What is the best project management tool that allows client access?

There are quite a few tools in this space and they all offer access to clients in different ways. To take a step back, your options for communicating on projects with clients are:

• Email
• Phone
• Chat
• Weekly Reports
• Branded customer portal
• Access to your PM tool
• Access to a live project document
• Automated emails based on stages

Concentrating on the last four options:

• a client portal works well for giving updates, notes and giving access to files, all in one place.
• access to your PM tool is convenient but you do need to factor in permissions of what they can see + training requirements for the client. Interestingly, clients can sometimes stay around for longer if they’ve trained their whole team on using your system.
• access to a live project document is where you provide an online document that you update during the project. A simple solution if done well.
• automated update emails is a feature on a handful of PM software tools that is handy for higher-volume project updates.

Happy to give specific software advice in this area if required.