ChatGPT answers, unedited

If you're an agency managing multiple Google/Meta ad accounts and billing clients based on actual ad spend, I’d separate the problem into spend aggregation, invoice generation, and payment collection rather than expecting one tool to do everything.

My shortlist

What I'd use

For a typical performance/paid-media agency, I'd lean toward:

Google Ads + Meta → spend aggregation → accounting/invoicing system → Stripe

with AgencyAnalytics sitting on top for client reporting.

AgencyAnalytics is particularly useful because it supports multiple accounts per client and can apply client-specific or account-wide PPC spend markups. It also has roll-up reporting across Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Microsoft Ads, TikTok and other platforms. AgencyAnalytics AgencyAnalytics Knowledge Base AgencyAnalytics Knowledge Base

However, AgencyAnalytics isn't really your accounting/invoicing engine. I'd treat its spend/markup calculation as the reporting layer, then have your accounting/payment system create the actual invoice.

If you want it almost completely hands-off

A good architecture is:

Ad platforms
→ Google Ads / Meta / Microsoft / TikTok
→ Spend data
→ client/account mapping
→ billing rules
→ ad spend + agency fee/markup + retainer + taxes
→ invoice
→ Stripe payment link/autopay
→ accounting system

For example, a client could have:

• Google Ads spend: $18,420.37
• Meta spend: $7,841.22
• Ad-spend markup: 12%
• Management fee: $2,500
• Total invoice: automatically calculated
• Stripe: automatically sends/collects payment
• Accounting: automatically records the transaction

One interesting specialized option

Spend to Invoice is worth looking at if your operation is heavily Google Ads-focused. It specifically pulls closed-month Google Ads Manager-account billing data, applies per-client fee rules, and produces invoice lines. Its limitation is important: it currently doesn't support Meta or accounting-system sync. Spend to Invoice

HighLevel is more interesting if you're already using it as your agency operating system. Its rebilling functionality can charge subaccounts for supported usage and, on its Agency Pro tier, apply markups. HighLevel Support Portal HighLevel Support Portal

If you're asking because you want to build the "ideal" system

I'd actually consider Stripe + a small billing automation layer + Google/Meta APIs + Xero/QuickBooks rather than trying to force an agency CRM to be your accounting system.

Google's Ads API itself exposes billing setups, account budgets, and invoice data, so there is enough API infrastructure to automate reconciliation at scale. Google for Developers

If you tell me (1) number of clients, (2) Google vs Meta vs both, (3) whether clients pay the ad platforms directly or you pay them, and (4) whether you charge % of spend, flat fee, or both, I can recommend a specific stack and map out the exact automation.

A good architecture is:

Ad platforms
→ Google Ads / Meta / Microsoft / TikTok
→ Spend data
→ client/account mapping
→ billing rules
→ ad spend + agency fee/markup + retainer + taxes
→ invoice
→ Stripe payment link/autopay
→ accounting system

For example, a client could have:

• Google Ads spend: $18,420.37
• Meta spend: $7,841.22
• Ad-spend markup: 12%
• Management fee: $2,500
• Total invoice: automatically calculated
• Stripe: automatically sends/collects payment
• Accounting: automatically records the transaction

One interesting specialized option

Spend to Invoice is worth looking at if your operation is heavily Google Ads-focused. It specifically pulls closed-month Google Ads Manager-account billing data, applies per-client fee rules, and produces invoice lines. Its limitation is important: it currently doesn't support Meta or accounting-system sync.

If you're a marketing/performance agency billing clients for both management fees and actual ad spend across multiple Google/Meta/TikTok accounts, I’d avoid trying to make a generic invoicing app do everything.

The setup I’d look at

1. Xero + an ad-spend connector/automation layer — best flexible architecture

Xero can be the accounting source of truth, while a connector pulls spend by client/account and feeds the appropriate billing data into your invoicing workflow. This is particularly useful if you have lots of client accounts and want the ability to customize the automation. Industry guidance specifically points to Xero's integration ecosystem as useful for PPC-agency workflows. Sidekick Accounting Sidekick Accounting

Typical flow:

Google/Meta/TikTok accounts → spend data → client/account mapping → calculate fee/markup → Xero invoice → Stripe/payment → reconciliation

I'd choose this if automation and scalability matter more than having everything in one UI.

2. Verbial — closest match to your exact use case

verbial.io is specifically designed around paid-media agencies. It supports pass-through media billing, percentage-of-spend fees, separating media spend from agency revenue, and invoicing based on actual spend. Verbial

That makes it unusually close to:

Client spent $47,382 → agency fee = 12% → automatically produce the appropriate invoice/statement.

It also addresses the accounting distinction between client money flowing through you and actual agency revenue, which becomes important as spend grows.

3. AgencyAnalytics — excellent companion for client reporting, not my first choice as the billing ledger

agencyanalytics.com can consolidate PPC data across clients and supports per-client PPC markups in reporting. AgencyAnalytics G2

I'd use it if you want the client to see:

• Google Ads spend
• Meta spend
• TikTok spend
• total media spend
• your markup/fee
• campaign performance

…but I'd pair it with proper accounting/billing rather than make it the financial system of record.

What I'd pick based on your situation

Agiled, for example, explicitly supports recurring retainers, project billing and ad-spend/tooling pass-through on client invoices. Agiled

One important distinction

I'd first decide who actually pays the ad platform.

If your agency's card/bank account pays Google/Meta, you need a system that can:

1. identify spend by client/ad account,
2. reconcile the platform charge,
3. calculate your management fee/markup,
4. generate the client invoice,
5. distinguish pass-through spend from agency revenue,
6. reconcile the eventual client payment.

If the client pays Google/Meta directly, the problem is much simpler: you primarily need to calculate your management fee from verified spend and invoice that amount.

If you tell me (a) number of clients, (b) Google/Meta/TikTok platforms, (c) whether you front the ad spend, and (d) whether your fee is % of spend, fixed, or both, I can map out the exact automation stack I'd use—including what should trigger the invoice and where each piece of data should live.

I'd first decide who actually pays the ad platform.

verbial.io is specifically designed around paid-media agencies. It supports pass-through media billing, percentage-of-spend fees, separating media spend from agency revenue, and invoicing based on actual spend. verbial.io

That makes it unusually close to:

Client spent $47,382 → agency fee = 12% → automatically produce the appropriate invoice/statement.

It also addresses the accounting distinction between client money flowing through you and actual agency revenue, which becomes important as spend grows.

3. AgencyAnalytics — excellent companion for client reporting, not my first choice as the billing ledger

If you mean an agency workflow where client invoices are automatically calculated from actual ad spend across many Google/Meta/etc. accounts, I’d separate the problem into spend aggregation + billing logic + accounting/payment.

