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15 Useful Project Management Tools

By Cameron Chapman, November 13th, 2008 in Developer's Toolbox | 245 Comments | Forum

by Cameron Chapman

There is a huge variety of project management applications out there. Most are general purpose apps, not aimed at any one industry. But there is a growing number of project management apps aimed specifically at one industry or another. Applications geared to creative types are becoming more readily available, and some of the offerings are really quite good.

Many of these project management apps have built-in code repositories and subversion browsers (or are built around them). A few have built-in bug and issue tracking. Others include more than just basic project management. All of them can help you keep track of activities and team members. There are both free and paid options. Some have very slick interfaces, and some are modeled more after desktop applications. All are relatively easy to use and easy to set up.

Below are 15 useful project management applications, almost all of which are targeted directly at Web developers, designers (both Web and print) and other creative types. The last one is not geared specifically to creative types but is the most unique project management application I’ve found and is included on that basis as well as because of its potential usefulness for designers and developers.

Also consider our previous article:

Web Applications: Improve Your Workflow

1. Basic Project Management Apps

These applications are marketed specifically for project management. Most include things like task-, team-, and goal-management features. Some include additional features such as time tracking and invoicing.

Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a bug- and issue-tracking app that tracks timelines and milestones, integrates with your email client and more. You can update tickets through your inbox, manage your beta testing (by making tickets and milestones public), integrate it with subversion and manage and prioritize your tickets.

Project creation is simple; only a project title and description is required. Once a project is created, tickets, messages and milestones can be entered. Ticket creation can be done by email (the email address to send tickets to is displayed on the “Tickets” page). You can show tickets based on a variety of criteria, including date, state (open or closed) and who is responsible for them. Message creation is easier than email, and you can attach files up to 50 MB in size. When you create a milestone you simply enter the title, the date it’s due and the goals or focus for that particular milestone. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Permissions are easy to set, and you can invite users by email. One of the best features of Lighthouse is its Beacon and API integration. With the API, you can customize tickets, projects, changesets, milestones, messages and more. Integrate it with other services (such as Google Calendar), or make desktop applications that use Lighthouse. The APIs make Lighthouse infinitely more useful, because you can really customize it to fit your current workflow.

Lighthouse is great for Web development teams (or individuals) and has a very easy-to-use interface. They have paid and free plans, all of which include unlimited open-source projects. The free plan lets you manage one private project with up to two people on the account. The paid plans range from $10 per month for the Personal plan (with up to 3 projects, 10 users and 100 MB of file upload storage space) to $120 per month for the Platinum plan (with unlimited projects, up to 50 public projects, unlimited users and 30 GB of file upload space).

When combined with a subversion app, Lighthouse provides a pretty complete project management app for developers. Subversion integration is pretty straightforward, and the help file provided gives complete step-by-step instructions for setup.

Springloops

Springloops is another subversion browser that integrates project management. It counts a unique AJAX code browser and Basecamp integration as among its features.

The Springloops interface is very intuitive and easy to use. Tabbed navigation provides access to the log, source and deployment information. Adding users is done via email, along with the ability to create usernames and passwords (making it easier and faster for them to get on board with a project). Creating new projects is simple, with a few different templates available (including a starter template). You can migrate an existing repository into Springloops as well (including plain text dumps). For added project management ability, Springloops can be integrated with Basecamp.

Springloops has a number of plans available, both paid and free. The free plan includes 25 MB of space, 3 projects, 3 deployments per day (using FTP or SFTP connections), roll-back capabilities, Basecamp integration, subversion and an unlimited number of users. The paid plans range from the “Flowerpot” plan at $9 per month (including 1 GB of space and 10 projects) to the “Forest” plan at $96 per month (including 18 GB of storage, unlimited projects, automatic deployment and secure SSL encryption). All of the paid plans include a free 30-day trial.

CreativePro Office

CreativePro Office offers complete office management tools. CreativePro Office is completely free, setting it apart from the other apps here.

CreativePro Office has the usual tabbed navigation, including tabs for clients, projects, time sheets, finances and team members. The dashboard presents a calendar with upcoming events, a list of your projects, outstanding invoices, notes and search functionality. Project creation is a bit more in-depth than with most other apps listed here, though only a client name and project name is required (you can also fill in a project URL, description or comments, category, date range, status, contacts and tags). Client tracking is integrated, making this handy for those who work with lots of different clients, and it could even serve as a simple CRM program, depending on your needs.

Integrated invoices and financial information is handy, and the finances page gives you options for viewing and creating invoices, expenses and reports.

CreativePro Office is very robust for a completely free application and is definitely worth checking out before shelling out for an expensive paid solution.

Jumpchart

Jumpchart is a website planning application that allows you to plan the navigation of your website by creating, dragging and dropping pages into the plan. You can also add text and formatting to pages and then export your CSS files and site map when you’re finished.

This is a great planning app for Web designers, though it’s not strictly a project management application. You can add comments to each page, which could serve to keep track of tasks related to specific pages. More traditional project management functions could be kept track of in the text of each mockup page or through the comments. The mockup and planning capabilities of Jumpchart make it worth using, even if hacks are needed to make it more conducive to full project management.

The free Jumpchart plan offers 1 project with 1 MB of storage and a maximum of 10 pages and 2 users. The paid plans range from the Simple plan at $5 per month (including up to 5 projects, with 25 pages and 5 users per project, and 100 MB of storage) to the Deluxe plan at $50 per month (including up to 30 projects with unlimited pages and users and 5000 MB of storage).

No Kahuna

No Kahuna is a simple project management and issue-tracking platform. It’s very straightforward and easy to use, with an excellent user interface. Features include task and activity tracking and collaboration tools.

No Kahuna is excellent for basic project management and ticket tracking. There aren’t a ton of features, which can be a very good thing. It’s very quick to get started, also a big plus.

There are free accounts available that include unlimited projects and users. However, if your projects accumulate more than 30 open tasks, you will need to upgrade. Paid options are reasonably priced, ranging from 3 projects for $9 per month up to 100 projects for $99 per month. Open-source projects are always free, no matter how many open tasks you have.

Basecamp

Basecamp is often considered to be the best project management and collaboration platform out there. Its features are impressive: to-do lists, file sharing, message boards, milestones, time tracking, project overviews and commenting.

The user interface is definitely one of the best out there, and because of its popularity, tons of other companies are making products that integrate with Basecamp, extending its capabilities.

Pricing is reasonable, though it’s definitely not the cheapest solution out there. The Basic plan is only $24 per month and includes up to 15 active projects, 3 GB of file storage and unlimited clients and users. The Max plan is a hefty $149 per month, but includes unlimited projects, 50 GB of file storage, time tracking, SSL security and a free Campfire Premium account.

2. Wiki-Based Project Management

Wikis are another option for project management, whether you use one instead of a basic project management application or in addition to one. One of the solutions below is geared to complete project management and includes additional features, while the other is just a wiki and is suitable for project management and other uses.

Trac Project

Trac Project is a project management app that is based on wiki functionality. It also includes a subversion browser, a timeline, ticket tracking, a road map (showing milestones and the number of current open and closed tickets) and builds status tracking.

One of Trac’s best features is the range of plug-ins available for it. There are plug-ins for Web administration, authentication, code documentation, file management, ticketing, testing, user management and version control.

Another big advantage: Trac is free and licensed under a modified BSD license.

PBwiki

PBwiki is one of the easiest free wikis out there to use. You can share files with other users, set access controls for individual pages and folders, add other users to your wiki, monitor and track version changes and more.

Setup is quick and easy and can be done in less than a minute. The PBwiki interface is very intuitive, and there is virtually no learning curve. Creating folders and pages is straightforward, as is editing existing pages. You can also comment on each page, and get a printable version with a single click.

There are multiple themes you can choose from for the design, as well as templates for individual page content (or you can start from scratch). There are a few different plans available, both paid and free. The free plan allows from 1 to 3 users. Paid plans range from $4 per month per user (if you have more than 10,000 users) to $8 per month per user (for 4 to 999 users).

3. Bug and Ticket Tracking

Any time you work on a Web application or website, there are going to be bugs and issues that crop up. While some basic project management applications have built-in ticket tracking, others don’t, and sometimes the built-in solution doesn’t quite meet your needs (either because it’s too robust or is missing key features).

16bugs

16bugs is a very simple bug-tracking system. Its main advantage is the color-coding system used for different types of information (like updates, comments and closed tickets).

