Project management
Sales & Proposals
Time tracking
Invoicing
Financial Performance
Consulting Engineers
Architects
Town Planners
Building Designers
5 Australian WorkflowMax Alternatives Compared (2026)
Ben Walker
Written for Drum
In This Article
When Xero retired WorkflowMax in June 2024, it displaced thousands of Australian professional service firms overnight. BlueRock picked up the brand and migrated over 15,000 accounts to a rebuilt platform, but the transition left many firms frustrated. User reviews on G2 and Trustpilot describe slower workflows, missing features, and support tickets that go unanswered for weeks. If that sounds familiar, you’re probably comparing Australian WorkflowMax alternatives right now.
The challenge is that “project management software” is a crowded category, and most comparison articles are written by the vendors themselves. This one isn’t trying to sell you on any single tool. We’ll walk through five genuine alternatives, what each one does well, where it falls short, and which type of firm each suits best. Full disclosure: Drum is one of the five, and we built it, so we’ll be upfront about our perspective while giving every option a fair assessment.
How We Evaluated Each Alternative
Before comparing specific tools, it’s worth establishing what matters most for Australian professional service firms leaving WorkflowMax. These aren’t theoretical requirements. They’re the things firms consistently mention when they tell us why their current software isn’t working.
Xero integration depth. Not just “connects to Xero” but genuine two-way sync for invoices, bills, timesheets, and purchase orders. In Australia, most firms run their accounting through Xero, so this integration is effectively non-negotiable. A shallow connection that only pushes invoices one way creates manual reconciliation work that defeats the purpose.
Project financial visibility. Can you see budget burn as time is logged, or do you only find out at month-end? SPI Research has repeatedly shown that firms with real-time project financial data recover 5-15% of previously unbilled revenue. That’s not a rounding error.
Time tracking that connects to billing. Standalone time trackers are fine for freelancers, but a 15-person consultancy needs tracked hours to flow directly into project budgets and invoices without manual steps in between.
Support quality and timezone. When something breaks at 2pm on a Wednesday in Melbourne, you need help from someone who’s actually working, not a bot or a team that’s asleep in San Francisco.
Total cost of ownership. Per-user pricing matters, but so do minimum seat requirements, module add-on costs, and whether the plan that includes the features you need is the $10 tier or the $55 tier.
With those criteria established, here’s how five real alternatives stack up.
The Five Alternatives, Honestly Compared
Drum: Australian-built, all-in-one PSA
Drum was built in Australia specifically for professional service firms running 10 or more people. It covers the full operational workflow: sales pipeline and proposals, project management, time tracking, invoicing, and financial performance reporting. Pricing is $37 AUD per user per month with every feature included on every plan. No modules, no tiers, no surprises.
The Xero integration is deep and two-way. Invoices, bills, purchase orders, timesheets, and leave all sync automatically. The platform is hosted in Sydney, which means fast load times for Australian users and support from a team based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Average live chat response time is 15 minutes during business hours, and you’re talking to a human who knows the product.
Where Drum is strongest: firms that want a single platform replacing WorkflowMax without stitching together multiple tools. The proposal-to-project-to-invoice workflow means data entered once flows through the entire system. Where it has limitations: very large enterprises (100+ people) with complex ERP requirements may eventually need more than a mid-market PSA offers. For firms between 10 and 80 people, though, it’s purpose-built.
Scoro: Full-featured PSA for larger teams
Scoro is a European-built PSA platform that covers project management, CRM, quoting, time tracking, billing, and financial reporting. It’s comprehensive and well-designed, with particularly strong reporting dashboards and resource planning tools. Pricing starts at $26 USD per user per month for the Essential plan, but the features most firms need (budgets, time tracking, resource planning) require the Standard or Pro tiers, which range from $37 to $63 USD. There’s a minimum of 5 users.
Scoro integrates with Xero, though the depth of that integration doesn’t match what you’d get from an Australian-built tool. Support is responsive but operates from European time zones, so afternoon questions in AEST may not get answered until the next morning. For larger firms (30+ people) with complex project portfolios, Scoro is a serious contender. The trade-off is price and the timezone gap.
