Client Portal for App Development Agencies
Best for app development agencies that want build sign-off, release visibility, client comms and milestone invoicing in one tool, flat from $12/mo, working alongside the issue tracker your engineers already live in.
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4.8/5★★★★★rating on G2By Sharifur Rahman, Founder of Taskip · Last updated September 27, 2026
What App Development Agencies Actually Need From a Client Portal
Taskip is best for app development agencies that want build sign-off, release visibility, client comms and milestone invoicing in one tool, flat from $12/mo, the same setup 1,600+ agencies in 40+ countries run on. App projects rarely slip because of the code. They slip because the client never installed the TestFlight build, because the Play Console invite went to somebody who has since left, or because review rejected the binary over a privacy string and nobody had warned the client that the launch date was never yours to promise. Taskip keeps the milestone, the sign-off, and the invoice attached to it in one place your client can log into with a single magic link, while your engineers stay in whatever tracker they already use. If the project is a website rather than an app, the client portal for web development agencies page covers staging reviews and launch sign-off instead.
What is a client portal for app development agencies?
A client portal for app development agencies is a branded workspace where each client follows their app from wireframes through beta builds to release. They sign off on designs and on each build, see where a submission sits in store review, approve milestones, and pay against them. It sits in front of the issue tracker your engineers work in and alongside the developer accounts the app ships from, because those are separate jobs. Taskip holds the approvals, the milestone record, and the invoice attached to each one, in a single workspace instead of an email thread, a spreadsheet, and a separate billing tool.
Built Around the Release Cycle, Not a Generic Project Board
Five stages, one workspace, and a client who can see which build they are meant to be testing and what happens after they approve it.
- 01
Scope and Accounts
Intake forms collect the app concept, the platforms, and the developer account access the project needs, Apple Developer and Google Play Console, before the first sprint starts.
- 02
Design Sign-Off
Wireframes and UI go to the client for approval on one thread, so the build starts from something signed rather than something discussed on a call.
- 03
Beta Builds
Each TestFlight or internal-testing build is posted to the portal with what changed and what to test, and feedback comes back against that build number.
- 04
Store Review
The submission is a stage the client can watch, with its own status, because app review is a gate neither of you controls.
- 05
Release and Iterate
The version ships, the milestone closes, its invoice goes out, and the next release cycle starts from the same board.
What to Look For in a Client Portal for App Development Agencies
Most portal tools look identical on a feature list. These are the eight things that actually decide whether it survives a release cycle, whichever tool you end up choosing.
It makes sense to a non-technical client
Your client is not reading your sprint board. They want to know which build to install, what to test on it, and when it ships. A portal that exposes engineering detail generates questions rather than answering them.
Feedback tied to a build number
Bug reports arrive constantly, and the useful ones say which build they came from. Look for a portal where a comment carries that context by default, rather than arriving as "it crashed on my phone".
It complements your issue tracker, not replaces it
No client portal should become your bug tracker, and your bug tracker should not become the client experience. Look for one that sits cleanly in front of Jira, Linear, or GitHub without asking your engineers to move.
Store submission treated as a real stage
App review is a gate you do not control and cannot promise a date for. A portal that shows submission as its own visible stage protects the relationship the first time review takes a week longer than anyone hoped, or comes back with a rejection.
Source: Apple, App Review GuidelinesAccess without another password
Every extra login step costs you adoption, and the stakeholder you most need to test a build is rarely the most patient one. Look for magic-link or single-click access.
Source: Baymard Institute, password requirements researchInvoicing attached to the milestone it belongs to
App projects get billed in stages. If the invoice is not attached to the milestone that triggered it, somebody on your team reconciles a spreadsheet against a contract every month, and the client queries it anyway.
Real white-label, not a logo slot
Check whether you get a custom domain, not just a logo upload. Clients noticing another company name on "your" portal undercuts the premium you are charging.
Permissions scoped per client
You may be running several apps for several clients from one team. Check that permissions are set per client, so nobody can see another client's build history, roadmap, or financials from inside their own portal.
Do You Need a Client Portal, or Just a Guest Seat in Jira?
Most app agencies start by inviting the client into the tracker, and most of them stop. Here is the honest range of what comes next.
