I got tired of paying per seat for agency tools, so I built a self-hosted suite

My agency paid per seat for four different tools: a CRM, a project management app, an invoicing tool and a client portal. Every new hire made all four bills go up, and our client data was spread across four companies’ servers.

So in 2024 I started building Task Session: one install on your own server that covers the whole client workflow.

What it does

• CRM and deal pipeline

• Projects, tasks and Kanban boards

• Time tracking

• Invoicing with Stripe, PayPal and 2Checkout

• A white-label client portal, so clients see your brand, not mine

The two decisions that shaped it

1. One flat licence, unlimited users. No per-seat pricing at all. Starter is $59 for the first year (then $99/year), or $249 once for five years of updates.

2. Self-hosted. It runs on normal PHP/MySQL hosting, so agencies own their data and nobody can change the price on them mid-contract.

This month I also open-sourced a free edition, TaskSession CRM (AGPL-3.0), with projects, tasks, Kanban and time tracking for unlimited users: github.com/tasksession/tasksession-crm

What I’m still figuring out

The biggest objection I hear is “I don’t want to manage a server”. I’m working on making setup as close to a WordPress install as possible, but I’d love to hear from other founders:

• Would you trust a self-hosted tool for client work, or does SaaS win on convenience every time?

• If you run an agency, which tool in your stack costs you the most per seat?

Live demo if you want to poke around: demo.tasksession.com