Assembly (formerly Copilot) makes one of the nicest-looking client portals around. It also has a free plan now, which makes it easy to try. The trouble usually shows up later, when contact caps, internal-user limits and the price of a custom domain start to add up.

This is a fair look at Assembly from a small agency's point of view: where it shines, where the costs creep in, and what to look at if you want something simpler or cheaper.

What Assembly gets right

• A genuinely polished client experience. Portals look and feel like part of your own brand, and Assembly's reviews on G2 and Capterra reflect that.
• A free plan. The Free tier covers 5 active contacts and 1 internal user, with CRM, messaging, billing and payments, and a library of 30+ pre-made apps. That's enough to test it with a real client.
• More than a portal. A built-in CRM, a team inbox, invoicing and payments, an app builder, and an API and MCP connector on paid plans.
• Security options when you need them. The Advanced plan adds an audit log, enforced MFA and HIPAA (BAA) support.

If portal polish is your top priority and your client list stays small, it's a strong choice.

Where the costs creep in

Assembly's pricing is built on limits, and the limits are what push people to look elsewhere.

• Active contact caps. Free allows 5, Starter 50, Professional 500, and only Advanced is unlimited. An agency with a growing client list moves up a tier faster than expected.
• Internal user caps. Free and Starter include 1 internal user, Professional 3 and Advanced 5. Every extra teammate means a higher plan.
• Custom domain and badge removal start at Professional. If you want your portal on your own domain without the Assembly badge, you need Professional, which third-party listings put at around $99/month.
• Add-ons. Paid plans include 5 apps and extra apps cost $5/month each. Build credits beyond the included 200 cost $0.60 each.
• Shallow project management. Reviewers regularly note that project management is lighter than dedicated tools, with no native time tracking.

Plan prices as listed by third parties: Starter around $29/month billed annually ($49 monthly), Professional around $99/month, Advanced around $499/month. Assembly's own pricing page was only partly readable when this was written, so confirm the current numbers before deciding.

Who should stay on Assembly

Stay if the look of your portal is a selling point to your own clients, your contact list is modest, and a mid-tier price for custom branding fits your budget.

Alternatives worth looking at

*Prices change often and some sources conflict. Check each vendor's pricing page before deciding.

Aupero

Aupero is built around one idea: your clients shouldn't need training. Each project is a set of milestones, and clients see progress against them in a branded portal, along with files, forms and conversations with you. Your internal dashboard stays private. They never see it.

What it does:

• A client portal that's separate from your agency dashboard
• Milestone-based projects, not task boards or ticket queues
• Intake forms and proposals for new enquiries
• Meeting booking with Cal.com and Google Meet
• Google Drive integration, and Linear integration on paid plans so your dev team can keep working in Linear while clients see milestone-level progress

What it doesn't do yet: it isn't a full billing and contracts suite, and it has no app builder. If invoicing and e-sign need to live in the same tool today, look at SuiteDash or use a separate invoicing tool next to Aupero.

There's a free Starter plan, and paid plans come with a 7-day trial.

SuiteDash

SuiteDash is the opposite trade-off to Assembly's: less polish, far more built in, and flat pricing. Plans run $19, $49 and $99 per month, every plan has unlimited clients and staff, and white-labeling is available from the cheapest plan. The cost is a longer setup and a busier interface. Read the full SuiteDash alternatives breakdown for the details.

Plutio

Plutio is a flat-price all-in-one for freelancers, with a portal, contracts, invoicing and time tracking. A custom domain costs extra, and the core plan limits how many active clients you can have, so check that before committing.

Taskip and Agiled

Both are cheaper all-in-ones aimed at agencies, and both publish a lot of comparison content, so read their claims about themselves with that in mind. Shortlist them if you want something close to Assembly's feature set for less, and run a real project through each trial.

Bonsai

Bonsai started as a contracts and invoicing tool for freelancers and added a client portal later. It suits solo operators and very small teams. Pricing is per user, which adds up quickly as a team grows, and branding options depend on the plan.

How to choose

Ask three questions:

1. How many clients will you have in a year? If the answer is far above 50, check how each tool's caps and pricing scale before you move everything.
2. Do you need your own domain and no vendor badge? On Assembly that starts at Professional. Compare what the same branding costs elsewhere.
3. Do you deliver projects with milestones? If so, a milestone-based portal like Aupero fits better than a general app builder.

Whatever you choose, run one real client through it before you migrate everyone. A portal nobody opens is a more expensive way to keep sending email.

Try Aupero

If you want a lightweight portal your clients can understand in a minute, you can start on the free plan at aupero.xyz. Tell the team what's missing. Aupero is still being shaped around what agencies actually need.