Let's do some math.
If you're running a typical agency in 2026, your tech stack probably looks something like this:
| Tool | Purpose | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| DocuSign or PandaDoc | Contracts & e-signatures | $25-35/mo |
| Typeform or Tally | Client intake questionnaires | $25/mo |
| Frame.io or Filestage | Visual feedback & proofing | $15-49/user/mo |
| Asana, Monday, or ClickUp | Project management | $11-24/user/mo |
| Stripe invoicing or FreshBooks | Invoicing & billing | $15-25/mo |
Conservative total: $91 to $158 per month — and that's before you add seats for your team.
But the cost isn't even the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that none of these tools talk to each other.
Your contract lives in DocuSign. Your client's questionnaire answers live in Typeform. Their feedback lives in Frame.io. Your project tasks live in Asana. Their invoice lives in Stripe. And the glue holding it all together is... your project manager's memory.
What "tool sprawl" actually costs you
Time spent context-switching
Every time your team moves between platforms, they lose focus. A project manager reviewing client feedback needs to check Frame.io for annotations, then switch to Asana to update the task status, then switch to Slack to tell the designer what changed. That's three context switches for one piece of feedback.
Research consistently shows that context-switching costs 15-25 minutes of productivity per switch. If your PM does this 8 times a day, you're losing 2-3 hours of productive work to tool-hopping.
Information that falls through cracks
When your client's contract terms live in one tool and their project lives in another, it's easy to lose track of what was actually agreed upon. How many revision rounds were included? What was the payment schedule? Is the client's feedback a valid change request or scope creep?
If answering those questions requires opening three different tools, they often just don't get answered. And that's how scope creep happens. We've written extensively about managing revisions without killing your margins.
Your client's fractured experience
From your client's perspective, they receive emails from DocuSign (sign this contract), then from Typeform (fill out this questionnaire), then from Frame.io (review this design), then from Stripe (pay this invoice). Four different platforms, four different interfaces, four different logins.
That doesn't feel premium. That feels disorganized.
Compare that to one branded portal where your client can see everything — their contract, their questionnaire, their deliverables, and their invoices — all in one place. Which experience would you rather give your clients?
The all-in-one alternative
Here's how TryApprove replaces each tool in the stack:
DocuSign → Built-in contracts
Create contracts directly inside your projects. Your client reviews and signs them with a legally-binding e-signature — right in their portal. No separate tool, no Zapier workflow to connect signature events to project creation.
The contract is tied to the project, so you can always reference what was agreed upon without opening another app.
Typeform → Built-in questionnaires
Build intake questionnaires with custom questions and attach them to any project. Your client fills them out in their portal — alongside their contract and welcome docs — so all their onboarding information is in one place.
No more "I submitted the form but I can't find where to sign the contract" confusion. It's all in the same portal, in the right order.
Frame.io → Built-in visual annotations
Upload images, PDFs, videos, or even link to live websites. Your client clicks directly on the asset to leave feedback — a pin appears exactly where they clicked, and they type their comment. No vague "the thing on the left" descriptions.
Each pin becomes a threaded conversation, so your team can discuss and resolve feedback without losing context. For video assets, comments are timestamped so everyone knows exactly which frame is being discussed.
Asana/Monday → Built-in project management
Organize work into projects and tasks. Use the Kanban board for a visual workflow or the task list for a linear view. Assign tasks to team members, track status (To Do → In Progress → Needs Review → Approved), and upload multiple versions with full version history.
Your project manager sees everything in one dashboard. Your client sees their deliverables in their portal. Both views stay in sync automatically.
Stripe invoicing → Built-in invoicing
Create professional invoices, send them to clients, and track payment status — all from within the project. No switching to a separate invoicing tool. No manually copying client details between platforms.
When a client opens their portal, they see their pending invoices alongside their deliverables. Everything is connected.
Bonus: Team chat replaces project Slack channels
TryApprove includes built-in team chat with channels and direct messages. Your team can discuss projects without switching to Slack, and the conversation stays in the same tool where the work lives.
The cost comparison
| Current Stack | Monthly Cost | TryApprove | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| DocuSign | $25/mo | ✅ Included | |
| Typeform | $25/mo | ✅ Included | |
| Frame.io | $15/mo | ✅ Included | |
| Asana (3 users) | $33/mo | ✅ Included | |
| Stripe invoicing | $0 (% per invoice) | ✅ Included | |
| Total | $98/mo+ | Pro plan | $29/mo |
That's a savings of $69+ per month — $828 per year — with a simpler, more connected workflow.
Or grab the lifetime deal and pay once. Seriously.
But what about integrations?
Fair question. If you're deeply embedded in a tool ecosystem — your time tracking feeds into your invoicing which feeds into your accounting software — you might worry about losing those connections.
Two things to consider:
First, many "integrations" are workarounds. You integrated DocuSign with Asana via Zapier because the two tools don't natively share data. When everything is in one platform, you don't need the integration because the data is already connected. The contract is attached to the project. The invoice is attached to the project. There's nothing to "integrate."
Second, evaluate which integrations you actually use. Most agencies have 5-10 active integrations but only 2-3 that genuinely matter. If your critical integration is with QuickBooks for accounting, that's a real consideration. But if your "integrations" are mostly Zapier duct tape holding five tools together, consolidating to one platform is a net simplification.
Who this works best for
The all-in-one approach works best for:
- Small to mid-size agencies (2-20 people) who don't need enterprise-grade features in any single category but need reasonable coverage across all categories
- Freelancers who want one tool for everything instead of managing five subscriptions
- Agencies that prioritize client experience — one portal is always better than five platforms from the client's perspective
- New agencies that haven't yet locked into a complex tool stack and can start simple
It works less well for:
- Enterprise agencies (50+ people) that need deep reporting, resource management, and compliance features
- Agencies with complex approval chains (legal → creative director → VP → client) that need multi-step review workflows
- Pure productized agencies that specifically need subscription billing with usage-based pricing
How to make the switch
If you're ready to consolidate, here's the practical approach:
-
Start with a new client. Don't try to migrate everything at once. Set up your next new client entirely in TryApprove — contract, questionnaire, project, tasks, invoices.
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Run it for one project cycle. See how the workflow feels. Do you miss anything from your old tools? Is there a genuine gap, or just unfamiliarity?
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Migrate active projects gradually. Once you're confident, start moving your active projects over. Most agencies complete the transition in 1-2 weeks.
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Cancel the old tools. The satisfying part.
Get started
TryApprove is free for up to 2 projects. Set up a real client project — with a contract, questionnaire, and deliverables — and see how it compares to your current 5-tool workflow.
You can also check our pricing page to see which plan fits your agency, or read how it works for a quick walkthrough.