TL;DR: Pick Certinia if Salesforce already runs your whole firm and you want your projects and your accounting inside Salesforce too. Pick Operating if you want staffing, time and invoicing in one simpler tool that is faster to set up. It fits best when your books stay in QuickBooks or Xero. For most consulting firms with 50 people or more that don't run finance in Salesforce, Operating is the better fit. Certinia is the better fit for very large firms with Salesforce admins.
Short answer: Pick Operating over Certinia when one of these is true:
- You don't want everyone in Salesforce. Every Certinia user works inside Salesforce and may need a Salesforce licence. People who use Operating don't.
- You want a price today. Certinia only sells on quote. Operating costs $13 to $21 per person a month, paid yearly.
- You need it working soon. G2 users report about 6 months to set up Certinia and about 2 months for Operating.
- You sell through HubSpot or Pipedrive. Certinia is built for Salesforce. Operating works with Salesforce, HubSpot and Pipedrive.
- Your books stay in QuickBooks or Xero. Operating sends invoices there. Certinia's strength is running your accounting inside Salesforce too.
Stay with Certinia when sales, support and finance already run on Salesforce and you want one system for all of it. We checked both vendors' own pages on October 29, 2026.
Disclosure: we make Operating. Every price and claim links to its source, outside numbers are marked, and the fit check below picks Certinia when your answers point there.
Certinia vs Operating at a glance
| Certinia PSA (PS Cloud) | Operating | |
|---|---|---|
| Built on | Salesforce, as a managed package | Its own platform, connected to your CRM |
| Best for | Large firms that run on Salesforce and have admins | Consulting and IT services firms from about 50 people up |
| Pricing | Quote only. AppExchange shows "starting at $45" per user per month | $13, $17 or $21 per person per month yearly ($15, $19, $23 monthly). Custom from 100 people |
| Salesforce access | Every user works inside Salesforce | No Salesforce licence needed for delivery staff |
| CRM | Salesforce | Salesforce, HubSpot or Pipedrive. Deals sync in as tentative projects |
| Finance | Full ERP on the same platform: ledger, billing, revenue management | Invoicing to QuickBooks Online or Xero, revenue recognition. NetSuite connector coming; REST API today |
| Resource planning | Resource requests, skills, utilization, an AI Resourcing Agent | Tentative projects from deals, placeholders, skills, capacity forecast |
| AI and MCP | Veda agents and actions. MCP access announced September 2026 | Read and write MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini CLI |
| Time to go live (G2 users) | 6 months | 2 months |
| G2 stars | 4.3 | 4.7 |
Checked October 29, 2026 on each vendor's site, the Salesforce AppExchange and G2. Third-party price ranges are in the pricing section.
Certinia or Operating? Take the fit check
Five questions, about a minute. Some answers point to Certinia, and the result says so.
The main difference: inside Salesforce vs connected to it
Certinia is built inside Salesforce. Operating connects to Salesforce from the outside. Almost every other difference comes from that.
Certinia started in 2009 as FinancialForce, a company that built finance software (ERP) on Salesforce. It renamed itself Certinia in May 2023. Its PSA, Professional Services Cloud, is an app installed inside Salesforce. Projects, staffing requests, timecards and billing are Salesforce records, right next to your deals. Sales, delivery and finance share the same data. Reviewers at large firms on Gartner like exactly that: it runs on "the same platform as our Sales & Support" teams.
The downside is that Certinia works the way Salesforce works. Setup and changes go through Salesforce settings and permissions. One G2 reviewer calls it "feature dense and complex requiring dedicated team for setup and changes."
Operating is a separate tool. It reads deals from your CRM and sends invoices to your accounting tool. You pick which Salesforce deal types and stages come across. They become tentative projects, with the amount, owner, probability and close date. The sync only goes one way, so Operating never changes your pipeline. Salespeople stay in Salesforce. Delivery and finance teams work in Operating and don't need a Salesforce licence.
Certinia pricing vs Operating pricing
Certinia doesn't publish prices. Operating does. With Certinia you wait for a quote. With Operating you can work out the number today.
Certinia's pricing page sends you to a demo request. The only public number is on its AppExchange listing: "starting at $45" per user per month. Treat that as the lowest possible price. Vendr says full PSA users cost $120 to $200 per user per month for 50 to 100 users. People who only log time cost 30% to 50% of that. SelectHub lists $175. The median Certinia buyer on Vendr pays $74,402 a year.
You may also pay for Salesforce licences. Every Certinia user works inside Salesforce. Certinia's documentation describes PSA licences "that use a Salesforce platform license." It also says you need "a full Salesforce license" to create a project from a deal (an opportunity). For other Salesforce features, it tells customers to check "whether you need to purchase such access directly from Salesforce.com." Vendr puts those seats at $25 to $75 per user per month.
