Kineo vs Deltek Vantagepoint
Deltek Vantagepoint is an ERP for engineering, architecture, and consulting firms of all sizes, running CRM, resource planning, projects, and accounting in one system with the Dela assistant built in. Kineo runs projects, phase billing, project email, and drawing reviews with QuickBooks Online as the ledger, and lets its assistant, your automations, and Claude or ChatGPT work on the same project records.
Free for 14 days, with every feature included.
- Compared
- Kineo and Deltek Vantagepoint
- Published by
- Kineo
- Deltek Vantagepoint details
- Checked October 2026
Which one fits your firm
Choose Deltek Vantagepoint if you want
- CRM and pipeline, resource planning, project planning, and accounting in one system
- A Front Office setup that connects pipeline, people, and projects to the financial system you already use
- Dela, which answers questions in plain language, drafts emails, and checks project financials each night with one-click recommendations
- An MCP server module, described in the 2026.4 documentation, for connecting Claude, ChatGPT, or Microsoft Copilot to Vantagepoint data
- Automated AP approvals and purchasing, and Vantagepoint Payments for inbound and outbound payments
- Connected Deltek products such as PIM for project files, submittals, and correspondence, and ArchiSnapper for field observations
Choose Kineo if you want
- Projects, phases, tasks, and time with phase billing, and QuickBooks Online as your ledger
- An email address for each project, client, and contact, with imported mail feeding suggestions and automations
- Automations you describe in plain language, like drafting a change order when a client asks for extra work
- An assistant that drafts and edits project records, in Kineo or from Claude, ChatGPT, and Claude Code
- Drawing reviews against your firm's checklists, with each markup filed under the item it answers and outside reviewers by link
- Published per-seat pricing with every feature on every plan, and a free trial you can start today
Kineo and Deltek Vantagepoint side by side
Each product described in its own terms, from its website and documentation.
| Job | Kineo | Deltek Vantagepoint |
|---|---|---|
| Assistants and email | ||
| Assistant | A chat beside any screen that reads and edits projects, tasks, time, contracts, and billing drafts with the permissions of the person asking. | Dela is built into Vantagepoint and works within each user's security role. It answers questions in plain language, drafts emails and project summaries, and flags projects each night with suggested one-click actions. In release 2026.4 it can also create and update records in supported areas, submit expense reports, and use files as context. |
| Claude, ChatGPT, and other assistants | An MCP server with sign-in, so Claude, ChatGPT, and Claude Code work on Kineo records with each person's permissions. | The 2026.4 documentation describes an MCP server module that connects Claude, ChatGPT, or Microsoft Copilot for answers, project status, budgets, and approvals within each user's security role. In Claude, it connects through the Deltek Data Integration connector with OAuth sign-in. |
| Automations | Rules you describe in plain language. They run when email is imported, when something happens in Kineo, on hourly workday checks, or by hand, and they draft documents, create tasks, and email your team. | Dela checks project financials each night and flags issues for project managers with recommended one-click actions. |
| An address for each project, client, and contact, from any email provider. Someone on the team checks the sender and imports each message, and Kineo reads it, links it to the project, and suggests tasks and comments. Automations watching the inbox can draft change orders and proposals. | The Vantagepoint Connect add-in for Outlook and Gmail syncs contacts, messages, and activities with Vantagepoint's CRM. | |
| Projects and billing | ||
| Invoices | Drafted by phase from percent complete and approved time and expenses, with retainage and a G703-style continuation sheet. Someone on the team issues and sends each one. | Billing and invoicing workflows in Vantagepoint's financial management, automated AP invoice approvals, and Vantagepoint Payments for payments coming in and going out. |
| Where the books are kept | QuickBooks Online stays the ledger. Customers, invoices, credit memos, and payments sync, and payments recorded in QuickBooks update Kineo. | Its own financial management, or Front Office only, which connects pipeline, people, and projects to your existing financial system. |
| Buying | ||
| Price | $29, $49, or $79 per seat per month, with every feature on every plan. | Priced by quote from Deltek. |
| Getting started | A 14-day free trial you start yourself, or a demo with the founder. | Purchase starts with a demo or a sales conversation with Deltek. |
Assistants and email
Assistant
- Kineo
- A chat beside any screen that reads and edits projects, tasks, time, contracts, and billing drafts with the permissions of the person asking.
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Dela is built into Vantagepoint and works within each user's security role. It answers questions in plain language, drafts emails and project summaries, and flags projects each night with suggested one-click actions. In release 2026.4 it can also create and update records in supported areas, submit expense reports, and use files as context.
Claude, ChatGPT, and other assistants
- Kineo
- An MCP server with sign-in, so Claude, ChatGPT, and Claude Code work on Kineo records with each person's permissions.
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- The 2026.4 documentation describes an MCP server module that connects Claude, ChatGPT, or Microsoft Copilot for answers, project status, budgets, and approvals within each user's security role. In Claude, it connects through the Deltek Data Integration connector with OAuth sign-in.
Automations
- Kineo
- Rules you describe in plain language. They run when email is imported, when something happens in Kineo, on hourly workday checks, or by hand, and they draft documents, create tasks, and email your team.
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Dela checks project financials each night and flags issues for project managers with recommended one-click actions.
Email
- Kineo
- An address for each project, client, and contact, from any email provider. Someone on the team checks the sender and imports each message, and Kineo reads it, links it to the project, and suggests tasks and comments. Automations watching the inbox can draft change orders and proposals.
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- The Vantagepoint Connect add-in for Outlook and Gmail syncs contacts, messages, and activities with Vantagepoint's CRM.
Projects and billing
Invoices
- Kineo
- Drafted by phase from percent complete and approved time and expenses, with retainage and a G703-style continuation sheet. Someone on the team issues and sends each one.