A guest seat in Jira, Linear, or ClickUp
- Best for
- A genuinely technical client who wants ticket-level detail and will not touch anything.
- Cost
- Often free, or a per-user seat on a plan you already pay for.
- Tradeoff
- Most clients do not want ticket-level detail, and the few who do start reassigning tickets and reopening things. Your brand is absent, there is no invoicing or e-signature, and one permission mistake exposes your internal estimates.
TestFlight or internal testing, plus an email thread
- Best for
- One app, one client contact, and a build short enough to hold in your head.
- Cost
- Free, beyond the developer program fees you already pay.
- Tradeoff
- TestFlight distributes builds well and records nothing else. What changed, what was approved, which bug came from which build, and what is owed all end up in somebody's inbox, which is fine right up until it is not.
A shared Drive folder and a milestone spreadsheet
- Best for
- A small team tracking two or three milestones against a fixed-price contract.
- Cost
- Free, or whatever you already pay for Google Workspace.
- Tradeoff
- No client login, no record of which design was approved, and an invoice schedule that only exists because somebody remembers to check it. It drifts out of date within a sprint.
A no-code portal built on your own data
- Best for
- Agencies already keeping project data in Airtable or a database who want the portal shaped exactly around it.
- Cost
- Tiered by plan, and typically priced partly on the number of client logins, which is the part that surprises people as the roster grows.
- Tradeoff
- You are now building and maintaining a second product alongside your client work, and billing usually still lives somewhere else. Check the client-login pricing before committing. Source: Softr pricing
An off-the-shelf portal, paired with your tracker
- Best for
- A growing roster where design approvals, build sign-off, and milestone invoicing all need one home in front of the tracker.
- Cost
- Roughly $12 to $200 a month depending on the tool and whether it charges per seat, per client, or a flat rate.
- Tradeoff
- A recurring cost and someone else's roadmap. In exchange, the approval record and the milestone billing exist without anyone maintaining them, and uptime stops being your problem.
A custom-built portal
- Best for
- Larger agencies with spare engineering capacity and requirements no off-the-shelf tool covers.
- Cost
- Commonly quoted around $20,000 and up, with two to four months before first use.
- Tradeoff
- You are an app agency, so you can absolutely build this, which is exactly the trap. Every hour spent on an internal product is an hour not billed, and the maintenance never ends.
The short answer
Rough rule: while one client contact is testing one app and the contract has two milestones, TestFlight and an email thread are enough. Once you are running several apps, or a client has asked which build a bug came from, or a milestone invoice has been queried, put the approvals and the milestones somewhere both sides can see and leave the engineering in your tracker.
How the Main Options Compare
Taskip is not an issue tracker and does not ship builds, and pretending otherwise wastes your time. Here is where each option genuinely fits.
| Option | Best for | Pricing model | White-label | Invoicing built in | Replaces your issue tracker |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taskip | App development agencies wanting build sign-off, release visibility, client comms and milestone invoicing in one tool, flat from $12/mo | Flat, from $12/mo, not per client or per user | Yes, custom domain | Yes, tied to milestones | No, sits in front of Jira, Linear or GitHub |
| Jira or Linear guest seats | Technical clients who genuinely want ticket-level detail | Per user, on a plan you already hold | No | No | It is the tracker |
| Softr | Agencies whose project data already lives in Airtable or a database | Tiered, priced partly on client logins | Yes | No | No, it is a portal builder |
| Noloco | Fully custom client-facing workflows without writing code | Tiered, priced partly on users | Yes | No | No, it is a portal builder |
| Assembly (formerly Copilot) | A premium client hub with a homepage per engagement | Tiered, from $29/mo billed annually, by contacts and internal users | Yes, from the Professional tier up | Yes | No |
| SuiteDash | Deep white-label and automation, at the cost of a steeper setup | Flat tiers | Yes, extensive | Yes | No |
Pricing models reflect what each vendor listed publicly at the time of writing, and tiers change, so check current pricing before deciding. The no-code builders are shown by pricing model rather than a headline figure on purpose: their cost moves with client logins, so the number on the pricing page is rarely the number you end up paying.
Why Client Portals Fail at App Development Agencies
The common objection is "we already have Jira," and it is usually half right. Four reasons portals actually fail here, and what fixes each.
