Kineo vs Projectworks
Kineo and Projectworks both run projects, time, and invoicing for engineering and architecture firms, and both connect to QuickBooks Online. Projectworks serves consulting firms broadly, with resource planning, forecasting, and several accounting connections, and announced its Kea assistant and an MCP server in beta or early access in August 2026. Kineo gives each project its own email address and lets its assistant, your automations, and Claude or ChatGPT work on the same project, contract, and billing records.
Free for 14 days, with every feature included.
- Compared
- Kineo and Projectworks
- Published by
- Kineo
- Projectworks details
- Checked October 2026
Which one fits your firm
Choose Projectworks if you want
- Resource planning by discipline and by person, with skills matching and forecasts months ahead
- Profitability, margin, utilization, and WIP reporting by project, discipline, and milestone
- Milestone, percent-complete, and hourly billing from tracked time and expenses
- A choice of QuickBooks Online, Xero, or MYOB, with Sage Intacct and multi-entity accounting on the Unleash plan
- Multi-office and multi-currency setups, and payroll and HR connections, from the Scale plan
- Kea, its AI assistant, and an MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT, both announced in beta or early access on August 11, 2026
Choose Kineo if you want
- 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
- Phase invoices from the contract, with retainage, change orders, and a G703-style continuation sheet
- Per-seat pricing with every feature on every plan, and seats you add or remove any time
Kineo and Projectworks side by side
Each product described in its own terms, from its website and documentation.
| Job | Kineo | Projectworks |
|---|---|---|
| Assistants and proposals | ||
| Assistant | A chat beside any screen that reads and edits projects, tasks, time, contracts, and billing drafts with the permissions of the person asking. | Kea, which Projectworks describes as an assistant for back-office work starting with resourcing, within each person's permissions and with their approval. Announced in beta or early access on August 11, 2026. |
| 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. | An MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT that can search, query, analyze, and update Projectworks data within the connector's permissions, such as updating a resource plan from meeting notes or drafting timesheets. Announced in beta or early access on August 11, 2026. |
| Proposals | An accepted proposal creates the client, the project, and its contract from the proposal's fee lines. | Consulting CRM and AI proposals, in beta on the Unleash plan, with access set by role. A won proposal becomes a project. |
| Time and billing | ||
| Time | Weekly timesheets with approval. The assistant can enter a week of time from a description. | Time logged by project, discipline, and task, with field hours, office hours, and expenses in the same system. |
| Fee types | Percent-complete progress and time and materials by phase, from the contract, with expenses, change orders, retainage, and credit notes. | Milestone, percent-complete, and hourly invoices drawn from tracked time and expenses. |
| QuickBooks Online | Customers, invoices, credit memos, and payments sync, and payments recorded in QuickBooks update Kineo. | Invoices, reimbursable expenses, and purchase orders go to QuickBooks Online, and payment information comes back. |
| Buying | ||
| Price | $29, $49, or $79 per seat per month, with every feature on every plan. | $17, $24, or $41 per user per month billed annually, or $19, $27, or $45 monthly, for at least 10 users with a one-year commitment. |
| Getting started | A 14-day free trial you start yourself, or a demo with the founder. | A 21-day free trial or a demo. Onboarding, with data migration and training, is a separate fee from $1,000. |
Assistants and proposals
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.
- Projectworks
- Kea, which Projectworks describes as an assistant for back-office work starting with resourcing, within each person's permissions and with their approval. Announced in beta or early access on August 11, 2026.
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.
- Projectworks
- An MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT that can search, query, analyze, and update Projectworks data within the connector's permissions, such as updating a resource plan from meeting notes or drafting timesheets. Announced in beta or early access on August 11, 2026.
Proposals
- Kineo
- An accepted proposal creates the client, the project, and its contract from the proposal's fee lines.
- Projectworks
- Consulting CRM and AI proposals, in beta on the Unleash plan, with access set by role. A won proposal becomes a project.
Time and billing
Time
- Kineo
- Weekly timesheets with approval. The assistant can enter a week of time from a description.
- Projectworks
- Time logged by project, discipline, and task, with field hours, office hours, and expenses in the same system.
Fee types
- Kineo
- Percent-complete progress and time and materials by phase, from the contract, with expenses, change orders, retainage, and credit notes.
- Projectworks
- Milestone, percent-complete, and hourly invoices drawn from tracked time and expenses.
QuickBooks Online
- Kineo
- Customers, invoices, credit memos, and payments sync, and payments recorded in QuickBooks update Kineo.
- Projectworks
- Invoices, reimbursable expenses, and purchase orders go to QuickBooks Online, and payment information comes back.
Buying
Price
- Kineo
- $29, $49, or $79 per seat per month, with every feature on every plan.
- Projectworks
- $17, $24, or $41 per user per month billed annually, or $19, $27, or $45 monthly, for at least 10 users with a one-year commitment.
Getting started
- Kineo
- A 14-day free trial you start yourself, or a demo with the founder.
- Projectworks
- A 21-day free trial or a demo. Onboarding, with data migration and training, is a separate fee from $1,000.
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.
Ask Kineo's assistant to work on your project records
Open Kineo's assistant beside any screen and ask in plain language. It reads projects, contracts, time, and email. It can set up phases and tasks, enter a week of time, record a payment, or draft the proposal, change order, or invoice that follows from what it read, with the permissions of the person asking.
Work on Kineo from Claude, ChatGPT, or Claude Code
Projectworks announced its own MCP server in beta or early access in August 2026.
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
Projectworks
- Build $17, Scale $24, and Unleash $41 per user per month, billed annually
- Monthly billing at $19, $27, or $45 per user, with a one-year commitment
- Enterprise is custom priced and includes ongoing services
- At least 10 users, added in bands of five
- Onboarding priced separately, from $1,000, with data migration and training in the standard package
- A 21-day free trial
Projectworks' figures come from its pricing page, checked October 2026, with its calculator set to US dollars. The calculator picks a currency for your region, and displayed annual prices are rounded. Kineo's prices are in US dollars.
Try Kineo on one project while you keep Projectworks
Run one current project in Kineo for a billing cycle, with Projectworks 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 Projectworks produces.
Questions about Kineo and Projectworks
Sources
Projectworks's details come from its own website and documentation, checked October 2026. Products change, so confirm anything that matters to your decision with Projectworks.
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.