What Is an Active Client Account?
An active client account is the unit ProjectSend Cloud bills on. Here's what counts, what doesn't, and how to keep your plan cost predictable.
· By ProjectSend Team
An active client account is any client with an account on your ProjectSend Cloud portal that is not archived and not deleted. It is the unit your plan is priced on - not seats, not storage, not the number of files you share. The Pro plan includes 25 at $19/month; Business has unlimited for $49/month. Archive a client when an engagement ends and they stop counting. Clients never pay anything.
What Makes a Client Account Active?
A client account is active if it exists on your portal, has not been archived, and has not been deleted. That is the complete definition. An account does not need to have been recently used - one sitting untouched for six months still counts toward your plan if it has not been archived.
Every client account is in one of three states:
- Active - counts toward your plan. The client can log in, download files, and leave comments.
- Archived - does not count. Files and history are preserved; the account can be restored at any time.
- Deleted - does not count and cannot be recovered. Use this only for duplicate or outdated entries.
Archiving is the right default when an engagement closes. The files stay on your portal for your own records, but the client cannot log in. If a former client returns next year, unarchive the account - it is exactly as you left it.
How Client Accounts Work Across Plans
Each tier handles the count differently. For a broader look at ProjectSend Cloud pricing, browse the Pricing & plans section of the blog.
- Free ($0): no client accounts. A personal account on the shared instance - 2 GB, a private download link per file. No branded portal, no client accounts, no staff seats.
- Pro ($19/month): 25 active client accounts included, then $0.40 per additional account per month. Includes 3 staff seats and 100 GB of storage.
- Business ($49/month): unlimited active client accounts. Also includes SSO (OIDC), enforced 2FA, and exportable audit logs.
- Enterprise: unlimited accounts with dedicated infrastructure and annual contracts. Talk to us for a quote.
On Pro, going past 25 does not require an upgrade. You pay $0.40 per extra account that month. A firm with 30 active client accounts pays $19 + (5 x $0.40) = $21/month.
What a Typical Small Firm's Client Load Looks Like
More than 90% of CPA firms in the United States have fewer than 20 employees, according to the 2024 CPA Trendlines Almanac. Most small firms carry 15 to 40 active client engagements at any given time. With proactive archiving when work wraps up, most Pro customers keep their active count within the included 25.
The IRS reports more than 208,000 CPAs holding active preparer registration numbers, as of August 2026. The vast majority work in small practices, managing client files on a rolling annual schedule. The Pro plan is built for exactly this workflow.
Example: a 3-person tax firm has 28 active clients from January through April and 18 the rest of the year. During tax season they pay $19 + (3 x $0.40) = $20.20/month. After archiving 10 seasonal clients in May, the cost drops back to $19. Archiving is the lever that keeps the annual bill predictable.
When Does an Account Stop Counting?
An account stops counting toward your plan total in two cases:
- You archive the client. The account is preserved but not active - the right move when an engagement closes.
- You delete the account. Permanent and unrecoverable. Use this for duplicate or invalid entries, not for completed client relationships.
An account does not stop counting just because the client has not logged in for a while. An open account that has not been archived still counts, no matter how quiet it is. Archiving is a deliberate step you take, not something that happens automatically.
Seats vs. Client Accounts: Two Different Numbers
Staff seats and active client accounts are tracked separately. On Pro you get 3 staff seats and 25 client accounts - these numbers are independent of each other. A firm with 2 staff and 24 clients uses 2 of 3 seats and 24 of 25 client account slots. Additional seats on Pro are $4/month each.
If you are comparing ProjectSend Cloud to tools that charge per user for every person in the relationship, the Per-Seat vs. Per-Client Pricing post walks through the full model. The short version: with ProjectSend Cloud you only pay a seat for your own staff - never for the clients you serve.
Habits That Keep Your Client Count Low
- Archive client accounts as soon as an engagement closes, not when the file link expires.
- Review your active list once a quarter - you likely have accounts you forgot to archive.
- Delete only duplicate or invalid accounts. Archiving is almost always the better default.
- If you are on Pro and regularly running over 25 active clients, Business becomes cost-effective around 55 active accounts ($19 + 30 x $0.40 = $31 on Pro vs. $49 flat on Business).
Frequently asked questions
- Does a client account count if the client never logs in?
- Yes. A client account counts as active as long as it exists, is not archived, and is not deleted. Login activity has no effect on the count.
- What happens to my count when I archive a client?
- The account stops counting toward your plan total immediately. Files and history are preserved, and you can restore the account at any time.
- Do my clients pay anything?
- No. Clients never pay. Only the firm pays for the portal; clients access it for free.
- Does the Free plan include client accounts?
- No. The Free plan is a personal account on the shared ProjectSend Cloud instance. It has no branded portal, no client accounts, and no staff seats.
- When does it make sense to upgrade from Pro to Business?
- Pro is $19/month with 25 client accounts included, then $0.40 each. Business is $49/month with unlimited accounts. If you consistently run more than around 55 active client accounts, Business costs less than Pro with overages.
ProjectSend Team. Written by the people who build and maintain ProjectSend, the open source client file portal (since 2011), and run ProjectSend Cloud.
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