Fresh Projects is one of the closest products to Arkavio on the market — a credible, UK-focused platform for architects and engineers. Here is a fair, side-by-side look at where each one fits.
Fresh Projects is a serious product. It is UK-founded, has been running for over a decade, and by its own account its platform has been used on more than 150,000 projects across four continents. It covers the full financial lifecycle — fee calculation, CRM pipeline, timesheets, project profitability and invoicing — and its founder comes from an ERP and engineering background that shows in the maths. If you are comparing the two, you are comparing two products that genuinely understand the economics of an architecture practice. We are not going to pretend otherwise.
The differences come down to who each one is built for and how you get started. Arkavio is all-in-one practice management software built specifically for UK architecture practices of 1 to 50 staff, by a registered architect. Two things set it apart for that segment. First, there is no seat minimum and no sales call — you can start a 14-day free trial today at a published £179/month (ex VAT), where Fresh Projects requires a minimum of five seats and a "speak with our team" conversation, with pricing on request. Second, Arkavio's fee engine derives your charge-out rates from your own staff costs and overheads, then prices proposals from your real per-grade breakeven against RIBA work stages, rather than from rates you maintain by hand. Whether Fresh Projects' calculator works the same way is best confirmed on a demo. Both approaches are valid; they suit different practices, which is what the rest of this page is about.
| Arkavio | Fresh Projects | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | UK architecture practices, 1–50 staff. Built by a registered architect. | Architects and engineers (A&E), UK-first with international reach. Founder background in engineering and ERP. |
| Smallest practice it serves | No minimum — solo practitioners and 2–4 person studios welcome. | 5-seat minimum commitment. |
| Pricing | Published: £179/month per practice, ex VAT. Founding Partner £99/month locked 12 months for the first 20 UK practices. | Pricing on request — "speak with our team". No public rate card. Monthly or annual billing. |
| Getting started | Self-serve sign-up, 14-day free trial (card required). Set up your fees in about 30 minutes, no onboarding call. | Sales conversation first; onboarding included, varying by tier. No visible free trial. |
| How fees are derived | Charge-out rates derived automatically from your staff costs and overheads; proposals priced from per-grade breakeven. | Cost-plus, hourly and percentage-based fee calculation with one-click branded proposals. Whether rates are derived from overheads or entered manually is best confirmed on a demo. |
| RIBA work stages | Native RIBA Plan of Work stages with per-stage scope and fee allocation. | Work-stage structure; not documented publicly as RIBA-Plan-of-Work-specific fee allocation — worth confirming on a demo. |
| Practice management breadth | Proposals, projects, CRM, invoicing, timesheets and cashflow on one shared cost model, with accounting sync, client-facing document email and expenses on the same platform. | Full lifecycle: fee calculation, CRM, timesheets, resource scheduling, profitability, invoicing, with accounting integrations. Mature after 10+ years of iteration. |
| UK compliance | VAT-compliant invoicing, UK statutory late-payment interest (Late Payment of Commercial Debts Act), HMRC retention, UK GDPR, EU hosting. | UK-based and UK-focused; specific statutory-interest and VAT-period feature details are best confirmed directly. |
| Track record | New product (2026), founder-led, transparent about being early. | 10+ years; by its own account 150,000+ projects managed across four continents. |
14-day free trial · cancel anytime · £179/month, ex VAT