This is a guide, not a pitch: what a video business needs at each stage of growth, which categories of tool exist, where they overlap, what most owners duct-tape together, and what that really costs.
You need a price that includes your costs, a written agreement, and an invoice. A spreadsheet, a free invoicing tool and a free e-signature tier will carry your first projects. A pricing calculator on your site filters enquiries that were never going to convert.
Four categories arrive: a client manager or CRM, an e-signature service, accounting software, and a review platform. The overlaps start immediately, and answering "what did that job actually make?" takes four tabs.
Client management or proposals $40-80, contract e-signature $25-40, accounting and invoicing $30-50, video review and approval $15-30, project management $10-20, plus spreadsheets holding it together. Total $120-220 per month across five or six logins.
Production-phase project tracking others can read, a client portal that handles review, signature, payment and payment-gated delivery, and financial reporting that shows cash flow, pacing and attribution.
Run one real project end to end through anything you evaluate: quote, proposal, contract, deposit invoice, production tracking, a review round, delivery, final invoice.
Ten native modules sharing the same contacts and deals, built for video businesses only. Free is permanent, Pro is $39 per month, Agency is $99 per month.