Setup is quick and easy. The user interface is easy to figure out. Creating bugs is easy, and the color-coded labels on the activity tab make it easy to see what’s going on at a glance.

There are a variety of account types available. The free account allows 1 project, 1 MB of storage and Basecamp imports. Starting at $8 per month, paid plans include more projects (3 with the Basic plan), 150 MB to 10 GB of storage, RSS and email notifications, Campfire notifications and SSL (starting with the $15-per-month Big plan).

JIRA

JIRA is issue- and bug-tracking software that includes a lot of great features. It has advanced reporting features, workflow mapping as well as issue and project organizing; it is also customizable.

JIRA also offers a number of plug-ins to extend its functionality, including Bamboo integration, charting, time tracking, project management, a calendar and more. By using plug-ins, you can customize JIRA to meet your exact project management and issue-tracking needs.

JIRA’s biggest drawback is its pricing; it’s not cheap. A hosted account starts at $299 per month for up to 25 users and goes up from there (250 users costs $599 per month). If you want to download JIRA and host it on your own server, it starts at $1200 for a single project team, and goes as high as $4800 for an entire organization. If you need an academic license, solutions start at only $600.

4. Collaboration and Conferencing

If you’re working with a remote team on your project, you’re probably going to need some online space to collaborate and meet, whether it’s to work on general concepts or to work out specific bugs. Here are three solutions to help you collaborate with those on your team or with your clients.

activeCollab

activeCollab is a project management and collaboration tool that lets you set up a collaboration area right on your website. You can have unlimited projects, organized into groups for easy management.

Collaboration features include file sharing, discussions (set up like an online forum), assignments, collaborative writing and reminders. Project management features include printing and exporting, time tracking, calendar and schedule functionality, ticket management and milestones. Plug-ins (modules) mean that activeCollab can be extended to suit your specific needs.

There are two pricing options available: Corporate and Small Business. The Small Business edition includes source-code browsing, plug-in support, themes, discussions, milestones, checklists, files, project templates, a mobile interface and localization support. It’s priced at $199, with support and upgrades being an additional $99 per year after the first year. The Corporate edition has all of the above features, plus the calendar, tickets, time tracking, pages (with collaborative writing and more), a project explorer, and status updates. Both packages include unlimited projects and users. You can also purchase a Copyright Removal license, which removes the “activeCollab Powered” graphic from the footer of each page, for an additional $199.

DimDim

DimDim is a Web-conferencing platform that provides collaboration tools for meeting online. It’s scalable, reliable and flexible, with both hosted and on-site versions available.

DimDim allows you to share your desktop with those you’re meeting with, as well as share and present documents (both PowerPoint and PDFs). You can also share Whiteboards, and it has built-in voice-over-IP and teleconferencing capabilities. There are public and private chat capabilities as well as annotation and markup tools.

There are free and paid plans available. The free plan offers the complete feature set, with support for meetings of up to 20 people. DimDim Pro offers the complete feature set, plus custom branding and up to 100 people in a meeting for only $99 per year. There is also an Enterprise-level package that includes all of the above but also allows simultaneous meetings with up to 1000 attendees for $1998 per year.

Vyew

Vyew is a browser-based Web presentation service that allows for custom branding and PowerPoint-like authoring. With Vyew, you can give a live presentation or just post a document for your colleagues to review at their convenience.

Features include real-time desktop sharing, whiteboarding and drawing tools, embedded comments, built-in voice over IP, free teleconferencing, built-in webcam video support, text chat, dedicated rooms and direct URLs and more. It’s a complete solution for Web conferencing.

Vyew has a number of plans available, including a free plan, which includes unlimited meetings, SSL secure log-in, up to 20 participants (all seeing ads) and up to 5 VyewBooks (presentations) with up to 50 pages each. There are two paid plans: Plus at $6.95 per month, which includes everything the free plan has plus up to 25 participants (or 5 with no ads), and up to 25 VyewBooks with up to 100 pages each, and Professional at $13.95 per month, which includes everything the Plus plan has, but with up to 45 participants (or 15 with no ads), and up to 100 VyewBooks with up to 300 pages each.

5. Invoicing

Unless you’re working on an internal project, chances are you’ll need to send out invoices. Having an invoice program that also does proposals is helpful, as is having one that integrates directly with your project management app.

Simply Invoices

Simply Invoices integrates with Basecamp, More Honey, Tick and Harvest to invoice based on time that you track with those programs. Features include invoice templates, unlimited invoices, the ability to save invoices as PDFs and invoice tracking.

There are a few different plans available, including a free plan that includes up to five invoice templates and SSL support. Paid plans start at $9 per month (which includes up to ten invoice templates, plus a custom logo and link-free invoices) and go up to $25 per month (which includes an unlimited number of templates).

Less Accounting

Less Accounting is a simple online accounting and invoicing program that is incredibly easy to use. Less Accounting has a variety of features, including proposal creation and tracking, mileage tracking, sales-lead management and expense tracking. You can import your existing Wesabe.com account, and you can even invite your CPA to look at your books. Less Accounting also sends a weekly email with an update on the status of your accounts.

There are a variety of account plans available, including a free plan. The free plan includes up to 5 invoices, expenses, sales notes, deposits, proposals, mileage logs each month, SSL encryption, reports and bank-account integration. The paid plans range from the Even Less plan at $12 per month (including invoicing, expenses, contacts, SSL encryption, technical support, deposits and reports) to the More plan at $24 per month (including everything in the Even Less plan, plus sales notes, bank accounts, proposals, mileage logs, bank reconciliation, support for multiple types of sales tax and more). A 30-day free trial is available for all plans.

6. Time Tracking

Whether you need to keep track of your time for billing purposes, for your boss, or just to measure your own productivity, chances are you’ll need a time-tracking application.

LiveTimer

LiveTimer is an easy-to-use time-tracking program that works on both your computer and iPhone. It can be used for billing purposes or simply to improve your productivity and accountability.

Features include a daily ledger, bulk time entry (by day or week), customizable classifications, multiple currencies, custom billing rates, intelligent report filters and a developer API. The iPhone integration makes it easy to track your time even if you’re not at your desk, making it more useful than many other Web-based time-tracking applications.

Pricing is cheap, at only $5 per active user per month. Qualifying non-profits get a 50% discount. There is a 30-day free trial available.

fourteenDayz

fourteenDayz is a time-tracking program specifically for teams. It features day-by-day time sheets, exportable reports (in both PDF and Excel formats), drag-and-drop categories and no user limit.

There are 6 different plans offered, including a free account (which includes up to 4 active projects/clients, 10 project categories, an unlimited number of users and reporting functions). The paid plans range from the Personal at $5 per month (which includes the free account features plus up to 7 active projects/clients, 15 project categories, 30 project subcategories and PDF reports) to the Platinum at $99 per month (which includes all the Personal features plus unlimited active projects/clients, unlimited project categories and subcategories, XLS/CSV exportability and SSL connections).

Further Resources

For more project management applications, check out:

Simple Spark
Directory of Web 2.0 applications, with a list of more than 300 project management apps.
Listio
Another directory of Web 2.0 applications, with a huge list of project management apps.

About the author

Cameron Chapman is a professional Web and graphic designer with over 6 years of experience. She also writes for a number of blogs, including her own, GreenStyle Magazine, which will be relaunching later this year.

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Published in Developer's Toolbox, November 13th, 2008
Tags: management, project, tools, useful, workflow

1.

Samir Tuladhar (November 13th, 2008, 1:48 pm)

These are quite good collection of project management tools but I prefer Unfuddle.
I think you should include it in your list
Link [www.unfuddle.com]
2.

Prakash (November 13th, 2008, 1:53 pm)

yes a nice collection of management tools.
3.

Eric (November 13th, 2008, 1:55 pm)

Great list. I’m also a big fan of OfficeTime for time tracking (http://www.officetime.net/). It’s intuitive, can run all sorts of reports, and integrates nicely into my Mac (haven’t tested in on PC).
4.

PM Hut (November 13th, 2008, 1:58 pm)

There are are lots of decent tools (I can think of 5 at the moment) that should’ve probably made it into this list.

Haven’t heard before about the first 4 (Lighthouse, SpringLoops, CreativePro, JumpChart).

Basecamp and activeCollab were expected (excluding the invoicing part, which is the least related to Project Management).

Anyway, it’s a good list and it gave me the chance to check some applications that I’ve never seen before.

PM Hut
5.

Guenther (November 13th, 2008, 1:58 pm)

Hi very nice collection i also can recommend.
Link [www.clockingit.com]
… and its free.

