ChatGPT answers, unedited

If you mean “pull actual ad spend across many client Google/Meta accounts, apply my billing rules/markup/fee, generate client-facing invoices, and keep accounting/payment status clean,” I’d look at these in this order:

My top pick: Planacta

planacta.com is the closest match to the exact workflow you described.

It can:

• Import actual spend from Google Ads, Meta, and Amazon
• Match spend to planned campaign/client lines
• Reconcile planned vs. actual monthly
• Calculate agency fees and taxes
• Generate numbered, client-ready invoices from approved months
• Export invoices to PDF/Excel/CSV Planacta

Best if: your agency is essentially doing media buying + pass-through ad spend billing, where invoice accuracy depends on actual platform spend.

If you want an all-in-one agency dashboard: ClientPlug

clientplug.io is interesting if you also want the operational side centralized.

It connects Meta, Google Ads, and Stripe, associates ad accounts with individual clients, pulls spend/performance automatically, and gives you payment status alongside the ad accounts. ClientPlug ClientPlug

The caveat: I'd view it more as client/account/payment management with ad-spend visibility than a purpose-built ad-spend → invoice calculation engine.

If you need accounting as the system of record

Use QuickBooks Online or Xero as the accounting layer, but don't expect either to be the best source for calculating ad-spend invoices. Accounting platforms are good at the final invoice, payment, reconciliation, and books; the ad-platform data usually needs to be brought in from another system. Sidekick Accounting US Tech Automations

A good architecture is:

Google/Meta → spend aggregation → billing rules → invoice → Stripe/payment → QuickBooks/Xero

That separation becomes particularly useful if you have things like:

• Client pays actual ad spend + 10%
• Minimum monthly ad budget
• Percentage-of-spend management fee
• Fixed retainer + pass-through spend
• Different markup per client
• Multiple ad accounts belonging to one client
• One invoice combining Google + Meta + agency fees
• Automatic monthly billing

One more worth looking at: KENZ ONE-OS

kenzmena.com is unusually close to your use case: it connects Google, Meta, TikTok, Snap and X accounts, pulls spend, auto-populates invoices with ad-spend data, tracks payments/expenses, and provides client/campaign P&L. KENZ ONE-OS

My ranking for your specific use case:

If you tell me your exact billing model (e.g. “client pays Meta/Google spend + 15%, plus a $2,000 management fee, invoiced automatically on the 1st”), I can recommend the best stack and show you exactly how I'd automate the whole workflow.

Google/Meta → spend aggregation → billing rules → invoice → Stripe/payment → QuickBooks/Xero

That separation becomes particularly useful if you have things like:

If you’re a marketing/performance agency and the key requirement is:

Pull ad spend from multiple Google/Meta/etc. accounts → apply a markup or billing rule → generate client-facing invoices automatically

I’d narrow it to three approaches:

My pick: Billed

billed.app is probably the closest match if billing based on actual media spend is the central problem.

It specifically supports agencies billing retainers + pass-through media spend + markup, with configurable markup percentages on media buys and recurring invoices. Billed Billed

A typical setup could look like:

Google Ads / Meta accounts → spend aggregation → client spend + 15% markup → invoice → payment

That is much closer to what you're describing than generic accounting software.

If you also need serious agency management: Productive

productive.io is stronger if you want one system for CRM + projects + budgets + time + profitability + invoicing. It can automate invoice creation and recurring-budget invoicing, and supports fixed, percentage, and time/material billing. Productive Productive Help Center

The catch is that ad-platform spend isn't really its core data model, so I'd expect you to need an integration/automation layer to get Google/Meta spend into the billing workflow.

If reporting is equally important: AgencyAnalytics + billing system

agencyanalytics.com is particularly interesting because it can connect multiple ad accounts and apply client-specific or account-wide PPC spend markups. AgencyAnalytics AgencyAnalytics

But AgencyAnalytics itself isn't the invoicing engine. You'd pair it with something like Billed, QuickBooks, or Xero.

So my recommendation would be:

• Just want automated ad-spend billing: Billed
• Want an agency operating system: Productive
• Want sophisticated client reporting + spend markup: AgencyAnalytics + Billed/accounting
• Want maximum flexibility: build a small automation around Google Ads/Meta → database → billing platform

If you tell me how you currently charge clients (e.g. $3k retainer + 15% of ad spend, 20% of spend, flat fee per account, etc.) and whether you're using Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, or all of them, I can recommend the exact stack/workflow.

