Oase vs Productive:
Which Is Better for Design Agencies?
Productive is excellent at tracking margins, utilization rates, and financial performance. But it's blind to the creative process -- no design reviews, no client portal, no AI tools. It sees your agency as spreadsheet rows. Oase sees it as a creative business.
Productive is the right choice for large agencies (20-200 people) that need enterprise resource planning and profitability forecasting. If you run a design studio under 20 people and care more about the creative workflow than utilization dashboards, Oase gives you project management, a client portal, design reviews, invoicing, and AI -- at a fraction of the cost.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Oase | Productive |
|---|---|---|
| Project Management | ✓ | ✓ |
| Client Portal | Branded portal with 19 tools | ✕ |
| Invoicing | ✓ | Via integrations (Pro+) |
| Quote Builder | AI-powered briefs to proposals | ✓ |
| Design Reviews with Pins | ✓ | ✕ |
| Built-in Tools (57) | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI Assistant | Reads your business data | Basic AI assistant |
| Team Chat | Channels, DMs, voice notes | ✕ |
| Resource Utilization | ✕ | ✓ |
| Revenue Forecasting | ✕ | ✓ |
| Time Tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free Plan | ✓ | 14-day trial only |
Built for different sizes of agency
Productive was designed for professional services firms with 20 to 200 people. Its strength is giving operations managers visibility across large teams -- who's overloaded, which projects are bleeding margin, where capacity is opening up next quarter. That's genuinely valuable at scale.
Oase is purpose-built for 2 to 20 person design studios. The setup takes minutes, not weeks. Every workflow assumes a small team where the founder is still doing creative work, not just managing spreadsheets. You don't need a dedicated ops person to get value from it.
Oase
- Purpose-built for 2-20 person design studios
- Setup in minutes, not weeks
- No dedicated ops person needed
- Founders who still do creative work
Productive
- Designed for 20-200 person agencies
- Deep resource utilization tracking
- Capacity planning across departments
- Dedicated onboarding and account management
The creative workflow blind spot
Productive tracks the business of your agency exceptionally well -- margins, utilization rates, profitability per project, revenue forecasting. If you need to know whether a project is profitable before it's done, Productive will tell you.
What it won't do is help with the actual creative work. There are no design review tools, no pin annotations on visuals, no client feedback workflows, no creative utility tools, and no AI that understands your projects. Oase covers the entire journey from creative brief to final delivery -- including the design process itself.
Oase
- Design reviews with pin annotations and AI summaries
- Brief-to-delivery creative pipeline
- 57 built-in creative tools (background removal, upscaling, AI captions)
- Dune AI reads your projects, tasks, and client data
Productive
- Profitability dashboards per project
- Revenue forecasting and scenario builder
- Overhead cost calculation
- Advanced reporting with pivot tables
No portal vs a dedicated branded experience
Productive lets you add clients for free, but there's no dedicated client-facing portal. Clients don't get a branded space to submit requests, review designs, or track their project status. Communication happens through your internal tools or external channels like email.
Oase has a dedicated client portal where each client sees your branding, submits design requests, reviews work with pin annotations, approves quotes, views invoices, and accesses 20 self-service tools. It's designed to make your studio look professional without extra effort.
Oase
- Dedicated branded portal per client
- Request hub for design submissions
- Visual design reviews with pin annotations
- Self-service: quotes, invoices, 20 client tools
Productive
- Free client seats (view access)
- Clients can view project progress
- No branded client experience
- No design review or feedback tools
Per-seat scaling vs flat-fee simplicity
Productive's Essential plan starts at $10/user/month (annual), and most agencies need Professional at $25/user/month for invoicing integrations and advanced reporting. A 5-person team on Professional costs $125/month. A 10-person team costs $250/month. And that's without any creative workflow tools.
Oase Pro is €60/month (€49/month on annual billing) for up to 6 staff with unlimited client seats. The Agency plan is €99/month on annual billing for unlimited staff. Both include everything -- project management, client portal, invoicing, design reviews, 57 tools, and AI. The gap widens with every hire.
Oase
- €49/month (annual) flat for 6 staff + unlimited clients
- €99/month (annual) unlimited staff (Agency plan)
- All features included at every tier
- Free plan forever — no credit card required
Productive
- $10/user/month Essential (annual billing)
- $25/user/month Professional (annual billing)
- $125/month for 5 users on Professional
- 3-seat minimum on all plans
Pricing at a Glance
What a 5-person design agency actually pays
Oase Pro
- Project management with health scores
- Branded client portal
- Invoicing & quote builder
- Design reviews with pins
- 57 built-in tools
- Dune AI assistant
- Team chat & file storage
- Priority support (same-day)
Productive Professional
- Project & task management
- Budgeting & resource planning
- Time tracking & expense management
- Advanced reporting & rate cards
- Invoicing integrations
- + No client portal at any tier
- + No design review tools
- + No built-in creative tools or AI
Who Should Use Which?
Both are solid tools. The right choice depends on what you do.
Choose Oase if you...
- You run a design, branding, or web studio under 20 people
- You want the creative workflow managed -- not just tracked
- Your clients need a professional portal to submit and review work
- You want AI that actually reads your project and client data
- You prefer one predictable monthly price over per-seat math
- You're a founder who still does design work alongside managing
Choose Productive if you...
- You run a large agency with 20+ people across multiple departments
- You need enterprise-level resource utilization and capacity planning
- Financial forecasting and profitability analysis are your top priorities
- You manage non-design work like consulting, marketing, or development
- You have a dedicated operations manager who'll configure the system
- You need a built-in sales pipeline and CRM for new business
Your agency is more than a utilization rate.
Productive tells you if a project is profitable. Oase helps you manage the creative work that makes it profitable. Start a project for free and see the difference.
No credit card required
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