My recommendation

Best overall stack: AgencyAnalytics + Xero/QuickBooks + Stripe

• AgencyAnalytics — best for aggregating ad spend across many client accounts. It supports 85+ integrations, roll-up reporting, and—importantly—can apply a client-specific or account-wide PPC markup to spend. AgencyAnalytics AgencyAnalytics
• Xero or QuickBooks — the accounting system of record for invoices, payments, revenue, taxes, and reconciliation. Xero is particularly attractive if you're building a more customized integration-heavy workflow. Sidekick Accounting Sidekick Accounting
• Stripe — automate payment collection, subscriptions, and invoice payment.

The architecture would look roughly like:

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

For example:

Client A: $20,000 ad spend × 15% markup + $2,500 management fee → $25,500 invoice

with the calculation happening automatically at month-end.

If Google Ads is your main channel

There's an even more specialized option: Spend to Invoice. It is designed specifically to pull closed-month Google Ads manager-account billing data, apply client-specific rules such as flat fee, percentage of spend, or fixed fee + percentage, and generate invoice lines. Spend to Invoice

The downside is significant: Google Ads only, and it currently doesn't sync directly to Xero or QuickBooks. Spend to Invoice

If you're building this yourself

I'd actually consider Google Ads API + Meta Marketing API + Stripe + Xero/QuickBooks rather than trying to make an agency reporting product do the entire accounting workflow.

Google's Ads API explicitly supports programmatic billing workflows and invoice retrieval, including account budgets and invoice reconciliation. Google for Developers Google for Developers

That gives you much more control over rules like:

• 12% of spend for Client A
• 15% for Client B
• $2,000 minimum fee for Client C
• Different markup by platform
• Spend billed in arrears
• Client pays media directly vs. agency pays media
• Caps/floors
• Taxes
• Multiple ad accounts rolled into one client invoice
• Automatic reconciliation against the actual platform invoice

If I had to pick one approach: for a normal agency, I'd start with AgencyAnalytics + Xero/QuickBooks + Stripe. If this is a high-volume agency with 50–500+ ad accounts and complicated fee rules, I'd lean toward a custom spend-to-invoice layer sitting between the ad platforms and accounting system.

If you tell me (1) number of clients/accounts, (2) Google vs Meta vs TikTok, (3) whether you pay the ad platforms or clients do, and (4) your billing formula, I can recommend the exact stack and workflow.

If Google Ads is your main channel

There's an even more specialized option: Spend to Invoice. It is designed specifically to pull closed-month Google Ads manager-account billing data, apply client-specific rules such as flat fee, percentage of spend, or fixed fee + percentage, and generate invoice lines.

The downside is significant: Google Ads only, and it currently doesn't sync directly to Xero or QuickBooks.

If you're building this yourself

I'd actually consider Google Ads API + Meta Marketing API + Stripe + Xero/QuickBooks rather than trying to make an agency reporting product do the entire accounting workflow.

If you mean a marketing agency that manages multiple Google/Meta ad accounts and wants invoices to automatically reflect actual ad spend + your markup, I’d look at a two-layer setup rather than a generic invoicing app.

My pick: AgencyAnalytics + accounting/billing system

AgencyAnalytics is particularly strong on the ad-spend side. It connects to 85+ marketing platforms, including Google Ads and Meta, and lets you apply an agency markup to paid-ad spend at either the account or individual-client level. AgencyAnalytics AgencyAnalytics

For example:

Google Ads spend: $8,000
Agency markup: 15%
Client billable ad spend: $9,200

You can configure different markups for different clients, which is useful when each client has a different agreement. AgencyAnalytics

The catch: AgencyAnalytics isn't really your invoicing/accounting engine. Its own billing is for the AgencyAnalytics subscription, not for generating your client invoices. AgencyAnalytics

If you want one agency-operations platform

Productive is worth considering if you also need:

• recurring/retainer billing
• project and resource management
• profitability by client
• time-based billing
• invoice generation
• agency financial reporting

It's much more billing/operations-oriented than AgencyAnalytics, but its weakness is that it isn't primarily a Google Ads/Meta spend aggregation platform. US Tech Automations US Tech Automations

The architecture I'd recommend

For a serious multi-account paid-media operation, I'd build it roughly like:

Google Ads + Meta Ads
↓
Spend aggregation / client mapping
↓
Markup + billing rules
↓
Invoice generation
↓
QuickBooks/Xero + payment collection

Then use AgencyAnalytics on the client-facing side for reporting.

That gives you a clean separation between "what the ad platforms actually spent", "what we're charging the client", and "what gets booked in accounting."

If you're looking for one tool that can automatically pull spend from dozens/hundreds of ad accounts, calculate each client's markup/fee, and actually issue the invoice, tell me roughly how many client accounts you manage and whether clients pay the ad platforms directly or you pay the ad spend and recharge them. That distinction changes my recommendation substantially.

If you mean “I run ads for many clients, and I want invoices to automatically reflect actual Meta/Google/etc. ad spend”, I’d narrow it to three approaches:

🥇 My pick: Plai

plai.io is particularly interesting because it can connect client ad accounts and charge a percentage of actual ad spend, with Stripe handling payment collection. It supports separate client workspaces and can automatically deduct fees based on spend. Plai Plai

For example:

Client A spends $12,000 → 10% management fee → $1,200
Client B spends $4,500 → 12% management fee → $540
Client C has a $2,000 flat retainer → $2,000

You can have different billing arrangements per client rather than forcing everyone into the same model. Plai also supports Meta, Google, TikTok and LinkedIn ad accounts. Plai Plai

🥈 UpHex

uphex.com is worth considering if your biggest problem is actually funding/rebilling the ad spend, rather than producing conventional accounting invoices.

It supports agency-paid ad accounts with client credits, automatic top-ups, thresholds, payment failure protection, and management-fee billing. UpHex

🥉 ChargeOver

chargeover.com is stronger if you want a more traditional invoice → payment → failed-payment recovery → accounting workflow. It specifically advertises combining ad-spend pass-through with a management fee on the same invoice. ChargeOver

What I'd build

If you're managing dozens of client ad accounts, I'd probably use:

Meta/Google Ads → Plai → Stripe → QuickBooks/Xero

with a billing rule per client:

• % of ad spend
• flat monthly retainer
• % of spend + minimum fee
• ad spend pass-through + management fee
• prepaid balance / automatic recharge

Then keep your accounting system as the financial source of truth rather than trying to make the ad-management platform replace accounting. That separation is also consistent with current agency-finance recommendations. sidekickaccounting.co.uk

If you tell me your exact billing model (e.g. “we charge 10% of spend, clients pay the ad platforms directly” vs. “we front the ad spend and invoice clients”), plus roughly how many clients/accounts you manage, I can tell you which setup I'd choose and how I'd automate the whole flow.