Teamwork.com: Strong project management, lighter on financials
Teamwork.com is one of the more established platforms in this space, serving over 16,000 businesses globally. It started as a project management tool for agencies and has gradually added time tracking, budgeting, invoicing, and resource management. The Deliver plan starts at $10.99 USD per user per month, but most professional service firms will need the Grow plan at $19.99 USD or Scale at $54.99 USD for resource management and utilisation reports.
Teamwork’s strength is project delivery: task management, Gantt charts, workload balancing, and client collaboration are all well-executed. Where it’s thinner is on the financial side. Invoicing and profitability reporting exist but aren’t as deeply integrated as purpose-built PSA tools. Xero integration is available but basic compared to platforms built around it. Best for firms whose primary pain point is project execution rather than financial management.
Productive.io: Clean interface, agency-focused
Productive.io is a Croatian-built PSA platform that’s gained traction with agencies and creative services firms. Pricing starts at $9 USD per user per month (billed annually) for the Essential plan, climbing to $24 USD for Professional, with Ultimate and Enterprise tiers at custom pricing. The Professional tier is where most of the useful features sit, including budgeting, utilisation tracking, and forecasting.
The interface is clean and modern, and the budgeting tools are genuinely strong. You can track profitability at the project, client, and service-line level with minimal setup. The gap for Australian firms is Xero integration depth and support timezone. Productive connects to Xero, but it’s not the tight, two-way sync that firms accustomed to WorkflowMax’s Xero relationship will expect. Support is European-based. Best for digitally native agencies that prioritise interface design and are comfortable managing Xero reconciliation with a lighter integration.
Projectworks: New Zealand-built, A&E focused
Projectworks is built in New Zealand and targets architecture, engineering, and consulting firms across Australasia. It covers time tracking, leave management, invoicing, revenue forecasting, and capacity planning. The platform focuses heavily on utilisation and margin analysis, which resonates with firms that think in terms of billable percentages and project profitability.
Projectworks integrates with Xero and operates in a timezone that actually aligns with Australian business hours, which is a meaningful advantage over Northern Hemisphere vendors. The trade-off is that reporting is less flexible than some competitors, and invoice templating has drawn criticism for rigidity. Worth considering for A&E firms that want a regional vendor with industry-specific understanding, though it lacks the proposal and CRM functionality that platforms like Drum or Scoro include.
Pricing at a Glance
Here’s what you’re actually looking at per user per month across the five options:
| Platform | Entry Price | Price for Full Features | Minimum Users | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drum | $37 | $37 (all features included) | None | AUD |
| Scoro | $26 | $37-$63 | 5 | USD |
| Teamwork | $10.99 | $54.99 | None | USD |
| Productive | $9 | $24+ (custom for advanced) | None | USD |
| Projectworks | Contact sales | Contact sales | Contact sales | NZD |
The pricing table tells one story, but the real cost question is different: what does it cost you when your team doesn’t use the tool because it’s too slow, too confusing, or too disconnected from your accounting system? That’s the hidden expense most comparison articles ignore.
Which Alternative Fits Your Firm
There’s no single “best” Australian WorkflowMax alternative because every firm prioritises differently. But the decision framework is simpler than it looks.
If your primary requirement is a single platform that replaces everything WorkflowMax did, with deep Xero integration and local Australian support, Drum is the most direct replacement. It was built for this exact use case.
If you’re a larger firm (30+) with complex resource planning needs and don’t mind paying USD pricing with European support hours, Scoro is the most comprehensive option.
If your biggest pain is project delivery and collaboration rather than financial management, Teamwork offers strong execution tools at a competitive price point.
If you’re a digital agency that values interface design and can work with a lighter Xero integration, Productive gives you modern tooling at a lower per-user cost.
If you’re an architecture or engineering firm in Australasia and want a regional vendor with industry focus, Projectworks is worth evaluating alongside Drum.
The best next step for any of these is a trial with real projects and real data. Feature comparison tables are useful, but nothing replaces a week of actual use to see whether a tool fits how your team works. Most of these platforms offer free trials. Use them.
If you’d like to start with Drum, we offer a free trial with concierge onboarding so you’re not figuring it out alone. You can also explore how Drum handles professional services time tracking, billable hours, or read more about what PSA software actually does.
Want to see how Drum compares to your current setup?
Book a free demo and we'll walk through your specific workflows. No generic slide deck — we'll show you how Drum handles your projects, your invoicing, and your Xero integration.