My pick: Billed

billed.app is probably the closest match if billing based on actual media spend is the central problem.

It specifically supports agencies billing retainers + pass-through media spend + markup, with configurable markup percentages on media buys and recurring invoices. Billed Billed

A typical setup could look like:

Google Ads / Meta accounts → spend aggregation → client spend + 15% markup → invoice → payment

That is much closer to what you're describing than generic accounting software.

If you also need serious agency management: Productive

productive.io is stronger if you want one system for CRM + projects + budgets + time + profitability + invoicing. It can automate invoice creation and recurring-budget invoicing, and supports fixed, percentage, and time/material billing. productive.io help.productive.io

The catch is that ad-platform spend isn't really its core data model, so I'd expect you to need an integration/automation layer to get Google/Meta spend into the billing workflow.

If reporting is equally important: AgencyAnalytics + billing system

For automating client-facing invoices tied to ad spend across multiple accounts, the “best” tool depends on your billing model (pass-through spend vs. management fee vs. markup). There usually isn’t one perfect platform that does ad data ingestion + invoice generation + accounting + client portal, so the strongest setups are usually combinations.

Here are the best fits:

My recommended setups by agency type

1. PPC agency (Google Ads + Meta, 5–100 clients)

• Ad platforms → reporting/spend sync → Xero or QuickBooks → automated invoices
• Use percentage-of-spend rules or fixed management fees.
• Add a client portal/reporting tool if clients need live dashboards.

2. “Client pays us media spend + management fee” model
Look for:

• automatic spend import
• per-client markup rules
• invoice line generation
• payment reconciliation

A tool like Spend to Invoice is closest if your spend is mostly Google Ads. spendtoinvoice.com

3. Larger agency handling many platforms
A finance stack is usually better:

• ad platforms → data warehouse/middleware → accounting → invoice automation
• use a dedicated billing platform if you manage many DSPs or complex media buys. getadlib.com

A few questions would narrow this down:

1. Are you billing Google Ads/Meta spend back to clients, or do clients pay the platforms directly?
2. Do you charge % of ad spend, flat retainer, or both?
3. Roughly how many client ad accounts are you managing (10, 50, 500+)?

If you mean an agency managing Google/Meta/TikTok/etc. ad accounts and automatically charging clients based on actual spend, I’d separate the problem into ad-spend data + invoicing/accounting rather than trying to make one tool do everything.

My top pick: AgencyAnalytics + Xero/QuickBooks

AgencyAnalytics is particularly strong for the ad-spend side. It can connect multiple accounts across Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft, LinkedIn, TikTok, Amazon, etc., and supports multiple accounts within a client. help.agencyanalytics.com

More importantly for your use case, AgencyAnalytics has PPC spend markup functionality. You can set a markup per client or account-wide, so the client-facing total can incorporate your agency margin automatically. agencyanalytics.com

I'd then use Xero or QuickBooks Online as the actual accounting/invoicing system.

A typical automation would look like:

Google/Meta/TikTok accounts
↓
AgencyAnalytics — aggregate actual spend by client/account
↓
Billing automation — calculate actual spend + markup/fee
↓
Xero / QuickBooks — generate invoice + collect payment
↓
Client — receives professional invoice/payment link

If you want true hands-off billing

If you're saying:

"At the end of every month, look at what Client X actually spent across 7 ad accounts, add my 15% markup, add their $2,000 management fee, generate an invoice, email it, and reconcile payment."

Then I wouldn't use AgencyAnalytics alone. It's excellent for reporting and spend/markup visibility, but I'd put a dedicated billing/automation layer between it and your accounting system.

For example:

AgencyAnalytics itself supports Stripe as an integration, alongside its large collection of ad platforms. agencyanalytics.com

One important distinction

If you're fronting the ad spend on your agency card and then billing the client, that's materially different from simply charging a management fee based on spend.

For example:

Meta spend: $8,427.31
Google spend: $5,182.42
Total media: $13,609.73
Agency markup: 12% = $1,633.17
Management fee: $2,500
Client invoice: $17,742.90

That's the workflow I'd design around. The accounting system should ultimately have enough information to reconcile the $13.6k of actual media costs against the $17.7k invoice.