Greetings Guenther
6.

Manuel (November 13th, 2008, 2:00 pm)

Exactly what I need.
Thanks.
7.

Tyler (November 13th, 2008, 2:00 pm)

I highly recommend Link [www.getcashboard.com] for billing and time tracking.
8.

TriExpert (November 13th, 2008, 2:01 pm)

No Link [projects.zoho.com]? No Link [invotrak.com]?
9.

Sebastian (November 13th, 2008, 2:07 pm)

Nice article, but I don’t like the idea to host my projects and all related stuff on external servers. Because most of these projects are looking nice, but almost no words about infrastructure, security and so on.
10.

Ernie (November 13th, 2008, 2:08 pm)

For invoicing I recently found Link [curdbee.com], which integrates nicely with PayPal and Google Checkout. It’s totally free and has a great UI.
11.

Lianna (November 13th, 2008, 2:14 pm)

What would I do without u guys!
Great article!
12.

Junni (November 13th, 2008, 2:18 pm)

We used to work with Trac for project management, but about 2 months ago we have replaced it with Redmine, another great tool
13.

Violeta (November 13th, 2008, 2:23 pm)

At Work, we use Link [www.egroupware.org]. It have everything we need: Mail reader, Calendar, InfoLog, ProjectManager, Resources, TimeSheet, Filemanager, Wiki, Bookmarks, SiteManager, News, Polls, Knowledge Base… ^^ It’s really cool.

Nice article. (:
14.

Abel (November 13th, 2008, 2:25 pm)

nice article but for the graphic and creative are i founf action method to be really practucal an functional. check it out!!

here´s the link Link [www.actionmethod.com]
15.

Ole Bülow (November 13th, 2008, 2:38 pm)

Its a shame that the article doesnt have all the free opensource selfhosted alternatives like:

Link [www.achievo.org]
Link [bambooinvoice.org]
Link [collabtive.o-dyn.de]
Link [www.simpleinvoices.org]
Link [www.accord5.com]

just to mention a few.. :o)
16.

Ludovic (November 13th, 2008, 2:40 pm)

Yes Junni, Redmine is great but little known
17.

John Phillips (November 13th, 2008, 2:44 pm)

Great list, but I’d also add Link [www.blinksale.com] to the invoicing list. It’s dead simple to use and also interfaces with Basecamp.
18.

Alex (November 13th, 2008, 2:47 pm)

Nice list. I’d add Xpenser (http://xpenser/.com) for expense tracking, I’ve been using it with Freshbooks. Submitting expense from google talk and sms, sometimes email.
19.

Albert (November 13th, 2008, 2:55 pm)

I was looking for a good projectmanager.. there are some opensource packets, but i’m just about to get a license for Activecollab, tested and looked very good!
20.

Maciej (November 13th, 2008, 3:02 pm)

You could also try ProjectPier, a free version of activeCollab.
21.

Michael (November 13th, 2008, 3:02 pm)

Nice to see Basecamp on there. Awesome app. The Writeboards with version control is the best asset.
22.

Jason Hudnutt (November 13th, 2008, 3:16 pm)

Great list, but you left out Bamboo Invoice!
23.

alex (November 13th, 2008, 3:23 pm)

For time tracking I use and recommend paymo from paymo.biz
24.

Jdawg2k (November 13th, 2008, 3:26 pm)

Freshbooks is an awesome invoicing/time tracking tool and quite popular. I’m surprised it wasn’t in the list.
25.

John Faulds (November 13th, 2008, 3:29 pm)

You could also try ProjectPier, a free version of activeCollab.

I think this post only really scratched the surface with some of the apps available out there for the different types of functionality.
26.

Nate (November 13th, 2008, 3:36 pm)

I’m a fan of Link [torch.wbpsystems.com] which works great with Google docs and also their CRM - Link [heap.wbpsystems.com].
27.

Dan Barnett (November 13th, 2008, 3:39 pm)

Hi - I’m the product guy at WORKetc.

Our web based software integrates project management with timesheets, billing, customer sign off, customer help desk/ticket support and more. For example, timesheet data is shared with project management data, fed through to the billing engine, viewable on the calendar tools and ultimately used to generate real-time management reports.

My philosophy is that running a design agency/web firm is hard enough as it is, without switching between multiple software applications in order to manage aspects of your firm. We’re trying to bring this all under the single application, in a way that is easy to use and adaptable to your existing business processes.

Anyone else think like this? You can read more about our integrated approach at Link [www.WORKetc.com]
28.

Remco (November 13th, 2008, 3:40 pm)

For time tracking apps you missed Link [tickspot.com]. I’ve been using it now for 2 years and love it. It also interfaces with Basecamp and Simply Invoices (which you do state).
29.

Jay (November 13th, 2008, 3:49 pm)

You forgot Blinksale in your Invoicing apps. It’s incredible.
30.

Tzury Bar Yochay (November 13th, 2008, 3:51 pm)

at section #2 you forgot Link [launchpad.net] which got them all (bugs/scm/wiki) in one place for *free*!
31.

Robert Lincolne (November 13th, 2008, 4:07 pm)

Love your articles Smashing.. where would I be without this site.

Big laugh at Basecamp’s screenshot… ‘make the logo bigger’
32.

Sophia (November 13th, 2008, 4:22 pm)

I’m really surprised Freshbooks isn’t included in the list also.

Creative Office looks quite interesting…thanks for the great article and the suggestions.

~Sophia
33.

Derek McDonald (November 13th, 2008, 4:24 pm)

Great tools, but it would be nice if there were more free ones. For the little designer a high cost product is out of reach.

I use trac where I currently work and it is great, some things could be better. Although I did manage to skin Trac to match the design of our website.
34.

Mugros (November 13th, 2008, 4:54 pm)

PBWiki is not free. At least, not for 4+ users.
35.

bino (November 13th, 2008, 4:54 pm)

Does anyone know a true application doing projectmanager?????!!

thanks
36.

Benjamin Shepherd (November 13th, 2008, 4:57 pm)

A project management system i just recently discovered is collabtive. It does a similar job to that of basecamp and costs nothing. Link [collabtive.o-dyn.de]
37.

eporress (November 13th, 2008, 5:16 pm)

I think 14Dayz is an excellent online time tracking solution (whole office using it for every project). They managed to keep the app truly simple and easy to use, I love the UI. A yeah, fanatic customer support.
38.

Mary (November 13th, 2008, 5:19 pm)

Hey, if you are looking for a good and inexpensive solution with project management, time tracking, issue and request tracking over the net, look at Easy Projects . Net. Might work for you.
39.

Zan (November 13th, 2008, 5:44 pm)

you missed out redmine. redmine has everything that trac has and more. it has forums and looks better. its the issue tracker that my project is using.

another option is google apps. its pretty full featured.
40.

Chris Monaghan (November 13th, 2008, 5:59 pm)

Time59 (www.time59.com) features Time and Expense Tracking, Invoicing (PDF), and Payment Entry. It can handle overpayments/retainers and it maintains client balances.
41.

Martin (November 13th, 2008, 6:15 pm)

My time tracking recommendation is Link [www.paymo.biz]
42.

Matt (November 13th, 2008, 6:57 pm)

Our biggest client uses JIRA. It works pretty well, but sometimes we’ll get a list of several unrelated problems on one ticket, which makes it harder for us to get it out of our queue. I know that’s just a human error, but it can still be pretty annoying.
43.

Karl S. (November 13th, 2008, 7:06 pm)

I’m with the folks that mentioned Blinksale. It is an incredible easy-to-use billing application.

Also, if you’re looking for free CRM, you might check out Zoho’s CRM application. It’s free and works as well as what I was previously paying a bundle for with Salesforce.com. Highly recommended.

Thanks for a great set of tools. I’m looking forward to checking some of these out.
44.

Gene T. (November 13th, 2008, 7:42 pm)

Basecamp clone after Basecamp clone. They’re great, if Basecamp is what you want.
But if you want something new, check out Link [productplanner.com] and Link [scrumy.com].
45.

Kevin Micalizzi, Dimdim Community Manager (November 13th, 2008, 7:46 pm)

Cameron, thanks for including Dimdim on this list of tools. I was a project manager for years and finding good tools was always the challenge. Time for me to work my way through the list and check out the ones that I haven’t tried before.

For anyone interested in Link [www.dimdim.com], it’s an easy signup and your attendees don’t need to install anything. Also comes with a free phone conference bridge.
46.