Client A spends $12,000 → 10% management fee → $1,200
Client B spends $4,500 → 12% management fee → $540
Client C has a $2,000 flat retainer → $2,000

You can have different billing arrangements per client rather than forcing everyone into the same model. Plai also supports Meta, Google, TikTok and LinkedIn ad accounts. Plai Plai

🥈 UpHex

uphex.com is worth considering if your biggest problem is actually funding/rebilling the ad spend, rather than producing conventional accounting invoices.

It supports agency-paid ad accounts with client credits, automatic top-ups, thresholds, payment failure protection, and management-fee billing. uphex.com

🥉 ChargeOver

chargeover.com is stronger if you want a more traditional invoice → payment → failed-payment recovery → accounting workflow. It specifically advertises combining ad-spend pass-through with a management fee on the same invoice.

What I'd build

For client-facing invoices tied directly to ad spend across multiple ad accounts, the “best” tool depends on whether you need media spend pass-through billing, retainer + management fees, or a full agency operating system.

Here are the strongest fits:

My recommendation by agency type

If you run paid ads for many clients (Meta + Google Ads)

Use a two-layer stack:

1. Ad spend tracking layer

• ClientPlug or AdLib-style platform for campaign/account-level spend visibility. ClientPlug AdLib DSP | Scale Smarter. Faster.
• Billing/accounting layer

• Stripe + QuickBooks/Xero for payments, books, and financial reporting.

Your invoice logic would look like:

Client A
Google Ads spend: $8,420
Meta Ads spend: $3,180
Management fee: $2,000
Platform fee: $200
Total due: $13,800

If clients reimburse you for ad spend

Prioritize:

• automatic spend import
• invoice line-item generation
• reconciliation
• payment reminders

AdLib is closer to this use case because it focuses on tying billing to campaign/media spend. AdLib DSP | Scale Smarter. Faster.

If you bill a flat monthly retainer

A simpler setup works:

• Stripe Billing
• QuickBooks/Xero
• a reporting tool

Features I would not compromise on

Look for:

• ✅ Multiple ad accounts per client
• ✅ Meta Ads + Google Ads connections
• ✅ Automatic spend pull (no CSV uploads)
• ✅ Separate client invoices
• ✅ Markup/management fee rules
• ✅ Spend caps and alerts
• ✅ Client portal or branded invoices
• ✅ Payment collection (ACH/card)
• ✅ Accounting sync

One question changes the recommendation a lot: are you paying the ad spend yourself and invoicing clients afterward, or do clients pay the platforms directly and you only invoice your management fee?

If you're an agency billing clients based on actual ad spend across multiple Google/Meta/etc. accounts, I’d prioritize a tool that treats ad spend → reconciliation → client invoice as one workflow—not just generic accounting.

My shortlist

1. planacta.com — best overall fit

• Imports actual spend from Google, Meta, and Amazon.
• Matches spend to planned campaigns/accounts.
• Reconciles planned vs. actual.
• Calculates fees/tax and generates a locked, client-ready invoice.
• Particularly attractive if you want finance + media operations in one system. Planacta
• uphex.com — best if you're actually collecting ad funds

• Built specifically around agency ad-spend rebilling.
• Supports agency-funded ad accounts where you charge clients for ad cost + fee, including prepaid balances and automatic top-ups.
• Also supports client-owned ad accounts where you charge a management fee based on spend.
• Stripe and Authorize.net support is built in. UpHex
• kenzmena.com — best finance/agency-ops option

• Connects Google, Meta, TikTok, Snap, and X.
• Pulls spend automatically and can auto-populate invoices.
• Tracks payments, expenses, and client/campaign profitability.
• More like a financial operating system for an agency than simply an invoicing tool. KENZ ONE-OS
• spendtoinvoice.com — best if you're Google Ads-only

• Very focused: connect a Google Ads manager account, pull monthly spend, apply each client's fee rule, and produce invoice output.
• Supports percentage-of-spend, flat fee, or hybrid fee rules.
• But it currently doesn't support Meta or QuickBooks/Xero sync, so I'd only pick it for a relatively simple Google Ads operation. Spend to Invoice

What I'd choose

If your workflow looks like:

Client → multiple Google/Meta ad accounts → actual monthly spend → markup/management fee → invoice → payment → accounting

I'd start with Planacta if you're primarily trying to automate reconciliation and invoicing, or UpHex if you're also collecting and managing the clients' advertising funds.

If you already have QuickBooks or Xero as your accounting system, I wouldn't replace it just to solve this. I'd look for an ad-spend billing layer that feeds clean invoice data into it. Generic accounting software isn't particularly good at the ad-spend → client → campaign reconciliation problem. KENZ ONE-OS Sidekick Accounting

If you tell me (1) Google, Meta, or both, (2) whether clients pay the ad platforms directly or you front the spend, and (3) whether you're on QuickBooks/Xero/Stripe, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 setups and show you the exact automation architecture.

If you’re an agency fronting ad spend and then billing clients for that spend + your management fee, I’d look at this as a billing/reconciliation problem rather than just “invoice software.”

My top pick: ChargeOver

chargeover.com is probably the closest fit to what you described.

It specifically supports an agency invoice containing retainers + project work + ad spend you fronted + management fees, with itemization and scheduled billing. It can also sync invoices/payments with QuickBooks and work with multiple payment processors. ChargeOver

A good workflow would be:

Google/Meta/etc. spend → client/account attribution → ad-spend line item → management-fee calculation → automated invoice → payment → QuickBooks reconciliation

If the bigger problem is managing the ad accounts themselves

I'd separate the stack:

• Ad-spend/account data: your ad platforms or an agency dashboard
• Billing automation: chargeover.com
• Accounting/GL: quickbooks.intuit.com
• Payment collection: Stripe/ACH through the billing layer

This is particularly attractive if you have dozens of client accounts, because you don't want your accounting system to be responsible for figuring out which Google/Meta account generated each charge.

One interesting alternative: Fluz

fluz.app is worth considering if controlling and separating the actual media spend is as important as invoicing.

It offers separate client accounts, campaign cards, spending controls, client/campaign tagging, and QuickBooks synchronization. Its positioning is essentially: give each client their own money/card structure, then make reconciliation happen automatically. Fluz

That's potentially a better architecture if you're currently putting everyone's ad spend on agency cards and sorting it out at month-end.