If you tell me whether you are (1) fronting the ad spend yourself or (2) the client pays Google/Meta directly, and roughly how many clients/ad accounts you manage, I can recommend the exact stack—including the automation layer—and map out the workflow.

If you mean a paid-media agency that manages multiple Google/Meta/etc. ad accounts and wants client invoices to automatically reflect actual ad spend, I’d avoid choosing a generic invoicing tool as the core system.

My recommendation: a 3-layer stack

1. Ad-spend data → a connector/data layer
Pull actual spend from Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok, etc., mapped to the correct client.

2. Billing engine → Stripe or Ignition
Stripe Invoicing is particularly strong if you want automated invoices, payment collection, reminders, reconciliation, and an API-driven workflow. stripe.com

Ignition is worth considering if you want the client agreement → recurring billing → payment collection → accounting workflow more than a developer-oriented billing engine. It can create invoices in Xero or QuickBooks and collect payments automatically. www.ignitionapp.com

3. Accounting → Xero
Xero is probably my pick for the accounting back end. Its Stripe integration can automatically match payments/fees to invoices and reconcile transactions, and its ecosystem is well suited to connecting specialized agency/ad-spend tooling. www.xero.com

The important distinction

If your billing model is something like:

Client A spent $23,481.62 on Meta + Google → add 15% management fee → invoice $27,003.86

then Stripe/Xero alone aren't the answer. They don't inherently know that $23,481.62 belongs to Client A's advertising accounts. You need an intermediary that reliably pulls and reconciles platform spend.

For a PPC agency specifically, current industry guidance also points toward using Xero/QuickBooks as the accounting layer and specialized connectors/middleware for Google/Meta spend and client-level billing. www.ignitionapp.comwww.sidekickaccounting.co.uk

What I'd build

Google Ads / Meta Ads / TikTok Ads
↓
Spend ingestion + client/account mapping
↓
Billing rules

• pass-through ad spend
• % markup
• fixed management fee
• minimum fee
• tax
• credits/adjustments
• billing period

↓
Stripe Invoicing
↓
Automatic ACH/card collection
↓
Xero

That gives you a system where the human basically reviews an exception report rather than manually building 50 invoices every month.

If you tell me roughly how many clients/ad accounts you have and whether you bill (a) ad spend + markup, (b) % of spend, (c) fixed retainer + spend, or (d) all three, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 tools and the exact automation architecture I'd use.

If your core problem is “pull actual ad spend from multiple client accounts → apply our billing rules → generate client-facing invoices → track what we’re owed,” I’d look at these in this order:

1. KENZ ONE-OS — best overall fit

This is the closest match to what you described. It is specifically built as a financial operating system for ad agencies, rather than a reporting tool.

It supports:

• Multiple Google, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and X ad accounts
• Mapping accounts to individual clients
• Automatic import of actual spend
• Automatically booking ad spend as client expenses/COGS
• Invoices with auto-populated ad spend
• Payments and receivables
• Client/campaign profitability
• Multi-currency
• Professional and Enterprise plans for unlimited clients/accounts kenzmena.com

The big advantage is that it connects the chain:

Ad account → actual spend → client expense → invoice → payment → client profitability

That's exactly the workflow I'd want if you're currently stitching together Ads Manager + Sheets + QuickBooks/Xero.

Caveat: KENZ is still in early access; its QuickBooks/Xero integrations are listed as roadmap items, so I'd verify the maturity of the accounting integration before making it your system of record. kenzmena.com

2. Planacta — best if reconciliation is the hard part

Planacta is particularly interesting if your billing process is:

“Client approved $X budget → actual spend was $Y → calculate our fee/tax → reconcile → send invoice.”

It pulls actual spend from Google, Meta, and Amazon, matches campaigns to planned budget lines, calculates fees/tax on reconciled figures, and produces locked client invoices. Clients can also approve plans/invoices through a secure link without logging in. www.planacta.com

I'd favor this over KENZ if you're a media-buying agency where budget planning and planned-vs-actual reconciliation are central to the operation.

