Two honest paths to a client portal in 2026. Buy dedicated portal software — SuiteDash, Copilot, Moxo, or your PM tool's client view — when a standard login-projects-files-invoices shape fits how you work. Build a custom portal with an AI app builder like Greta when your client workflow has real shape to it — approval chains, staged deliverables, per-client pricing — and you want the portal to match the process instead of the other way round. Most agencies start with the second question too late; this page starts with it first.
Every agency hits the portal moment the same way: a client emails "can you resend that file?" for the third time in a week, and someone decides the business needs a professional front door. The mistake is buying the door before measuring the doorway.
What a client portal actually has to do
Strip the category to its load-bearing parts: client logins scoped to their own projects and nothing else, file exchange with versions (the "final_v3_FINAL" problem is the portal's whole origin story), status visibility so "where are we?" answers itself, approvals recorded with names and timestamps, and usually invoices or at least links to them. Everything past that — white-labeling, e-signatures, embedded chat — is differentiation, not foundation.
How we compared
Fit for agency-shaped work (projects, deliverables, approvals), pricing honesty at 10–50 clients, white-label quality, and how hard each fights you when your process doesn't match its template. Pricing checked September 2026; several of these price per internal user, which changes the math as you hire.
At a glance
| Option | Type | Best for | Pricing shape |
|---|---|---|---|
| SuiteDash | All-in-one portal | Replacing 4 tools at once | Flat tiers, ~$19–99/mo |
| Copilot | Modern portal | Service firms that want polish | Per internal user, ~$29+/user/mo |
| Moxo | Enterprise portal | Regulated, workflow-heavy firms | Quoted |
| Notion / ClickUp shared views | PM tool add-on | Cheap, already-in-the-stack | Included with PM plan |
| Google Drive + email | The default | Nobody, but everybody | Free and costly |
| Greta | Custom-built | Portals that match your actual process | Free tier; Starter $20/mo ($5 welcome offer) |
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The bought options, honestly
SuiteDash is the value play — portal, CRM, invoicing, and file exchange in one flat-priced tool. The tradeoff is the all-in-one texture: each module is good-enough rather than great, and the UI shows its breadth.
Copilot is the taste play — clean client experience, strong white-label, growing app ecosystem. Per-internal-user pricing means the bill scales with your team, not your client list, which suits lean firms and punishes big ones.
Moxo is the process play — proper workflow engines, audit trails, the compliance-friendly features regulated industries need. It's quoted pricing and enterprise onboarding; right when that's what you are.
Your PM tool's client views (Notion, ClickUp, Asana guests) are the pragmatic play: zero new tools, decent visibility. They leak internal texture to clients, approvals are informal, and file versioning is whatever your team's discipline is. Fine at 5 clients; creaky at 25.
When building beats buying
The bought options share one assumption: your client workflow is the template's workflow. The moment it isn't — deliverables that open in stages, approvals that route by project value, a client team where the CMO sees budgets and the coordinator doesn't — you're configuring around the tool instead of working.
Describing that exact workflow to Greta produces the portal that matches it: "clients log in and see only their projects; deliverables move draft → review → approved; approval over $5k requires their finance contact too; every file has versions; my team sees everything across clients." Real app, real database, your domain, no per-user pricing — the free tier (30 credits/month, 5/day) builds the first version, Starter is $20/month ($5 with the current welcome offer) flat.
Two field guides pair with this if you go the build route: the client portal data model for getting projects/deliverables/approvals right first time, and the approval workflow spec for the part clients actually judge you on.
How to choose
- Under 10 clients, simple hand-offs → your PM tool's guest views. Spend nothing.
- Replacing multiple tools on a budget → SuiteDash.
- Client experience is the brand → Copilot.
- Compliance and audit trails rule → Moxo.
- The workflow is the differentiator → build it. That's not the fallback option anymore; it's the fast one.
Got an idea? Build it now!
Just start with a simple prompt. No coding required — Greta.sh turns your idea into a working app in minutes.
FAQ
What is client portal software? A secure site where your clients log in to see their projects, exchange files, approve work, and pay invoices — replacing the email-thread-and-attachment system that stops scaling somewhere around client ten.
How much does client portal software cost? Bought: roughly $19–99/month flat for all-in-ones, or ~$29+ per internal user for the modern per-seat tools, with enterprise options quoted. Built: Greta's free tier covers the first working version; $20/month flat after ($5 with the current welcome offer), regardless of team or client count.
Can I build a client portal without coding? Yes — describe the workflow in plain English to an AI app builder: who logs in, what they see, how approvals route. The generated portal is a real application with its own database and role-based access, live at your domain in days.
Is a client portal worth it for a small agency? The moment "can you resend that?" and "where are we on this?" are weekly emails, yes — the portal answers both permanently. Below that volume, a tidy shared-folder convention honestly does the job.