The client is looking at your sprint board
FixGive them a view built for their questions, not yours: which build to install, what to test, what is waiting on them, and what ships next. Keep ticket-level detail on your side of the wall.
Bug reports arrive with no build number
FixPost each build to the portal with its version and release notes, and let feedback attach to it. "It crashed" is unactionable. "It crashed on 1.2.0 when I opened settings" is a ticket.
Store review surprises the client
FixMake submission a visible stage from day one, and say plainly that review timing is not yours to control. A client who watched the submission sit in review is a very different conversation from one who was promised a Tuesday launch.
Milestones and invoices drift apart
FixAttach the invoice to the milestone that triggered it. If the two live in different tools, every stage payment becomes a reconciliation, and the client queries the one you least want queried.
How Taskip Works for App Development Agencies
Turn Scoping Calls Into Signed Milestones
Control the whole sales process, from first scoping call to a signed, staged contract.
- Custom pipeline stages from enquiry to active build
- Drag-and-drop deal management with project value
- Proposals and contracts sent from the same workspace
- Payment milestones written into the proposal, not agreed on a call
- Automated follow-up tasks and reminders
Every Build Signed Off Against Its Version
The client sees which build is theirs to test, and the approval is recorded against that version.
- Design approved, in sprint, beta build and store review as visible stages
- Each build posted with its version number and what changed
- Approvals recorded against the build they belong to, not a date
- Engineering detail stays on your side of the wall
Feedback That Carries the Build Number
One thread per app, with every comment attached to the version it came from.
- One thread per client app, not one per channel
- Comments and approvals timestamped against the specific build
- Internal team discussion stays separate from client-facing threads
- Out-of-scope requests become a new quote with their own paper trail
Store Review as a Stage Your Client Can See
The gate neither of you controls, made visible instead of explained over and over.
- Submission shown as its own stage with its own status
- Rejections and resubmissions recorded against the release
- Release notes and version history the client can look back through
- No Taskip branding anywhere the client can see
Milestone Invoicing That Matches the Contract
Stage payments attached to the stage that triggered them.
- Invoices raised against the milestone they belong to
- Automated reminders so stage payments never sit unanswered
- Out-of-scope work quoted separately with its own record
- Clients pay by card or PayPal without leaving the portal
How Client Sign-Off Works in Taskip
Most disputes with an app client are about what was approved and which milestone it belonged to, not about the code. Taskip keeps that record.
- Step 1
Scope
Scope, platforms, and payment milestones go out as a signable proposal from the portal the client will use for the whole build.
- Step 2
Sign off designs
Wireframes and UI are approved on one thread before the build starts, so development begins from something signed.
- Step 3
Review builds
Each beta build is posted with its version and release notes, and feedback comes back attached to that build.
- Step 4
Submit
Store submission is a visible stage with its own status, so review time is something the client watches rather than something you explain.
- Step 5
Release and invoice
The version ships, the milestone closes, and its invoice goes out referencing the milestone that triggered it.
To be clear about what this is: Taskip holds the scope, the design and build approvals, the milestone record, the client thread, and the invoice attached to each milestone. It is not an issue tracker and does not replace Jira, Linear, or GitHub. It connects to them through Zapier or Activepieces rather than natively. It does not distribute builds the way TestFlight or Play internal testing do, and it cannot submit anything to the App Store or Google Play. Agencies keep engineering where it already is, ship builds through the platforms' own tooling, and use Taskip for the approvals, the milestones, and the billing around them.
1,600+
agencies running Taskip in 40+ countries
4.8/5
rating from real users on G2
8+
tools most agencies replace with one flat-fee workspace
$12/mo
flat starting price, not billed per client or per user
Everything App Development Agencies Need in One Platform
White-Label the Whole Experience
- Your logo, your colors, your custom domain
- No Taskip branding anywhere the client can see
- Clients log into your agency, not into someone else's software
Project Intake Without the Back and Forth
- Forms for app concept, target platforms, and required integrations
- Developer account access requested once at kickoff, not mid-sprint
- Everything filed against the right client automatically
Proposals and Contracts Before the First Sprint
- Send a proposal, convert it to an invoice when accepted
- E-signature contracts with the payment milestones written in
- Scope changes mid-build become a new quote with their own record
One Workspace for the Whole Team
- Role-based permissions for developers, designers, and QA
- Internal discussion separate from client-facing threads
- Time tracking per project when you bill hourly on top of milestones
App Development Agencies Love Taskip
“Unlike many apps that "ship and forget," this team possesses a relentless improvement mindset. Responses are fast, and they turn user suggestions into reality.”
