Softr for Agencies: Client Portals, Client Users and Plan Gates

Yes. Softr can run one client portal for every client you serve, with each client logging in to see only its own projects, files, reports and invoices. Custom user groups and conditional filters do the separating, so you never clone an app per account. Your clients log in as Client users, an allowance kept apart from your staff. For most agencies the working plan is Pro, priced per workspace at $119 per month billed monthly or $99 per month billed annually with 50 AI credits a month, and it includes 50 Client users and removes Softr branding ^[1]. Business adds the installable app, two-factor sign-in for clients and a logo that changes per client. Full white-label with SAML SSO is Enterprise only.

One portal, many clients, no data crossing over

Softr's agency page describes the pattern plainly: a single portal where custom user groups, granular permissions and conditional filters make each client see its own data, with no duplicate apps per client ^[2]. The filter is the workhorse. A conditional record filter can match the logged-in user's email or email domain, so a Projects table filtered on the client's domain shows Acme's people only Acme's rows. Softr runs these visibility checks and record filters on the server side, not in the browser. Pages can be limited to all logged-in users or to specific groups, and anyone without access lands on the Permission Denied page.

Groups handle the roles around that filter. The Client Portal template ships admin, client and consultant groups, where consultants see every client and each client sees its own projects, tasks and invoices. Plan for the group ceiling early. Custom user groups start on Pro with 3, and Business allows 10. An agency that creates one group per client hits that cap fast, so key client separation to the email domain filter and keep groups for roles such as client, client admin and account manager. When a user sits in several groups, the one higher in the Page Rules list wins, and group changes only apply after you publish.

Business also adds global data restrictions, which set rules per table and user group across dynamic blocks, dropdowns and inline filters. They are default-deny. A restriction cannot target one person unless that person is alone in a group, and a Can not rule beats a Can rule when groups conflict. They do not cover the Comments block, though. Check what comment threads reveal before you invite clients, because one careless thread can show a rival account's project name.

How Softr counts your clients, your staff and your freelancers

Every login is sorted into one of two buckets. Team users share a business email domain with any builder in your workspace; everyone else is a Client user, and Gmail or Outlook addresses always land in the Client bucket. Softr counts unique emails across all your published apps, so a client contact who uses two of your portals counts once. Deactivated users do not count, and builders can be added as app users without touching the allowance. Visitors who never log in are not limited at all, though anything on a public page is public.

For an agency, that rule sorts people neatly. Your account managers on the agency domain are Team users. Clients at their own companies are Client users, and so are freelancers who sign in with personal addresses. Free gives 5 app users in total with no split. Basic includes 5 Team and 5 Client users and cannot buy more, which rules it out for most client work. Pro includes 10 Team and 50 Client users, and Business 30 Team and 100 Client users.

Past the included count, Pro charges $1 per extra Client user and $3 per extra Team user per month, while Business charges $2 and $5 ^[3]. Those extras are billed monthly even on an annual plan, after a 7-day grace period, and only up to a limit per plan. At that limit new users can still be created but stay deactivated until you free space or upgrade, and if payment for extras keeps failing, users beyond the included allowance are deactivated until the payment is resolved. Plan prices are per workspace and before tax, and a yearly plan is paid upfront for 12 months. Our Softr pricing guide walks through the billing rules in full.

Which plan an agency portal actually needs

Pro is the realistic floor because it bundles the pieces clients notice: no Softr branding, a custom email sender, Email OTP and Google sign-in, and client actions such as comments and mentions, inline editing, CSV and PDF export and e-signature. Webhook triggers and the Call API step in workflows also start there. Business earns its price through features rather than headcount. By our arithmetic the step from Pro to Business adds $276 per month billed monthly or $230 per month billed annually, per workspace; extra Client users on Pro cost $1 per user per month, up to a per-plan limit. Move up when you need the installable app, push notifications, client 2FA, domain-restricted signup, global data restrictions, workspace teams or bring-your-own AI key.

