Trying to make a decision about which project management or collaboration software to use for your business?
Take a look at the list (and table) below. We’ve put the most popular hosted software options under the microscope by comparing must-haves and other essential features (including mobile compatibility, price, and more).
We love (and use) Basecamp for its mind-bending simplicity, but it still leaves much to the imagination. Incidentally, there’s a full list of collaboration tools we use to manage remote teams on our blog here.
Here are the contenders:
(Listed in descending order from most popular to least popular based on Alexa rankings).
Basecamp – simple to use and very popular. One of many popular products that flys under the 37 Signals banner.
Zoho Projects – a wide range of applications available on top of project management including CRM, calendar, chat and a wiki. Over 3 million users.
Freshbooks – a very popular invoicing application that includes time tracking, task and project management. Over 2 million users.
Central Desktop – 425,000 users, includes real time integration between Microsoft office and the central workspace.
Manymoon – A project management tool focused on integration with Google Apps, recently purchased by Salesforce.
Deskaway – includes timesheets, calendar, contacts and a micro-blogging status update feature.
Smartsheet – project management, CRM and other features based around using online spreadsheets.
5pm – very colorful interface, and lots of features including time tracking, contacts and an iPhone app.
Teamworkpm – includes time tracking, contacts and calendar.
activeCollab – includes invoicing, time tracking and email reports.
Ace Project – some HR and expense management features.
Teambox – includes a twitter style updates feature.
Feng office – includes time tracking, calendar and contacts.
Huddle – integrates with Microsoft office so you can save Microsoft files directly to a shared workspace.
Comindwork – includes Gantt charts, and a business wiki.
Nozbe – project management based around the David Allen “Getting Things Done” methodology.
Harvest – focused on invoicing and time tracking, a competitor to Freshbooks.
Wrike – some unique features such as the ability to create and update tasks via email and timeline view of project plans.
Goplan – includes a twitter like activity stream.
EGroupware – Consists of multiple installable applications and includes a calendar app, address book, eMail, project management, timesheet and others.
Clarizen – many features including budgeting, billing, Gantt charts.
Hyperoffice – has a hosted email service and contact management.
LiquidPlanner – project scheduling, time tracking and lots of graphs and analysis.
Severa – includes CRM and invoicing.
And here are a few more hopefuls:
TeamWork Live, Nirvana, Projectplace, Intervals, ProWorkflow, Teamly, Glasscubes, Copper, Workspace, Tenrox, Journyx, Clientspot, Vertabase, Celoxis, 24sevenoffice, Project Spaces, PlanDone, Teameffect., Attask.
Some notes about this list
This is only hosted SaaS online project management software. There are other open source projects however these will not be hosted set and forget solutions (you have to install them yourself), so we haven’t included them on this list. We have also not included products more focused on CRM or products that are more bug tracking focused such as Jira. We also excluded sites that did not have their pricing listed on the site. We know that the ranking of sites is not completely accurate, but it’s the best we could find. Compete or Quantcast are other alternatives for ranking sites but we decided to use Alexa.
Project management software comparison table
We have started an open Google document with a list of all SaaS project management providers here. Please add any project management software that you feel is missing on this list.
About the Author:
Rob Rawson is a co-founder of Time Doctor—a time monitoring and productivity monitoring tool that is designed to help businesses reduce wasted hours at work and improve employee productivity. He resides in Sydney, Australia but can also be found in major cities around the globe, like Paris, Kiev or San Francisco.
I came across this PM tool,BootStrapToday at http://www.bootstraptoday.com. I have been using it since few weeks and found it very useful for high end developers. It adds intelligence to the processes and automation and integration are yet unique features. Apart from the cloud based model it is also available as In-house set up. I am planning to install one. Would you give me suggestions on installing In-house set up.
…and another to add to the list (I also add trouble collaborating on the Google Doc – looks like it’s ready-only for me) Eclipse PPM. It’s SaaS, has a clean and simple interface, has customizable dashboards, web-based, and services companies in North America: http://www.eclipseppm.com
Awesome list! It’s so nice to have variety out there. I will check out some of them for sure. I just want to bring some attention to the latest and greatest I have been introduced to http://www.PureProjectTools.com. It’s the one site that I have found that is able to handle the capacity of my work and it’s super intuitive which is great for my company, since I don’t have the time to train everyone – especially since not all my workers are situated in the same city. This tool is free, which is a big plus too. I am a certified project manager and have been introduced to many PM softwares and this is hands down the best one I have found.