What I'd choose

Productive is particularly interesting if your real question is “How profitable is each client after media spend, labor, and overhead?” rather than merely collecting invoices. US Tech Automations

One important accounting point: decide whether client ad spend is being treated as pass-through/reimbursed expense or revenue. QuickBooks can represent reimbursed costs differently, and that choice can materially change your reported top-line revenue. qbspecialist.com quickbooks.intuit.com

If you tell me (1) number of clients, (2) Google/Meta/TikTok/etc., (3) whether you front the ad spend, and (4) whether your fee is % of spend or fixed, I can recommend the exact stack and automation architecture.

If you mean “automatically pull actual ad spend from many client ad accounts, calculate what each client owes, and generate/send invoices”, I’d look at agency-specific billing software, not just QuickBooks/Xero.

My shortlist

• planacta.com — best fit for media-spend reconciliation + invoicing. It specifically imports actual spend from Google Ads, Meta, and Amazon, reconciles it against planned spend, and generates locked client invoices. This is probably the closest match if your billing is essentially actual media spend → markup/fee → client invoice. Planacta
• kenzmena.com — best all-in-one agency finance option. It connects multiple ad platforms, automatically pulls spend, links spend to client invoices, handles payments, and provides client/campaign profitability. KENZ ONE-OS
• uphex.com — best if you specifically need ad-spend rebilling/credit management. It supports prepaid ad credits, automatic top-ups, thresholds, and management fees, with Stripe/Authorize.net support. UpHex
• plai.io — good if campaign management is also important. It manages multiple Meta/Google client accounts and can charge clients based on ad spend or subscriptions through Stripe. Plai
• theagencyos.app — interesting broader agency-ops option. It brings Meta, Google, QuickBooks, Stripe, clients, invoices, etc. into one workspace, though I'd verify the exact spend-to-invoice automation before choosing it. Agency OS

What I'd choose

If your workflow is something like:

50 clients → each has multiple Meta/Google accounts → pull monthly spend → add 10–20% management markup → generate invoice → collect payment → reconcile against actual spend

I'd start with Planacta and KENZ.

If instead you're running the ads on your agency's payment method and need clients to continuously fund/replenish their ad budgets, I'd put UpHex at the top of the list.

And I wouldn't make QuickBooks/Xero the primary automation layer. They're useful as the accounting system of record, but the difficult part is the ad-platform → client/account → spend reconciliation → invoice logic. That generally needs an agency-specific layer in front of the accounting system. Sidekick Accounting KENZ ONE-OS

If you tell me (1) Meta/Google/TikTok platforms, (2) number of client accounts, (3) whether clients pay ad spend directly or you front it, and (4) whether you use QuickBooks or Xero, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options and map out the exact automation.

If you mean an agency managing multiple Google/Meta/etc. ad accounts and then automatically billing clients based on actual media spend, I’d separate the problem into two layers:

Best fit: Planacta

Planacta is probably the closest match to your exact workflow. It connects Google Ads, Meta, and Amazon, imports actual spend, reconciles planned vs. actual, calculates fees/tax, and generates a locked client-ready invoice. Planacta

The workflow is essentially:

Ad accounts → actual spend → client/account reconciliation → markup/fee → invoice → client approval

That is much closer to what you're describing than ordinary invoicing software.

Strong alternative: Billed

Billed looks particularly good if your priority is flexible agency billing rather than pulling spend directly from ad platforms. It supports retainers + pass-through media spend + configurable markup on the same invoice. Billed Billed

For example:

Google spend: $20,000
Meta spend: $10,000
Media markup: 15%
Management retainer: $5,000
Client invoice: $40,000

If you need actual ad-spend reconciliation

AdLib is worth looking at for a larger operation. It is designed around campaign/DSP billing, centralizes financial data, generates invoices, and reconciles spend against payments. It explicitly targets organizations managing anywhere from 5 to 500 accounts. AdLib DSP | Scale Smarter. Faster.

My recommendation

One important distinction: don't make QuickBooks/Xero the system that determines the ad-spend bill. They're good accounting systems, but the hard part here is getting actual spend by client/account and turning that into a defensible invoice. Specialized agency billing software is better suited to that layer. KENZ ONE-OS Sidekick Accounting

If you tell me how you currently charge clients (e.g. 15% of ad spend, fixed retainer + 10%, cost-plus, or simply pass-through) and roughly how many client/ad accounts you manage, I can recommend the best stack—including whether you need just one tool or ad-platform API → billing → Stripe/ACH → QuickBooks automation.

If your core problem is “pull ad spend from many client ad accounts → calculate what each client owes → send invoices automatically”, I’d separate the ad-spend data layer from the actual invoicing/accounting layer.

My top pick: AgencyAnalytics + accounting/invoicing

AgencyAnalytics is particularly strong for the ad-spend side. It connects to Google Ads, Meta/Facebook Ads, Microsoft Ads, TikTok, LinkedIn, Amazon Ads and other paid-media platforms, and supports multiple accounts within a client. AgencyAnalytics Knowledge Base AgencyAnalytics Knowledge Base

More importantly for your use case, it has PPC spend markup functionality: you can apply a client-specific or account-wide markup to ad spend, so the system can calculate the client-facing amount rather than making you manually calculate it. AgencyAnalytics

A typical workflow would be:

Google Ads / Meta / TikTok accounts
→ AgencyAnalytics
→ calculate actual spend + your markup/management fee
→ invoice system
→ client pays
→ accounting system reconciles

If you want the whole billing operation automated

I'd look at AgencyAnalytics + Stripe + QuickBooks Online rather than trying to force one platform to do everything.

• AgencyAnalytics — source of truth for campaign/ad spend and client-facing reporting.
• Stripe — automated payment collection, cards/ACH, recurring charges, payment failures, etc.
• QuickBooks Online — accounting, reconciliation, tax reporting and financial records.
• Zapier/Make or a custom integration — moves the calculated monthly amount from the reporting layer into the invoice/payment workflow.

AgencyAnalytics itself has a Stripe integration, and its broader integration ecosystem includes 85+ marketing data sources. AgencyAnalytics Knowledge Base AgencyAnalytics

One important distinction

If by “billing tied to ad spend” you mean:

Client has $12,438.72 of actual Meta + Google spend this month, and I want the system to automatically invoice them $12,438.72 + 15% markup + $2,000 management fee.

That's a more specialized workflow than ordinary recurring invoicing. AgencyAnalytics is excellent at getting and presenting the spend, but I wouldn't make it your accounting system.

For that scenario, I'd build:

Ad platforms → AgencyAnalytics/API → billing calculation → Stripe invoice → QuickBooks

That gives you an auditable calculation for every invoice instead of having accounting software try to understand dozens of advertising accounts.

