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Deltek Ajera vs. BQE CORE: Which AE Project Accounting Platform Actually Fits?

Ajera and BQE CORE aren't priced $50/mo apart because one has more features — they're priced that way because BQE CORE tops out at 100 employees and Ajera keeps going to 150. That ceiling, not the monthly fee, is usually what decides this.

By The StackMatch Research Team

Deltek Ajera vs. BQE CORE: a $50/mo gap next to a 50-employee ceiling difference

$750/moDeltek Ajera (5-150 emp)
$700/moBQE CORE (3-100 emp)
100 empBQE CORE's ceiling — Ajera goes to 150

Pricing and team-size ranges based on published plans for AE project-accounting platforms.

Monthly cost comparison

A 12-person structural firm and a 130-person multi-office AE practice are both shopping for 'project accounting software for engineering firms' — but they're not actually shopping for the same product. BQE CORE stops taking on new firms above 100 employees; Deltek Ajera is built to keep working up to 150. The $50/mo gap between them is close to a rounding error next to that ceiling.

Deltek Ajera: $750/mo — built for 5-150 employees

Ajera pairs project-based time tracking with dedicated resource planning — assigning PEs, drafters, and admin staff across dozens of concurrent fee-based projects — and billing built specifically for AE firms. It syncs to QuickBooks Online and Gusto. The $750/mo price buys headroom: firms rarely outgrow Ajera's 150-employee ceiling, which is why multi-office consultancies often default to it even when BQE CORE would technically still fit at their current size — nobody wants to re-platform mid-growth.

BQE CORE: $700/mo — built for 3-100 employees

BQE CORE combines time and expense tracking with project budgeting, billing, and built-in BI dashboards — the profitability-reporting layer Ajera doesn't lead with. It syncs to the same QuickBooks Online and Gusto pairing. At $700/mo, the savings over Ajera is real but modest; the bigger tradeoff is the 100-employee ceiling, which matters if the firm is hiring quickly or approaching that headcount within the current contract term.

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The $50/mo sticker gap is small; the ceiling gap between the two platforms is what actually forces a decision as a firm grows.

Feature and fit comparison

FeatureDeltek AjeraBQE CORE
Monthly cost$750$700
Team size floor5 employees3 employees
Team size ceiling150 employees100 employees
Dedicated resource planningBasic
Built-in BI dashboardsAdd-on
QuickBooks Online + Gusto sync

Running Ajera and BQE CORE at the same time — common after a merger, or a new principal's prior-firm habit — costs $1,450/mo combined for a single job neither platform needs a partner to do.

Questions to ask before choosing between them

  • Is the firm closer to 10 employees or 90 — and where will it be at the next contract renewal?
  • Does the team lean on resource-planning views daily, or does profitability-by-project matter more day to day?
  • How many subconsultants get billed through this platform versus reconciled manually?
  • If the firm crosses 100 employees mid-contract, what does switching from BQE CORE to Ajera actually cost in migration time?

The actual decision rule

you are here5122250+

Where the firm sits on the headcount curve matters more than which platform has more features on paper.

  • Under 3 employees: neither platform's minimum team size is met yet — a spreadsheet or a generic PM tool is still doing this job, and that's fine until the firm crosses BQE CORE's 3-employee floor.
  • 3-100 employees, a simpler project mix: BQE CORE usually wins on pure fit-for-cost — its BI dashboards give same-day profitability visibility for less than Ajera's resource-planning depth would cost you here.
  • 100-150 employees: this is Ajera-only territory. BQE CORE's ceiling is 100 employees, full stop, so a firm at or approaching that headcount isn't really choosing between the two anymore.
  • Growing fast toward 100 within the current contract term: the migration cost of switching platforms mid-growth is real enough that many firms start paying Ajera's premium earlier than headcount strictly requires.

Under 100 employees with a simple project mix → BQE CORE saves $600/yr. Approaching or above 100 → Ajera, because BQE CORE isn't built to go there at all.

One thing worth naming directly: a lot of 'best AE project accounting software' content is written by, or funded by, whichever vendor has the bigger affiliate budget. That's exactly the incentive our engine is built to ignore — it ranks purely on your team-size fit against the ceiling each platform is actually built for, not which one pays the biggest bounty.

Run the free audit with your real headcount to see which one — plus the rest of your stack — actually fits.

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