Operating's prices per person per month, paid yearly, are $13 for Planning, $17 for Plan & Track (adds timesheets) and $21 for Full Suite (adds invoicing). Paid monthly, they are $15, $19 and $23. Firms with 100 people or more get a custom price. Data migration, training and support come with every plan. Other setup work is agreed in a statement of work.
What 60 people cost for a year
| Cost line | Certinia (third-party estimates) | Operating (list price) |
|---|---|---|
| Licences, 60 users | $86,400 to $144,000 (Vendr: $120 to $200 per full PSA user per month) | $15,120 on Full Suite yearly ($21 per person per month) |
| Salesforce seats, if not in the Certinia quote | $18,000 to $54,000 (Vendr: $25 to $75 per user per month) | None needed |
| Implementation | 50% to 150% of first-year subscription (Vendr) | No fee published. Data migration, training and support listed on every plan; other work by statement of work |
Certinia figures are Vendr's ranges for 50 to 100 full PSA users, not a Certinia quote. Real deals vary with discounts, user mix and Salesforce edition.
Check the numbers on your own firm. We'll walk through Operating on your real headcount, rate card and pipeline, and show what the Salesforce sync brings across. You'll leave with a price, not a demo.
Resource planning: how each tool staffs projects
Both tools staff people by skill and availability. They differ in where the demand comes from and how much setup it takes.
Certinia's resource management lets you request people early, match them on skills and experience, and report utilization. Its Professional Services Cloud page adds a Resourcing Agent and says Certinia can "reduce time-to-staff by up to 30%." On Gartner, one reviewer misses what-if scenarios. Another missed seeing staffing needs from sales deals, but says Certinia's new services estimator is fixing that.
In Operating, a CRM deal becomes a tentative project on the timeline, where you add open roles. An open role, or placeholder, is a slot for someone you haven't picked yet. Resourcing leads see pipeline demand next to booked work. They match people by skill and availability, and confirm the plan when the deal closes. Planned hours then sit next to actual hours, so utilization and project margin update as time comes in. Your ops lead sets up roles, skills and rate cards in the app.
Finance and revenue recognition
Certinia can be your accounting system (ERP). Operating feeds the accounting system you already have.
Certinia's Financial Management Cloud runs the general ledger, billing, revenue management and purchasing on the same Salesforce data as the PSA. You can set its revenue rules to meet ASC 606 and IFRS 15. IDC named Certinia a Leader in two 2025-2026 MarketScape reports, for AI-enabled PSA and for AI-enabled PSA ERP. If your CFO wants projects and the books in one Salesforce system, this is where Certinia is strongest.
Operating is not an ERP. Invoices go to QuickBooks Online or Xero, and payments and status come back. NetSuite has no ready-made connector yet. Operating lists it as coming soon, and firms connect it through the REST API today. Revenue recognition runs from live project data. You can use cost-to-cost, month-by-month or manual progress, for firms that report under ASC 606 and IFRS 15.
AI: Certinia's Veda vs Operating's MCP server
Both tools now let AI assistants work with your PSA data through MCP (Model Context Protocol), a standard way for AI tools to connect to software. Certinia's version is newer and sits inside its own AI suite.
Certinia's AI is called Veda. It has agents, such as staffing agents, plus "intelligent actions." On September 9, 2026, Certinia announced that these actions can run "headlessly via MCP" in Claude and Microsoft Copilot. We found no public setup guide for it yet. One G2 reviewer notes that Certinia's "Agentic AI has paid license."
Operating opens up its whole system through an MCP server, "rather than bolting a chatbot onto the interface." The server can read and change people, projects, allocations, time, budgets and expenses. Each person signs in with their own account. It works with Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT and Gemini CLI. Operating first released it in its February 2026 product update. One example: paste a statement of work into Claude and get a staffing plan built in Operating.
Setup time: how long each tool takes to go live
G2 users report about 6 months to set up Certinia and about 2 months for Operating.
G2 users also report 21 months before Certinia pays for itself. Vendr says typical Certinia projects take 3 to 9 months, with fees of 50% to 150% of the first-year subscription. Certinia's services page starts with a 4 to 8 week "Strategize" phase. Partners such as Icon Cloud Consulting sell faster starts using ready-made templates.
Operating doesn't publish its own setup timeline. Your team sets up the CRM link. For Salesforce, an admin installs Operating's package once. For HubSpot, you need someone who can add apps from the HubSpot marketplace.
When Certinia is the better choice
Certinia wins when your whole firm runs on Salesforce. If sales, support and finance already live there, a PSA on the same records means one less connection and one set of data for leadership. It also wins when finance wants the ERP and the PSA in one system, because Operating doesn't run a general ledger.
Size matters too. Certinia says it has more than 1,400 customers. In its 2025 review it reports over two million active users, including more than 100,000 PwC users on PS Cloud. Firms with 1,000+ people, Salesforce admins and a budget for a partner get depth a simpler tool won't match. And if Certinia already runs your projects well, switching would cost more than it saves.