If you tell me (1) which ad platforms you manage, (2) roughly how many client/ad accounts, and (3) whether you bill actual spend, spend + %, flat management fees, or all three, I can recommend the best exact stack and show you what the automation would look like end-to-end.

If you mean an agency that manages Google/Meta/etc. ad accounts for multiple clients and wants invoices automatically generated from actual media spend, I’d shortlist these:

• billed.app — best for billing-first workflows. It specifically supports retainers + pass-through media spend + markup, with ad spend shown separately on the invoice. Billed Billed
• agencyanalytics.com — best for the reporting + billing-data side. It connects multiple Google Ads/Meta accounts, tracks spend across clients, and can apply PPC markups per client/account. However, I'd pair it with accounting/invoicing software rather than treat it as your accounting system. AgencyAnalytics AgencyAnalytics AgencyAnalytics
• kenzmena.com — worth evaluating if you want everything in one system. It claims to pull spend from Google, Meta, TikTok, Snap and X, automatically populate invoices, reconcile expenses, and show profitability by client/campaign. Kenzmena
• planacta.com — interesting for media agencies. It is designed around the exact plan → actual spend → reconciliation → invoice workflow, currently importing Google, Meta and Amazon spend. Planacta

My pick

For a performance marketing agency, I'd lean toward a two-layer setup:

Ad platforms → AgencyAnalytics → Billed/Xero → client invoice

That gives you reliable multi-account spend aggregation while keeping invoicing/accounting separate and auditable. AgencyAnalytics explicitly supports multiple accounts per client and multi-client spend reporting. AgencyAnalytics AgencyAnalytics

If your requirement is specifically “at month-end, pull actual spend from 30+ Google/Meta accounts, add our 15% markup + retainer, generate/send each client's invoice automatically, and reconcile payment”, I'd evaluate Billed vs. KENZ vs. a custom AgencyAnalytics → Xero workflow first.

If you tell me (1) number of client accounts, (2) Google/Meta/TikTok mix, (3) whether clients pay the ad platforms directly or pay you, and (4) your markup model, I can narrow this to the best 1–2 options.

If you’re an ad/marketing agency billing clients based on actual ad spend across multiple Google, Meta, TikTok, etc. accounts, I’d prioritize a tool that sits between the ad platforms and your accounting system—not just a generic invoicing app.

My shortlist

Planacta is the one I'd investigate first. It is specifically designed around the workflow: plan media → pull actual spend from Google/Meta/Amazon → reconcile it → calculate fees/tax → generate the client invoice. It also supports multiple clients and campaign-level reconciliation. Planacta

Billed is particularly compelling if your invoices aren't just ad spend—for example, you charge a $3,000 retainer + 12% of media spend + creative/project fees. It explicitly supports media-spend pass-throughs, percentage markups, recurring billing, and mixed service invoices. Billed Billed

What I'd build around it

For a typical agency, I'd aim for:

Google Ads / Meta / TikTok accounts
↓
Automated spend aggregation
↓
Client/account mapping
↓
Billing rule — e.g. 15% of actual spend or $2,500 + 10% spend
↓
Invoice approval
↓
Stripe/ACH payment
↓
QuickBooks/Xero

The critical feature is actual-spend reconciliation. You don't want someone manually exporting 30 ad accounts into a spreadsheet every month and then copying numbers into invoices.

One caveat: Planacta currently advertises direct imports from Google, Meta and Amazon, with spreadsheets for other channels; if TikTok, LinkedIn, Microsoft Ads, etc. are important to you, I'd verify those integrations before committing. Planacta

If you tell me how you currently charge clients (e.g. 10% of spend, flat management fee, % + retainer, or pass-through + markup) and roughly how many client/ad accounts you manage, I can narrow this to the best 2–3 options and map out the automation.

If you mean an agency that manages paid ads for multiple clients and wants invoices automatically calculated from actual ad spend, I’d narrow it to these:

Best fit: Planacta

planacta.com is probably the closest match to your exact workflow. It is built around media planning → actual ad spend → reconciliation → client invoice. It can import spend from Google Ads, Meta, and Amazon, match campaigns to planned budget lines, reconcile actual vs. planned spend, and generate client-ready invoices. Planacta

I’d pick it if: your billing is essentially “client spent $X in ads, therefore invoice $X / X% + fee.”

Best all-in-one agency option: Plai

plai.io is more of an ad-management + agency operations + billing platform. It supports multiple client workspaces and specifically advertises charging clients based on a percentage of ad spend or a recurring subscription, with Stripe billing. Plai Plai

I’d pick it if: you also want to manage/optimize campaigns, reporting, client access, and billing in one system.

Best if billing/accounting is the priority

A stack like Xero/QuickBooks + an ad-spend integration layer is better if you need serious accounting controls rather than an agency operating system. For PPC agencies, connecting Google/Meta spend into the accounting system can eliminate manual reconciliation. Sidekick Accounting

One newer option worth looking at

clientplug.io connects Meta, Google Ads, and Stripe, assigning ad accounts to individual clients and pulling spend, campaign performance, and payment status into a central dashboard. ClientPlug It's more client/agency-management oriented than pure invoicing.

What I'd choose

The key distinction is whether you are paying the ad platforms yourself and then passing the spend through to clients, versus simply charging a management fee based on their spend. That changes the ideal architecture considerably.

If you tell me (1) Google/Meta/etc., (2) how you charge—% of spend, markup, flat fee, or hybrid—and (3) roughly how many client ad accounts, I can recommend the exact stack and automation workflow.

If you mean a marketing/paid-media agency that manages many Google/Meta/TikTok accounts and wants client invoices to automatically reflect actual ad spend, I’d separate the problem into two layers:

1. Ad-spend data + billing logic
2. Accounting / payment collection

My shortlist

For your exact use case, I'd start with Billed or a Billed + Xero/QuickBooks architecture. Billed specifically supports pass-through costs, media-spend markup, recurring billing, and per-client billing rules, which is much closer to the workflow you're describing than generic invoicing software. Billed Billed

The important distinction is that Google Ads' own consolidated billing isn't really client invoicing software. Google can consolidate multiple Ads accounts under a manager account into one monthly Google invoice and provide account-level cost reporting, but you still need your own system to turn those costs into invoices to your clients. Google Help

What I'd build

For example, if you have:

• 30 clients
• 80 Google/Meta accounts
• $500k/month media spend
• 10% markup on spend
• separate monthly management retainers

I'd want the system to automatically do:

Ad platforms → account/client mapping → actual spend → markup/fee calculation → invoice draft → client approval → payment → accounting reconciliation

So Client A might automatically receive:

Google Ads spend: $18,420.37
Meta Ads spend: $7,812.44
Media management fee (10%): $2,623.28
Monthly retainer: $4,000
Total: $32,856.09

And, crucially, the system should retain the underlying platform spend so your finance team can reconcile the invoice.

