How to Migrate from Hive to AgencyPro
A 1-2 week migration playbook for agencies escaping Hive's per-user pricing and stitched-together toolchain. Move to an agency platform with projects, time, clients, and billing in one place.
Why agencies switch from Hive
Per-user pricing punishes growth
Hive charges per seat. Adding freelancers, contractors, and part-time collaborators inflates the bill. AgencyPro's flat pricing with unlimited users on higher plans lets agencies grow without a cost penalty.
No native client portal
Hive is internal-team focused. Agencies need client portals with approvals, deliverables, invoices, and messages. AgencyPro is built for external-facing agency work from day one.
No invoicing or retainers
Hive tracks time but doesn't convert time into invoices. Agencies bolt on Harvest, QuickBooks, or Stripe. AgencyPro includes time-to-invoice, retainers, and automated billing cycles.
Built for general productivity, not agencies
Hive targets all knowledge workers. AgencyPro is tuned for agency-specific workflows: proposals, retainers, client approvals, time-to-invoice. You do less workflow tweaking and more client work.
Migration timeline
Week 1: Export and import
- Days 1-2: Export Hive projects, actions, and time entries
- Days 3-4: Configure AgencyPro workspace
- Days 5-7: Import projects, tasks, and team members
Week 2: Add agency features and cut over
- Days 8-10: Enable client portals, invoicing, retainers
- Days 11-12: Invite clients, train team
- Days 13-14: Cancel Hive after one pay period in AgencyPro
Step-by-step migration process
- 1
Audit active Hive projects
List every active project in Hive. Tag them by status: mid-flight, retainer, completed. Completed projects become historical archives. Mid-flight projects migrate last to minimize disruption.
- 2
Export Hive data
Export projects, actions, time entries, and team members as CSV. Download attached files per project. Screenshot any custom views or dashboards for reference.
- 3
Set up AgencyPro workspace
Configure AgencyPro with your custom domain, brand assets, team roles, and project templates that mirror your Hive project patterns.
- 4
Import projects and tasks
Bulk import project CSVs. Map Hive "actions" to AgencyPro tasks. Rebuild project templates for your common engagement types. Set up Kanban boards, Gantt views, and list views as needed.
- 5
Migrate time entries
Import Hive time entries against the correct projects and team members. Preserve billable vs. non-billable classification. This is critical for the time-to-invoice workflow in AgencyPro.
- 6
Activate client portals, invoicing, retainers
Turn on AgencyPro modules that Hive lacks. Invite clients to branded portals. Set up retainer plans with hour pools. Configure recurring invoices.
- 7
Onboard team and invite clients
Run a one-hour team training on AgencyPro. Send branded portal invitations to clients with a short what-is-new note. Most clients appreciate seeing deliverables, invoices, and messages in one place.
- 8
Run parallel, then decommission Hive
Operate both platforms for one pay period to validate time, projects, and billing. Once AgencyPro is the source of truth, cancel Hive and archive final data export.
What data you can migrate
Common migration challenges
Challenge: Translating actions to tasks
Hive "actions" are just tasks with different terminology. Solution: during import, map actions to AgencyPro tasks. Subtasks, assignees, and due dates transfer directly.
Challenge: Clients who never had portal access
Hive didn't give clients portal access. Solution: announce the upgrade positively as "your own branded portal with deliverables, approvals, and invoices." Most clients are thrilled with the added visibility.
Challenge: Bolt-on tool sunsets
Agencies running Hive + Harvest + QuickBooks + portal tool can retire multiple subscriptions. Solution: tally all bolt-on tools, cancel them after AgencyPro goes live, and share the savings as ROI justification.
Post-migration checklist
- All active projects imported with tasks and due dates
- Time entries for the last 90 days imported correctly
- Team members added with correct roles
- Client portals live with branded invitations sent
- Invoicing and retainers configured for active clients
- Kanban, Gantt, and list views set up for recurring project types
- Bolt-on tools (Harvest, separate portal) identified for cancellation
- Hive subscription cancelled after one pay period
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to migrate from Hive to AgencyPro?
Most agencies finish in 1-2 weeks. Hive is primarily a PM tool, so project and task migration is the main workload. Adding client portals and billing in AgencyPro is bonus functionality that takes about 2-3 days to configure.
Can I export data from Hive?
Hive supports CSV exports for projects, actions (tasks), and time entries. Custom views and dashboards must be rebuilt. File attachments can be downloaded per project. Keep a full export archive as backup.
Why are agencies switching from Hive?
Hive charges per user, so agencies with freelancers and contractors see billing grow fast. Hive also lacks native client portals, invoicing, and retainer management, pushing agencies to bolt on multiple tools. AgencyPro includes all of these at a predictable flat price.
Does AgencyPro support Hive-style views (Kanban, Gantt, table)?
Yes. AgencyPro supports Kanban boards, Gantt timelines, list views, and calendar views for projects and tasks. Most teams find the transition easy because the UI paradigms are familiar.
What about Hive AI features?
AgencyPro includes AI features for proposal writing, task suggestions, and report generation, often more tailored to agency workflows than Hive's general productivity AI. Agencies gain AI that matches their actual daily work.
Stop paying Hive per user
Book a demo and we will map your Hive workspace into AgencyPro with unlimited users, native client portals, and native billing, all at a flat monthly price.