Features · Cost, time & invoicing

Get paid the moment the work ships

Estimate, approve, and bill on the very record the work lives on. When a release is signed off, Align rolls approved time and estimates into a draft invoice — finance just reviews and sends.

Estimates & approvals

Estimates your client approves up front

Draft a three-point estimate in seconds, then route it for sign-off in order — your team, your manager, your client. Nothing starts on a number nobody agreed to.

Low / likely / high estimates as first-class records
Sequential approval: admin → manager → client
Approval gates that block release until cost is signed off
Cost estimate · ALN-2841
Three-point estimate
$4,200
low $3,100 · likely $4,200 · high $6,400
AI draft
Admin
Manager
Client
Time & invoicing

A draft invoice the moment work ships

Log time against the work as it happens, at the right rate. On release, approved time and estimates roll into a draft invoice automatically — no spreadsheet, no copy-paste, no end-of-month reconstruction.

Time captured against the work, billed accurately
Labor and approved estimates rolled into one invoice
Finance reviews and sends — the loop closes
Draft invoice · INV-0042Draft
Acme Retail
Release v2.4 · May 2026
Discovery & scoping$2,400
Checkout fixes (v2.4)$4,200
QA & release$1,880
Saved-card support$4,000
Total due$12,480
What’s included

Everything in this area

Three-point estimates
Cost approval chain
Time tracking
Planned vs. actual
Draft invoices
Billing portal
Release cost gates
Cost reports
Questions

Cost, time & invoicing, answered

Who actually sends the invoice?
Align generates a draft on release; finance reviews and sends it. Nothing goes to a client automatically — a person always has the final say.
Can clients approve estimates before work begins?
Yes. Cost approval runs in order through your team, your manager, and your client, and a release can be gated so it cannot ship until the money is signed off.

See it on a real project, end to end

A 25-minute walkthrough with the Align team — we’ll show you this in the context of the whole loop.