How to group multiple projects by client within a workspace?

[judy-devlab]

Hi,

We're using Plane to manage projects for multiple clients within a single workspace.

We'd like to organize our projects into groups, similar to GitLab's Groups and Subgroups.

For example:

• Client A
  • Project 1
  • Project 2
• Client B
  • Project 3
  • Project 4

Does Plane currently support this kind of project grouping?

If not, what's the recommended approach? Would Teamspaces, Initiatives, or Customers be suitable?

I found an existing feature request (#4620) about grouping projects, but I'd like to know whether there's currently a recommended way to organize multiple projects by client within a single workspace.

Thanks!

[Joaquincuevas]

Short answer: there’s no native project folders/groups like GitLab’s (that’s #4620), but you can get close depending on your plan. Here’s how the three features you mentioned compare, per Plane’s docs (growing teams guide):

Feature | What it’s for | Fits “group by client”? | Plan -- | -- | -- | -- Initiatives | Link several projects to one higher-level outcome and track their progress together | Yes, best fit. One initiative per client (Client A → Project 1 + Project 2) gives you a roll-up view | Pro Teamspaces | A durable team’s people, projects, pages and views in one place | Yes, if each client has its own dedicated team. The docs advise building them around real ownership, not just reporting categories | Pro Customers | Customer records attached to requests/work items for context | No. It links customer requests to the work, it doesn’t group projects | Business

Recommended setup

• On Pro: create an Initiative per client and attach its projects. Add a Teamspace per client only if you have separate teams per client.
• On the free plan: use a consistent naming prefix (Client A · Website, Client A · App) so projects sort together in the sidebar, and favorite the ones you’re working on.

If you want real nested groups, upvoting #4620 and adding your use case there is the best way to push it.

If this helps, please mark it as the answer.

Short answer: there’s no native project folders/groups like GitLab’s (that’s #4620), but you can get close depending on your plan. Here’s how the three features you mentioned compare, per Plane’s docs ([growing teams guide](https://docs.plane.so/introduction/quickstart/growing-teams)):

Feature What it’s for Fits “group by client”? Plan
Initiatives Link several projects to one higher-level outcome and track their progress together Yes, best fit. One initiative per client (Client A → Project 1 + Project 2) gives you a roll-up view Pro
Teamspaces A durable team’s people, projects, pages and views in one place Yes, if each client has its own dedicated team. The docs advise building them around real ownership, not just reporting categories Pro
Customers Customer records attached to requests/work items for context No. It links customer requests to the work, it doesn’t group projects Business

Recommended setup

On Pro: create an Initiative per client and attach its projects. Add a Teamspace per client only if you have separate teams per client.
On the free plan: use a consistent naming prefix (Client A · Website, Client A · App) so projects sort together in the sidebar, and favorite the ones you’re working on.

If you want real nested groups, upvoting #4620 and adding your use case there is the best way to push it.

If this helps, please mark it as the answer.

[judy-devlab]

Thanks for the detailed explanation! Initiatives sound like a good fit for our use case. I'll give that a try.