Karlo R.
WordPress Developer & Marketing Consultant
“The interface is clean and intuitive, task management feels smooth and straightforward, and the collaboration features work flawlessly.”
Aminul I.
CEO, Small Business
“Moving under one roof from managing multiple tools is life-saving for me. I am using this for my agency and my team can also contribute and help me to manage business and clients.”
Abdur Rahman
Founder, QuomodoSoft
Taskip Features for App Development Agencies
FAQs: Taskip for App Development Agencies
What is a client portal for an app development agency?
A client portal for app development agencies is a branded workspace where each client follows their app from wireframes through beta builds to release. They approve designs and builds, see where a submission sits in store review, and pay milestone invoices. For the agency, it replaces the mix of email, a shared spreadsheet, and a separate billing tool that most app builds get run with, while engineering stays in the issue tracker.
Does Taskip replace Jira, Linear, or GitHub?
No, and it should not. Those tools are where your engineers work, and moving them into a client-facing portal makes both jobs worse. Taskip is the layer your client sees: designs approved, builds to test, release status, milestones, and invoices. The tickets stay where they are.
Does Taskip integrate with GitHub or Jira?
Not natively. There is no built-in GitHub or Jira integration, so the connection is through Zapier or Activepieces, which covers the common cases like raising a Taskip task when an issue is labelled for client review. If a deep two-way sync with your tracker is a hard requirement, check that carefully before choosing any portal, including this one.
Can I distribute beta builds through Taskip?
No. Build distribution stays with TestFlight and Google Play internal testing, which handle device provisioning, tester groups, and crash reporting properly. What Taskip adds is the record around them: each build posted with its version and release notes, the client's feedback attached to that build number, and the approval logged against it.
How should I handle Apple Developer and Play Console access?
Through the platforms' own role systems, and never by sharing a password. Ask the client to invite your team into their Apple Developer account and Play Console with the roles you actually need, then track those invitations as their own onboarding tasks in the portal so nobody discovers the gap mid-sprint. Signing certificates, keystores, and API keys belong in a secrets manager, not in a client portal, and that includes this one.
How does milestone invoicing work?
Each payment milestone is written into the signed proposal, and the invoice is raised against the milestone that triggered it. When design sign-off closes, that stage payment goes out referencing the milestone by name, with automated reminders if it sits unpaid. Out-of-scope work becomes its own quote rather than a line item nobody agreed to.
Can I white-label the portal with my own domain?
Yes. The client portal runs on your custom domain with your logo and colors, and no Taskip branding is visible to clients. From your client's point of view they are logging into your agency.
What should an app development agency client portal include?
Six things, at minimum: a scoping form and signable proposal with payment milestones, design sign-off before the build starts, builds posted with version numbers and release notes, store submission as a visible stage, milestone invoicing attached to the milestone, and support requests for post-launch work. Taskip covers all six and sits in front of whatever tracker your engineers use.
How much does a client portal for app development agencies cost?
From $12/mo, flat, not priced per client or per user. The range across this category runs from around $12 to $200 a month, and the pricing unit matters more than the headline number. No-code portal builders are priced partly on client logins, which grows with your roster, and guest seats in your tracker are per user. Taskip covers the portal, projects, CRM, quotes, invoicing, forms, e-signatures, and support tickets, which is work that otherwise needs 8+ tools.
Will my clients actually log in and use it?
Only if it answers their questions rather than yours. Portals fail here for four predictable reasons: the client is shown a sprint board they cannot read, bug reports arrive with no build number, store review timing surprises them, and milestone invoices arrive detached from the milestone. Fix those and adoption follows, because there is a build to approve in every cycle.
Is there a free client portal for app development agencies?
There are free tiers, and a guest seat in your tracker plus TestFlight costs nothing extra, so on one app with one client contact you can get by. The usual limits are no white-labeling, no invoicing, no e-signature, and no record of which design or build was approved. That record is the piece that matters most the first time a client says the app does not do what they signed off on.