invoicing for agencies · updated 2026-10-08
Invoicing for agencies
Lyto Sum is invoicing software for agencies. It bills retainers, time-and-materials and milestone work. Line items come from the hours tracked in Tally against the project and client. Sum sits in the same suite as the CRM and project boards, so the client you invoice is the record you won and delivered. It costs from €10 per seat per month billed annually, with all seven apps included.
Lyto · all 7 apps, one login
from €10 / seat / mo
billed annually · €13 monthly · one bill
The usual way · 3 separate tools
A standalone invoicing app to send invoices
A separate time tracker to record billable hours
A spreadsheet to reconcile hours into line items
Lyto vs the usual separate-tools setup
| Lyto · Sum | The usual way | |
|---|---|---|
| Where line items come from | Drawn from hours tracked in Tally against the project | Exported from a time tool and re-keyed by hand |
| Billing models | Retainers, time-and-materials and fixed milestones on one client | Different tools or manual workarounds per model |
| Who the invoice is for | The same client record as the CRM and the project | A customer re-created in the invoicing app |
| Costs and margin | Sum tracks costs too; Pulse shows margin per client | Reassembled from separate exports at month end |
| Part of a suite | Invoicing plus six more apps in the same €10 seat | A per-seat invoicing subscription on its own |
Any competitor prices checked October 2026; see each vendor's pricing page for current figures.
Where do agency invoices go wrong?
For an agency, an invoice is mostly a copy of work recorded somewhere else. The work happened in a project tool. The hours were logged in a time tracker. Then someone turns those hours into line items. That usually means exporting a timesheet, opening a spreadsheet and typing it all into a standalone invoicing app. That app has no link to the project or the client.
Each step can lose money. Some hours never reach the invoice. The client gets re-created with a slightly different name in the billing tool. A retainer and a time-and-materials job each need their own manual workaround. The invoicing app works. It is just a long way from the work.
How does Sum build an invoice?
Sum is the invoicing and costs app in Lyto. It bills from data the rest of the suite already holds:
- Line items from tracked time. Hours logged in Tally against a project become the billable lines on the invoice. There is no export and no re-entry.
- Every billing model on one client. Retainers, time-and-materials and fixed milestones all bill against the same client record.
- Costs as well as income. Sum tracks costs too, so Pulse can show margin per client next to revenue.
Sum shares one customer record with Pipeline, Workstream and Tally. The client you invoice is the client you won and delivered, on the same record from start to finish.
Where does a dedicated finance tool go deeper?
Sum is invoicing and cost tracking for small teams. It is not a full accounting package. Your agency may need double-entry bookkeeping, multi-entity tax handling or a ledger your accountant works in. In that case you still want dedicated accounting software, and Sum can feed it. For raising invoices and seeing margin per client, Sum keeps the work in one suite with no re-entry.
What it costs
Sum is one of seven apps in every plan. A six-person agency on Grow pays €114 per month billed annually, which is €19 per seat. That covers all seven apps on one bill. The 14-day trial needs no card, and cancelling is one click.
Questions people ask
What is the best invoicing software for a small agency?
For an agency, the best invoicing tool bills from the hours you tracked. Lyto Sum draws invoice line items from hours logged in Tally against the project and client. It sits in the same suite as the CRM and project boards. The invoice, the delivery and the client relationship all point to one record. It costs from €10 per seat per month billed annually.
Can Lyto handle retainers and time-and-materials billing?
Yes. Sum bills retainers, time-and-materials and fixed-milestone work against the same client record. Time-and-materials invoices pull from the hours tracked in Tally. Retainers bill on their cycle, and milestones bill on completion. You stay in the suite and reconcile no separate timesheet.
Does invoicing connect to the rest of the tools?
Yes. The client you invoice in Sum is the same client you won in Pipeline. You delivered the work in Workstream and tracked time against it in Tally, all on one shared record. Pulse reads costs and invoices together and shows margin per client. You see profitability in a report, with no month-end spreadsheet.
Try all seven apps free for 14 days
Every plan includes all seven apps, from €10 per seat per month, billed annually.
14-day free trial · no card needed · cancel in one click