Some agencies prefer to give each client a separate workspace. Softr allows more than one workspace, for example one per client, and each carries its own plan and billing, managed only by that workspace's owner. A project moves to another workspace only if the destination plan supports what it uses, such as its app-user count, and data sources may need reconnecting. The Guest role suits that setup, since guests see only the teams or projects shared with them. Guests with Studio access count as builders, though, so each client workspace may need paid extra builders beyond its included 1, 2 or 3. Every workspace keeps its own allowances, credits and usage meters, so you track several of each.

Dressing the portal in your agency's brand

Branding moves in steps. Free shows a Softr badge, Basic keeps light branding, and Pro removes it. A custom domain arrives with Basic, and Basic, Pro and Business each include one; Softr charges $15 per month billed monthly for each additional custom domain, or $13 per month billed annually. Apps on softr.app subdomains are unlimited on every plan, so internal staging copies cost nothing extra.

Email is the detail clients spot first. A custom email sender is a Pro feature, and until the sender address is confirmed the app keeps mailing from the default softr.app address. Sending from your own domain also needs DKIM and Return-Path records in your DNS, so loop in whoever manages it. On Business, the custom theme gains a dynamic logo that reads each user's logo from a field in your data, which lets one shared portal greet every client under its own mark. Softr's agency page puts full white-label, together with SAML SSO and database audit logging, on Enterprise.

What a client's week inside the portal looks like

A typical week starts with an intake form. Forms can reveal sections conditionally from Basic, with 2 branches there and unlimited branching from Pro. The request lands in your database, and a workflow can alert the account team or create tasks. From there, clients check campaign status, comment on deliverables, approve work through action buttons and download reports. Chart blocks respect permissions, so one dashboard page shows each client its own numbers. The Client Portal template also lets clients pay invoices through Stripe or PayPal from inside the portal.

Two limits shape the routine work. Workflows run on a monthly action allowance, 2,500 on Basic and 10,000 on Pro, and they pause when it runs out; actions inside a loop count once per item, as our Softr workflows guide explains. Ask AI, which lets clients question live data inside the portal, draws on the workspace's AI credits, which reset monthly without rollover, and pauses at zero until credits renew or you buy an add-on. Watch both meters in the first month.

Agencies already running client work on Softr

The customer stories are the agencies' own numbers. Animalz, a content marketing agency, moved 30+ freelancers onto a portal with two-way sync to its Airtable base and field-level edit limits ^[4]. The agency says the move saved it more than $700 a month in seat fees and 3-4 hours of staff time a week. Strupek and Altitude Marketing both tried Airtable's Interface Designer first; Strupek wanted finer permissions and custom code, and Altitude found user permissioning a constant headache. Strupek reports 58% lower operating costs, and Altitude says its prospect portal has been used 295+ times. Our Softr vs Airtable comparison covers that choice.

Others went bigger. Eight Digit Media built a portal for 80+ clients over one weekend on Softr Databases. Designity runs three connected portals with 500+ users. KYRRO.tech built an ERP for Urban's Group used by 80+ employees, with clients seeing only their own project space. Vestal Hub rolled a tenant portal out to 160+ tenants on a HubSpot source, which needs Business. Each figure comes from the customer's story.

Agencies that build for clients can also join the Softr Partner Program, free for freelancers and agencies, with Certified, Premium and Enterprise tiers. Joining needs Softr's professional certification and at least two portfolio projects; partners get a free sandbox workspace, early beta access, Slack access to the Softr team and co-marketing. Softr Academy adds a 20-lesson client portal course. Start there.

The bottom line

Softr fits agencies that want one branded portal on their own data, where clients count as Client users within a per-plan allowance, with extra ones billed per user per month on Pro and Business, rather than as per-seat licenses, and permissions keep every account apart. Plan on Pro as the floor. Filter clients by email domain, because custom groups are scarce, and step up to Business only for client 2FA, the installable app, a per-client logo or global data restrictions. If a client demands SAML SSO or a fully white-labeled product, that conversation goes through Enterprise sales.