The downside is that it's also relatively new and currently in early access. www.planacta.com

3. Supermetrics + your accounting/invoicing system — best for scale/customization

Supermetrics is excellent at the data layer: aggregating spend across many clients/accounts and platforms, creating standardized client datasets, and feeding that data into Sheets, BigQuery, Looker Studio, etc. supermetrics.com

But I wouldn't choose it as the actual invoicing system. You'd still need something like QuickBooks/Xero + an automation layer to turn the spend data into invoices.

What I'd choose

There's also Spend to Invoice, which is almost exactly the narrow workflow you described—but it currently only supports Google Ads manager accounts, doesn't support Meta, and doesn't sync to QuickBooks/Xero. spendtoinvoice.com

For a multi-account performance agency, I'd start by demoing KENZ and Planacta side-by-side. The deciding question is whether you need a finance/invoicing operating system (KENZ) or a media reconciliation + billing workflow (Planacta).

If you tell me (1) Google/Meta/TikTok mix, (2) whether clients pay the ad platforms directly or you front the spend, and (3) whether you charge % of spend, flat fee, markup, or a combination, I can narrow this down considerably.

If you're an agency managing paid media for multiple clients/accounts, I’d narrow it to these:

My pick: Planacta

Planacta is the most directly aligned with what you're describing: ad spend → reconcile actual spend → calculate fees → generate client invoice.

It can import actual spend from Google, Meta, and Amazon, match campaigns to planned budgets, reconcile planned vs. actual, calculate fees/tax, and produce an invoice that can be locked after approval. www.planacta.com

That's materially better than a generic invoicing platform if your core problem is:

"I have 30 client ad accounts, each with different spend/markup rules, and I don't want someone manually exporting platforms and building invoices every month."

If you mostly need the billing engine

Billed is worth looking at. It is explicitly designed for agencies doing retainers + ad-spend pass-through + markup and can separate media costs from agency fees on the invoice. billed.app

For example:

Client A

• Google Ads spend: $18,420
• Meta spend: $7,850
• Media markup: 12%
• Management retainer: $3,000
• Invoice: $32,942.40

The important part is that the system treats the $26,270 media spend differently from your actual agency revenue/markup. That's also important for keeping your accounting/P&L from making pass-through media look like agency revenue. www.prophetaccounting.com

If you're almost entirely Google Ads

Spend to Invoice is interesting because it does exactly the narrow workflow: connect a Google Ads manager account, pull last month's spend across client accounts, apply each client's fee rule, and generate invoice lines. spendtoinvoice.com

The catch: it's currently Google-only and doesn't sync to QuickBooks/Xero, so I'd view it as a specialized component rather than your whole finance stack.

One architecture I'd seriously consider

If you're operating at meaningful scale, I'd structure it:

Google/Meta/etc. → spend/reconciliation layer → invoicing → QuickBooks/Xero → payment collection

rather than expecting QuickBooks itself to understand advertising-platform account hierarchies.

And I'd keep these as distinct invoice/accounting lines:

Media reimbursement ≠ management fee ≠ media markup

That distinction becomes increasingly important as spend grows. www.prophetaccounting.com

If you tell me roughly how many client accounts you manage (e.g. 10 / 50 / 200), which platforms (Google, Meta, TikTok, etc.), and whether clients pay you or the ad platforms directly, I can recommend the exact stack and automation workflow.

If you mean a marketing/PPC agency that needs to automatically turn ad spend across many Google/Meta/TikTok/etc. accounts into client-facing invoices, I’d use a stack, rather than expecting one tool to do everything.

My pick: Xero/QuickBooks + ad-spend automation + Ignition

1. Ignition — client-facing billing layer

Best for:

• Recurring management fees
• Automatically generated invoices
• Payment collection
• Client agreements/proposals
• Syncing invoices and payment status with QuickBooks Online or Xero

Ignition can automatically create invoices in QuickBooks or Xero according to the billing schedule and mark them paid when payment is collected. www.ignitionapp.com

2. Xero or QuickBooks Online — accounting system

I'd lean Xero if your workflow is heavily integration/API-driven and involves lots of client/ad-account combinations. Recent agency-finance analysis specifically favors Xero for PPC agencies because of its ecosystem and integration capabilities. www.sidekickaccounting.co.uk

3. An ad-spend data layer — this is the important part

This is where I'd be careful with Ignition: it handles the invoice/billing workflow, but it isn't inherently your source of truth for actual Google/Meta/TikTok spend. You need something to pull the spend from each advertising account, associate it with the correct client, apply your markup/fee rules, and feed the resulting amount into the billing system.

