Service
Client portals
A login for each customer, with their documents and the status of their work. Priced in a written plan after a short call. You own the code and the accounts.
Updated October 17, 2026
What can customers do in a client portal?
In a client portal, each customer signs in on your own site and sees only what is theirs, such as the files you share and the status of their order or project. We build them for small businesses in Los Angeles as apps, priced in a written plan after a short call, and a portal where customers also pay invoices online is a larger build.
A client portal: A client portal is a private area of a business's website where each customer signs in to see what belongs to them, such as the files shared with them and the status of their order. It replaces the chain of emails and attachments that usually carries this information, and it answers the question customers ask most often, which is where things stand. Because each login may only reach that customer's records, a portal needs roles and permissions built in from the start, and it usually draws its information from the business's CRM or invoicing tool.
Key facts
The OWASP Top 10:2025 keeps broken access control, where users act outside their intended permissions, at number one, reporting some form of it in every application tested.
Source: OWASP Top 10:2025, A01 Broken Access Control, checked October 17, 2026
Since January 1, 2026, California Civil Code 1798.82 has given a business 30 calendar days from discovering a breach to notify residents whose unencrypted personal information was acquired, with limited room to delay.
Source: California Civil Code section 1798.82 (SB 446), checked October 17, 2026
WebAuthn Level 2, a W3C Recommendation since April 8, 2021, defines how web apps create and use strong public key credentials to authenticate the people who sign in.
Source: W3C, Web Authentication: An API for accessing Public Key Credentials Level 2, checked October 17, 2026
What you get
A portal we build sits on your own domain and carries your name, not ours. The list below is what a portal covers, and the written plan says which parts yours needs, with the price.
- A sign-in for each customer on your own domain, by an emailed link or a password
- Each customer sees only their own records, checked on the server and not just hidden on screen
- Files you share with each customer, kept together and ready to download
- A status view of each order or project, updated from your side
- Screens in the look of your own site, on hosting in your name
- Invoices and online payment through a checkout on your own account, where the plan includes them
How it goes
We start with the questions your customers email you most, because a portal exists to answer them before they are asked. The written plan lists what each customer will see and where that information comes from, with the price and the deposit.
Once the deposit clears, we build the sign-in and the permissions first, and test that one customer can never reach another customer's records. Then the pages arrive in small pieces on a private link, and you try each one as a customer before launch.
Where it fits
A portal is priced as an app. One that shows each customer their own documents and status is the smaller build, and a portal with invoicing and online payments is the full back office, a larger one. The written plan says which of the two yours is, with its price, after a short call.
- Your price
- Set in a written plan after a short call
Three ways to give customers a login
In short
Portal software gets you a login quickly, on its own domain and its own terms. A custom portal is worth its price when the customer view has to come from your own records, in your name.
Many businesses start with the portal their accounting or project tool already includes. The table shows where each route fits.
| A DIY tool | A template | Custom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | The portal inside a tool you already pay for, or a portal subscription | A membership or portal plugin on a template site | A portal written for your business, on your domain |
| Cost over time | A monthly fee, often counted by customer or by seat | A plugin license, plus a developer for changes | A build price in the written plan, then hosting on your own account |
| What customers see | What the tool is built to show | The pages the plugin can protect | The records you choose, drawn from your own systems |
| Your name on it | The vendor's look, with your logo added | Your site around the plugin's screens | Your site and your name throughout |
| Best fit | Sharing invoices from one tool | Protecting a few pages or downloads | A customer view drawn from several of your systems |
Swipe sideways to see every column
A worked example (hypothetical)
Picture a two-person bookkeeping practice with forty small business clients. Every month the owner emails each client a statement, then spends days chasing the receipts that are still missing.
A portal would give each client a login to see their statements next to a list of the receipts still needed. The owner would update both from one screen instead of forty email threads.
Letting clients pay their monthly invoice inside the portal would bring in invoicing and online payments, and with them a larger build. The written plan would show that as a separate step with its own price.
Common questions
What is a client portal for a small business?
A private login on your website where each customer sees their own records, like the files you share and the status of their work, so they stop emailing to ask where things stand.
Should I use portal software or build a custom portal?
Use the portal in a tool you already pay for if it shows what your customers need. Build one when the customer view has to draw on several of your systems, or when you want it on your own domain under your own name.
Can customers pay invoices in the portal?
Yes, through a checkout on your own payment account. Invoicing and online payments make a portal part of the full back office, a larger build than a portal that shares files and status.
How do customers sign in?
Usually by a sign-in link sent to their email, so there is no password to forget. A password works too, and the written plan settles which one suits how often your customers visit.
Is our customers' information safe in it?
Each login reaches only that customer's records, and the check happens on the server, so changing a link cannot reveal anyone else's. The data sits in a database on your own account, backed up every night.
What does a client portal cost?
It depends on what customers do in it. A portal that shares files and status is the smaller build, and one with invoicing and online payments costs more. The written plan prices yours after a short call, before any work starts.
Start with a written plan
Tell us about the business and what you need. We reply with questions, then a written plan that lists the work and its price, and nothing starts until you have read it.