How much does it cost to run a team on several separate tools?

A team that uses separate tools to log hours, manage projects, answer tickets and book holidays pays for each one per user, and the total grows with every new hire. In the comparison published on the Engi360 page, eight tools of this kind add up to around 63 euros per user per month, against 7 euros for a platform that brings them together. On top of the licences come the hours spent moving data from one tool to another.

In consultancies, agencies, engineering firms and IT service companies, tools tend to arrive one at a time. First a time tracker, then a task board, then a ticketing tool and a holiday planner kept in a spreadsheet. Each choice makes sense on the day it is made. The problem only shows up when someone adds up the invoices and counts the exports that happen at the end of every month.

How much do separate tools cost per user?

The simplest way to compare is the price per user per month, because that is how most of these tools are billed. The table follows the comparison on the Engi360 page, using approximate figures from the public prices of annual team plans, collected in July 2026.

Not every team uses all eight. A consultancy with no websites to watch has no need for monitoring, and a small agency may not keep a credentials vault. Even so, three or four tools are enough for the total to be several times the price of a single platform.

Which costs never appear on the licence bill?

Licences are the easy part to measure. The rest of the cost sits in work that only exists because the data is kept apart.

• The same data typed several times. A new client is set up in the time tracker, on the project board and in the ticketing tool, and each copy can end up with a slightly different name.
• Month-end exports. To bill hours, someone exports the timesheets, merges them with the projects in a spreadsheet and checks by hand what each client owes.
• People joining and leaving. Every new starter needs an account in every tool, and every leaver leaves accounts and licences that someone has to close.
• Reports that do not agree. Hours from one system and tasks from another rarely match, and the review meeting spends its time arguing about which figure is right.
• Context switching. Each tool has its own login, its own notifications and its own way of doing things, and the team jumps between them several times a day.

None of these costs shows up on an invoice, but all of them take hours from people who could be working for clients.

How do you work out the figures for your organisation?

An hour of work is enough to get a reliable number. What matters is counting both the licences and the time, not just the licences.

1. List every paid tool. Time tracking, projects, tickets, holidays, documents, surveys, credentials, AI assistants and any spreadsheet that does the job of one of them.
2. Note the price per user and the type of plan. Annual plans usually work out cheaper per month than monthly ones, so compare like with like.
3. Count who uses each one. Some tools are paid for the whole team, others only for the people who run them.
4. Add the time spent connecting the tools. The hours per month spent on exports, copying and checking, multiplied by what an hour of those people costs.
5. Flag the overlaps. Two tools that both store projects or documents almost always mean one too many.
6. Compare with the annual cost of a single platform. Using the same number of people and the same billing terms.

A worked example in a 20-person consultancy

Imagine a consultancy of 20 people using five of the tools in the table, time tracking, projects and documents, tickets, holiday management and an AI assistant. At the approximate figures in the comparison, that comes to around 52 euros per user per month, or roughly 1,040 euros a month and 12,500 euros a year.

In this example, the operations manager spends one day a month matching hours to projects to prepare invoicing, and every joiner or leaver means opening or closing five accounts. None of that is part of the licence cost.

With a platform that brings these functions together, at 7 euros per user per month on annual billing, the same 20 people cost around 140 euros a month, roughly 1,700 euros a year. Pre-invoicing comes straight from the logged hours, with no exports, and each person has a single login. Every organisation's figures depend on the tools it uses and the plans it is on, which is why it is worth running the numbers with real prices.

When does it make sense to bring everything into one platform?

Consolidating tools is not a goal in itself. It makes sense when the data in some tools depends on the data in others.

• When hours drive invoicing. If what a client is billed depends on the hours logged per project, keeping hours and projects in the same place removes the month-end reconciliation.
• When the same client exists in several tools. It is the clearest sign that data is being duplicated.
• When the team grows or changes often. Every new person multiplies the licences and accounts to manage.
• When nobody has the full picture. If checking the team's workload or a client's status means opening three tools, decisions arrive late.

Some things should stay where they are. Certified accounting, certified invoicing and certified payroll remain with the accountant or the certified software, and a sales CRM or an industrial ERP has its own place. Consolidation covers how the team runs day to day, not those functions.

What does Engi360 bring together, and what does it cost?

Engi360 is the Engibots operations management platform for teams that bill hours or run projects for clients. Hours, holidays, projects, tasks, HR, documents and pre-invoicing sit behind a single login and in a single database, and each person can work in Portuguese, Spanish or English.

• Operations. Hours and timesheets per task, holidays and absences with approvals, projects and tasks with kanban, tickets with SLA and an office map.
• People. Employee records, performance reviews, OKRs, payroll preparation, internal communications and surveys.
• Operational finance. Pre-invoicing generated from logged hours and a pro forma ready to send to the accountant or the certified invoicing software.
• Platform. Credentials vault, website and service monitoring, rule-based automation, API and webhooks, automatic CSAT and an AI assistant that analyses the operation.

The Free plan costs 0 euros, with the whole team for the first 14 days and then up to 3 users, no credit card required, and includes the base modules. Professional costs 7 euros per user per month on annual billing, or 10.50 euros on monthly billing, and Scale costs 15 euros, or 22.50 euros. To see how hours turn into pre-invoicing without spreadsheets, the article on pre-invoicing hours walks through the process step by step.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to use several tools to manage a team?

It depends on the tools and the plans. In the comparison published on the Engi360 page, based on public prices for annual team plans in July 2026, eight separate tools add up to around 63 euros per user per month.

What hidden costs come with separate tools?

Data typed into several tools, exports for invoicing, accounts to open and close when people join or leave, and reports that do not agree. None of it appears on an invoice, but all of it takes up the team's hours.

How do you calculate the cost of tools per employee?

Add up the price per user of every paid tool, on the same billing terms, then add the time spent each month connecting the tools, multiplied by the hourly cost of the people who do it.

Does a single platform replace certified invoicing software?

In the case of Engi360, no. It prepares pre-invoicing from logged hours and a pro forma for the accountant or the certified software, but it does not issue certified invoices or do certified accounting.

How much does Engi360 cost?

The Free plan costs 0 euros, with the whole team for the first 14 days and then up to 3 users. Professional costs 7 euros per user per month on annual billing and Scale costs 15 euros. Enterprise is priced on request.