Deltek Vision end of life: what a small A/E firm should do now

What this page is. A plain summary of what Deltek has said about Vision, with every fact linked and dated, plus the options a firm of about 5 to 50 people has. Where Deltek has not been clear, we say so. We have not worked with a Vision firm yet, so there are no client stories here.

The short answer

Deltek is retiring Vision and wants customers on Vantagepoint. Two dates come from Deltek itself:

• January 2026: Vision 7.6 left active support after a final year-end update.
• First quarter of 2027: Vision instances in the Deltek Cloud begin to wind down.

Both are on Deltek’s Vantagepoint upgrade resources page (undated, checked 2026-10-01). What Deltek has not published, as far as we can find, is a single date when Vision stops for firms that run it on their own server. If your firm is still on Vision, the useful question is not whether to move, but what to move first.

Want to know what your software costs before you price a move? Our free Software Cost Snapshot gives you the yearly cost per tool on one page within 2 business days.

The dates, and what is still unclear

Where sources disagree

• BCS ProSoft, a Deltek partner, says on its comparison page that “Vision support ends December 31, 2026” (BCS ProSoft, last modified 2025-02-10, checked 2026-10-01). We could not find that date on Deltek’s own pages.
• PCI, another Deltek partner, writes: “Deltek has not published a single end-of-life date publicly, but the company has made clear that Vision is being phased out.” (PCI, published 2026-08-26, checked 2026-10-01).

Our reading: the January 2026 and Q1 2027 dates are solid because Deltek states them. Anything after that, especially for on-premises Vision, is not settled in public. Ask your rep and keep the answer in writing.

Why this matters most if you run payroll in Vision

Sustaining support means no regulatory updates, per Deltek’s FAQ. PCI notes that Deltek “strongly cautions against running payroll in a new year before installing year-end updates,” because Social Security calculations can come out wrong and cannot be fixed later by manual entry alone (PCI). Put those together and a firm that runs payroll in Vision should plan for January 2027 now. Ask Deltek whether any 2027 tax update is coming. Do not assume one is.

Your four options

1. Stay on Vision for now

This can be reasonable for a few months if you run Vision on your own server, do not run payroll in it, and have a move planned. It is not a long-term plan. With no hot fixes, a bug you hit after January 2026 may not get fixed. If you are on the Deltek Cloud, the Q1 2027 wind-down sets your deadline.

If you stay for a while, do one thing this month: export your project list, time history, and billing history to files you control. Ask Deltek or your partner which export they recommend.

2. Move to Vantagepoint

This is the path Deltek is building for. Deltek calls Vantagepoint the upgrade from Vision, says it was released more than 7 years ago, and says more than 1,800 companies use it (Deltek upgrade resources). Deltek also sells three upgrade packages, ViP Basic, ViP Plus and ViP Enterprise (Deltek blog, 2025-03-07).

Good fit if your accountant knows Deltek, you use most of Vision today (accounting, billing, project management, CRM), and you want the least change for your back office. We could not find a Vantagepoint price on Deltek’s site, so get the full cost in writing before you compare it with anything else.

3. Move to a lighter tool

A firm of 5 to 30 people may not need a full ERP. Some options, with only the prices the vendors publish:

• Deltek Ajera. Deltek’s project accounting product for A/E firms. No public price. We worked through third-party estimates in what Deltek Ajera really costs a small architecture firm.
• Monograph. Time, project budgets and invoicing for architecture firms. Its pricing page shows $45 to $490 a month for the whole firm, set by how many employees you have, not per user. The page does not say whether that is billed monthly or annually (Monograph pricing, checked 2026-10-01). On 2026-09-29 the same page showed $25 to $490 a month, paid annually, so ask for the price at your headcount and billing period in writing. It does not keep its own ledger. It connects to QuickBooks.
• BQE Core. Priced per user plus modules, quote only (BQE pricing, checked 2026-09-29).

The catch with any of these: your ledger, AP, AR and payroll have to move somewhere, and your history has to come with you or be archived. Budget time for a month or two of running both systems.

4. Keep time and invoice prep in a small tool you own

Start with a question: in your firm, who uses Vision for anything more than entering hours and expenses? If the answer is one or two people, you can split the move in two:

• The ledger (GL, AP, AR, payroll) moves to whatever your accountant picks: Vantagepoint, Ajera, or general accounting software.
• Time entry and invoice prep move into a small tool the firm owns. Staff enter hours by project and phase. Each billing cycle it produces a clean file of hours by project, phase, person and rate that your bookkeeper bills from.

Why this helps during a forced move: staff learn one timesheet, once, no matter which ledger you land on. Your time history sits in a file you control. And if you change accounting software again later, the part everyone uses does not change.

The catch: someone has to build and maintain it, the handoff into your new ledger has to be tested before you rely on it, and it does not replace accounting or payroll. To see what this looks like, try our timesheet and invoice-prep demo (fake data, runs in your browser). For the basics of tracking time by phase, see timesheets and project budgets for small architecture firms.

Questions to ask Deltek before you decide

1. On what date does our Vision license stop working, on our own server or in the Deltek Cloud?
2. Will Vision get any payroll or tax update for 2027?
3. What will Vantagepoint cost us per year, per user, and for which modules? Does our Vision maintenance carry over?
4. What do the ViP Basic, Plus and Enterprise packages cost, and what does each include?
5. If we move to Ajera instead, is there a supported migration from Vision?
6. How do we export all projects, time, expenses and billing history, and in what format?
7. Does someone who only enters time need a full Vantagepoint seat?

Write down each answer with the date and the name of the person who gave it.

A simple plan for the next 90 days

1. Find your real deadline. Cloud or on-premises? Do you run payroll in Vision? Those two answers set your date.
2. Count who uses what. For each Vision user: time entry only, billing, accounting, or inactive.
3. Export your history while support is still on hand to help.
4. Get two prices in writing: Vantagepoint, and one lighter tool.
5. Decide the ledger first, then decide whether time entry moves with it or into a tool you own.

Get a second opinion before you sign

Start free: email the tools your firm pays for, with seats paid and people who use each, and within 2 business days you get a one-page Software Cost Snapshot with the yearly cost per tool and 3 questions for renewal. No obligation.

If the Vision move looks expensive, the $350 Workflow Ownership Audit is the next step. It looks at one workflow, here time entry and invoice prep, and what it costs you today and after the move. You get a written keep, repair, switch, or build recommendation with the math visible. Sometimes the answer is to take Deltek’s upgrade as it is. If we later build a tool for you, the $350 is credited toward the build. See how the audit works, or browse all guides.