We are using Celoxis (http://www.celoxis.com) for more than a year now and are quite satisfied. A very comprehensive product. Especially like their interactive gantt. It’s the best that I’ve ever seen in a web based product. Reports are quite good and so is their “workflow” component. Highly recommended.
I came across this PM tool,BootStrapToday at http://www.bootstraptoday.com. I have been using it since few weeks and found it very useful for high end developers. It adds intelligence to the processes and automation and integration are yet unique features. Apart from the cloud based model it is also available as In-house set up. I am planning to install one. Would you give me suggestions on installing In-house set up.
Great resource for those looking to implement the right project management application for their business. Another one to the consider is Trakeze http://www.trakeze.com/. It’s a web-based system that includes easy-to-use project planning, Gantt charts, task management, requirements management, time tracking, CRM, and collaboration applications.
Wow, that’s a comprehensive list. I just released a site in this space that takes a different approach. It mashes up a PM system with gaming awards that lets you level up at work. See it here: http://propstoyou.com. You see, I’ve used these things for 20 years — long before they arrived on the web — and the one thing that never changes is that they’re boring as watching paint dry and people never use them for long. I’m hoping to change that. Check it out!
You should add Comindware to this list too. Great product, very useful and simple in using with alot of their own features. I have been used for about 5 different tools, but stopped on this product. If you haven’t tried it yet – try.
Usually I don’t read article on blogs, however I would like to say that this write-up very compelled me to take a look at and do it! Your writing style has been amazed me. Thank you, very great article.
When will the list of features be updated on the Google doc?
I am noticing that Central Desktop has more features than what you have listed and I know Basecamp has also gone through an overhaul?
The doc can be edited here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ahw066SJeeSadFJGWXRTUVVfaE1WWmpkU09WUkt6Z0E#gid=0 so if you see anything that is not correct please edit, as long as you keep the same format for the spreadsheet and fill in all data
Very extensive List. But I noticed you are missing Clockmeister(http://www.Clockmeister.com/) on that list.
I would like to add a project management software to your list.
Project Monitor is a french tool for project management published by Virage Group that I know well because I work in this company.
You can manage planning, tasks, ressources and budgets of a set of projects. You can have a global vision of different sets of project.
It’s a powerfull tool very usefull.
This tool supports the English language as well.
You can visit company site for further information: http://www.viragegroup.com
Good list. However I’d like to add one more. ProjectVision http://www.corasystems.com is a web-based Portfolio and Project Management Software solution, empowering control and visibility over Business Plans, Strategic Objectives, Programs and Projects.
We are using a tool called http://www.taskbiller.com it has saved us literally thousands of euro of otherwise un billed tasks for clients. From task assignment to billing of both the client and invoicing from the resource it allows us to spin many plates and not miss a beat. They do a free signup for 30 tasks to try it out and the best thing, no annoying per seat plans that quickly drive up costs.
Great list, I have also tried loads of different alternatives in my days. Today we use Projectplace at work. To me it is the most complete tool. The interface used to be a little ugly but they fixed that a while back, looking great now. So if you are looking for a powerful tool i would highly recommend http://www.projectplace.com, if you just need a simple task management tool i like http://do.com. And if you are just into software devel http://www.yodiz.com is nice. Planbox.com is also pretty nifty for agile software devel projects. But all in all i would go with projectplace.
I am a user of 5PM and noticed some erroneous entries in the comparison table on google doc:
milestones, recurring tasks, invoicing/billing, expense tracking and task dependencies do NOT exist in 5PM.
Hi Sandra, you can edit the document https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ahw066SJeeSadFJGWXRTUVVfaE1WWmpkU09WUkt6Z0E#gid=0 if there are specific things you think need changing thanks!
Good post – I thought I would drop a link to our system which you might be interested in. It’s called Hot Project – http://www.hotproject.com – we’ve just launched a free basic version with up to 5 users. Would love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks
Anthony
Great work and compilation !!