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Billing and invoicing workflows in Vantagepoint's financial management, automated AP invoice approvals, and Vantagepoint Payments for payments coming in and going out.
Where the books are kept
- Kineo
- QuickBooks Online stays the ledger. Customers, invoices, credit memos, and payments sync, and payments recorded in QuickBooks update Kineo.
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Its own financial management, or Front Office only, which connects pipeline, people, and projects to your existing financial system.
Buying
Price
- Kineo
- $29, $49, or $79 per seat per month, with every feature on every plan.
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Priced by quote from Deltek.
Getting started
- Kineo
- A 14-day free trial you start yourself, or a demo with the founder.
- Deltek Vantagepoint
- Purchase starts with a demo or a sales conversation with Deltek.
Weigh how much of the firm you want one system to run
Vantagepoint is built to run CRM and pipeline, resource planning, projects, and accounting together, and Deltek says it serves small, mid-sized, and large multi-office firms. It can also be set up as Vantagepoint Front Office, connecting pipeline, people, and projects to the financial system you already use.
Kineo keeps clients, projects, phases, tasks, and time together with phase billing, project email, and drawing reviews, and QuickBooks Online stays the ledger. If your firm is deciding whether it needs a suite of Vantagepoint's scope, list the work your team does each week and the reports it depends on, and compare each product against that list.
Give every project, client, and contact its own email address
Forward or copy mail to a project's, client's, or contact's own address from any email account, so each message comes in addressed to the work it's about.
When someone on your team imports a message, Kineo reads it and its attachments, files it under the project, and, where suggestions are turned on, suggests the tasks and comments it asks for. Automations watching the inbox can draft the change order or proposal a client asks for and create a task for the project manager to check it. Every imported message also lands in one inbox for the whole firm.
Describe an automation in plain language and see each step before it runs
Pick what to watch, such as a project's inbox, an invoice, or a phase, then write when to act and what to do. Kineo lays out the steps as you type. Automations start when an email is imported, when something happens in Kineo, on an hourly check during the workday, or when you run them by hand.
They draft proposals, contracts, change orders, invoices, and credit notes, create tasks, and email the people on your team you choose. Drafts wait for someone with permission to review them, and if a step fails, the steps that succeeded are kept so you can retry the rest.
Work on Kineo from Claude, ChatGPT, or Claude Code
Vantagepoint's 2026.4 documentation describes an MCP server module as well.
If you're evaluating both, connect each one to the same assistant, give them the same request, and compare what the assistant can read and change.
Kineo runs an MCP server. MCP is the open standard assistants use to connect to other software. Each person signs in with their Kineo account, and the assistant gets the same tools as Kineo's own, within that person's permissions. It can read a project's email, check the phases and fee lines on its contract, draft a change order or the month's invoice, record a payment, and enter a week of time.
In Claude Code, run claude mcp add --transport http kineo https://app.gokineo.com/mcp, then sign in from /mcp.
Review drawings against your firm's checklists, with outside reviewers by link
Kineo's drawing reviews run against your firm's own checklists. Each markup is filed under the checklist item it answers, and each item gets a decision. Review workflows route each set to its reviewers, with reminders, and a markup can become a task for the person revising the sheet. Clients, agencies, and consultants review through an emailed link with the same drawings, markup tools, and checklist as your team, without an account or a seat.
Bill each phase from the contract, with retainage and QuickBooks Online
When a client accepts a proposal, its fee lines become the contract. Kineo drafts each invoice by phase from percent complete and approved time and expenses, withholds retainage where the contract calls for it, and adds a G703-style continuation sheet to the PDF. Customers, invoices, credit memos, and payments sync with QuickBooks Online, which stays your ledger.
When extra work is agreed, an approved change order adjusts the contract's fee lines or phase budgets from its effective date, and the next invoice drafts from the updated contract.
What each costs
Kineo
- Team: $29 per seat per month, or $290 per seat per year
- Team Plus: $49 per seat per month, or $490 per seat per year
- Team Pro: $79 per seat per month, or $790 per seat per year
- Every feature on every plan, with more assistant usage and storage on Team Plus and Team Pro
- Outside reviewers and client portal contacts free, without a seat
- A 14-day free trial, then monthly or annual billing
Deltek Vantagepoint
- Priced by quote from Deltek, starting with a demo or a sales conversation
- Offered with full financials, or as Front Office beside your existing financial system
- The MCP server module is added to your database by Deltek or a partner
- Available in the Deltek Cloud
Vantagepoint's terms come from Deltek's website and its 2026.4 documentation, checked October 2026. Ask Deltek for a quote that lists the modules, users, setup, implementation, and add-ons you need, including Dela, the MCP module, and any connected Deltek products. Kineo's prices are in US dollars.
Try Kineo on one project while you keep Deltek Vantagepoint
Run one current project in Kineo for a billing cycle, with Deltek Vantagepoint still running the rest of the firm, and compare the results with the people who'll use it.
- 1
Set up one project
Add a current project with its client, contract, and phases, and invite the people working on it.
- 2
Send it real email
Turn on the project's email address and forward it the next client request.
- 3
Write one automation
Describe one routine job, such as drafting a change order when a client asks for extra work.
- 4
Review the next drawing set
Route it through your checklist, with an outside reviewer if the project has one.
- 5
Bill the month
Draft the invoice and have your billing lead compare it with the one Deltek Vantagepoint produces.
Questions about Kineo and Deltek Vantagepoint
Sources
Deltek Vantagepoint's details come from its own website and documentation, checked October 2026. Products change, so confirm anything that matters to your decision with Deltek Vantagepoint.
More comparisons
Try Kineo on a project you're working on now
Set up a project with its contract and phases, invite your team, and give the assistant some of the routine work. Your first 14 days are free, with every feature included.