Paul (November 13th, 2008, 7:49 pm)

Two fantastic apps that should be considered for bug and ticket tracking are Request Tracker/RT (http://www.bestpractical.com/rt/ and Bugzilla (http://www.bugzilla.org/).

In the time tracking and task management category, I recommend Hiveminder (hosted) Link [www.hiveminder.com].
47.

Zima (November 13th, 2008, 8:32 pm)

JIRA is free for personal use, too, which is cool. And they have a decently-priced hosted option.
48.

Rohit (November 13th, 2008, 10:00 pm)

A fantastic list but you have not mentioned Link [www.assembla.com] which is also very nice. We are using it for our project and it’s really superb.
49.

Mukesh (November 13th, 2008, 10:17 pm)

We are using Active Collab, but there is some great Time Tracking System too.

thanks
50.

Razvan Pavel (November 13th, 2008, 11:02 pm)

nothing beats Basecamp in my opinion
51.

iAndy (November 13th, 2008, 11:04 pm)

Thanks, great stuff.
52.

Jurjen74 (November 13th, 2008, 11:33 pm)

What about Team Foundation Server ?
53.

Manny (November 13th, 2008, 11:40 pm)

Link [www.blinksale.com]
Blinksale is also a great tool

Is also a very good tool, and also free, its not that expensice as Freshbooks..
54.

Alex (November 13th, 2008, 11:41 pm)

Link [acunote.com] is another good project management system. It is built on the innovative lightweight Scrum process and is focused on the day-to-day steps needed to achieve the goal.
55.

Bart (November 13th, 2008, 11:46 pm)

Link [www.semmels.com] would probably fit in the ‘collaboration’ section.
It’s a free, web-based solution for getting the input of many people in a structured way.
For example, there’s a template to create a page where a group of people can organise a holiday together. The questions that are being answered in the sample are: who’s coming, when are we going and where are we going.
If you try to let a group of people answer such questions, you usually get a whole bunch of e-mails or comments that take a lot of time to summarize.
With semmels, everybody can add suggestions in a structured manner, and others can vote and comment on each suggestion seperately.
Please let me know what you think of it! (good and bad)
56.

uplift (November 13th, 2008, 11:56 pm)

And what about Project Fork
Link [www.joomlapraise.com]
57.

speedcu (November 13th, 2008, 11:56 pm)

Thanks a lot, this is exactly what I was looking for!!! :) great! and very useful!
58.

Michael (November 14th, 2008, 12:01 am)

For a single freelancer/hobbyist, I think Side Job Track is great. Web-based, free, and everything I need in a project management tool - my favorite is a stop-watch time tracker with easy attachment to tasks to automatically calculate costs and set due dates, all in one dialog box. For one guy managing multiple clients, projects, and invoices, it’s a fantastic tool.
59.

Sylvain (November 14th, 2008, 12:04 am)

Active collab is the best out there, and first because it’s a real app that you can install on your lan. If you want to manage your assets, you just can’t upload dozen of megs threw Internet even with a broadband connexion (and pay for it).
60.

Christian (November 14th, 2008, 12:21 am)

Sorry, but I really dislike this kind of article… I know Smashing Magazine have lots and lots of these, but they bring nothing new. It’s basically just a summary of a Google search and a minimum of research on the resulting websites… Or so it seems. We end up with a bunch of links to some services and a list of their features. No new information is presented.

What would change these articles from being useless and almost annoying to being valuable and bringing new information to the web is a CONCLUSION or the like. A “list of links” is useless, but reviews and recommendations would be great.

Next time it would be great if you could think about these questions:
What’s THE best option in your opinion? In what situation should I use what service? What are the strength and weakness after using these services for a couple of weeks? What service is for beginners and what are for expert users?

Thanks!
61.

Nauglamir (November 14th, 2008, 12:33 am)

Great… thanks for input
62.

Armin (November 14th, 2008, 12:39 am)

I would add Link [www.clockingit.com] to the list.

Although advertised as “Timetracking 2.0″ it includes a wiki, forums, online chat and subversion integration is in the works.

Did I mention it’s free and can be installed locally?
63.

yoshi (November 14th, 2008, 12:43 am)

nice list
64.

Ashraf (November 14th, 2008, 12:45 am)

Excellent. thanks for sharing.
65.

Phil Collins (November 14th, 2008, 12:48 am)

We’ve used ActiveCollab for about six months now and I have to say we made the right decision. It’s clean, easy to use and not overly complicated like most other project management or collaboration products out there.
66.

Brijesh Bolar (November 14th, 2008, 12:52 am)

A very good list of Project Management Tools. But I agree with what Christian says..

A comparison of various tools across various parameters / features would definitely help.

More like if we looking for so and so feature then which tool would best fit our requirement.
67.

Vegar (November 14th, 2008, 1:03 am)

I think this post only really scratched the surface with some of the apps available out there for the different types of functionality.

Link [www.fogbugz.com] is one of the application that deserves to be scratched a little…
68.

Martin Majling (November 14th, 2008, 1:04 am)

Great post , i have more 2 tips for web time tracker,
1) getharvest.com , nice timetracking , great iPhone integration
2) slimtimer.com/ , nice and basic version free :-), pay version have export data

for desktop (mac) i have 2 fav. iClockr (time tracking), iGTD
69.

Sylvain (November 14th, 2008, 1:12 am)

For bug tracking there is an Open Source solution: Mantis
70.

Ruslan (November 14th, 2008, 1:20 am)

dotProject was not mentioned there. That is also very powerfull tool
Link [www.dotproject.net]
71.

thedannybarnes (November 14th, 2008, 1:24 am)

I’m a fan of Officetime… it’s desktop-based, really simple and pretty cheap.
72.

Jack (November 14th, 2008, 1:29 am)

Less Accounting is fantastic! It is still a little bit rough around the edges and the development of new features and bug fixes is not always as fast as one would hope, but the concept and execution are brilliant.
For me it really means less accounting and getting more design work done.
73.

Christian Niklas (November 14th, 2008, 1:34 am)

I suggest to add Link [mite.yo.lk] to your list. I’s a superb time tracking and project mananging tool.
74.

Giboo (November 14th, 2008, 1:35 am)

About time traking : I’m using a small free app, online and with a desktop widget, really great :
Link [www.toggl.com]
75.

Samuele Coppede (November 14th, 2008, 1:35 am)

You Forgot NetOffice,
it is opensource and downlodable ( written in PHP)
Link [sourceforge.net]
Bye
76.

mustundag (November 14th, 2008, 1:45 am)

I was looking for something like this. It is needed for me
77.

Neil (November 14th, 2008, 1:49 am)

Yeah ActiveCollab is the one i just bought into… With this article being days late…
OpenGoo is a better version of the free original activecollab, and in my eyes nicer than ProjectPier
78.

Horace Ho (November 14th, 2008, 2:38 am)

Thanks very much for the great information!
79.

Hans (November 14th, 2008, 3:00 am)

We use Achievo for all our project stuff - project management, tasks, time tracking, invocing, CRM etc. It’s Open Source and you host it yourself!
80.

Akiva Levy (November 14th, 2008, 3:21 am)

I am shocked to see that CashBoard is not being mentioned in the article. Surely it boasts many features that deserve to be included in your review; invoices, time tracking, Basecamp integration, reports, client inclusion and more. It also has various account plans from free to paid services.

Check them out: Link [cashboardapp.com]

Akiva Levy, founder Six Thirteen Design
81.

Priyanka (November 14th, 2008, 3:29 am)

Good List! Also a great project management tool should be added to it.
DeskAway
I have been using DeskAway from past few months & I am quiet happy with the features & service provided. Also they are providing a lot of new features like tracking Project history & also a lot of foreign languages are supported which is amazing.
Link [www.deskaway.com]
82.

Benja (November 14th, 2008, 3:38 am)

Thanks for this list.
There is also clocking it: Link [www.clockingit.com].
It’s a free project management tool written in ruby . The sources are downloadable.
83.

Suruchi (November 14th, 2008, 3:46 am)

@ Priyanka. Thanks to point out DeskAway. Even we are using DeskAway for project management & collaboration.Its a great tool indeed.
84.

Nirav Doshi (November 14th, 2008, 3:54 am)

Check out one of the best (and commercial not costly too) products over the last 3 years: Link [www.celoxis.com]

This is the only product I could find which allows you prepare a truely hierarchical project plan (online!), just like Microsoft Project Professional. Updating the tasks is also relatively simple for your users.