When Operating is the better Certinia alternative
Operating is the better Certinia alternative when staffing is your main problem and you need it fixed soon. That usually means consulting and IT services firms with 50 people or more. They sell through HubSpot or Pipedrive, or use Salesforce for sales only.
It also fits when finance is happy in QuickBooks or Xero and wants better data, not a new ledger. It fits when consultants who only log time shouldn't have to work inside Salesforce. And it fits when you want AI assistants working with your staffing data now. Inventive.io is one example. Its COO says it lost $250,000 to unbilled work the year before Operating, and $25,000 the year after.
Other Certinia alternatives
Three more names come up often. Kantata has deep forecasting and a version that runs inside Salesforce, Kantata SX. It's also a Leader in IDC's AI-enabled PSA MarketScape. Klient is a simpler PSA built inside Salesforce. Our guide to PSA for Salesforce covers that route. Projectworks is a standalone PSA with its own Jira and Azure DevOps apps. Our best PSA software guide compares 15 tools, and the PSA pricing guide shows what 24 cost.
Certinia vs Operating FAQ
Is Certinia the same as FinancialForce?
Yes. FinancialForce renamed itself Certinia on May 3, 2023. FinancialForce PSA is now called Certinia Professional Services Cloud, or PS Cloud. Many buyers and review sites still use the old name.
Is Certinia part of Salesforce?
No. Certinia is its own company, based in Austin, Texas. Its products are built inside Salesforce. Haveli Investments owns most of it. TA Associates, General Atlantic and Salesforce Ventures are also investors.
Is Certinia an ERP or a PSA?
Both. Certinia sells Professional Services Cloud (the PSA), Financial Management Cloud (the ERP) and Customer Success Cloud. Firms can buy the PSA and ERP together, so projects and accounting share the same Salesforce records.
How much does Certinia PSA cost?
Certinia only sells on quote. Its AppExchange listing shows "starting at $45" per user per month. Vendr puts full PSA users at $120 to $200 a month for 50 to 100 users, and SelectHub lists $175. Salesforce licences may cost extra. Prices as of October 2026.
Do you need Salesforce licences to use Certinia?
Yes. Every Certinia user works inside Salesforce. Certinia's documentation describes PSA licences "that use a Salesforce platform license." Creating projects from deals needs "a full Salesforce license." Ask Certinia which licences your quote includes.
Does Certinia have an MCP server?
Certinia announced on September 9, 2026 that its Veda intelligent actions can run through MCP in Claude and Microsoft Copilot. As of October 29, 2026, we found no public setup guide. Operating's MCP server has public docs and works with Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini CLI.
Can Operating replace Certinia?
For the main PSA jobs, mostly: staffing, time, project budgets, invoicing and revenue recognition. Operating doesn't do day-to-day task management, so teams keep a tool such as Jira or Asana. It doesn't run a general ledger either, so firms leaving Certinia's ERP also need an accounting system.
Does Operating integrate with Salesforce?
Yes. You pick which deal types and stages come across. Deals become tentative projects, accounts become clients and users become people. The sync only goes one way, so Operating never changes your pipeline. Delivery staff don't need a Salesforce licence.
How we compared Certinia and Operating
On October 29, 2026 we checked Certinia's website, documentation and AppExchange listing. We also checked Operating's pricing and integration pages, Salesforce's list prices and both products' G2 pages. Third-party prices come from Vendr and SelectHub and are marked as estimates. Review quotes come from G2 and Gartner Peer Insights, and we only show star ratings. We haven't set up either product ourselves, so setup times come from users.
Sources: Certinia pricing (redirects to demo), Certinia PS Cloud on AppExchange, Certinia PSA licensable features, Certinia about us, Certinia Professional Services Cloud, Certinia resource management, Certinia Financial Management Cloud, Certinia Veda AI, Certinia Veda and MCP release, Sep 9, 2026, Certinia on IDC MarketScape, Certinia services, Certinia user licensing, Certinia 2025 review, Icon Cloud Consulting, FinancialForce rebrands to Certinia, May 3, 2023, TA Associates invests in Certinia, Vendr on Certinia, SelectHub on Certinia PSA, Salesforce Platform pricing, Certinia PS Cloud on G2, Certinia PS Cloud on Gartner Peer Insights, Operating pricing, Operating Salesforce integration, Operating integrations, Operating MCP server, Operating revenue recognition, Operating AI and MCP, Operating February 2026 update, Operating customers, Kantata SX, Klient vs Certinia, Projectworks integrations, Operating on G2. All accessed October 29, 2026.
Running delivery on Salesforce and wondering if there's a lighter way? Keep Salesforce for sales. We'll show your opportunities turning into staffed projects in Operating, on your own data.