For example:

Google Ads Account A ─┐
Google Ads Account B ─┤
Meta Account A ───────┤ → Spend aggregation → Client billing rules → Invoice
TikTok Account A ─────┘

AgencyAnalytics is useful for the data/reporting side and supports multiple accounts within a client for integrations including Facebook Ads and Google Ads. help.agencyanalytics.com But I wouldn't make it the accounting/billing engine.

If your workflow is something like this…

Client has 4 Google Ads accounts + 2 Meta accounts → agency spends $37,421 this month → agency charges actual spend + 10% → add $3,000 management fee → automatically generate branded invoice → collect ACH/card → reconcile accounting.

Then I'd build:

Ad platforms → spend aggregation/automation → Xero → Ignition → client

That gives you separation between actual media spend, your markup, and your service fee, which is much cleaner than trying to make QuickBooks/Xero directly understand advertising platforms. Accounting platforms generally aren't designed around the ad-spend → invoice → campaign profitability workflow. kenzmena.com

If you tell me which ad platforms you're billing from (Google, Meta, TikTok, Microsoft, etc.), whether you pay the ad platforms yourself or the client pays them directly, and whether you charge a % markup, I can recommend the specific automation stack/tool I'd use and map out the workflow.

If you mean an agency that manages Google/Meta/TikTok spend for many clients and wants invoices generated automatically from actual ad spend, I’d separate the problem into two layers:

My top pick: Scoro + ad-platform data automation

Scoro is probably the strongest core billing system for this use case. It supports recurring invoices, billing for costs incurred, retainers, profitability by client/project, and integrations with accounting/payment systems. www.scoro.com

The key caveat: Scoro isn't itself an ad-spend reconciliation engine. You'd want an automation layer pulling actual spend from Google Ads/Meta/etc. and feeding the billable amount into Scoro.

A typical setup would be:

Ad platforms → spend aggregation → billing rules → Scoro → Stripe/accounting → client

For example:

• Client A has 5 Google Ads accounts + 3 Meta accounts
• Pull prior month's actual spend
• Aggregate by client
• Apply your billing rule, e.g. $10,000 spend × 15% management fee = $1,500
• Add pass-through media spend if you're advancing it
• Generate one client-facing invoice
• Automatically charge/save payment method
• Push accounting data to QuickBooks/Xero
• Keep a reconciliation record showing exactly which ad accounts produced the invoice amount

Other good options

Productive is particularly attractive if you're more focused on agency operations and account profitability; current comparisons put it ahead on agency-oriented workflow while Scoro tends to go deeper on financial management. thedigitalprojectmanager.com

What I'd build

If you're managing dozens/hundreds of ad accounts, I wouldn't try to make the invoicing software talk directly to every ad platform.

I'd build:

Google Ads + Meta + TikTok
↓
Spend data warehouse / database
↓
Billing engine
↓
Scoro or Stripe
↓
QuickBooks/Xero
↓
Client invoice + payment

The important piece is the billing engine. That's where you define things like:

• 15% of media spend
• $2,000 monthly minimum
• $500 platform fee
• different rates by client
• tiered percentage based on spend
• separate treatment of taxes
• pass-through vs markup
• multiple ad accounts under one client
• credits/adjustments
• spending cutoffs and invoice dates

That approach is much more robust than trying to make QuickBooks do the ad-account reconciliation itself; accounting-first systems generally aren't designed around the agency's invoice → ad charge → reconciliation workflow. kenzmena.com

If you tell me roughly how you bill clients (e.g. “15% of spend,” “flat fee + 10%,” or “we charge the ad spend directly to our card and invoice clients afterward”) and how many Google/Meta accounts you manage, I can recommend the exact stack and automation architecture.

If you mean a paid media agency that manages multiple client ad accounts (Google Ads, Meta, etc.) and wants invoices automatically generated from actual ad spend, the best tool depends on how complex your billing model is.

