ZEP vs. Clearmargin

ZEP — The new standard for projects. ZEP is the software for Management Consulting, IT Consulting and Engineering: book hours against clients and projects, steer utilization and margins, from the proposal to the invoice. Four product lines cover the path from the first booked project hour to organization-wide control — you start with the line your business needs today and move up as it grows, keeping your data. ZEP Track — Project Time Tracking: your team books hours against clients and projects, budgets and absences sit in one place, and the payroll export is included. ZEP Control — Project Management: plan tasks and capacity and see what a project earns. Revenue, costs and utilization come out of the hours your team has booked. ZEP Operations — Professional Services Automation: the entire project lifecycle in one system — proposal, booked hours, travel expenses, suppliers, invoicing and the export to project-specific financial accounting. ZEP Business — ERP for Professional Services: run the project business across several entities, with internal cost allocation, document management, HR and resource planning included. The AI chat (ZEP Assistant) is included in all four lines at no extra cost, as are all interfaces: ZEP's own REST and SOAP APIs, single sign-on and an unlimited number of third-party integrations. Get to know ZEP in an online presentation or test it free of charge for 30 days. For teams without a project business, ZEP Clock covers working hours, overtime and absences including the payroll export, with travel expense management and HR available as optional add-ons. It is a line of its own — a switch into the project-based lines is not planned. ZEP GmbH, based in Ditzingen near Stuttgart, has been developing software for project-based companies for more than 25 years. Around 3,000 companies run their project business with ZEP. ZEP is developed and hosted in Germany and certified to ISO 27001.

Freelancers and small teams often contend with a complex balancing act rather than just a simple billing challenge, utilizing various tools to manage their work. They may find themselves using one app for proposals, another to track hours, a spreadsheet for expenses, a different program for invoicing, and perhaps QuickBooks due to a recommendation, leading to a fragmented workflow. As a result, critical tasks can be forgotten; invoices may be sent out late, hours might go unrecorded, and expenses can be overlooked, leading to unforeseen financial losses. This mental burden of juggling so many elements can be quite exhausting and counterproductive. Clearmargin addresses these challenges by integrating all the essential tools for effective financial management into a single platform, encompassing proposals, time tracking, expense management, invoicing, and payment processing. Users can effortlessly create professional proposals that clearly define the scope, timeline, and pricing. Time tracking is made easy with a quick-entry feature or a running timer option. Expenses can be logged and attributed to specific projects, while shared costs, such as software subscriptions, can be seamlessly distributed among clients. When it's time to bill, users can generate invoices from project data with a single click, and payments can be processed directly through these invoices via Stripe Connect, accepting various methods like credit cards or ACH while enjoying standard processing rates. This integrated solution not only alleviates the administrative load but also boosts overall productivity, empowering freelancers and small teams to concentrate on their primary tasks without the incessant anxiety of managing financial details. Additionally, by streamlining these processes, Clearmargin fosters a more organized and stress-free work environment, ultimately leading to better outcomes for the business.