Softwr

ERP · head to head

Unanet vs Zip

Unanet logo

Unanet

ERP

Project ERP and CRM built for government contractors and architecture and engineering firms

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zip logo

Zip

ERP

Procurement intake and orchestration that sits on top of the systems you already run

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Unanet no pricing is published for any Unanet product; every line is quoted per user per month with separate implementation fees, so a small contractor cannot budget the first year without a full sales cycle.; Zip it is a layer on top of systems you already pay for, so the business case rests on adoption and cycle time rather than replacing a licence, and that is harder to defend to a finance director cutting software spend.
  • They diverge on capability: Unanet covers DCAA-oriented timekeeping, Zip covers Unified intake.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Unanet and Zip actually diverge.

Attributes where Unanet and Zip differ
AttributeUnanetZip
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (ERP).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Unanet

  • DCAA-oriented timekeeping
  • Indirect rate management
  • Contract type support
  • Project accounting
  • Resource planning
  • Unanet CRM
  • Compliant invoicing
  • Unanet ERP AE

Only in Zip

  • Unified intake
  • Approval orchestration
  • Vendor onboarding
  • Contract repository
  • ERP write-back
  • Renewal management
  • Spend visibility
  • AI request handling

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Unanet

  • A federal contractor moving from QuickBooks and spreadsheets because it has won its first cost-reimbursable contract and needs an accounting system that survives a DCAA adequacy reviewnot Zip
  • A services firm that must calculate and true up provisional indirect rates each year and cannot do it credibly in Excel any longernot Zip
  • An architecture and engineering practice tracking utilisation and project profitability across dozens of concurrent jobsnot Zip
  • A government contractor consolidating a separate CRM, timekeeping tool and accounting package into one system so pipeline and backlog reconcilenot Zip

Zip

  • A company that owns a source-to-pay suite nobody uses because employees cannot navigate itnot Unanet
  • An organisation where every software purchase needs security, legal, privacy and finance sign-off and currently does it in email threadsnot Unanet
  • A finance team that keeps discovering contracts that auto-renewed because nobody owned the renewal datenot Unanet
  • A business needing an auditable record of who approved a third-party engagement and on what evidencenot Unanet

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Unanet

  • No pricing is published for any Unanet product; every line is quoted per user per month with separate implementation fees, so a small contractor cannot budget the first year without a full sales cycle.
  • Implementation is a project rather than a signup, involving chart of accounts design, indirect pool structure and data migration, and third parties report implementation fees reaching five figures for mid-sized deployments, an amount easily missed when comparing per-user rates.
  • The interface is dated compared with modern SaaS finance products, which raises training time for staff who only touch it to enter a timesheet and increases the support burden on the finance team.
  • ERP and CRM are separate products with separate contracts, so a firm that wants pipeline, backlog and actuals in one place pays twice and still deals with an integration boundary between them.
  • Its value is concentrated in United States federal and state contracting compliance, so a firm that does no public-sector work is paying for indirect rate machinery and DCAA audit behaviour it will never use, and a non-US firm gets almost nothing from the product’s main differentiator.

Zip

  • It is a layer on top of systems you already pay for, so the business case rests on adoption and cycle time rather than replacing a licence, and that is harder to defend to a finance director cutting software spend.
  • Value depends entirely on integration depth into your specific ERP and ticketing tools, and a shallow connector reduces it to a workflow tool that someone rekeys out of.
  • Pricing is not published and is structured around company size and integration scope, so buyers cannot benchmark without peer references.
  • If procurement policy itself is unclear, Zip encodes the confusion: the tool routes requests according to rules someone must first write, and organisations without that clarity see slow implementations.
  • It does not do sourcing, auctions or spend analysis, so organisations expecting a full procurement capability will still need a suite or specialist tools alongside it.

Pricing, plan by plan

Unanet

On request
  • Unanet ERP GovCon$undefined/year
    • Project accounting with indirect rate pools
    • DCAA-oriented daily timekeeping and audit trail
    • Cost-plus, T&M and fixed price contract billing
  • Unanet ERP AE$undefined/year
    • Project accounting configured for architecture and engineering firms
    • Resource planning and utilisation reporting
    • Priced per user per month, quoted
  • Unanet CRM$undefined/year
    • Pursuit and opportunity tracking
    • Proposal content library and reuse
    • Sold separately from ERP; quoted

Zip

On request
  • Zip$undefined/year
    • Intake and approval orchestration
    • Vendor onboarding and diligence workflows
    • Integrations with ERP, contract and ticketing systems

Which should you pick?

Choose Unanet if

  • You need dcaa-oriented timekeeping.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, iOS, Android.
  • You also want indirect rate management.
Unanet review

Choose Zip if

  • You need unified intake.
  • You work on Web, iOS.
  • You also want approval orchestration.
Zip review

Questions people ask

Is Unanet or Zip better?
Neither clearly leads. Unanet starts at On request and Zip at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Unanet or Zip?
Unanet starts at On request and Zip at On request.
Does Unanet or Zip run on more platforms?
Unanet runs on Web, Cloud, iOS, Android. Zip runs on Web, iOS.
What is Unanet best used for?
Unanet is most often used for a federal contractor moving from quickbooks and spreadsheets because it has won its first cost-reimbursable contract and needs an accounting system that survives a dcaa adequacy review, a services firm that must calculate and true up provisional indirect rates each year and cannot do it credibly in excel any longer, an architecture and engineering practice tracking utilisation and project profitability across dozens of concurrent jobs, a government contractor consolidating a separate crm, timekeeping tool and accounting package into one system so pipeline and backlog reconcile. Of those, a federal contractor moving from quickbooks and spreadsheets because it has won its first cost-reimbursable contract and needs an accounting system that survives a dcaa adequacy review and a services firm that must calculate and true up provisional indirect rates each year and cannot do it credibly in excel any longer are not what Zip is typically brought in for.
What can Unanet do that Zip cannot?
Unanet covers DCAA-oriented timekeeping, Indirect rate management, Contract type support, Project accounting. Zip covers Unified intake, Approval orchestration, Vendor onboarding, Contract repository.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Unanet: What does Unanet cost?

Nothing is published. Pricing is per user per month and quoted, with implementation fees charged separately on top of the subscription.

Zip: Is this the buy now pay later company?

No. This is Zip at ziphq.com, a procurement orchestration platform, unrelated to the payments company of the same name.

Unanet: Does Unanet make you DCAA compliant?

No software does. Unanet provides the timekeeping controls, audit trail and indirect rate accounting that an adequacy review looks for; the policies and their enforcement are still yours.

Zip: Does it replace Coupa or Ariba?

No, and that is the point. It sits in front of them, providing the intake and approval experience employees actually use, and writes back into the suite.

Unanet: Is Unanet CRM included with the ERP?

No. Unanet CRM, built on the acquired Cosential platform, is a separate product with its own contract.

Zip: What does it cost?

Not published. Quoted by company size, modules and the integrations you need. Get peer benchmarks before negotiating.

Unanet: How does it compare with Deltek?

Unanet typically targets smaller contractors than Deltek Costpoint and is quicker to implement, but has less depth for very large multi-segment organisations.

Zip: What is the prerequisite for success?

A written procurement policy. Zip automates the routing rules you give it; if nobody can say who approves what, implementation stalls.

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