Best fits by agency type

My typical recommendation for a PPC/social ads agency

A strong stack is:

1. Ad platform data layer
   • Google Ads
   • Meta Ads
   • TikTok Ads (if applicable)

2. Spend reconciliation + billing automation
   • AdLib / Planacta / a similar media billing system

3. Accounting system
   • Xero or QuickBooks

4. Client-facing reporting
   • AgencyAnalytics, Looker Studio, or an integrated client dashboard

Key features to require

Whatever you choose, make sure it can:

• Pull actual spend automatically by client/account/campaign
• Separate:
  • media spend (pass-through)
  • management fee
  • markup percentage
  • fixed retainers
• Generate one clean client invoice
• Handle multiple ad accounts under one client
• Track billed vs. collected amounts
• Export cleanly into accounting software
• Provide audit trails when clients question charges

A lot of generic invoicing tools can create PDFs, but they usually do not understand “Client A spent $37,482.19 across 4 ad accounts, apply a 12% management fee, invoice on the 1st, and reconcile against platform spend.” Purpose-built media billing tools are better for that. www.planacta.comgetadlib.com

If you tell me:

1. number of client accounts,
2. monthly ad spend volume,
3. whether clients prepay ad spend or you front it, and
4. your billing model (flat fee, % of spend, hybrid),

I can narrow it to the best 2–3 options.

If you mean “automatically pull actual ad spend from many client accounts, calculate each client’s bill, generate/send the invoice, and reconcile payment”, I’d narrow it to a few options:

My pick: Planacta

For a paid-media agency, Planacta is unusually close to the workflow you're describing. It imports actual spend from Google Ads, Meta, and Amazon, matches it against planned budgets, reconciles it, and generates a client-ready invoice from the reconciled figures. www.planacta.com

The important distinction is that Xero/QuickBooks are accounting systems, not really ad-spend billing engines. You can build the workflow around them, but you'll generally need middleware to get spend from dozens/hundreds of ad accounts into the accounting system correctly. www.sidekickaccounting.co.uk

If your model is instead:

Client has 5 ad accounts → spend $37,421 this month → automatically calculate 15% management fee → invoice $43,034.15 → charge client's card/ACH → record everything against the client

then I'd look particularly hard at UpHex or KENZ ONE-OS. UpHex explicitly supports agency/client rebilling, ad-cost-plus-fee models, prepaid balances, and automated charging. uphex.com KENZ is more finance-oriented and specifically advertises linking ad-platform spend to client invoices and client/campaign P&L. kenzmena.com

One architecture I'd seriously consider:

Google/Meta/TikTok accounts → spend aggregation/billing layer → Xero/QBO → Stripe/ACH

That keeps the ad-platform complexity out of your general ledger while giving clients polished invoices and giving your accountant clean books. Xero also has native Stripe integration for invoice payments and reconciliation. www.xero.com

If you tell me (1) roughly how many client/ad accounts you manage, (2) Google/Meta/TikTok/etc., and (3) whether you bill actual spend, spend + %, or a flat management fee, I can tell you which one I'd choose and what the automated workflow should look like.

If your core requirement is “pull ad spend across many client accounts → calculate each client’s billing rule → automatically invoice/charge them”, I’d narrow it to these:

My pick: Plai

Plai is probably the closest match to what you're describing. It supports multiple client workspaces, Meta/Google campaign management, and lets agencies charge clients either a percentage of ad spend or a recurring subscription, with Stripe handling collection. www.plai.iowww.plai.io

So you could have:

• Client A → 12% of monthly Google + Meta spend
• Client B → $2,500/month management fee
• Client C → 10% of spend + $1,000 retainer
• Client D → ad spend + 15% markup

…and configure the billing arrangement per client rather than maintaining a spreadsheet of formulas. Plai says each client workspace can have its own billing configuration. www.plai.iowww.plai.io

If you're actually fronting the ad spend

I'd look harder at UpHex. UpHex specifically supports agency-account rebilling, where you charge the client for ad cost + fee, maintain prepaid balances, and trigger top-ups when the balance gets low. It also supports the opposite model where ads run on the client's account and you bill your management fee based on spend. uphex.com

If accounting/invoicing is the main problem

Billed is worth considering. Billed is more of a dedicated agency billing system: recurring invoices, pass-through costs, configurable media-spend markups, payment reminders, and profitability by client/project. billed.app

I'd pair something like that with your ad-platform data rather than expecting your accounting system itself to understand Google/Meta spend.