I would like to recommend ZilicusPM (http://www.zilicus.com) – comprehensive project management software offered by my company.
It is a complete solution that makes project scheduling a easy job with interactive gantt chart, resource manager; Along with project scheduling & tracking, it also offers issue tracker, risk manager, document management, timesheet tracker and google apps integration.
Love to hear what’s your impression.
Thank You,
Dhan
http://blog.zilicus.com
saying freshbooks is “project management” software is exaggeration to the extreme…it does little more than invoicing. Time tracking is limited, you can’t track multiple hourly rates against a total fee budget; either you set the fee and forget about your hours, or you set the hours and forget about more than one hourly rate. You can’t set up multiple tasks with a set fee for each task, something which is fairly critical for project management. No calendar or timelines of any sort, no milestones.
Agree that freshbooks is not really project management, so doesn’t exactly fit into the category, but a useful alternative for people interested in invoicing.
Hey guys, don’t forget to mention our project software tool, Copper Project. Great features and a free 30 day trial!
http://www.copperproject.com
Just thought I’d throw PlanAnything (www.plananything.com) into the mix!
Can anyone tell me if any of these software has the following feature: my company provides subtitling services. We have a project with 168 movies to subtitle. I would like to be able to make a list of all the movies and their deadlines and have my team access it so that each subtitler can pick the movies s/he wants to subtitle. Maybe in a calendar format? Ideally, they would auto-assign each job like this in live mode, similar to those systems for purchasing theatre tickets: you see what is available at that time and pick/click what you want. Does this make sense? Thanks for the help.
Thanks for sharing! SaaS tools are really helpful for distributed teams like us. We use clockodo (http://www.clockodo.com) in addition to JIRA, that combination is perfect for us.
Wrike and 5pm are some project management software’s that sound interesting to me, not because they have got free versions, but they are as good as Basecamp. We currently use Replicon project management software.
Hi,
I’ve used bootcamp before and I believe you can set up recurring tasks. Your chart says “no”.
I am wondering if anyone can tell me if any of these solutions offer the ability to track projects and share files – including video files.
thanks.
Thank you for including http://www.wrike.com in your post, Rob! Can you please update your Google Doc, since there is some inaccurate info about Wrike? To be more precise – our app has milestones, recurring tasks and Google docs integration, as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android. Thank you!
Thanks Olga, the google doc can be edited publicly here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ahw066SJeeSadFJGWXRTUVVfaE1WWmpkU09WUkt6Z0E#gid=0
Please put in further information like open source, language, cloud application, mobile apps, and etc.
FYI, Clarizen appears to have Gantt charts.
http://www.clarizen.com/project-software/features/core-project-management-features/gantt-charts.html
FWIW, I have no connection to them, and haven’t used their software.
Hi guys, great list. I recommend also very useful comparision of web based project managment softwares: https://www.easyredmine.com/best-web-based-project-management-software.
I’m using qdPM. It’s free project management. I’m using it more then 1 year and I like it!
Easy Projects is also a great PM tool.
http://www.easyprojects.net
It is a nice comprehensive list, but I guess the list is out of date now… Clarizen for example has file/doc sharing, WiKi, Billing, create tasks via e-mail, dependencies, Gantt charts, contacts, iPhone app etc and is cheaper than stated. So the list is quite misleading…
I guess with technology moving on that most of the others might also be out of date, and should have improved over the last few years.
I am using Proofhub since 2 years. Because of its features like time tracking, privacy and inbulit chat helped me a lot to carry out my work. I think that this tool should also be there in your list as it contains amazing collaboration features.
I don’t see AtTask which is a SAAS PM tool and rated by Gartner in the upper right quadrant. Has anyone had any experience with AtTask?
Wow.!!! What a fantastic information!!!! We are using a tool called http://www.workfinished.com/ it has saved us literally thousands of $. I would like to add this workfinished.com tool to this list. Now a days Project management is playing a great role in all the industries. Because of this Project Management tool will help us to keep tracking on all the projects.
Thank for the list! My company is using Teamwork right now. We have adopted it after a long selection period and we are quite happy with that, if you want to take a look here the link:
http://www.twproject.com/
Sarah
I recomended use free online projects manager http://projects-manager.com