Your whole client relationship, on software you own
Most agencies run client work across a pile of disconnected apps — one tool for projects, another for invoices, a shared drive for files, email threads for approvals and a separate e-sign service for contracts. Clients end up with five logins and no single place to see what is happening. Keel replaces that sprawl with a single, self-hosted, white-label client portal that covers the entire relationship: onboarding, projects, tasks, time, files, messaging, billing, payments and signatures — all in one place that carries your brand, not someone else's.
It is built for studios, agencies and freelancers who want a polished, professional client experience without enterprise complexity or a per-seat subscription that grows every time you do.
Why Keel
- You own it. Self-hosted on your own infrastructure, so your client data, files and contracts stay under your control — not locked inside someone else's SaaS.
- Truly white-label. Your logo, your colours, your domain. Clients log in to your portal and never see a third-party brand.
- One purchase, no subscriptions. A single license instead of a recurring per-seat or per-client bill that scales with your roster.
Who it's for
Keel is designed for the people who actually deliver the work, not a billing department:
- Creative agencies — brand, design and web
- Development studios
- Marketing agencies and consultancies
- Solo freelancers and SMB service firms
- Coaches and educators running client engagements
A complete tour of what's inside
White-label client portal
Clients sign in to a branded portal scoped to exactly what they should see — their projects, files, invoices and conversations, and nothing else. Role-based access keeps each client in their own lane while your team sees the full picture.
Onboarding forms
Send a new client a single onboarding form and Keel turns their answers into a client record and a project automatically — no copy-pasting from intake emails, no manual setup before the work can start.
Projects & milestones
Every engagement lives in a project with milestones, files, tags and an optional public share link. Milestones group tasks, track progress automatically and can even trigger an invoice when they are completed — so billing follows delivery instead of trailing weeks behind.
Tasks
Tasks carry status, priority, assignees, subtasks, comments and @mentions, so the whole team — and, where you allow it, the client — stays aligned on what is in flight and what comes next.
Time tracking
A live timer and a billable / non-billable toggle capture every hour against the right project, ready to roll straight into an invoice or a retainer block — no separate timesheet app, no lost hours.
File sharing & approvals
Drag-and-drop uploads keep every deliverable in one place, and tokenized public URLs let clients review and approve files without an account — turning the endless "final_v3_REALLY_final" email chain into a clean, recorded approval.
Client messaging
Per-project message threads with attachments keep every conversation attached to the work it belongs to, so context never gets buried in someone's inbox.
Invoices & payments
Build itemized invoices, export polished PDFs and share public pay links, with payment recording and full audit trails. Recurring billing handles weekly, monthly or yearly retainers, and a reusable services catalog means you are never rebuilding the same line items twice.
Retainers
Sell blocks of hours, track consumption against them in real time and roll unused time over — so retainer clients always know where they stand and you never give away work you have not billed.
E-signatures
Send proposals and contracts for signature with tokenized links, IP-stamped audit trails and reusable templates — closing the loop from quote to signed agreement without a separate e-sign subscription.
Dashboard, goals & insight
A dashboard of stat cards and activity feeds shows the state of the business at a glance, while quarterly goals (NPS, MRR, hours billed) and built-in NPS surveys keep you honest about how the agency — and its client relationships — are really doing.
AI assistant & automation
An optional AI assistant connects to the provider you choose, and outbound webhooks with delivery logs let Keel talk to the rest of your stack. A command palette (Ctrl+K) gets you anywhere in the app in a keystroke.
Security & access control
Role-based permissions, two-factor authentication, encrypted sessions and audit trails come built in, with social sign-on available — accountability and peace of mind without extra plumbing.
A day with Keel
A new client fills in your onboarding form; Keel creates their record and first project before you have finished your coffee. You add milestones and tasks, and your designer starts a live timer as the work begins. A deliverable goes up by drag-and-drop and the client approves it through a tokenized link — no login, no email tennis. Questions stay in the project's message thread. When a milestone completes, an invoice is generated, sent with a public pay link and recorded once paid. A contract for the next phase goes out for e-signature and comes back IP-stamped and filed. At the end of the quarter, the dashboard already shows hours billed, MRR and your NPS score — no exporting, no spreadsheet stitching.
Built on a modern, maintainable stack
Keel is built on Laravel 13 with Livewire, Tailwind CSS, Blade and Alpine.js — a modern, well-supported stack that any Laravel developer can customise and extend. The source code is fully commented and non-obfuscated, a five-step web installer gets you live without SSH or Composer on the server, and it runs on MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite with no Redis required. Deploy on shared hosting, a VPS, cloud (AWS/GCP), cPanel, Docker or Laravel Forge — wherever you already work.
What you actually get
- Self-hosted on infrastructure you choose
- Non-obfuscated source code you can read and adapt
- Commercial use rights under the Standard License
- Single-domain activation you can transfer between domains without repurchasing
- Lifetime access to the version you buy, plus free updates
- A five-step web installer, demo data seeder and HTML documentation to get you live
Try it before you buy
A live demo is available with ready-made logins for the Admin, Agency and Client roles, so you can see exactly what each side sees — your team's full workspace and the client's scoped portal — before committing.
Pricing, support & guarantee
Keel is available under the Standard License for $59, with 6 months of author support included. Need longer? Extend to 12 months for +$8.85 or 18 months for +$14.75 at checkout. Every purchase includes lifetime access to free updates and is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can buy with confidence.
Frequently asked questions
Is Keel really self-hosted and white-label?
Yes — you install it on your own server and brand it with your logo, colours and domain, so clients only ever see your portal and your data stays under your control.
Are there monthly fees?
No. It is a one-time purchase under the Standard License, with optional paid support extensions and free updates.
Can clients use it without an account?
Yes — file approvals, pay links and e-signature requests all use tokenized public links, so clients can act without signing in, while the full portal is there for those who want it.
What if it is not right for me?
Every purchase is covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can try the live demo first.