What ClickUp does well
ClickUp offers enormous configurability: custom fields, views, dashboards, automations, goals, and an AI layer. If your team wants to model complex internal processes in detail and enjoys tuning its tooling, ClickUp gives you the knobs to do it.
Where ClickUp gets stretched for agencies
The client side lives somewhere else
Client scheduling means Calendly, agreements mean DocuSign or PandaDoc, calls mean Zoom or Meet. Each new client touches three or four tools with separate logins and separate billing — none of which show up on the project board.
Configuration becomes a job
ClickUp's flexibility has a real setup and maintenance cost. Someone on the team ends up owning the workspace: spaces, folders, custom fields, automations, permissions. For a small agency, that someone is usually a founder with better things to do.
Guests hit walls
Getting a client into ClickUp means guest seats, permission tiers, and training them on an interface built for power users. Most agencies give up and fall back to email threads and weekly status calls.
| Progress | ClickUp | |
|---|---|---|
| Kanban board + docs + chat | Built in | Built in |
| Client booking pages | Built in, Google Calendar-backed | Via Calendly or similar |
| E-signatures | Built in | Via DocuSign or similar |
| Client video calls + AI notes | Built in — guests join from a link, no account | Via Zoom/Meet + a notetaker app |
| Setup | Ready out of the box | You configure spaces, fields, automations |
| Per-client workspace | One project = board, docs, files, meetings, sign | Spaces/folders you design yourself |
Why agencies pick Progress
Every client engagement becomes one Progress project: the board for the work, docs for briefs and proposals, a booking page so the client grabs time without email tennis, e-signature for the agreement, and meetings — with AI notes — that guests join from a plain link. The tools are already wired together, so a new client goes from first call to kickoff without you assembling anything.
Switching from ClickUp
Progress is free during the open beta, so the honest way to evaluate it is to run one real client project in it end to end. Starting fresh takes minutes — and if you want your existing boards moved over, contact us through the in-app support and we'll help migrate them by hand.
Common questions
Is Progress a full ClickUp replacement?
For deep internal process modeling — custom fields, complex automations, portfolio dashboards — ClickUp goes further. Progress replaces ClickUp for teams whose work is organized around client projects and who want the client-facing tools (booking, e-sign, guest meetings) built in rather than bolted on.
Can clients use Progress without an account?
Yes. Clients can book time on your booking page, join video meetings from a link, view documents you publish, and sign documents — all without creating an account.
What does Progress cost?
Progress is completely free while in open beta. Pricing will be introduced later, and beta users will hear about it first.
Does Progress have an API or integrations?
Progress syncs with Google Calendar, generates Meet-style meeting links of its own, and supports personal access tokens for automation. It deliberately ships fewer integrations than ClickUp — the bet is that most of what agencies integrate is already built in.