Archflow vs BQE CORE: focused architecture practice tool vs all-in-one platform
Both products show up in A&E shortlists, but they aren’t really doing the same job. Archflow is a focused architecture practice management tool: budgets, time, invoicing, consultants, and firm-level reporting. BQE CORE is a broader platform that also includes accounting (GL, AP, payroll) for professional services firms across multiple disciplines.
What you’ll feel different in practice
Pure-play architecture vs broad professional services
Archflow only builds for architecture firms. BQE CORE serves architects, engineers, accountants, and consulting firms in general, which means a different set of trade-offs.
Days to onboard, not months
Archflow covers the project and practice management slice and stays out of accounting. Most firms are running real projects in days. BQE’s broader footprint usually means a longer rollout.
Consultant Directory
Archflow ships Consultant Directory for sharing phases with consultants and approving their invoices. In BQE, consultant coordination tends to flow through the broader project management surface.
Task-level fee budgets
Archflow lets you go from phase down to task on the budget. BQE supports it in some configurations, but it’s not the default architectural workflow.
Side-by-side feature breakdown
How the two products line up on focus, budgeting, billing, sub coordination, operations, and onboarding effort.
| Feature | Archflow | BQE CORE |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | ||
| Architecture-Specific Design | Partial | |
| Industry Focus | Architecture Firms | A&E, Accounting, Professional Services |
| Budgeting | ||
| Phase-Level Budgets | ||
| Task-Level Budgets | Limited | |
| Budget vs Actual | ||
| Time & Billing | ||
| Timesheet Entry | ||
| Invoice Generation | ||
| Budget-to-Invoice Traceability | Partial | |
| Consultant Management | ||
| Consultant Directory | ||
| Consultant Invoice Submission | ||
| Operations | ||
| Multi-Firm Management | Limited | |
| Full Accounting System | ||
| Reporting | ||
| Resource Planning | Planned | |
| Adoption | ||
| Onboarding Complexity | Low | High |
| Implementation Time | Days | Weeks to Months |
Picking between the two
BQE CORE makes sense if…
You’re a multi-discipline A&E firm that wants accounting, payroll, resource planning, and project management running in one place, and you’re willing to invest the rollout time. BQE’s breadth is its strength when you actually need all of it under one roof.
Archflow tends to win when…
You’re an architecture firm, your accounting is fine where it is, and what you really need is task-level fee budgets, a real consultant workflow, and a faster path from kickoff to live. Most of our customers run Archflow alongside QuickBooks or Xero.
Frequently Asked Questions
For most firms, no. BQE has a real general ledger, AP, and payroll inside it. Archflow doesn’t. If those modules are why you bought BQE, you likely keep them. But if you’re mainly using BQE for project management, time, budgets, invoicing, and consultant coordination, Archflow handles that side and is usually faster to live with.
Yes. Archflow is a narrower product, which means there’s less to configure. Most firms are entering real timesheets and producing real invoices within a couple of weeks. BQE rollouts more often run on a multi-month timeline because the accounting side has to be set up properly.
Architecture-side reports, yes — project margin, fee burn, utilization, WIP, AR. The reports BQE produces from inside its accounting modules (financial statements, payroll runs, etc.) are not something Archflow tries to replicate. Most Archflow customers run those out of QuickBooks or whatever accounting tool they already use.
Looking for an architecture-focused tool that won’t take a quarter to roll out?
Book a 30-minute demo