Timesheets, billing, clients, reports -> Everything managed in a single app.

Check it out!
85.

Kailash Badu (November 14th, 2008, 3:57 am)

I am surprised either that freshbooks is not mentioned.

Of all the PM/Bug Tracking software I know about, none beat FogBugs
86.

Sudhanshu (November 14th, 2008, 4:18 am)

Check out Link [www.actionmethod.com] I tried the service and feel that it is one of the best solutions out there.
87.

Bruno Alberto Byington Neto De Figueiredo (November 14th, 2008, 4:26 am)

Thanks, Im also needing something like a cool Project Management Application.

Im somehow however not that patient just jet to check through all of them. So I was starting to think why dont just do your own? I Mean I do work on DHTML, Python and stuff like that. I am the geek in the creative person so… why not programm your own suit of beauty to coordinate things around? Im not really sure how time will pass when programming something like basecamp? Nah Im not really out of my mind guys Im just thinking technically hardcore mainly simple. Creativity is somewhere in between the hardcore and simplicity, cant tell you yet where exactly?

any suggestions?

Thanks alot.
88.

ToonCave.com (November 14th, 2008, 4:40 am)

Good info. I’ve been using tadalist for about a year now and it looks like I need to step up my game. :)

Link [www.tadalist.com]
89.

bend (November 14th, 2008, 5:03 am)

Another vote for Redmine. Just switched from TFS a month ago.
90.

Shane Cronin (November 14th, 2008, 5:12 am)

“ACTITIME” is also a great time management and reporting tool. You can download a limited version to work on site. Link [www.actimind.com]. Works well for our company.

S
91.

Pie (November 14th, 2008, 5:17 am)

projectplace.com is by far the best
92.

abc (November 14th, 2008, 5:27 am)

bugzill well than others
93.

Amar Damani (November 14th, 2008, 5:29 am)

I am looking for a good option for project management & time tracking, have got so many option so just confused, need to get it right the first time as its not something w can change everyday, i have seen the demos of deskra, deskaway, bascamp, whodoes, open goo, active collab & what not, had zeroed in on santexq.com (not cause its free) as it had one of the key feature i was looking for i.e i can put estimates to tasks & track them, i can track the team work hours using the timesheets & all, this on gets its bang on as i wanted it too ( i am not sure if this feature is in other web tool, if yes pls point me in the right direction. On more imp thing is that it should not cost me a bomb :-)

trust me i am checking almost all the tools on the web, if some one here is in web development than pls drop a line as which one you have used & why, it will be of great help, 5mpweb is also a good one you guys can check.. i am dreaming project tools :-)
94.

Wuana (November 14th, 2008, 5:31 am)

You forgot one really wonderful and free resource.
Link [www.freshbooks.com]

They offer : bug/issue tracking, time tracking, invoicing, documentation collaboration
Best of all, it’s free to use if you have only 2 clients.
I’ve been using it for 2 years now. Top notch.
95.

Jon Kruger (November 14th, 2008, 5:41 am)

I’d also add TFS and Mingle from Thoughtworks to this list.
96.

Mike (November 14th, 2008, 5:43 am)

For time tracking I would recommend Intervals Link [www.myintervals.com]. They just released a new milestones feature that allows for better project management as well. We’ve been using it for almost a year and haven’t found any issues with it.
97.

Lauren Jordan (November 14th, 2008, 5:46 am)

Also try SugarCRM. It’s technically a contact management app, but has a great interface for project management and is very customizable.

Best part, it’s FREE, and hosted on your server, if you wish. It requires PHP and MySQL. You can have unlimited users and even limit their permissions to view only certain projects, tasks, etc. We used this at my last company and coordinated with devs as far away as India.

Cheers!
98.

Dmitry Polushkin (November 14th, 2008, 6:53 am)

Using RedMine for a project management. Like it a lot. Have all the features that I need.
99.

Barry Collard (November 14th, 2008, 6:57 am)

Has anyone tried Link [www.toggl.com]? A very useful tool in that it tracks projects in real-time via a choice of a downloadable exe, an Adobe Air app or using the Toggl website and best of all- it’s free (with the choice of a pay version for more complex services). I use it as a designer to keep track of all my different clients. It also produces reports for billing.
100.

Brandon Livengood (November 14th, 2008, 7:00 am)

@ Amar

We use santexq as well, it is a great web app, which is free and has a lot of features that others don’t seem to have. This is my recommendation to all that have been struggling to find a right project management app.
101.

Tim (November 14th, 2008, 7:29 am)

Team Foundation Server? I think the title said “useful.” Enough said!
102.

masone (November 14th, 2008, 7:33 am)

When it comes to time tracking I swear by mite (Link [www.mite.yo.lk]).
103.

Jonas (November 14th, 2008, 7:40 am)

You forgot Gemini from countersoft (I have no affiliation) for issue tracking. Free license for up to 5 users. Seems like you’re just pimping commercial products here and did not spend a lot of time reviewing open source/freeware products.
104.

Tom (November 14th, 2008, 7:43 am)

Slimtimer … Assembla … other real good tools to look at. Trac integrates slimtimer too actually. Though Trac really is the mother of all these tools and if you can work with python and Trac’s templates — you can walk away with something so much better than anything out there, and for free!
105.

Joshua Sortino (November 14th, 2008, 8:04 am)

Most people don’t realize this but ProjectPier (http://www.projectpier.org/) was originally a free program. Someone took the free source code and turned the program into ActiveCollab (which now charges money.)

When you download ProjectPier, it doesn’t have great visual appeal, but there are a few skins (”Sand” is very nice) that are very clean and smooth.
106.

Stefan (November 14th, 2008, 8:21 am)

Check out tinyPM (http://tinypm.com/) if you are into agile PM-methods like Scrum and project-wikis.
Nice tool–we have been using it for almost 18 month now.
107.

Jessica (November 14th, 2008, 8:45 am)

I use MacFreelance for all my Invoicing. I highly recommend it. :)
108.

Jacob Abshire (November 14th, 2008, 8:56 am)

I suppose the Projonnect was not included in this list because it has not really been promoted in any sort of way. Projonnect is a free Project Manager that includes invoices among some other things. It may be something to look into.
109.

Tess Neale (November 14th, 2008, 9:04 am)

I fully agree with all of you recommending Blinksale! Brilliant system!

I also agree with Christian and Brijesh. This blog post looks like it’s just a list of a few of the Google results out there.

I’m looking forward to seeing a proper researched blog posts/articles describing for example who the different Project/Task management systems suits.
- Paid tools
- Free tools
- Systems for teams up to 5 members
- Systems for teams with 10+ members
- Only task management or solid project management systems
- Separate post about bug tracking or invoicing
- etc.

This time around it just felt like a short mix of everything - didn’t really fit with the title of the post.

Something more in the lines of “10 collaborative project and task management systems for teams with 5+ members” for example. ;)

Any thoughts..?

Cheers,
Tess
110.

Rafi B. (November 14th, 2008, 9:19 am)

+1 for activeCollab. Owned, and self-hosted, open source and extendable.
111.

nwongfeiying (November 14th, 2008, 9:56 am)

Nice article. It’s quite useful.
112.

Jared (November 14th, 2008, 10:11 am)

Blinksale def. needs to be on that invoicing list. Best invoice web app out there - and works with Basecamp!
113.

Sean Crowe (November 14th, 2008, 10:22 am)

Another great option for time management is Link [klok.mcgraphix.com]. Its free and runs off adobe air. It might not be as extensive as those offered above, but it certainly does the job.
114.

Adrienne Adams (November 14th, 2008, 10:33 am)

I’ve tried several of the tools mentioned in both the article and comments–FreshBooks, Blinksale, and Basecamp. Since February I’ve been using Cashboard for my time tracking, estimating, and invoicing needs. I’ve found it much better than Blinksale for invoicing and far superior to FreshBooks in every way.

All the templates are completely customizable and look really sharp right out of the box–a very important feature for a professional designer.

Cashboard also integrates with Basecamp, has a super-flexible international tax system, and allows your clients to pay invoices online. The price is reasonable and is based on the number of active projects you have.

Best of all, Cashboard’s developer is totally dedicated to improving the functionality, UI, and features of the application. The support forum is top-notch and they’ve just added a cool features request system.

BTW, I’m not affiliated in any way with this company–I’m a true fan!
115.

Stephen B. (November 14th, 2008, 10:36 am)

Great list. My only nitpick is that it would be nice if it were more clear which applications are 3′rd-party-hosted services, and which ones can be installed on your own server.