That's where generic tools like FreshBooks or QuickBooks start requiring additional automation. They are good invoicing/accounting systems, but they generally aren't the system that knows "Client 17 owns Google Ads accounts X/Y/Z, and this month's spend across those accounts is $X." Industry comparisons similarly point to accounting platforms needing connectors/middleware for live ad-platform data. US Tech Automations Sidekick Accounting

If you're choosing one today

I'd rank them:

1. Billed — best if the central problem is agency billing based on media spend.
2. Productive — better if you also want agency resource/project/margin management.
3. Xero + an ad-spend connector/automation layer — best if you want a flexible, scalable finance architecture.
4. QuickBooks Online + automation layer — especially attractive if you're US-based and your accountant already lives in QBO.
5. FreshBooks — excellent for straightforward client invoicing, but I'd avoid making it the core system for a complex multi-account paid-media operation.

One other thing I'd be careful about: how the ad spend hits your P&L. If you're fronting client media spend, you generally don't want your financial reporting to make $500k of client media look like $500k of agency revenue. The accounting treatment should distinguish pass-through/client-funded spend from your actual agency revenue and markup. Prophet Accounting

If you tell me roughly how many clients/accounts you have, whether you front the ad spend or clients pay platforms directly, your markup model, and whether you're on QuickBooks/Xero, I can recommend the specific stack and automation architecture I'd use.

That's where generic tools like FreshBooks or QuickBooks start requiring additional automation. They are good invoicing/accounting systems, but they generally aren't the system that knows "Client 17 owns Google Ads accounts X/Y/Z, and this month's spend across those accounts is $X." Industry comparisons similarly point to accounting platforms needing connectors/middleware for live ad-platform data.

If you're choosing one today

I'd rank them:

If your core requirement is “pull actual ad spend from multiple client accounts → reconcile it → calculate fees/markup → generate client-ready invoices automatically,” I’d look at media-spend-specific billing software, rather than a generic invoicing app.

My shortlist

1. planacta.com — best fit for your exact workflow

• Imports actual spend from Google Ads, Meta, and Amazon.
• Maps spend against planned budgets.
• Reconciles planned vs. actual.
• Calculates fees/tax and generates locked invoices with an audit trail.
• Designed specifically around the agency workflow: plan → import spend → reconcile → bill. Planacta
• It's currently in early access, so I'd verify its maturity and accounting integrations before making it your production billing system.
• clientplug.io — best if you also want client/account management

• Combines Meta + Google Ads performance data with client payment tracking.
• More of an agency operating dashboard than a dedicated media-finance system. ClientPlug ClientPlug
• I'd choose this if your pain is managing lots of clients/accounts, rather than rigorous financial reconciliation.
• productive.io — best for broader agency profitability

• Stronger if you need projects, budgets, time, margins, and billing in one system.
• Less purpose-built around actual ad-platform spend → client invoice than Planacta. US Tech Automations
• QuickBooks/Xero + an ad-spend reconciliation layer — best for a mature finance stack

• If your accounting needs are serious, I'd keep QuickBooks or Xero as the accounting system of record and connect ad-platform spend into it.
• Dedicated reconciliation tools can match platform invoices/spend against client billing rules and flag discrepancies. Upsta Analytics Sidekick Accounting

What I'd pick

For an agency managing, say, 20–100+ client ad accounts, I'd architect it like this:

Google/Meta/Amazon accounts → spend ingestion → client/account mapping → reconciliation → markup/management fee → invoice → accounting/payment

The critical feature isn't merely automated invoices. It's having an immutable answer to:

“Why is this client's invoice $X, and can I prove that $X ties back to the actual platform spend?”

That's where purpose-built reconciliation is substantially better than simply generating recurring invoices. Ad-spend reconciliation involves matching the approved budget, platform-recorded spend, and amount ultimately billed to the client. Spendwake Alto Accounting

If you tell me your setup — e.g. Meta + Google, number of client accounts, whether clients pay ad spend directly or you front it, markup/fee model, and whether you use QuickBooks/Xero — I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 tools and the exact automation stack I'd use.

If your core requirement is “pull actual ad spend across many client accounts → apply each client’s billing rule → generate/send invoices”, I’d shortlist these:

My pick

For a performance marketing agency, I'd start with Planacta. Its workflow is unusually close to what you're describing: ad-platform spend → client/account mapping → reconciliation → fee/tax calculation → locked invoice. It currently supports Google, Meta, and Amazon. Planacta

If you also need the system to manage campaigns, client portals, reporting, and billing, I'd look harder at Plai.

One important distinction: if you pay the ad platforms yourself and then rebill clients, rather than clients paying Google/Meta directly, UpHex or KENZ become particularly interesting because cash collection and spend funding are part of the workflow.

Also, if you're Google Ads-only, there's a very focused option called Spend to Invoice that pulls spend from a Google Ads manager account and applies per-client flat/percentage fee rules—but it's currently beta and doesn't support Meta or accounting-system sync. spendtoinvoice.com

If you tell me (1) Google/Meta/both, (2) whether clients pay the ad platforms directly or you front the spend, and (3) whether your fee is % of spend, flat fee, or both, I can narrow this to the best 1–2 tools and map out the exact automation.

If your goal is client-facing invoices that automatically reflect actual ad spend across multiple client ad accounts, I’d separate the problem into two layers:

My recommendation

Best overall stack: Google Ads Manager Account (MCC) + an agency billing/accounting platform + automation layer.

• Google Ads Manager Account (MCC) — the source of truth for spend across your Google Ads client accounts. It lets you manage multiple accounts centrally and supports consolidated billing in eligible setups. Google Help Google
• Productive — my pick if you're running an agency and want client/account profitability, budgets, billing and invoicing in one operational system. It is specifically designed around agencies and connects budgets/resources/billing. Productive
• QuickBooks Online — use this as the accounting system of record if you need robust bookkeeping, reconciliation and tax reporting.
• Stripe — useful for actually collecting the client invoice automatically.

If the core requirement is "invoice = ad spend + markup"

I'd actually build the workflow like this:

Google Ads / Meta Ads → spend data → automation → invoice calculation → QuickBooks/Stripe → client

For example:

Client A: $12,450 actual ad spend
Agency fee: 15% = $1,867.50
Management fee: $2,000
Invoice: $16,317.50

The automation should pull the actual spend by client/account, calculate your markup or management fee, generate the invoice, and send it to the client. That avoids manually reconciling dozens of ad accounts every month.

