a date and an author, what was delivered in each phase.
• The client. A portal where the client follows the project and approves deliverables saves phone calls and leaves a record.
• Language. A tool your team can't use in its own language is a tool part of your team won't use.
• Price and VAT. A public, per-user price that scales with the firm — and watch for seat minimums, modules sold separately and VAT.
• Where the data lives. Projects include clients' personal data: check which countries it's stored in and who processes it.
• What's left out. No tool does everything. Knowing whether invoicing, time tracking or drawing viewing live in another tool avoids surprises after you've migrated.

Side-by-side comparison

* Checked on each vendor's official site on 13 and 14 October 2026. OOTI's prices exclude taxes; "not stated" means the official site doesn't say, not that the feature doesn't exist. Prices change: always confirm on each vendor's page (links at the end of the article).

OOTI

OOTI is French management software for architecture and engineering practices: business development, projects and phases, team planning, time, budgets and invoicing. According to OOTI's own blog, it was acquired by Milient Software.

Its strength is the financial side: invoicing by phase, including fees, managing the other firms that share a contract and sending branded PDF invoices. The pricing page shows the Pro plan at €39 per collaborator per month (excluding taxes) for practices with fewer than 5 people, and the Agencies plan from €160 or €174 per month — the page itself shows both figures — with additional users from €14. There's a 14-day free trial, no card needed.

The official site doesn't describe a client portal, doesn't present OOTI as a file tool and doesn't say whether the interface exists in Portuguese; the help centre is in English and French.

Good for: firms that want to control fees, time and invoicing by phase.

Monograph

Monograph is US practice-management software for architecture and engineering firms: proposals, project planning, staffing, time tracking, invoicing and reporting.

It has one point that matters to firms with demanding clients: clients can create a free account to see their projects, invoices and payments, and sign proposals. On the other hand, the product exists only in English — the help centre says the language can't be changed. Files upload at up to 50 MB each, and connecting Google Drive or OneDrive is part of a paid add-on; the site describes nothing specific for DWG or Revit.

There's no price table: the site's calculator shows $600–750 per month for 10 people. The current plan, Grow, is annual only and includes at least 5 seats; the business-development module (Pipeline) is sold separately.

Good for: firms that work in English and want team planning and invoicing in one place.

BQE Core

BQE Core is a practice-management and project-accounting platform for architecture and engineering: time and expenses, billing, project management and reporting, with optional accounting, CRM, HR and payroll modules — the last one for US businesses only.

Pricing isn't published: it's per user, plus the modules you choose, and you get it by requesting a quote. On the client side, BQE Core offers an invoice payment page and, optionally, limited — paid — logins for approving timesheets; dashboards can't be shared with clients. Documents are attached to records or linked from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Box, with 5 GB included and a screen for registering project drawings.

Good for: larger firms that need project accounting and detailed billing.

ArchiSnapper (Deltek)

ArchiSnapper is a phone app, now sold as Deltek ArchiSnapper, for site visits, field reports and punch lists. On site, you take photos, annotate PDF plans, log observations and send branded PDF reports.

It's a site tool, not a practice-management tool. Contractors and other parties get read-only links with no account, or a free account to respond to the items assigned to them. The official site doesn't publish prices: there's a 14-day trial with no card.

Good for: complementing another tool for site visits and closing out punch lists.

Vellum Architecture

Vellum is the product we make, so read this section with that in mind. It's a project management platform built for Portuguese firms: projects that move through phases defined in project types, files organised by phase — DWG, DXF, RVT, IFC, SKP and more, up to 500 MB — with file-by-file review, a client portal where the client follows the phases and approves deliverables, a calendar and statistics. The interface is in European Portuguese, as well as English.

Prices are public — current ones are on the pricing page, and October 2026's in the table above: the Free plan is free and never expires, Core and Professional are billed per seat per month with no VAT charged (exempt under article 53 of the Portuguese VAT Code), and both come with a 14-day free trial with no card. Files are stored in London and the database in Frankfurt; the Security & data page lists every provider. See the features in detail.

What about a spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet is free, flexible and already installed — and for a firm with three or four projects in progress it's perfectly fine. The limit shows up as you grow: a spreadsheet doesn't store files, doesn't record approvals and goes out of date the moment someone forgets to update it. The signs that it's time to switch are in our architecture project management guide.

When shouldn't you choose Vellum?

Vellum isn't the right choice if you need any of these inside the same tool:

• Invoicing certified by the Portuguese Tax Authority (AT). Vellum doesn't issue invoices; you still need certified invoicing software.
• Time tracking to measure each project's profitability — tools like OOTI, Monograph and BQE Core cover that.
• Viewing or annotating CAD/BIM drawings and models in the browser. Vellum stores and organises the files, but they open in each person's own software.
• Per-project or per-office permissions. In Vellum, the whole team sees every project in the company.
• Two-step verification at sign-in, if your security policy requires it.

Decision checklist

Before you sign anything, check:

1. Can I reproduce my projects' real phases?
2. Are files tied to projects and phases, with reviews on record?
3. Does the client get their own view, limited to what they need to approve?
4. Is the interface available in my team's language?
5. Is the price public, with VAT clear, and does it scale with the firm — without seat minimums I don't need?
6. Can I try it without a credit card?
7. Do I know where the data lives and who processes it?
8. Do invoicing and time tracking live in this tool or another one — and does that work for me?

Sources

Checked on 13 and 14 October 2026:

• OOTI: pricing page, home page and Milient acquisition announcement.
• Monograph: pricing page, plans and seats, language and integrations, project files and client view.
• BQE Core: pricing page, sharing dashboards with clients, cloud storage and drawings.
• ArchiSnapper: Deltek product page, sign-up and trial and sharing with third parties.