One addition would suggest for the bug/ticket tracking section is Kayako SupportSuite (they have both self-hosted options and they-host-it options). It seems to be one of the more sophisticated apps of its type, I notice a lot of hosting companies using it. It does have some collaboration / project management features, but they’re pretty perfunctory.
116.

Harry (November 14th, 2008, 11:03 am)

great list, another cool web app for tracking goals and todo list etc, Link [www.goalsontrack.com]
117.

Justin Mather (November 14th, 2008, 11:06 am)

what about action method online (behance’s project management program)
118.

Emmanuel (November 14th, 2008, 11:26 am)

Have a look at Pivotal Tracker.

it’s powerful and incredibly easy to use. It’s like a Project Management system for people who do not like Project Management (but still need it!)
119.

hey man (November 14th, 2008, 11:33 am)

Why did you blur out C squared, Cameron?
120.

Dina (November 14th, 2008, 11:54 am)

I put my vote in for Fogbugz and LiquidPlanner!
121.

passatgt (November 14th, 2008, 12:32 pm)

Good for admin panel inspiration:)
122.

listio (November 14th, 2008, 12:46 pm)

Thanks for the link to Listio! We also recently did a series of reviews (including a comparison) of 4 project management applications: 5pm, GoPlan, Basecamp and Central Desktop. Link [www.listio.com]
123.

Parker (November 14th, 2008, 2:26 pm)

Looks to me like there are as many project management applications as there are people on the planet. Jeez - talk about a market saturated with tools and utilities.
124.

Vincenzo Acinapura (November 14th, 2008, 2:30 pm)

Another vote for Link [redmine.org], it has Subversion, Git, Darcs, Mercurial, CVS and Bazar support, Gantt, calendar, forum and tons of other features. His interface is very simple and well designed. It is also available via Link [bitnami.org] (so it takes 5 minutes to have it up and running :D) Good post, cheers
125.

Phil (November 14th, 2008, 3:20 pm)

For German users: mite (http://mite.yo.lk) is my favorite timetracking service.
126.

Aaron (November 14th, 2008, 3:24 pm)

I too agree with Christian and others. The blogsphere’s need for link collection posts without extra information-like reviews or pro and con lists-is over. We have too many lazy, money hungry, and search enging whoring bloggers writing these type of lists daily.

We know smashingmagazine and its contributors can write insightful articles; that fact is why we visit and support this site.

Please think about what I and others have said in regards to the content of this post. But also remember its about more then just this one post. Successful blogs like this one set the standard that others will follow. Will you lead other design bloggers into writing indepth, thought provoking posts? Or will you subdue creativity by showing them yet again that a quick google’d link list post is all the bloggsphere needs?

Good luck. And thank you to the commenter that mentioned opengoo. I just installed it. Works great :-)
127.

themanager (November 14th, 2008, 3:32 pm)

If you want the full package (timesheets, project management, planning, reporting, contact and document management, approval and invoicing) at a sensible price as well, check out Link [www.timesuite.com.au] (Australia based). I got to see the beta version of their new system a few weeks ago and it rocks. Think they are releasing it early 2009.
128.

Robin (November 14th, 2008, 3:41 pm)

Thanks so much for the mention of Creative Pro Office - I’ve been looking for something exactly like that.

For invoicing, you missed Quicken’s free Billing Manager: Link [billingmanager.intuit.com] - I’ve been using it pretty regularly and love it!
129.

Adam Soltys (November 14th, 2008, 5:16 pm)

Yet another vote for redMine. It’s super easy to use, very flexible, and is also actively developed and maintained. We switched from Trac about two years ago and haven’t looked back.
130.

aperta (November 14th, 2008, 5:18 pm)

How About Huddle (www.huddle.net).
131.

Minchyp (November 14th, 2008, 8:51 pm)

great list of useful tools, but as a web project manager, MS Project is still the only tool to manage a really complex job (admittedly I tend to do big complex projects). You need to get the manaul out, learn how to use it properly and plan the job to the last detail, but without that lies chaos.
132.

veggar (November 14th, 2008, 9:25 pm)

Very good information.
Thanks a lot.
133.

Amar Damani (November 15th, 2008, 12:17 am)

@ Brandon

thanks for your comment, we have created all the user accounts & all in santexq but if i can get where i can threaded discussions, client integration & gnatt chart, anything like that or should w go ahead with santexq? any feedback anyone? i can go for a paid solution too if i can get exactly what i want..

thanks in advance
Amar
134.

M4rc0 (November 15th, 2008, 1:39 am)

How could you not mention ClockingIT ?

Makes Basecamp feel like a kiddo
135.

Mortaza Doulaty (November 15th, 2008, 1:59 am)

Nice article, thanks.

Cause we are not sure about the security and stability of those free servers, I think developing an small project management system is better. I’m now checking those free one’s to see that they have, so that our’s would be better ;)
It may be an open source one…
136.

Jon (November 15th, 2008, 7:53 am)

We use SharedPlan (Link [www.sharedplan.com]) for the planning and management of our projects. They are particularly strong in the planning phase which is something I find lacking from most other similar tools and without good planning the rest doesn’t much matter. They also have online tools as well as native tools for Mac and Windows.

To each his/her own but SharedPlan works very well for us.
137.

joanne (November 15th, 2008, 10:36 am)

There is a neat little Link [www.fanuriotimetracking.com] tool called Fanurio. I love it! You can try it for free too. You can just click to start, pause it, etc and you can do nifty reports. I use it to track the time I spend on client projects. Even though I only bill hourly for consulting projects, it helps me to see how much time I’m spending to make sure my rates are in line.
138.

Brade (November 15th, 2008, 12:02 pm)

Thanks for the list. I had just heard about another free option recently: Link [www.clockingit.com]

It looks pretty great, and I’m curious if anyone has experience using it.

At my previous job, we used dotProject, basecamp, projectpier, and fogbugz, and still weren’t totally pleased with any of these. Fogbugz was probably the best, but had the serious shortcoming of not being able to see what other team members were currently working on…
139.

James (November 15th, 2008, 3:23 pm)

Shocked that Link [www.getcashboard.com] isn’t included in this list!!! FAIL!
140.

Rubric (November 15th, 2008, 6:01 pm)

You needed to include Wiggio, a free alternate to BaseCamp that is great. We are thinking of switching from basecamp to Wiggio at my company.
141.

Ori (November 16th, 2008, 1:04 am)

I love Merlin’s project management app (think it’s for Mac only). The learning curve is very quick there.
142.

Ben Curren (November 16th, 2008, 8:07 pm)

I’m surprised that Link [freshbooks.com] was not included as well. You may also want to check out Link [gobootstrap.com] for free web based accounting software. We are still in beta but will be rolling out 1.0 pretty soon.
143.

Logo Design Art (November 16th, 2008, 11:26 pm)

great! jira is very good!
144.

Steve (November 17th, 2008, 2:56 am)

I’m using Link [www.rationalplan.com] at office and I’m very pleased with it. I do not need web or collaboration and this tool is just what I need. That is real project management software.
My experience with web based tools is that are more for collaboration and not project management in the real meaning. So it is well said “1. Basic Project Management Apps”. As about “2. Wiki-Based Project Management” there is no such thing. Folks come on… project management is not wiki style site presentation. You can use wiki for forums, some sort of collaboration methods but NOT project management.
145.

Lukasz (November 17th, 2008, 4:59 am)

For scrum users, I recommend Link [www.bananascrum.com].
146.

Julien (November 17th, 2008, 7:30 am)

Hey I think you should try Link [www.planzone.com]
147.

Jeff (November 17th, 2008, 11:31 am)

Thank you very much for featuring CreativePro Office in your list of PM apps. We sincerely appreciate it!
148.

Ivan Pidov (November 17th, 2008, 1:34 pm)

Thanks for the great list SM !
149.

Liz (November 17th, 2008, 2:41 pm)

I work for Link [www.liquidplanner.com]. We make project management software that’s online, easy to use, and best of all — helps you manage uncertainty. Free for teams of <4 people, also free for nonprofits/education.
150.

Anthony Lonergan (November 17th, 2008, 10:14 pm)

Parasoft’s GRS/Concerto is a really effective way of managing development projects. Provides long-term overview of project progress and the ability to drill down to specifics at a coding or developer level:

Link:[http://www.parasoft.com/jsp/products/home.jsp?product=GRS&itemId=132]
151.

2pint (November 18th, 2008, 6:37 am)

Great list!