One important distinction

If you're asking specifically about Google Ads paying/charging multiple accounts, Google Ads Manager Account is unusually strong: eligible advertisers can put multiple accounts under consolidated monthly invoicing, with the invoice showing spend by individual account. Google Help

But Google's billing isn't the same thing as your agency's client invoicing. You still need your own system if you're charging clients for spend + markup + management fees.

If you tell me whether you're managing Google Ads only, or Google + Meta + TikTok, and whether you front the ad spend or the client pays the platforms directly, I can recommend the exact stack and automation architecture.

If you mean “pull actual ad spend from multiple Google/Meta/etc. accounts → apply each client’s markup/fee → generate a client-facing invoice → collect payment → reconcile to accounting,” I’d look at specialized agency billing rather than a generic invoicing tool.

My shortlist

• plai.io — best if you want the most direct ad-spend → billing workflow. It supports charging a percentage of monthly ad spend through Stripe, with billing configured separately for each client workspace. Plai
• billed.app — best for flexible agency invoices. It specifically supports media-spend pass-throughs, configurable markup, retainers, and multiple service lines on the same invoice. Billed
• agencyanalytics.com — best for the client-facing reporting layer. It can connect multiple paid-ad accounts and apply PPC spend markups per client/account, but I would pair it with an actual accounting/billing system rather than make it your accounting system. AgencyAnalytics AgencyAnalytics
• xero.com or quickbooks.intuit.com — best as the accounting system underneath. For complex PPC agency workflows, Xero's integration ecosystem can be particularly useful; specialized connectors can feed ad-spend data into it. Sidekick Accounting
• finovoo.com — worth considering if you're actually fronting the ad spend. It combines dedicated media cards, client-specific spend tracking, automated rebilling, and client-ready expense reports. Finovoo

What I'd choose

For a performance marketing agency with lots of client ad accounts, my preferred architecture would be:

Google Ads + Meta Ads + other platforms
↓
ad-spend aggregation/reconciliation
↓
client-specific markup or management fee
↓
automated invoice + Stripe payment
↓
Xero/QuickBooks accounting + reconciliation

If you tell me (1) roughly how many clients/accounts, (2) Google/Meta/TikTok/etc., (3) whether you front the ad spend or clients pay platforms directly, and (4) whether you charge % markup, flat fee, or both, I can narrow this to the best 1–2 tools and the exact automation stack.

If you mean “I manage multiple Google/Meta ad accounts, front or track the media spend, then automatically invoice each client for actual spend + my management fee”, I’d look at agency-specific billing software rather than plain QuickBooks/Stripe.

My shortlist

• staypunctual.com — best fit for ad-spend rebilling. It is specifically designed around media-spend pass-through: keeping ad spend separate from revenue, tracking what you've fronted, applying client-specific markup, and rebilling it. Punctual
• billed.app — best for flexible agency invoicing. It supports retainers, pass-through media spend, configurable percentage/fixed markups, and mixed service invoices. Billed
• chargeover.com — best if billing automation/collections are the priority. It can put retainer + project work + ad-spend pass-through on one automated invoice and sync with QuickBooks. ChargeOver
• agiled.app — best if you want billing + CRM/project management + client profitability in one system. It supports client-attributed expenses, recurring billing and pass-through costs. Agiled
• kenzmena.com — worth evaluating for a larger performance agency. It specifically positions itself around linking ad-platform spend to client invoices and profitability across multiple ad accounts. KENZ ONE-OS

What I'd choose

For a paid-media agency, my first test would be Punctual if your core problem is:

Google Ads + Meta Ads → actual client spend → markup/management fee → invoice → payment → accounting reconciliation.

If you need a more complete financial/agency-operations system, I'd test Billed or Agiled alongside it.

One important distinction: the invoicing tool and the ad-data connector may be two different pieces. You want to verify that the system can actually pull actual spend from each Google/Meta account, rather than merely letting you enter an ad-spend amount manually. Xero/QuickBooks can be the accounting ledger, but they generally aren't the layer I'd rely on for this operational workflow. sidekickaccounting.co.uk KENZ ONE-OS

If you tell me how many clients/accounts you manage, whether you pay the ad platforms yourself or clients pay them directly, and whether your fee is % of spend or flat, I can narrow this to the best 2–3-tool stack for your exact setup.

If you mean “pull actual ad spend from multiple Google/Meta/etc. accounts, apply each client’s markup/fee rules, and automatically produce client-facing invoices”, I’d look at this as a media-spend reconciliation + billing problem rather than generic invoicing.

My top picks

1. Planacta — best fit for exactly this workflow

• Built specifically for advertising agencies.
• Imports actual spend from Google Ads, Meta, and Amazon, matches it to planned budgets, reconciles planned vs. actual, calculates fees/taxes, and generates invoices. Planacta
• Particularly attractive if you have many client accounts and need the invoice to be mathematically tied to actual spend.
• It is newer/early-stage, though, so I'd validate its maturity and integrations before making it your financial system of record.
• Billed — best if the invoicing side is the priority

• Specifically supports media-spend pass-through with markup, separate retainers/project charges/ad spend, and recurring agency billing. Billed
• I'd consider this if your spend data can be fed in from another system and you primarily need excellent automated billing.
• AgencyAnalytics — best if client reporting + spend markup are also important

• Connects to lots of marketing platforms and lets you apply PPC spend markups per client or account-wide. AgencyAnalytics G2
• But I'd treat it as the reporting/spend layer, not necessarily your accounting system. You'd likely pair it with QuickBooks/Xero or dedicated billing automation.
• Function Point / Workamajig — best for a larger agency needing an agency ERP

• More comprehensive: projects, expenses, media costs, billing, profitability, etc.
• Function Point supports batch invoicing and QuickBooks integration. Function Point
• Workamajig is oriented toward advertising/creative agencies and specifically discusses media buys and client-billable costs. Workamajig
• Probably overkill if you're primarily a paid-media agency.

What I'd choose

For a performance marketing agency managing lots of client ad accounts, my shortlist would be:

Planacta → Billed → AgencyAnalytics + QuickBooks

The ideal architecture is:

Google Ads / Meta / Amazon
→ actual spend
→ client/account mapping
→ reconciliation
→ markup / management fee
→ invoice
→ payment collection + accounting

The key thing I'd avoid is a setup where someone exports spend from each Ads Manager into a spreadsheet and then manually creates invoices. The software should maintain a deterministic relationship like:

Client A / Google Ads Account X / August spend = $42,817.32 → 15% markup → $49,240 invoice line

That becomes especially important when you have multiple ad accounts per client, multiple clients, different markup percentages, retainers, minimum fees, taxes, and credit adjustments.