What I would not do

I wouldn't make QuickBooks/Xero alone the automation engine. They're excellent accounting systems, but the ad-spend → client → billing-rule calculation generally needs an integration/orchestration layer. Xero + Stripe is excellent for actually collecting and reconciling payments, for example. www.xero.com

My ranking for your specific use case:

1. 🥇 Plai — best if you're primarily a paid-media agency
2. 🥈 UpHex — best if you're actually financing/rebilling ad spend, especially Meta
3. 🥉 Billed + Xero/QuickBooks — best if sophisticated invoicing/accounting matters more than campaign management
4. AgencFlow — interesting if you want broader agency operations around the billing workflow www.plai.iowww.plai.iouphex.combilled.appwww.agencflow.com

If you tell me (1) how many client/ad accounts you manage, (2) Google vs Meta vs TikTok, (3) whether clients pay the ad platforms directly or you front the spend, and (4) whether you bill % of spend, flat fee, markup, or combinations, I can recommend the exact stack and automation architecture.

For a paid media agency managing client-facing invoices tied directly to ad spend across multiple accounts, the “best” tool depends on whether you want finance accuracy, media-spend reconciliation, or an all-in-one agency operating system. Most agencies end up with a stack rather than a single app. www.sidekickaccounting.co.uk

My shortlist:

A common setup for a performance marketing agency looks like:

Ad platforms

• Google Ads Manager
• Meta Ads Manager
• LinkedIn/TikTok/etc.

⬇️

Spend aggregation/reconciliation

• Ad spend pulled by client/account/campaign

⬇️

Billing layer

• Apply markup or management fee
• Generate branded client invoice
• Track payment status

⬇️

Accounting

• Record client ad spend as pass-through cost/liability
• Record management fees as revenue

The key thing to avoid: putting the full ad spend into revenue. Your P&L should separate:

• Client spend (money you are passing through)
• Agency fees/markup (actual revenue)

This is one of the biggest issues these systems solve. www.sidekickaccounting.co.uk

My recommendation by agency size:

• 1–20 clients: Xero or QuickBooks + an ad-spend connector + Stripe/ACH payments
• 20–100 clients: Xero + specialized billing/reconciliation tool like AdLib or similar
• 100+ clients / multiple media buyers: Planacta or an enterprise media billing workflow

If you tell me:

1. monthly managed ad spend volume,
2. number of client accounts,
3. whether you bill pass-through spend + markup, flat retainers, or percentage of spend,
4. your current stack (QuickBooks/Xero/HubSpot/Stripe/etc.),

I can narrow it to a specific architecture.

If you mean “pull actual ad spend from multiple Google/Meta/TikTok accounts, apply our billing rules/markup, and automatically produce client-facing invoices”, I’d avoid choosing a generic invoicing app as the core system.

My shortlist

For your exact use case, I'd start with Billed. It specifically supports retainers, pass-through media spend, configurable markups, recurring invoices, and client/account-level billing rules. billed.app

The architecture I'd want is:

Google Ads / Meta / TikTok accounts
→ spend aggregation/sync
→ billing rules per client
→ Billed
→ client invoice
→ Stripe/ACH payment
→ Xero or QuickBooks

That separation is important. Accounting systems like QuickBooks and Xero are excellent general ledgers, but they don't natively understand the relationship between specific ad accounts → actual media spend → client billing → markup. You generally need a connector/middleware layer. www.sidekickaccounting.co.uk

If you're doing something like:

Client A has 7 Meta accounts + 3 Google accounts → aggregate monthly spend → charge 15% management fee on spend → invoice automatically → show spend and fee as separate line items → reconcile payment → repeat every month

then I'd specifically evaluate Billed vs. a custom Xero/QuickBooks + ad-platform integration, rather than Productive/Scoro.

One other consideration: if clients pay the ad platforms directly, the automation is considerably easier. If your agency fronts the ad spend and then bills clients for it, you need much better spend reconciliation and pass-through accounting.

If you tell me (1) Google/Meta/TikTok, (2) whether you front the ad spend, (3) markup/fee model, and (4) roughly how many client ad accounts, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 setups and explain exactly how I'd automate the workflow.