A few others (FOSS):
Link [integriaims.com]
Link [www.tutos.org]
Link [drupal.org] w/ modules - Spaces, Storm, or self-built on Organic Groups
152.

Reen (November 18th, 2008, 9:36 am)

Well done, but i need a solution (time tracking and/or billing) that i can install on my own webserver. Does anybody knows such a tool?
153.

jasiek (November 18th, 2008, 10:17 am)

Check this out: epesiBIM - open source CRM with bugtracker, better than mantis
154.

archana (November 18th, 2008, 2:54 pm)

i have used around 5 projectmanagement project. Basecamp is the best.Its really easy to easy for developer and new user(customer).
155.

Darryl Lei (November 18th, 2008, 4:46 pm)

I personally reccomend Link [www.gatherspace.com] as a great requirements management tool for quick sharing and organization of requirements.
156.

Amar Damani (November 18th, 2008, 10:40 pm)

any thoughts on simplypm & spiraplan? i have chcked the demos of almost all of the links mentioned & think these two can be killer self hosted sols? any exp with these ?

thanks in advance
157.

Amar Damani (November 18th, 2008, 11:46 pm)

after investing an entire week on finding the right sol i am going ahead with santexq, i think its the best sol for tracking time estimate vs. time taken, it should be good enough for next one year than i ll go for something like spiraplan, santexq is also free which is an added bonus, i would like to mention that 5pm looks great & with some more feature it should be good enough for sme segment who want to make work fun :-) the same goes for wrike it was fun checking out almost 50 tools thru the week. Bye for now!
158.

Levente Kovacs (November 19th, 2008, 2:29 am)

You did forget about FogBugz!
159.

Premasagar Rose (November 19th, 2008, 8:39 am)

We recently posted on the Dharmafly blog about our experiences with Basecamp. The post attracted a number of interesting comments about related project management tools:
Link [dharmafly.com]
160.

David Perel (November 19th, 2008, 12:41 pm)

I still find that the best project management tool is a Pencil and Paper.
161.

Dan (November 19th, 2008, 1:05 pm)

Nice list.

If you would like a tool to manage your small business activities and Projects, you can also use this web aplication:

Link [www.Gtdagenda.com]

You can use it to manage and prioritize your Goals (for business but also in other areas of your life), Projects and Tasks. It has a Checklists section, for the routines and repetitive activities that any business has to do. Also, it features a Schedules section and a Calendar, for scheduling you time and activities.

Some features from GTD are also present, like Contexts and Next Actions.

And it’s available on the mobile phone too, so you can access it from anywhere.
162.

Ilija Studen (November 20th, 2008, 12:28 am)

@Joshua Sortino:

Not true. ProjectPier continued development of open source version of activeCollab, not the other way around. Here is quote from About ProjectPier page:

ProjectPier was started as a fork of the now commercial activeCollab application.
163.

MikeW (November 20th, 2008, 12:59 am)

Great list, been searching for a good project management tool for my team for ages. Simpler the better. At the minute I just use OmniOutliner, but today I stumbled upon Actionthis . Anyone got any experience of this? Seems pricy though…
164.

Emily (November 21st, 2008, 6:10 am)

My fave is wrike.com
Tough I tried some of the ones you write about, including Basecamp. BTW, I found Basecamp pretty simplistic - it’s a great tool for a small project, but it won’t work if you have 10 or 15 of them.
See for yourself :)
165.

beauty (November 21st, 2008, 8:10 am)

My favorite is planzone.com!
Don’t tell me about Basecamp, it’s awful!
Emily, BTW, with Planzone you can use up to 50 projects, in a rather simple way.
166.

Susan Hurrell (November 22nd, 2008, 5:06 am)

Great list with lots of great resources. One great time-tracking program we use at our office is Slimtimer.com - helps our project managers and production team stay in scope - and works on my Ipod Touch as well. Looking forward to checking out some of these great suggestions.
167.

Indrek (November 22nd, 2008, 3:23 pm)

I think visual planning rocks eg. you need to draw your plans instead of writing. Best way to draw your plan is by using gantt charts. Altought both gantt and PERT charts can be done using pen and paper, specialized software packages are more handy. 2 main problems with charts on paper are rescheduling and sharing your plans. Again, most of the software packages are too complex and hard to implement or too expensive. Well here’s one which doesn’t have too many bells and whistles and can be used free of charge - Link [www.yutiti.com]
168.

Ollie (November 23rd, 2008, 6:25 am)

This is a really useful list, you should also consider Copper Project too
169.

Célia Leocádio (November 24th, 2008, 2:23 pm)

Goplan is a great tool. I use it for managing my webprojects. Please mention it in further reviews.
170.

Erica (November 26th, 2008, 8:22 am)

5pm (www.5pmweb.com) should be in that list for project management apps - a truly unique interface.
171.

Dave Price (November 27th, 2008, 4:26 am)

We use Link [www.celoxis.com] for our project management office since the last 5 years. I have used others in the past but if you are serious about project management then try it out. It’s not as cool looking as the others but it gets the job done! For some reason they are pretty low key. Maybe they let their product do the talking. Anyway, check it out.
172.

Walter Adams (November 30th, 2008, 12:21 pm)

A good web based hosted Project Management software that suits my EPM needs is called valleyspeak project server, which I found at Link [www.valleyspeak.com]. One of the main reasons why I like the product is the fact that I can continue to work in Microsoft Project 2007 while sharing my Microsoft Project plans with my teams.

Because it is a hosted service, I did not have to buy expensive software or deal with installation and maintenance headaches. The functionality that I have with valleyspeak to manage my geographically dispersed teams works well for me.
173.

Krishna Bhatta (December 3rd, 2008, 2:13 am)

Nice collection. But i recomend Link [www.lumoflow.com].
Which is very best management tool.
174.

Jerimy stewert (December 4th, 2008, 3:12 am)

i agree with Walter, ValleySpeak Project Server is the the most affordable and easy yo adopt too for sharing Microsoft projects on the web.
175.

dawain (December 5th, 2008, 7:37 am)

There are a lot of good project management tools that have been listed, but the problem I have is we have an IIS6 server and most of the product require a Apache server running php5.

Any good PM tools that you have found that will run locally on a IIS6 server running sql server?
176.

asma (December 9th, 2008, 1:18 am)

Hi
Am looking for something where you can track time for team members for different shifts.. any pointers…
177.

Jonny (December 10th, 2008, 7:26 am)

Hi,
You can track time for members in projectplace. Projectplace is a web based project management and team collaboration software that you also can track time and many other things. You find projectplace at Link [www.projectplace.com]. It’s free for 1 to 3 persons.
Good Luck!

/Jonny
178.

Paul (December 17th, 2008, 11:42 am)

are there any related project management tools web apps out there which are catered to the logo design process/projects? I’m looking for a project management app that is less general and more specific to logo development where a client could log in comment on logo proofs and the designer/admin could upload a proof, have it send auto notification of ‘new proof’ to the client, and similar tasks. anyone have any suggestions? maybe there is one out there that would work better for such a thing than others?
179.

William (December 17th, 2008, 2:26 pm)

The premier on-line collaboration and project management tool is Qtask (www.qtask.com). All services for one price with unlimited projects, storage, etc.
Happy with a Yugo, use Basecamp. Prefer a BMW, check out Qtask. The cool part is they cost about the same.
180.

Ron Fletcher (December 18th, 2008, 4:14 am)

Be sure to check out PlannigForce PM tool at Link [www.planningforce.com] …..
181.

Mikel (December 19th, 2008, 10:26 am)

@Jon

We use SharedPlan Link [www.sharedplan.com] too. I just spoke to someone there and they are working on import/export for Basecamp Link [www.basecamphq.com] which should be a good addition and round out the lack of planning support in Basecamp.

fyi…
182.

Steve (December 26th, 2008, 1:12 am)

You have to check out Link [www.manymoon.com] its the only to online free web application that works with google apps

Manymoon is a secure to do list and project management application for Google Apps! Manymoon is like Basecamp and Sharepoint for Google Docs.

* Private and Shared To Do List (attach Google Docs)
* Turn emails into tasks, receive daily reminders
* Projects and milestones linked to Google Doc
* Add tasks to google Calendar

Link [www.google.com]
183.

Flo (January 2nd, 2009, 5:10 am)

Great compilation of software applications. I’m keen to give Daylite (from Marketcircle) a go but will have to investigate the above ones a bit closer before I decide.
Has anybody worked with Daylite yet and if so what do you
184.