If you tell me roughly how many clients/accounts you manage, whether you bill ad spend as pass-through or with markup, and whether you use QuickBooks/Xero/Stripe, I can narrow this down to the best 2–3 options and show you the exact automation I'd build.

If you mean an agency that manages Google/Meta/etc. ad spend for multiple clients and wants invoices to automatically reflect actual spend, I’d shortlist these:

My #1: ChargeOver

For the specific workflow “pull together retainer + actual ad spend + management fee → generate/send invoice → collect payment → sync accounting”, ChargeOver is probably the closest fit.

It explicitly supports putting ad spend you fronted, management fees, and recurring retainers onto one automated invoice, with scheduled sending and QuickBooks synchronization. chargeover.com

The architecture I'd use is:

Google Ads / Meta / other platforms
↓
spend aggregation/reconciliation
↓
billing rules per client
↓
ChargeOver
↓
Stripe/ACH → payment collection
↓
QuickBooks/Xero

If the difficult part is calculating the invoice

I'd actually look hard at Planacta. It imports actual spend from Google, Meta and Amazon, reconciles planned vs. actual, calculates fees/taxes from the reconciled figures, and generates locked client invoices. www.planacta.comagencyanalytics.com

That's particularly attractive if your model is something like:

Client budget: $20,000
Actual spend: $18,742.63
Agency fee: 15%
Retainer: $2,500
Invoice = automatically calculated from actuals

If you're actually fronting the ad spend

Then UpHex deserves serious consideration. Its rebilling system supports agency-funded ad accounts, client ad credits, automatic recharges, thresholds, payment failure handling, and management-fee billing. uphex.com

One important distinction

I'd not make AgencyAnalytics the core billing system. It's excellent for consolidating PPC data across client accounts and can apply PPC spend markups, but its sweet spot is client reporting, rather than being your accounting/AR system. agencyanalytics.com

So my ranking for your use case:

1. 🥇 ChargeOver — best actual billing/invoicing automation
2. 🥈 Planacta — best media-spend reconciliation + invoicing
3. 🥉 UpHex — best if you're actively rebilling/fronting ad spend
4. Plai — best if you want ads + reporting + billing in one ecosystem
5. AgencyAnalytics — best as the reporting/client-facing layer

If you tell me (a) how many client accounts, (b) Google vs Meta vs other platforms, (c) whether you front the ad spend, and (d) whether you charge % of spend, flat fee, or both, I can narrow this to the best 1–2-stack architecture rather than just software options.

If your core problem is “take actual ad spend across many client ad accounts, add our management fee/markup, generate a client-facing invoice, collect payment, and sync the books”, I’d look at ChargeOver first.

My shortlist

Why ChargeOver stands out for your use case: it explicitly supports putting retainers, project work, fronted ad spend, and your management fee onto one automated invoice, with the ad spend treated as a pass-through and the fee calculated on top. It also supports recurring billing, payment collection, failed-payment recovery, and syncing with QuickBooks. ChargeOver

chargeover.com

Productive is probably the better choice if you also want your billing system to understand client profitability, budgets, projects, time, retainers, and expenses. It can automate recurring invoices and combine multiple budgets/services into invoices, then push the accounting side into QuickBooks/Xero. Productive

productive.io

What I'd build

For a paid-media agency, I'd aim for this workflow:

Meta Ads + Google Ads accounts → actual spend → billing rules → client invoice → automatic payment → accounting

For example:

Client spends $18,420 across Google + Meta
→ automatically pull/approve spend
→ apply 15% management markup
→ add $3,000 monthly retainer
→ generate one itemized invoice
→ email client
→ charge ACH/card
→ sync revenue, expense/pass-through and payment to accounting

The important distinction is that ordinary invoicing software isn't necessarily the answer. The difficult part is getting reliable spend data out of multiple ad accounts and translating it into billing rules. Current agency-finance guidance similarly recommends connecting ad platforms to the accounting/billing layer rather than manually reconciling spreadsheets. Sidekick Accounting

My pick: ChargeOver if billing automation is the #1 objective; Productive if you want an agency operating system that includes billing and profitability.

If you tell me (1) Google Ads/Meta/both, (2) whether you front the ad spend or clients pay the platforms directly, (3) your markup/fee model, and (4) QuickBooks or Xero, I can narrow this down to the best stack and automation architecture for you.

If you mean an agency running Google/Meta ads for many clients, where the client invoice should automatically reflect actual ad spend + your management fee, I’d avoid trying to make the accounting platform itself the whole automation layer.

My pick: Stripe + an automation/data layer + accounting

Best overall stack:

1. Ad platforms → data/automation layer

• Pull spend from each Google Ads / Meta account.
• Map each ad account to the correct client.
• Calculate the billable amount, e.g.: - $8,420 ad spend
• - 15% management fee = $1,263
• = $9,683 client invoice
• stripe.com → client-facing billing

• Stripe supports invoices and usage-based/metered billing, so the variable monthly amount can be fed into the billing system rather than manually creating invoices. Stripe Support Stripe Support
• This is particularly attractive if you want automatic card/ACH collection, payment reminders, and a polished client payment experience.
• quickbooks.intuit.com or xero.com → accounting

• Keep your actual books, expenses, revenue, reconciliation, etc. here.
• QuickBooks supports recurring invoices and automated payment collection, but I'd use it primarily as the accounting system rather than the ad-spend calculation engine. QuickBooks
• For PPC agencies specifically, Xero's API/ecosystem can be advantageous when you need a more customized integration between ad platforms, spend, and billing. Sidekick Accounting

If you want the fewest moving parts

I'd seriously consider:

Google Ads + Meta → Stripe → QuickBooks/Xero

with a small automation layer in the middle.

The critical piece isn't actually the invoicing software—it's the spend reconciliation layer. You need something that knows:

Ad account A → Client X → August spend = $12,431.27 → billing rule = 12% → invoice = $13,922.??

and can handle things like credits, refunds, multiple ad accounts, different markups, spending caps, tax, and clients who have both fixed retainers and percentage-of-spend fees.

Stripe's usage-based billing is designed to handle variable quantities during a billing period, which maps nicely onto this model. Stripe Support Stripe

What I'd choose by situation

One important distinction: if by "multiple accounts" you mean dozens/hundreds of Google Ads and Meta ad accounts across clients, I'd design the system around the ad-account → client → billing-rule mapping, rather than around invoices. That's what makes the system scalable.

If you tell me roughly how many clients/ad accounts you have, whether clients pay the ad platforms directly or you pay them, and whether you charge a % of spend or a fixed fee, I can recommend the exact stack (including the automation tool) and architecture.

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.