Steven (January 5th, 2009, 5:11 pm)

Manymoon is a free web based project and task tracking tool which apart from having all the regular features which an online task management tool is expected to have, has a special feature - it allows you to easily attach your documents and sheets in your Google Docs account from within its interface. It also allows you to create private tasks, collaborate with co-workers, turn email into tasks and track the completion of projects.

# Manage your private and shared tasks.
# Simple tracking and completion of projects.
# Find out what other people are working on.
# Collaborate with co-workers, customers and partners.
# Turn emails into tasks.
# Attach Google Docs to tasks and projects.

Its FACEBOOK for work . So simple to use
185.

John Peilow (January 6th, 2009, 6:50 am)

Good list of applications but at work we use Link [www.freshbooks.com] for our accounting which we have found fantastic and Link [www.teamworkpm.net] for our Project Management and team/client collaboration.

We triedLink [www.basecamphq.com] but found it too limiting, especially the dates on tasks. The chat was cool but we use IM or Skyoe when we need to chat.

John.
186.

t.gee. (January 7th, 2009, 6:23 am)

What about solutions that can be installed on your own hosting server.
We don’t really like placing our data on networks outside of the company, and getting around the monthly fees would be worth it.
There is activeCollab, anything else in the same league?
187.

D Nicholson (January 8th, 2009, 2:47 am)

Fixx is a an excellent self-hosted bug and issue tracker which is very simple to use. It’s completely free for one user. It can be downloaded Link [hedgehoglab.com]
188.

Shana (January 8th, 2009, 1:45 pm)

I am a fan of Google Notebook (found at Link [notebook.google.com]) It is free, really straightforward and simple, and you can choose to share notebooks with others to coolaborate, or export your notebook to html or to google docs. Typical google apps style, the design is very low on the graphical elements, high on usability.
Probably the best use of notebook is as a personal organizer - not really strong enough for big collaborative projects. But that is all I need, really.
189.

Biserka (January 20th, 2009, 2:05 am)

Thanks for the list!

To t.gee. above, check the below, they offer in-house solution (on your own hosting server)

Check this out: Link [www.projectoffice.net] , it is at the same time, project,cost and issue tracking tool, time and task management tool, Wiki collaboration etc. They give 30 days free trial…
190.

Anna Smith (February 5th, 2009, 5:55 am)

A good hosted Project Management software that suits my EPM needs is called valleyspeak project server, which I found at Link [www.valleyspeak.com]. One of the main reasons why I like the software is the fact that I could continue to work in Microsoft Project 2007 while sharing my Microsoft Project plans with my teams.

Because it is a hosted service, I did not have to buy expensive software or deal with installation and maintenance headaches. The functionality that I have with valleyspeak to manage my geographically dispersed teams works well for me. We also evaluated Basecamp and some other solutions but were not impressed.
191.

jopp (February 14th, 2009, 1:20 pm)

thankssssssssssssssss………….. :-)
192.

medj (February 19th, 2009, 12:38 am)

+1 vote for Redmine
Quite simple, configurable and useful.

In previous companies I’ve worked with MS Project Server 2003/2007, NetOffice, Bugzilla, Borland StarTeam, Mantis, Lotus Notes/Domino based in-house solutions.
Now I use Redmine and I like it since it satisfy most of my requirements for issues management. For sure there is a huge area for improvements but rough overview of solution listed in this article shows that Redmine could beat them in issue management area, IMHO.
193.

Faruk (February 24th, 2009, 8:18 pm)

Thanks. Its a great job. I am very fresh in project management site. So I want to know basic or primary level tips and tricks to run a project successfully. How can I get help to know initial tools and techniques about project management? Thanks again.
194.

DennisB (March 6th, 2009, 1:03 pm)

We use CurrentTrack as our traffic management system & LOVE IT! I’m not really too sure how we could function without it. We are a 23 person agency & it works great for us & keeps everyone on task & in the loop of what is going on & when it needs to be done. It’s web based which is nice when we are working from home or remotely from shoot, etc…
LINK: Link [developware.com]
195.

analytik (March 10th, 2009, 2:07 am)

For simple time tracking, don’t pass the chance to try out bubbletime! Dead simple. Link [bubbletimer.com]
196.

Alex (March 20th, 2009, 9:47 am)

We use santexq and it’s a pretty good online project management tool solution. i have found that many online tools have a lot of features that we don’t need/use and since santexq has a focus on task management it fits us really well. we’re a small team of 6.
197.

Andrew Macdonald (March 31st, 2009, 7:35 am)

Thanks for the useful reviews.
198.

Andrew Macdonald (March 31st, 2009, 8:40 am)

Also, for those interested in other software lists and product reviews, see the Project Management Software Meta-Directory at Link [www.taskmerlin.com] (note: also includes to-do list and GTD software, and online and desktop categories).
199.

Vinay (April 6th, 2009, 11:35 pm)

Good Project Tracking Tool with interesting reports and robust integration with Microsoft Office. Link [www.clearvu.com] .
This tool is also has A robust, adapter-based bidirectional integration backbone, that allows ClearVu to tightly integrate with phase-specific tools as well as traditional cross-life cycle management tools
200.

Julia [mite] (April 9th, 2009, 5:51 am)

Wow, that’s a pretty extensive round-up, thanks for that!

Just a quick update on the comments by masone (109) and Phil (136): the time tracking tool »mite« that just launched an English version this week. We’ve been working on the German version for two years now – and would be extremely happy to get some feedback from English speaking users.

Link [mite.yo.lk]
201.

Just (April 12th, 2009, 5:38 pm)

Just pooped in my pants after reading this. Thanks much!
202.

Will (April 20th, 2009, 2:08 pm)

Maciej - Thanks for recommending ProjectPeir…I just downloaded it and have it all set up on my server and it seems very robust and intuitive!

Thanks again
203.

adi barda (April 21st, 2009, 8:42 am)

For me InTask personal is the best project management tool (www.intaskpro.com). I use it for 10’s of projects and hundreds of tasks and it works fast like charm with reports, gantt, filters etc - try it.
204.

Joshua Sortino (April 22nd, 2009, 5:22 am)

@Ilija Studen

That may be true, but nobody knew the hard work they were putting into ActiveCollab was going to be sold when they started charging users by going commercial.
205.

Gautham (April 24th, 2009, 2:46 am)

This was very useful Cameron ! Thanks

Should also check out “Mingle” .. Its been very useful for my management …. Link [www.thoughtworks.com]
206.

IK (April 26th, 2009, 12:43 pm)

Uuugh.. If someone would compile all these recommendations from comments into 1 list we would have “1001 useful project management tools”. I will throw in Link [www.yutiti.com] as a really simple resource planning app with interactive gantt charts.
207.

Andy Wright (May 9th, 2009, 9:18 am)

You may also want to check out Orchestrate Link [orchestrateapp.com] for a free location based task scheduler.
208.

Silverback (June 11th, 2009, 4:38 am)

Just don´t understand, why there isn´t Google services, wich is free and well for someone. And only one pay-free solution? Com´on! What about this: Link [www.simpleinvoices.org] and it is just one example, there is many more!
209.

Felipe Souza (June 11th, 2009, 12:56 pm)

I´ve tried Creative pro Office and it´s very impressive, but… completly unsecure!
Do not recommend if you don´t want someone else accessing your data.
210.

Pauline (June 12th, 2009, 7:16 am)

This is a really great list, thank you!
But I would like to add SMW+ Link [wiki.ontoprise.de]
211.

dj (June 12th, 2009, 7:55 pm)

Open Proj is nice at Link [openproj.org]. It is open source and runs on mac, windows, or linux.
212.

Paul d’Aoust (June 13th, 2009, 9:02 am)

I second OpenGoo — I’ve been using it for time tracking, project management, issue tracking (it’s not built for that, but it’s pretty versatile), and it’s just fantastic.
213.

Shahriat Hossain (June 18th, 2009, 7:57 pm)

Nice list of project management tools, thanks for sharing this post.
214.

MM (June 22nd, 2009, 7:24 am)

We are looking for something with the following features and so far are working with Creative Pro Office:
1. Free (if possible)
2. Web-based
3. Time tracking (timer and editable)
4. Invoicing

It would be nice to have something that integrated more with Google.
215.

Shayne M (June 29th, 2009, 1:47 am)

For developers - Don’t forget Unfuddle.com, Assembla.com and the new CodeBaseHQ.com for for Issues/PM/Code.